Fear of Fire and Shadow (The Fade #1) - Samantha Young Page 0,105

hummed with anticipation.

His eyes sparkled in the light from the moon outside the window, and he grinned at me, playfully yanking me under him. My cry of surprise was swallowed by his mouth.

Trust him.

In the morning I would tell him my worries and chance his rejection. Otherwise I’d regret it for the rest of my life.

I smiled against his lips and kissed him back. When he took a breath, I caressed his face with my fingertips. There was a little drop of eternal fear inside me that would always worry that one day he might disappear. I had to accept that and stop letting it govern my life.

Pushing thoughts of it away, I flashed Wolfe a saucy smile. “What made you think I’d be amenable to you sneaking into my room?”

Wolfe grinned wickedly. “I hoped perhaps I’d finally gotten through to you. And … I don’t know.” He frowned. “Something told me you wanted me here.”

My lips parted in shocked realization. “Your magic? Can you read my mind now?”

He laughed against my cheek and whispered seductively in my ear. “No. Intuition again.” He nibbled my earlobe and I shivered. “I gather my intuition assumed correctly? You want me here?”

I gasped as sensation rippled through my belly. Fierce need flooded me. “What do you think?” I replied, pushing him onto his back to straddle him. “I’m not throwing you out, am I?”

Wolfe looked guilty as he leaned over me after our lovemaking. I reached out to smooth his furrowed brow. “What?”

He exhaled slowly. “You might be carrying my child, Rogan. You have to marry me now.”

The truth was, I wanted a life with him, even at the risk of losing everything we would build together. I could doubt myself and the choices I had made in this life, but deep down, I had always prided myself on the fact that I wasn’t a weak-willed person.

I wasn’t a coward.

Not yesterday. Not today. And definitely not tomorrow.

But I did need to start having more faith in people. “I need to speak with you first.”

Wolfe nodded solemnly and sat down on the bed beside me.

Our eyes locked, and I prayed he would prove himself the man I believed him to be. Or at least hoped he could be. “If we were to marry, you must not be under any illusions that I would be a typical society wife, Wolfe. I have a duty to Haydyn and to Phaedra, and it is an essential part of who I am. If we marry, I would not spend my days running our household. I would be at the palace, at Haydyn’s side, helping her govern.”

He studied me with heated intensity. “And what about children?”

Hope bloomed. He had not outright rejected my plans. “I would want children with you. And I would try to be a good mother. But I would still wish to work at the palace as an advisor to the kralovna, if Haydyn wished for me to do so.”

Wolfe nodded thoughtfully. “It would be unusual and not well looked upon for a vikomtesa to have duties outside of what society deems appropriate.”

I exhaled heavily. “I know.”

He smirked. “It’s a good thing, then, that I couldn’t give a damn what society deems appropriate.”

“Really?” I whispered, unsure I’d heard him right.

He clasped my face in his hands. “I love you, Rogan. I love how protective of Haydyn you are, and I admire how much Phaedra means to you despite everything it’s taken from you. I could not ask you to give up who you are when it is the very reason I want you.”

Tears brimmed in my eyes. “You promise?”

“I promise, my darling. I promise. I will do whatever it takes to make you happy.” His eyes glowed with the fire of his passion. “Now say you will marry me, Lady Rogan, and put me out of this infernal misery.”

I laughed softly, clutching at his shirt to bring him closer. “Yes.”

“You’ll marry me?”

“Yes.”

His answering kiss was so deep and hungry, when he broke it, I panted for breath. He rested his hand over my chest so my heart thumped against his palm. “Am I in here then, Rogan?”

I realized that I hadn’t reciprocated those three little words.

I nodded and covered his hand with mine. “I love you.”

At my quietly spoken declaration, Wolfe’s eyes closed, relief softening his features, his whole face growing younger before my very eyes.

I suddenly remembered he was only twenty-five years old.

A tension I hadn’t even known was there visibly melted out of his