Page 167 of The Dueling Duchess

She smirked at him. “And I was allowing you to get that out of your system.”

“Allowing me?” he thundered.

“Yes, allowing you. For your information, after I tidied up my affairs in France, Cat, Helen, and I were going to get on a boat and come visit you at your cranberry bog.”

* * *

Joy threatened to spin out of control inside Guy like a Catherine wheel, and his brain scrambled for a response to her shocking announcement.

“Oh, you were, were you?” was all he could manage.

She closed the distance between them and slid her arms around his neck. “Yes, I was. And when I got there, I was going to drag you to the nearest vicar, although they call them by many different names in America, and force you to marry me.” She pulled his head down and claimed his mouth.

Guy groaned and slid his hands beneath her lush bottom, lifting her off her feet.

She laughed and he caught the magical sound in his mouth, kissing her breathless before releasing her lips.

“You really were going to come after me?” he asked when he could pull himself away.

“I really was.”

“Why not just ask me to wait for you?”

“Why not just tell me you’d wait for me?” she countered.

“I was trying to do the right thing, darling.”

“You mean like you did last year—leaving me to go and marry a stranger for the good of your dukedom and then regretting it every day of your life?”

“When you put it that way, it doesn’t sound like such a fine idea, does it?”

“No, it doesn’t.”

“I could hardly encourage you to throw wisdom to the winds and follow your heart without looking like the world’s worst hypocrite, could I?”

She cupped his face in both hands. “Fortunately, I didn’t need your encouragement. You see, I learn from the mistakes of others because I am much smarter than you.”

He threw back his head and laughed. “That you are, darling, that you are.” He gave her a ruthless kissing, leaving her breathless.

“If you’re not marrying de La Fontaine then what are you planning for your visit to France?”

“I’m not sure, yet. Why don’t you come along with me?”

“You’d want me there?”

She grabbed his face and held him steady. “There was one thing I wouldn’t have liked to have left without telling you, Guy.”

“Oh?”

“I love you.”

Guy heaved a huge sigh of contentment. “Oh, darling. You have no idea how badly I wanted to hear that.”

“Oh, I have some idea,” she demurred. “Don’t you have something to say to me?”

“You already know I love you.”

“And yet you would have let me go.”