The Gift of Love (The Book of Love #8) - Meara Platt Page 0,63

reckless? What good will you be to me dead?”

“I’m not going to die. Although I feel like death right now. Bollocks. Everything hurts. But I had to see you.”

Yes, he was definitely feverish.

“Will you kiss me, Queen Pea?”

She stopped him when he tried to roll his body toward her. “You fool. Yes, I’ll kiss you. Lie still and don’t move your head. I’ll come to you.” She cast him a gentle smile. “But I need to get the correct angle. It may seem a simple matter, but it is actually a rather complex set of mathematical calculations,” she said, teasing him just as he had teased her before they had shared their very first kiss.

He laughingly groaned. “Enough. I want that kiss.”

She eased onto the bed and carefully leaned over, trying not to touch any part of him for fear she would hurt him. But he wrapped his arms around her and drew her down atop him. Her breasts pressed against his chest. “Let me go, Ronan. I must be hurting you.”

His entire chest had to be a raw wound.

“Best ache I’ve ever felt,” he whispered, easing one hand around her waist and raising his other to the back of her head to draw her lips to his.

Before she could utter another word of protest, he captured her mouth in a searing embrace, pouring so much heat into their kiss, she was certain the bed would catch fire. Yes, this is what she’d always dreamed the right kiss would feel like. Hot. Burning. Exquisite.

Her body was already thrumming in unladylike ways.

She wanted to crawl into bed with him and–

He ended it quickly and fell back, gasping for air. “Ronan! You idiot. Did I hurt you?”

“No. Kiss me again, Queen Pea.”

She moved away. “You are a low-brained idiot. What if you do have a punctured lung? And aren’t three cracked ribs enough? You cannot support my weight atop you.”

He grinned wickedly. “I’ll position you under me.”

“Ronan! This is serious.”

“My ribs are merely bruised. So’s my arse after bouncing around in the saddle on the ride back here. This is why I prefer sailing ships. No sea captain ever complained of a shredded arse.”

She rolled her eyes. “I am going to hit you if you don’t behave.”

“You can’t hit me. I’m going to marry you.”

Her breath caught in her throat. She stared at him for the longest time before uttering a word. “Is that a command?”

He was smiling at her with a warmth that stole her breath away, and his eyes were seductively gleaming. “It’s a promise and a sincere wish.”

She settled beside him again and took his hand because she loved him. How foolish she’d been not to notice what had been right in front of her all along. She’d been so caught up in lying to herself about Gerald that she’d refused to believe what her heart was telling her. But realizing she almost lost Ronan brought on clarity of thought. She wanted to be with this man forever. That diminutive little gossip, Lady Withnall, had been so right in her advice.

But was he speaking merely due to his delirium? He was in agonizing pain, and anyone in his condition could say something he would regret having said once he’d healed.

He raised her hand to his lips and kissed it. “I love you, Queen Pea. I should have told you before I left, but it was never my intention to force words on you that you were not ready to hear. Near-death has a way of sorting out what’s important and what is not. You are the most important thing to me. I had to come back here and let you know.”

Tears once clouded her eyes, but she hastily wiped them away. “You could have written me a letter. I would have come to you.”

He cast her a melting smile. “I couldn’t wait that long. And what if your family did not allow it? Besides, I am better off here to defend myself when the members of the House of Lords begin their inquisition.”

“You saved the day,” she said with a gasp, her indignation rising. “Why should they question you at all? You were in London and nowhere near the vessel when it went aground. How can they possibly blame you?”

He tried to shrug his shoulders but had barely moved them before he winced. “Someone has to take the fall.”

“Those fiends! There is no way I will let this happen. Nor will your family. If I have to descend upon

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