He frowned suddenly. “Are you upset? About the baby, I mean?”
“No.” She said it quickly. Firmly. Placing both hands on her flat abdomen, she shook her head and said again, “No, I’m not.”
“I’m glad.”
“But Lucas, this doesn’t mean you have to marry me.” God, those words cost her. All she really wanted was to be his wife. To raise their child together. To be loved by the man she loved with all of her heart.
“You’re right.” He closed the distance between them, laid both hands on her shoulders and said softly, “I don’t have to marry you Rose. I need to marry you.”
“Lucas—”
“Not because of the baby,” he told her with a half smile that tugged at her heart. “But because without you, there’s nothing. These past two weeks without you were the longest of my life. I fought every day to keep from coming here,” he admitted. “I told myself I didn’t need anyone. That what you and I had was just a temporary blip on the radar. I was wrong. I was an idiot to ever walk away from you.”
“I want to believe you, Lucas. So much, I want to believe.” Her heart felt as though it was being squeezed by a tight, cold fist. Her stomach was spinning and her mind raced with possibilities she couldn’t quite bring herself to count on. Not yet.
“Then do,” he insisted, pulling her into the circle of his arms, where she most wanted to be. “Rose, I told you a little of how I grew up.”
She nodded, not wanting to speak, or interrupt him now, when every word spoken mattered.
“Well, I never believed love really existed. Never saw it, up close and personal. Then you walked into my life and suddenly, nothing was the same. You changed me. You changed everything. Forever.”
She rested her forehead against the center of his chest and bit down hard on her bottom lip. This was all so good, she was afraid to take the chance. He was saying everything she had hoped he would and still, a part of her held back, worried and too cowardly to take the next step—trusting him to mean what he had said.
Tears welled in her eyes and choked her throat as she whispered, “I just don’t want you to be saying all of this because of the baby.”
“I’m not, Rose,” he insisted, shifting so that he could cup her face between his palms and tip her face up to his. Gently, his thumbs rubbed away the tears that spilled from her eyes. “I’m saying all of this because of you. Who you are. What you’ve given me. What I want us to give each other. I love you, Rose Clancy. I always will.”
A wave of love so rich and thick she could hardly breathe moved through her, and Rose could only stare up at him through her tears.
“I want this baby, Rose,” he said, bending to press one brief, heartfelt kiss to her mouth. “And all the others that will come after it…”
“All?” she asked on a laugh.
He grinned and added, “But make no mistake, ever. You are the prize for me, Rose. You are the heart and soul of me. You are all I will ever need. Without you, I have nothing. With you, I have the world.”
“I love you so much, Lucas,” Rose whispered.
“Thank God,” he said on a heavy sigh. “You had me worried, I can tell you.”
She smiled up at him. “I never want to be apart from you again. These past two weeks were just so lonely.”
“Then marry me, Rose.” He kissed her again, harder, deeper, letting the passion between them sizzle and burn like a promise. “Come and live with me in that big, empty house. Help me make it a real home. For both of us.”
“I will marry you,” she said, finally giving in to the magic that was happening. Somehow, her world had righted itself again. She believed. In love. In Lucas. And in the life they would build together. “And I promise, that beautiful old house won’t be empty for long.”