Chapter 11

 

“You are looking as smug this evening as a cat that has lapped from a bowl of cream,” Felicia teased Emma as they stood together in the Thomas’s ballroom. 

Emma no doubt she felt as satiated as that cat, if for a very different reason.

Her afternoon with Adam had been pure ecstasy. A feast of lovemaking that had no doubt left its mark upon her, in her demeanor if in no other way. And it had been lovemaking to her. She could only hope it had been the same for Adam. 

In any case, she had found herself smiling as Adam escorted her home in his carriage and kissed her lightly on the lips before they parted. She had been smiling still when she dressed to join Adam at the Thomas’s ball this evening, after all; Emma’s maid had arranged her hair in such a way as to hide the scratches down the side of her neck.

“Or savored your first taste of cock,” Felicia added softly.

Color warmed Emma’s cheeks. “I am sure your conversation did not used to be as scandalous as this.”

The other woman chuckled. “Marriage to Langdon has made me less prudish, I agree. Nor did you deny my comment,” she added speculatively as she arched questioning brows. “Tell me, is Hawkwood as cold a lover as he seems as a man?”

“Adam is not in the least cold—” Emma broke off as she realized from her friend’s satisfied smile that she had fallen into the other woman’s trap. “That was hardly fair, Felicia.”

Her friend chuckled softly. “All is fair in love and war, darling.”

Her cheeks warmed. “I do not remember mentioning love.”

Felicia gave her a sideways glance. “I know you well enough to be sure nothing less than love would tempt you into engaging in an affair with Hawkwood.”

Emma had every reason to hope it would be much more than an affair. Adam still had yet to propose, of course, but she did not doubt his promise to do so—

Her breath caught in her throat as she looked across the crowded room and saw Adam standing in the doorway of the Thomas’s ballroom. Her heart rate increased at how absolutely magnificent he looked in his black evening clothes and snowy white linen. It then stopped completely the moment Adam’s gaze caught and held her own and he began to walk purposefully toward her.

“I will speak to you later,” Felicia murmured softly.

Emma was barely aware of her friend’s departure as her gaze continued to be held by Adam’s as he strode across the ballroom. He totally ignored any and all who tried to greet him or engage him in conversation. 

He came to a halt in front of her. “Emma.”

“Adam,” she returned a little shyly at the memory of their shared intimacy this afternoon.

“Would you do me the honor of dancing this waltz with me?”

“Yes.” She placed her hand into the one he held out to her before they stepped onto the dance floor together and Adam took her into his arms.

“You are looking particularly beautiful this evening,” he remarked evenly.

“As you are looking very handsome.”

His mouth twisted derisively. “Pleasantries covered, I have several things I wish to discuss with you.”

This pronouncement was so typically Hawkwood that Emma could not help but smile.

He nodded. “Firstly, Lord Millbrook has decided that he and his wife shall return to their country estate for the rest of this Season, and possibly the next, if his lady is not fully recovered from her…hysteria,” he added grimly.

“Poor Lord Millbrook, he must be heartbroken to be parted from his beloved bees.” 

Adam mouth quirked upward with rueful humor. “He apparently has more hives to keep him busy in Derbyshire.”

Emma chuckled. “Of course he does.”

Adam sobered. “Secondly, I wish to reiterate that the clause in my father’s will has absolutely nothing to do with my having made an offer of marriage to you.”

“I believe you.” Now that Emma was fully over her shock in having learned of the clause in the previous Duke of Hawkwood’s will, in the particular way that she had, she did not doubt Adam’s claim. 

He had been out and about in Society for almost as long as she had been alive, and although his father had died ten years ago, and Adam must have known of the existence of that clause in the will for the same amount of time, he had made no effort to take a wife before now. 

She still had no idea why Adam should have offered for her, of all women, but she believed him absolutely when he assured her his father’s will had not influenced that decision.

“Thirdly…” Adam came to a halt in the middle of the dance floor, continuing to hold her hand as he stepped back and then moved down onto one knee in front of her.

Emma was not the only one to gasp at his unexpected move. The other couples, who were dancing, slowly came to a halt to turn and look at them curiously. The other guests, becoming aware that something unusual was happening in their midst, all fell silent and also turned to look at the two of them. Even the musicians ceased playing as there were no longer any couples dancing.

The room had grown deathly silent.

“Miss Emma Harris,” Adam made no effort to lower his voice as he gazed up at her. “I have admired you for several weeks now, and latterly I have come to love you, and I would deem it the highest honor if you would consent to become my wife.”

This was so much more than a proposal of marriage, Emma realized breathlessly. It was a grand gesture, of an unforgettable kind, for all to see the aristocratic Duke of Hawkwood down on his knees proposing marriage to a young woman whose lack of fortune caused most in Society to have previously deemed her as being unmarriageable.

And had Adam really said that he loved her?

“Not enough?” he murmured at her silence, one dark brow raised questioningly. “You are the epitome of all that a wife should be,” he continued in the same modulated tone as before. “Beautiful. Gracious. Fiery,” he added with an approving glitter in his eyes. “Passionate and true. But most of all you are the woman I love beyond what mere words could ever convey.” He kissed the back of her gloved hand. “The only woman I love and shall continue to love to eternity and beyond.”

She had not imagined it then, Adam had truly made love to her earlier today. And he was now offering her a happiness she could never have imagined, by telling all in Society of the love he felt for her.

“Marry me, Emma,” he pressed more urgently. “Be my wife, the mother of our children, and make me the happiest and proudest man who has ever lived.”

The tears of happiness came so readily to Emma’s eyes she was having trouble focusing on his dearly loved face. “Yes,” she breathed softly. “A hundred time, yes!” She stepped into his open arms. “I love you so very much, my darling Adam,” she murmured for him alone to hear, his eyes glittering his pleasure as she lowered her head and claimed the firmness of his lips in a long and lingering kiss.

It was only when the clapping started, and then became louder still, that Emma realized what a spectacle they were making of themselves.

Not that she cared.

Now that she knew Adam loved her she cared for no one else’s opinion but his.

Adam loved her.

As she loved him.

To eternity and beyond. 

But he was not finished with his grand gesture yet, rising to his feet once the kiss had ended to lift her up into his arms before carrying her from the ballroom. The buzz of conversation starting immediately the two of them were out of the room.

Emma’s arms were about Adam’s neck as she looked at him with glowing eyes. “Now that was a marriage proposal!”

Adam threw back his head and laughed long and happily.

As Emma had no doubt the two of them would continue to laugh together and love each other through all their long and happy years together.