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she love him?
    He tossed the cloak to the floor and held out his hand. “Will you dance with me?”
    “You don’t need to do this,” she said. “It’s over. You won.”
    “No,” he answered. “It’s just beginning.”
    She didn’t mistake his meaning. Her eyes, still shiny with tears, softened. “We mustn’t. You could do so much better than I, Your Grace.”
    “Roan,” he corrected. She didn’t understand so he explained. “I will not have the woman I want for my wife to call me ‘Your Grace.’ That is reserved for inferior beings. My wife will be my other half. My conscience, my delight, my soul.”
    The tears now poured freely from her eyes.
    Roan didn’t know what to make of it. Was she telling him no? He’d never felt so vulnerable. So lost.
    He sank down to his knees. “Susan, marry me.”
    “But you barely know me.” She was smiling now…through the tears.
    “Aye, and the poets say that sometimes we must risk all for love. Susan, I want to spend my life knowing you.”
    She came down to the floor in front of him. Her arms came around his neck and she kissed him full and hard on the mouth.
    Roan wasted no time kissing her back. He kissed her in a way he’d never kissed a woman. He wanted her to know this wasn’t just about passion. What was between them was something sacred.
    And then she placed his hand on her breast, and he knew she still didn’t understand.
    It took all his will to pull his hand away. He cupped Susan’s face in his hands. Her eyes were wide with confusion. “I want you for my wife. Do you want me for a husband?”
    “I believe I started falling in love with you from the moment I laid eyes on you. But, Your Grace—”
    “Roan,” he insisted.
    “Roan,” she repeated. “Roan, Roan, Roan.” She placed her hands on his shoulders. “I can’t let you do this—”
    “Do you not love me?”
    “I said I love you, with an intensity that is almost frightening—”
    Roan cut her off with a kiss. He loved the taste of her, the feel of her, the scent of her—
    She broke off the kiss. Her breathing matched his own fevered pace. “I’m not worthy of you. There, I’ve said it. Please, Roan, this cannot happen.”

    It felt as if she were cutting out her heart to turn him away. What Susan had felt for her long-ago suitor paled in comparison to her feelings for the duke.
    For the first time in her life, someone had come after her. Someone had cared what she was feeling, worried about her, wanted to be there for her.
    It was a powerful gift.
    “For too long, Roan, I’ve felt as if I’ve had the weight of the world on my shoulders—first with my parents’ deaths, then protecting my sisters. And then, seeing to my own welfare. I am humbled and deeply thankful for your offer. Indeed, just for your presence.”
    He watched her intently as she spoke. He was so handsome, so noble. So wonderful. However, now a frown had formed on his brow. He leaned back. “Do you love me, Susan?”
    She started to hedge, knowing that if she truly cared for him, the best thing she could do would be to stop him from this foolishness.
    But as she started to open her mouth to explain, he demanded, “I don’t want common sense. Or what you believe you should do. I want to know, lass, do you love me ? Not the duke, but the man.”
    “I love the man,” she said, unable to hold back her feelings any longer.
    “Good. Then I’ve made up my mind.” He rose to his feet, taking her hand and bringing her up with him.
    “Your mind about what?” she asked as he picked her cloak up off the floor.
    “About us,” he said, placing her cape around her shoulders. Without warning, he swung her up in his arms. “We are going to elope.”
    She opened her mouth to protest—
    “No, Susan, for once think of yourself. Make me a happy man and come with me to Scotland. To Gretna Green, where we can be married in a trice, and no one can say us nay. We’ll be there before dark tomorrow.”
    He was completely