Page 52 of Once a Scoundrel

She wheeled around, her body flashing numb with stunned surprise. “Stephen?”

She stared at him, not daring to believe that she wasn’t dreaming, that he truly was here and coming slowly toward her through the stable. Her hand flew up to her chest, as if to physically restrain the thunderous pounding of her heart.

He stopped a few yards from her and set at his feet a small lidded basket he’d been carrying. Then, without a word, his eyes softening with love, he held open his arms.

A soft sob tore from her. She ran to him, rushed into his arms, and threw her arms around his shoulders. She buried her face against his neck as she cried, unable to stop the flood of emotion pouring through her.

The sudden assault on her senses was overwhelming. The familiar scent of him permeated the air around him like the crackle of electricity, and the warm strength of his arms encircling her seeped into her until her stomach fluttered with joy. He was finally here, in her arms where he belonged. He’d come back for her, and she could do nothing but cling to him and sob as happiness swelled inside her.

“Don’t cry, my love,” he murmured hoarsely into her hair, his head bowed over hers and his arms tightening their hold around her. “Everything is going to be all right.”

“You were gone so long,” she whispered. Her hands twisted in the lapels of his coat so thoroughly as to never be able to release him. “I didn’t think you were ever going to come for me.”

“I’m sorry.” His arms tightened around her, as if he were afraid that he’d lose her even now as she stood in his arms, clinging desperately to him. “I came as soon as I could, darling, I promise you that.”

The pain of the past few weeks went too deep to release so quickly, and she was unable to stop the hot tears that poured from her and soaked into his neck cloth. “When I’d learned that you’d left Elmhurst Park, I thought—” The words choked in her throat. Taking a deep breath, she tried again, finally daring to voice the fear that had tortured her for the past month. “I thought that you’d given up on us.”

“Never.” He cupped her face in his hands, and not caring if anyone saw them, he kissed her slowly, deeply, thoroughly. Like a starving man who needed to feast on her lips to survive.

Leaning into him, she eagerly returned the kiss. Her eyes closed, and the sweet sensation carried her away until all she knew was the warmth and strength of him pressing her close, the caresses of his fingers possessively kneading her nape, the love that radiated from him. He was hers, finally and forever. She could barely comprehend all that realization meant, all the love and desire she carried for him.

When she finally tore her mouth away, to regain the breath he’d claimed, she relaxed against him with a shuddering sigh that swelled up from her core. She belonged right here, holding him like this in his arms, and the last tendrils of fear and worry eased from her.

“And Mary?” she asked, half-afraid of the answer. “How is she?”

“Fine. Safe. With the Llewellyns.” His lips brushed against her temple with each word. “They’ve agreed to let her stay, to get to know her and Jeremy.”

“Oh thank God,” she whispered.

She felt his mouth smile against her forehead. “I have a gift for you,” he told her softly. “An apology of sorts for making you worry.”

An apology...when she only wanted his heart. She shook her head, smiling up at him through her tears. “I don’t need anything now that you’re here.”

He shook his head. “I left you four years ago because I was a damned fool.” His handsome face blurred beneath her tears, but the regret she saw there was unmistakable. “And I had to leave you again these past few weeks in order to make certain that our future together could be a happy one.” He reached down to pick up the wicker basket and held it out to her. “But I promise you that I will never leave you again.”

Her breath caught in her throat, and she hesitated to accept it. Everything she’d dreamt about was finally becoming hers, and she could barely absorb it all.

“Go on, open it,” he urged gently. “I brought it all the way from Elmhurst Park, and the blasted thing nearly killed me,” he explained enigmatically with a soft grimace. “The least you can do is accept it so that I don’t have to die on the way home.”

What on earth...? Her curiosity got the better of her. Slowly, she opened the basket.

A tiny ball of snarling white fur hissed at her as a small paw of bared claws swiped in the air.

Faith blinked. “A kitten?”

“A man-eating beast,” he corrected, his mouth hardening into a tight grimace. “Scratched the devil out of me putting it into that basket.”

“Of course it did! The poor thing is terrified.” Another round of hissing and swiping of claws in a fierce display of bravado went up from the basket. Faith grabbed the kitten by the scruff of its neck and held it up. “Hush now.”

It went still and let out a plaintive mewling that melted Faith’s heart. She pulled it into her arms and cuddled it against her chest, and the kitten curled into a little ball as it began to purr. Then it looked up at Stephen and let out a fierce hiss for good measure.

“In case that didn’t explain it,” he drawled drolly, “the little beast is a female.”

“Of course she is.” With a smile, Faith rubbed her cheek against the kitten’s soft fur. “She’s beautiful.”

“Just like you,” he murmured.

Her heart skipped. “And fierce.”