Page 85 of Memories Made At Midnight

Leave it to Beatrice to get directly to the point.

With his forefinger, he turned her face so that she peered up at him.

“Because, Beatrice Fairfax, I love you and want to marry you.”

He pressed his mouth to her forehead.

“Oh.” She blinked, and a blush tinted her cheeks.

Oh?

“I thought when a man proposed, he kissed his intended on the mouth.”

Cassius burst out laughing as he pulled her onto his lap. “I am more than happy to oblige you.”

The first touch of his lips upon hers was the sweetest homecoming.

This, this was what love should be.

It was more than physical desire or lust. Love was the blending of two spirits, two souls finding completion in the other.

He teased the seam of her mouth until she opened the honeyed cavern to his gentle probing. Sighing, Beatrice looped her arms around his neck and kissed him back with an exuberance that made up for her inexperience.

The miles passed as he explored her mouth and gentle curves. Exhaustion and fatigue faded away under his growing ardor.

At last, Cassius reluctantly lifted his head.

Beatrice opened sultry, desire-filled eyes.

“Why did you stop?” Her siren’s smile nearly undid him.

He eyed the opposite bench, mentally calculating how comfortable it would be to make her his in every way.

“I quite enjoyed kissing,” she said.

“As did I, and that is why we must stop.” He set her on the seat beside him and gave a pointed look at his hard groin. “When I make you mine, it will not be in a bumpy coach with two dogs watching.”

“That would be a bit awkward.” Beatrice giggled as she petted each dog. From beneath her lush lashes, she gave him a sideways, coy glance.

God help him resist the tempting armful that was Beatrice.

“I have a confession, Cassius.”

He skewed an eyebrow upward. “Oh?”

“I vowed I’d get you to kiss me so that when I was an old, dried-up prune of a spinster and I couldn’t sleep, I could recall that precious memory as I sat in my rocking chair, gazing at the moonlit, midnight sky with a couple of dogs curled at my feet.”

Emotion clogged Cassius’s throat, and he grazed his fingertips over her cheek.

“We’ll have a lifetime to make memories at midnight, my love.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “If you agree to marry me.”

Consternation suddenly gripped him.

What if she didn’t love him as he did her?

“You do love me, Beatrice, don’t you?”

She cupped his face with her palm.

“Yes, I love you, Cassius Westbrook. You’ve shown me that there are good men in the world, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you and only you.”

The breath left his lungs in a whoosh.

“Thank God.” He pressed his forehead against hers, relief flooding him.

“I do have a condition or two.” She leaned back, her eyes twinkling. “I want to continue rescuing animals.”

“Darling, you can have an entire menagerie.” He would have to give up his studio. There wasn’t room for an animal hospital there. The idea didn’t cause him undue concern. “Whatever makes you happy.”

“You, Lord Cassius Westbrook. You make me happy.” Smiling, she lifted her mouth to his. “Now kiss me again.”