Page 81 of Once Upon a Midnight Dream
“Tell me that I have not misplaced my hope, Lilly.”
He pressed his mouth to her knuckles.
“You silly man.” Emotion made her voice husky. “Of course, you have not. I love you too.”
With a whoop, Layton sprang to his feet and swooped her into his arms, capturing her mouth with his. He kissed her with the passion and intensity of a dying man who had been given another chance at life.
For that is exactly what she had done.
Lilly had healed his wounded soul.
Layton lifted his head.
Lips parted, her breath coming in soft little pants, she raised her thick eyelashes. Passion had darkened her eyes to almost black. “I am still cold.”
The tease.
“I think it is time I taught the headmistress a lesson or two.” Layton carried her to the settee and gently laid her down before kneeling beside her.
“Something tells me, you are a fast learner, Lilly.”
Her seductive smile quickened his pulse into a full-on stampede.
“True.” Her smile turned coy. “But especially so if I have an excellent teacher.”
Nuzzling her silky neck, he worked the buttons of her gown. “You will marry me?”
If she said no, Layton would have to stop.
It might kill him, but he would, and then dive into the brook to cool his ardor.
“Of course, I shall marry you, dear heart.” She made a cute little face. “But I want all the children, Charles, and the staff present at our wedding. Your family too, of course.”
She pressed a kiss to his chin and then his cheek and then his eyepatch.
Tears formed in his good eye.
Lilly had never shied away from Layton’s disfigurement.
“I would not have it any other way.” He finished slipping the buttons loose of their moorings and the gown fell open, revealing the tempting mounds beneath her simple cotton chemise.
“This is like a dream,” she murmured huskily. “Am I awake?”
“Indeed, my love.” Layton brushed a kiss across her swollen mouth. “You are my dream come true.”
“And you are mine.” She looped her arms around his neck. “Shall we begin?”
Throwing his head back, Layton laughed, at last free from the ghosts of his past.
Epilogue
Hefferwickshire House Chapel
Cumberland, England
September 1832—ten in the morning
From across the baptismal font, Layton caught Lilly’s eye as The Reverend Tyndale sprinkled water on their month-old son’s forehead. “I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”
