“I nearly lost you.” He stood and came to her side. Sinking down to his knees, he took her hand and placed a fingertip to it. He wrote the words as he spoke them, tracing tiny letters on her palm. “I was so terrified of losing you by marrying you and yet I nearly did anyway.”
She cupped his rough jaw with her free hand. “But you didn’t. And you saved me. Had you not been there, I might have died.”
“Yes.” His jaw worked. “I love you.” Again he sketched the words. “I cannot lose you again. I was so terrified of getting hurt that I hurt us both. I won’t make that mistake again.” He turned over her hand and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. “Marry me.”
For a moment, she forgot to breathe. Was she merely dreaming again? Had her English lord truly asked for her hand in marriage?
“Viola?” he prompted.
She laughed and took his face in her hands to kiss his forehead. “Of course, I will. I love you, Julian Cynfell, Marquess of Lockwood, Viscount of Marworth, Baron of Alderwood... have I missed any?”
“Several actually,” he said with a wry smile before gripping her hands and turning his face to kiss both of her palms. “I loved you from the first word, Viola,” he told her. “I’ll love you until the last.”
Epilogue
My Dearest Viola,
Today it has been eighteen years since we married. You always claimed I gave you so much—a life in England, a beautiful home, five handsome children—but the truth is, you gave me everything. You gave me hope, love and joy.
Indeed, I have wealth and power, but none of this could have brought me so much contentment as being able to tell people that you are my wife. Even I, with my way with the written word, cannot explain what I feel for you. It is something so precious that it cannot be expressed by mere ink and paper. It is something, I think, only you can understand.
You know that I have always said I would rather die than let anything happen to you and that still stands. However, you banished the black fear from within me with your love and kindness. Though I long never to be parted from you, I know without doubt, that our souls will remain forever entwined.
On this day, our eighteenth wedding anniversary, please know that my love and admiration for you has only ever grown. With every trial we have faced, we have come out stronger. I’ve enjoyed watching you become more beautiful and graceful with each passing year. Your humour and tranquil disposition will continue to carry this family through whatever else the years bring us, and I thank God every day that you have passed these traits onto our children.
Your loving and doting (and sometimes grumpy) husband,
J
THE END
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Other titles by Samantha Holt
Tempting His Mistress
Once Upon a Rake
To Steal a Highlander’s Heart (Book 1 of the Highland Fae Chronicles)
To Dream of a Highlander (Book 2 of the Highland Fae Chronicles)
To Avenge Her Highland Warrior (Book 3 of The Highland Fae Chronicles)
Contemporary Romance
Too Much to Lose
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Copyright 2015 ©Samantha Holt
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organisations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Epilogue