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A lthough the ballroom was still alive with music and laughter, Graham no longer cared for the revelry. All he wanted was to be alone with her.

“My love,” he said softly, “would you care to go outside with me?”

She smiled. “I’ll go anywhere, as long as it’s with you.”

She hooked her hand around the crook of his elbow as he escorted her outside.

She stood beside him on the terrace, bathed in moonlight, her emerald gown flowing around her like silk spun from the night itself.

She had danced with him, laughed with him—and yet Graham felt the weight of something unfinished between them.

Something he could no longer ignore.

He had won her heart. But if they were to have a future, she needed to know why he had left her five years ago. And why he had never stopped loving her.

He took a slow breath, squeezing her hand gently. “Eleanor, there’s something I need to tell you.”

She faced him fully, curiosity flickering in her dark eyes. “What is it?”

Graham hesitated, brushing his thumb absently over her knuckles, steadying himself for what he had to say.

“When I left England five years ago,” he began, “it was not because I wanted to.”

Eleanor stiffened slightly, her fingers tensing in his grip. Graham held on.

“My father was ruined,” he continued. “Not just in wealth, but in reputation. He had made a series of reckless investments, gambling on ships that never arrived, pouring our family’s fortune into ventures that collapsed. I only discovered the extent of it after it was too late.”

Eleanor’s breath hitched, but she remained silent, waiting for him to go on.

“I was given a choice,” he said bitterly. “Stay in England and watch everything my family built crumble—or leave and rebuild it myself.”

“And you chose to leave.”

Graham nodded. “I had to. If I had stayed, I would have had nothing to offer you. No title, no wealth, no future. I could not ask you to wait for a man who had nothing but his name to give.”

Eleanor’s fingers tightened around his. “So, you left to save your family.”

“And I stayed away until my uncle died and passed his title to me. But I was still afraid to come back.”

Eleanor’s brow furrowed. “Afraid of what?”

“I was afraid that when I returned, you would be gone.”

Eleanor’s lips parted slightly, but Graham wasn’t finished. “I told myself that you deserved better. That you deserved someone who could give you everything. And when I heard whispers that you had withdrawn from Society, I thought…” His voice faltered. “I thought I had ruined you.”

Silence stretched between them, thick with old wounds and unspoken longing. Then—her hand touched his face, soft and sure. Graham froze.

Eleanor’s eyes burned with something fierce, something unshaken. “You did not ruin me, Graham.”

His heart pounded.

She cupped his cheek. “I was angry,” she admitted softly. “I was hurt. I spent years believing you had forgotten me. That I had meant nothing to you.”

Graham exhaled sharply, his chest aching.

“But I never stopped loving you,” she whispered.

And in that moment, he was undone.

He wrapped his hands around hers, pressing his cheek against hers as he felt a cleansing peace settle over him. “Say it again.”

Eleanor’s lips curved. “I love you.”

A slow smile broke across his lips. “Then we have wasted too much time,” he murmured.

Eleanor withdrew slightly and arched a brow. “And what do you propose we do about it?”

“Marry me.”

Eleanor blinked, startled. A light chuckle escaped her. “Is that not why we are having this party tonight? Because we are engaged?”

He slid a finger under her chin, tilting it up. “Not next Season. Not next year. Now. As soon as possible.”

Eleanor’s lips parted in surprise, then softened into a smile. “You always were impatient.”

He threaded his fingers through hers, pulling her flush against him. “I have waited five years, Eleanor. I cannot wait another moment.”

She laughed, light and free, then leaned into him, pressing a kiss to his lips—a promise, a beginning.

Graham deepened it, pouring five years of longing into that single touch, into the vow of everything they would have together. And as the stars glimmered above them, as the past melted away beneath the warmth of her touch, Graham knew.

Their future had never been more certain.

And it belonged to them.

The End