Marshall caressed her long, graceful back. "I have a confession to make. My resignation isn't quite official yet. So there's no need for you to feel guilty."
Guilty? She cringed at his unexpected response. "Why would I feel guilty?"
His face was pale. "Then I'm an even bigger fool. I shouldn't have assumed."
"I don't understand you at all, Marshall. Tell me, what h to feel guilty about?"
"You're an heiress," Marshall said.
"Yes."
"You're quite wealthy then."
She wrapped her hair around finger, looking everywhere in the room but at him. "I suppose you could say that."
He began to pace, each footstep echoed in her head. "You suppose? There's no other way of looking at it."
"I knew you would be upset. I don't blame you," Isabel said, her voice trembled with every word. "I lied to you."
He covered his face with his hands. "Yes, you did.
Everything
I know about you is a lie."
"Not everything, Marshall."
"I fancied myself a hero," he said, laughing. His hands fell to his sides. "Perhaps this is my downfall for being so smug."
"Are you leaving . . ." she started, her voice giving out before she could continue. Her eyes swum in tears.
"I sacrificed my career so I could have you." Marshall brushed the doorframe with his fist, aching to hit it at full force. "I was delighted I could prove my love for you and to save you from generations of naughty children."
"And it worked!" she screamed. "You proved yourself, Marshall. What else can I say? I wanted so much to say yes this morning--"
"But you knew something I didn't. You're an heiress who can do much better than a second son." His eyes burned. "I'm beneath you."
"Marshall, that's not true at all."
He strode across the room and stood at the window. "Of course it's true. With your wealth, you can marry into a dukedom."
"I don't want to be a duchess."
His back to her, he pressed his forehead against the glass. "I don't believe that."
"It's true!"
He shook his head, then whirled around. "Then is there some other reason you won't accept my proposal?"
She crossed her arms beneath her breasts. "Accept your proposal? I thought
you
were trying to take it back."
"No. You rejected me this morning and now . . ."
Isabel took a step toward him. "But you know the reason for why I rejected you now. I was too scared to tell you the truth. You'd just resigned and it was all for nothing."
"Because you won't have me."
"No, because you won't be penalized for marrying me. Now stop acting foolish and come here!"
He froze, looked at her, and asked, "What about now, Isabel?"
"Now you can marry me and keep your job." Tears fell in big globs down her cheeks. "If I have anything to say about it, you'll win the position you desire as well."
"I don't know if I want it anymore. Suddenly, everything else seems more important." He took a hesitant step toward her. "Is that what you want . . . what you just described?"
"How could you think otherwise?"
"Because I love you, Isabel." Marshall touched her wet cheek, caressing her smooth skin. "But not once have you said you love me."
The realization dawned on her. Her eyes widened in astonishment. "I suppose it didn't occur to me to say it. I felt sure you already knew."
"Then you do love me?"
"Of course, you fool." She smacked his chest. "I love you, I love you, I love you!"
"And you'll marry me?"
Isabel nodded, hiccupping on a sob. "I won't take no for an answer."
He pulled her into his arms and kissed every inch of her exquisite face. "I couldn't imagine a more perfect being. I can't believe you're finally mine."
She could definitely imagine a more perfect being: him. Isabel shivered when his eyelashes tickled her cheek. "We might have come to this conclusion much sooner, you do realize?"
Marshall laughed with exhilaration. "I'm a man, Isabel. Interpreting my emotions takes time. Sometimes, I go so far as to pretend they don't even exist."
"Or you just get angry."
He stopped kissing her long enough to cradle her face in his hands. He gazed into her eyes and kissed the tip of her nose. "Thank you, Isabel."
Isabel blushed. It would be a long time before she could look at him without shivering in an altogether pleasant way. Perhaps she never would. "What for?"
"For being
my
governess. I have much to learn."
About the Author
Canadian-born Juliet Moore is an author who grew up in Miami Beach, Florida reading Victoria Holt novels. She studied writing at UCLA under the tutelage of award-winning author Caroline Leavitt. She has always had a love for history, especially that of the Victorian era. She currently lives in Northern California with her husband and their two children, a four year old boy and 8 month old girl. Juliet spends her days writing, endeavoring to both make her children proud and create escapist fiction that appeals to the romantic in us all.
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THE QUEEN OF DIAMONDS
Coming February 2012
Eight years later, Cate meets Marcus Watson, the third son of middle class parents. Just like Cate, Marcus yearns for a better life and when she receives the gift of a diamond from her estranged parents, they decide to marry and use the diamond to fund their own dig in Kimberley, South Africa. Only Cate doesn't realize that once in the diamond fields, Marcus' ambition will turn to greed or that she'll be reunited with Hunter when her husband mysteriously disappears. When Cate finds herself torn between a forbidden love for Hunter and loyalty to Marcus, she wishes she'd never seen the diamond that brought her such misery.