It's Always Been You

by Victoria Dahl

  Aidan sighed loudly, newly irritated again, it seemed.

  “Oh, it’s true!” the baroness whispered, though her whisper carried as far as her normal voice. Aidan claimed she had practiced that for years. “He has been a trial, I tell you.”

  Kate pressed a hand to her mouth to try to stifle her laugh. She thought she heard Aidan growl, but the tension was defused by a tiny elderly woman who shuffled over to the baroness’s side. She eyed Kate from behind wrinkles so deep that Kate wondered if she could see past them.

  “Aunt Ophelia,” Aidan said with a small bow. “May I present Mrs. Gallow of Hull? Kate, this is my great-aunt, Mrs. Ophelia White.”

  “It’s a pleasure,” Kate said, dipping into a low curtsy. The tiny woman looked so ancient that Kate had to fight the urge to reach out and support her.

  “Hmph.” Aunt Ophelia looked her up and down, then turned her gaze on Aidan, her nose wrinkling. “Well, I see you’ve finally located your bullocks, young man.”

  Kate blinked in shock, while Aidan seemed frozen, his lips parted.

  Aunt Ophelia turned her eyes back to Kate. “Good news for you, I suppose. Would’ve been a disappointment otherwise.”

  “Um . . .”

  Lady York merely smiled and patted the woman’s hand. “Oh, Aunt Ophelia. You do go on so. Come, let’s get you a glass of lemonade.”

  “I can get my own lemonade,” the woman muttered, shuffling off the same way she’d come. Apparently she’d completed her mission.

  “Aidan,” Kate whispered.

  “Don’t bother asking me,” he answered back. “I suspect she may be a spy.”

  “Whatever do you mean?”

  “I have no idea.”

  Lady York grabbed both her hands. “Katherine, you must tell me all about the East. What was it like to live in the jungle? How did you—?”

  “Mother,” Aidan said loudly, glancing around to be sure no one had heard. “Come. I believe I hear the music starting. Would you honor me with the first dance on your special day?”

  “Oh, do you see?” the baroness crowed to Kate. “Do you see how sweet he is now?”

  “Yes,” Kate laughed. “I think he’s nearly tame.”

  “Exactly.”

  Aidan aimed a look at Kate that promised retribution, but he asked, “Will you be all right?” under his breath.

  Kate took another deep breath. “I think I shall.”

  It was a small party, by Aidan’s account, but it seemed overwhelming for Kate. Lucy had already been led off to dance by an old man in a dashing red cravat, so Kate wandered through the party, trying to take it all in. Laughter swirled through the air, tripping, dancing along the currents, spinning around her. Women trilled and giggled and tittered. Men chuckled and huffed and guffawed. Some of it was bitter, hardened by sarcasm, but most sounded good-natured. Kate let it all wash over her.

  “Mrs. Gallow!” a friendly voice called. Kate turned to see a beautiful woman with strawberry blond hair. “Marissa?” she asked in shock. “I mean, I apologize. . . . It’s Mrs. Bertrand now, isn’t it?”

  “Oh, nonsense.” Kate was enveloped in another hug, though this one was not quite so melodramatic. “Call me Marissa. I’m determined that we shall be sisters, after all. Has Aidan asked yet?”

  “I . . . It’s . . .”

  Marissa waved a dismissive hand. “All in good time. Believe me, I was in no rush to marry myself. Men are such moody creatures, are they not? Funny that we are considered the delicate sex when they are so obviously inferior in strength of mind. Oh, hullo, darling.”

  Her husband, a great hulk of a man, offered an ironic smile through the introductions, but he graciously excused himself a moment later. “I wanted to meet Mrs. Gallow, but I now fear I’ve already overheard more than I meant to.”

  “Oh, I wasn’t speaking of you,” Marissa said.

  “We’ll discuss that later, dearest wife,” he said with such a warm warning in his tone that Kate blushed to hear it. “And endeavor to decide who is the weaker sex.”

  “I shall win that argument.”

  “Or you shall enjoy losing,” he said.

  Marissa wore a wicked smile as she watched him leave, but she was serious again when she turned back to Kate. “You look well.”

  “As do you,” Kate offered with complete honesty. “You’ve grown into such a beautiful woman.”

  “Thank you, but . . .” She waved a hand. “I really mean that you look well. I’m sure you were . . . I can’t imagine. . . .”

  Kate smiled. “I am very happy to be home,” she said, feeling a startling jolt of pleasure as she said it. When she and Aidan married, this would be her home at least part of the time, and what a grand place to feel welcomed.

  “Aidan mentioned that you wished to pierce your ears.”

  Kate blinked at the strange change of subject. “He said that?”

  “He did, along with a hundred other things. He was quite eager for you to arrive today. He talked incessantly. I almost wished him silent again, though I never truly would. So would you like to?”

  Kate stared blankly. “What?”

  “Pierce your ears! Come to my room tomorrow. I’ll have Cook send some ice. It is just the sort of thing that sisters do.”

  “Oh.” She smiled tentatively and touched her bare ear. “All right. Perhaps I shall.”

  “Wonderful! Now you must excuse me. A waltz is starting, and I promised my husband. . . .”

  “Of course.”

  Kate couldn’t help but grin, but she moved closer to the French doors in the quietest part of the room. Aidan’s family was a bit overwhelming all at once. Her father had considered them quite vulgar, which is why she’d never been able to attend one of their famous hunting parties.

  But now she could do whatever she liked. She watched the party unfold around her and began to relax.

  But then an icy wall of air touched her back. A strong grip circled her arm. The hand tugged her carefully through the French door and out onto the terrace where her body was instantly warmed by the press of him against her back.

  “You promised to dance with me,” Aidan said. His deep voice rumbled through her body and tickled the skin of her neck.

  Arching into him, Kate purred. “I certainly did not. I said I’d think about it and that was only after you badgered me for fifteen minutes.”

  “We’ve never danced together.”

  “I know. I just . . .” She shook her head, then softened and smiled when his arm curled around her to offer a glass of champagne. Taking a sip, she shrugged. “I’ve never had much practice, Aidan. You know that.”

  “I do.” He wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his jaw against her temple, and they stood, quietly, comfortably, and watched the guests in their bright finery, talking and laughing and flirting, unaware of the couple nestled outside in the shadows.

  Champagne bubbles tickled her tongue and Aidan’s fingers stroked the line of her ribs, setting off twin vibrations of pleasure. The icy air was a balm to her heated skin, the soft notes of music from inside soothed her fraying nerves, and the body of the man she loved set her heart tripping happily.

  She didn’t realize her glass was already empty until Aidan plucked it from her fingers and turned her in his arms.

  Staring up at him, his hair highlighted blue with moonlight, his hard jaw softened by a smile, she felt a painful swell of love build in her chest. The stroke of his fingers over her lips set off a shock of heat low in her belly, and she wondered that she’d thought she could live without this, without him.

  “Dance with me,” he whispered. “Here. Beneath the stars.”

  “Here?” Her voice was high with surprise and arousal.

  “Here.” His hand slipped down her arm, leaving nerves dancing, and slid into her hand to grasp her fingers. “Listen.”

  She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and heard the strains of the waltz.

  They began to turn, to step and revolve, and she felt th
e magic of the cold night air seep into her. He was a strong lead and his ability let her imagine she was graceful and light, young and confident.

  The world around her spun, and she felt pleasantly dizzy—with love, with champagne, with pleasure. Opening her eyes, she found Aidan watching her with a smile. The dance was over.

  “Marry me,” he breathed.

  Kate’s heart thundered. She’d known he would ask, but for some reason it still shocked her. Or perhaps her heart was simply flooded with joy.

  “We can marry here,” he said. “This week. My family is all here. And Lucy.”

  “Here? So soon?”

  “Yes.” His voice was strong as steel. “So soon. As soon as possible. We can live in Hull if you like. Or London. Or here. Wherever you want, as long as you’re my wife.”

  Her impulse was to ask for time, but time for what? Time was the one thing she didn’t need. “Yes,” she whispered. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

  “Thank God,” he breathed against her lips as his mouth sought hers out. “You’re shaking,” he said just as she realized her teeth had started to chatter. “Are you cold?”

  “Yes. Or excited. I’m not sure.”

  “I’ll pretend it’s excitement even as I whisk you inside and into the warmth.”

  “Thank you.”

  He paused and turned back to kiss her one last time. “Thank you. You’ve made me the happiest man in the world. And you’ll have the happiest mother-in-law too. Another wedding to plan . . .”

  “Perhaps we should wait a while longer. To give her time for preparations—”

  “No! I mean . . .” He cleared his throat. “You may do what you like, of course. You’re the bride. But I urge you not to give her time. Believe me . . . less is more in this case.”

  “If you insist,” she said with a doubtful look.

  “I’m only trying to protect you. And she has Cousin Harry’s wedding in a few months. Best to space them out, right?”

  She stopped with her hand to the door. Her breath fogged against the glass. “This week, Aidan? Are you sure?”

  “Are you?”

  She watched the people move through the bright lights of the house. She and Aidan were separate here. In their own world. And she’d rather be out here in the cold and dark with Aidan than anywhere else. “Yes. I’m sure.”

  “Good. Because we’ve waited long enough.”

  He pushed the door open, and she slipped back into the heat.

  “Look,” Kate murmured. “There may be yet another wedding in our future.”

  Mr. Penrose and Lucy strolled past, her arm twined snug around his. Penrose looked down at her with a slightly dazed smile.

  “Do I detect a hint of redness to her lips?” Kate asked. “As if she’s just been kissed?”

  “By Penrose?”

  “Yes, by Penrose. Are you blind?”

  “I’d like to be!”

  “Aidan,” she laughed, but her laughter died on a sigh when he whispered a hand down the back of her neck.

  “Shall we tell my mother the good news? Or would you like to hold it secret for a time?”

  Kate smiled, arching her neck into his hand. Even if someone looked straight at them, they’d never notice the sensual dance of his fingers down her spine. “Let’s hold it secret. Just for tonight.”

  “Like old times,” he said, his voice low and deep in her ear.

  “Yes.” And it was. That secret love and joy. The happiness of being together. And the knowledge that they’d never be apart.

  She’d hold it close for one more day. And then she’d tell the world.

  ZEBRA BOOKS are published by

  Kensington Publishing Corp.

  119 West 40th Street

  New York, NY 10018

  Copyright © 2011 by Victoria Dahl

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

  If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the Publisher and neither the Author nor the Publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”

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  ISBN: 978-1-4201-0484-4