Page 8 of The Duke's Sister's Absolutely Excellent Engagement (The Notorious Briarwoods Book 11)

N estor pulled the small blue velvet box from his pocket. She was still pressed against him, and he didn’t want to let her go, but this moment was momentous.

“This is for you,” he said softly. “I asked Grandmama to take it out of the family vault. I wanted something as magnificent and unusual as you are.”

She stared at that blue velvet box and sucked in a gasp. “You really were planning this.”

“Yes. With my family,” he added.

“The whole family knows and they approve?”

He nodded. “Of course. One doesn’t just marry a Briarwood,” he said. “One marries all the Briarwoods.”

She shook her head, amazed. She knew that. It’s exactly what had happened with Rufus. And she had been included in that family. Now, she would be even more so. “It shall make me so very happy to officially be part of your family,” she said.

“From the moment you entered our house, it was clear that this is where you are supposed to be. It’s one of the pieces that made me know that I should ask you to marry me. Now, open it,” he said softly.

She tilted her head back, gazing into his face, completely amazed, it seemed, by the turn of events. But then she took the box from him and opened it. Her eyes widened.

“Do you like it?” he asked.

She slipped the pink diamond surrounded by small white diamonds from its velvet spot. “How could I not like it?” she whispered.

“It belonged to a very powerful lady,” he said, and then, without hesitation, as if he wished to bond them to each other, he slipped it upon her finger.

“Truly?” she marveled. “It fits perfectly,” she said, amazed.

“It was meant for you. All of this was meant for you. Grandmama knew too and she agreed with me that this, out of all the family rings, was the one.”

“Whose was it?” she asked, her voice a whisper of a promise that he could not wait to know.

“The lady that made the Briarwoods great,” he replied, his heart alight, as his world completely changed. For Margery would be his, and the ring upon her finger was a symbol of that, and he wanted her to know just what he saw in her. “She was not royalty. She was not titled. But she caught the eye of the king, and he loved her. They had a son, and he gave her power, wealth, and the title of a duke for that son. She was witty, charitable, strong, vivacious… And she did not let anyone crush her. You remind me of her.”

“I?” she asked, her mouth dropping open before her brow furrowed. “Never. Such a thing is not possible. She would have had to have been fierce to hold a king.”

“Oh, I see it in your eyes,” he mused, tracing his finger along the line of her jaw, barely able to contain how he loved the feel of her body so close to his. “It is there, waiting to be unleashed. I felt it the moment I was in your presence. Maybe nobody else sees it,” Nestor said softly, “but I do.”

He clapped the box shut and slipped it back into his pocket and pulled her tight into his arms. “But…”

“But?” she echoed, her eyes twin pools in the darkness, as if she feared what came next. “That doesn’t sound good, Nestor. Don’t say but . You’re making me terribly nervous now. You’re not going to take it back, are you?”

“How could I take it back?” he asked, appalled, but his brain was now muddled with the feel of her, the promise of her curves pressed into his hard lines. “Don’t be—”

“Silly? I shall be as silly as I wish to be. This is all so impossible. No one would have expected you to ask me to marry you.”

“Don’t say that,” he growled. “I don’t want to ever hear you say it again.”

“All right, then I won’t.”

Then his conversation with his father came to him, and he closed his eyes and lowered his forehead to hers. What had he done? He’d made a mistake. A serious one. He had promised his father that he would tell her everything. But the conversation had gotten away from him. His desire and emotions had taken charge.

“There’s something I must tell you. And after I do… You might change your mind.”

“It’s too late for that,” she declared, pressing her palm to rest above his heart. “What kind of person would I be to tell you no?”

“A reasonable one,” he said. “Because I have to tell you all of the truth. I’m…odd. You know that. Everyone does.”

She laughed again. He loved the fact that she was laughing, and oh, dear heaven, how he loved her laugh. It was not that delicate, ladylike nonsense that so many young ladies were forced to do because it was what they had practiced.

Hers was loud and odd and unique, and when she allowed herself to laugh? It was full of life.

“My behavior,” he began, suddenly feeling nervous in a way he could not recall ever having felt before. As a matter of fact, he held on to her now, held onto her so tightly he feared she might instruct him to let go. “It can sometimes be erratic, powerful, a bit more than what people might expect.”

“You mean like a Briarwood,” she said, melding into his embrace rather than resisting it.

“No, no, not just like a Briarwood. It’s more. It’s…simply…” He had promised himself that he would never be afraid. And he was dangerously close to acting afraid. “It’s true. I understand the Briarwoods are all powerful and eccentric, but what I mean is stronger than that. This is something that seems inherent in me. You see, I have a great deal of uncontrollable energy sometimes, and sometimes I have no energy, which verges on deep melancholy, and it’s something that I…”

“Inherited from your father?” she said quickly.

He blinked, her almost blithe reply so matter of fact that he was certain he had misheard her. “What?”

“You inherited it from your father,” she said again factually.

He shook his head, amazed. “You have deduced this?”

“Of course I’ve deduced it,” she said, gaping at him as if he had merely declared that he was male. “I’ve been living with you all for weeks upon end now. You’ve just described your father exactly, and there have been times when he goes off to be alone. Times when he clearly feels that he is about to spill his wild nature upon the family. He protects everyone when he doesn’t trust himself. And why should that give me any pause or dismay? Your father is a remarkable man. He is kind. He is loving. He saved Rufus from so much pain. And I’m glad that you’re like him.”

He swallowed. “I’m glad I’m like him too,” he replied, his voice rough with emotion. He had always accepted himself, but now he knew she would too. “But I thought I should be utterly transparent with you. For such a thing could give you pause.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said. “It doesn’t give me pause at all.”

“Good,” he said with a relieved sigh. “My father can be embarrassed about it, you see. I’m not. I like it. I’ve embraced it. My cousins have helped me embrace it. Most of society really has no clue. You’d have to live with me to know, and that’s quite all right,” he said. “But sometimes I can seem a bit…irrational.”

She gazed up at him, acceptance in her eyes. And something else. Something intense. “I think that I’m ready for a bit of irrational behavior,” she professed. “This world is far too rational, and I think it’s gotten us all into a great deal of trouble. My father thought he was rational. My mother too. They controlled my brother and I with their rigid view of the world. I’ve lived my life by the rules, and I’ve been miserable for it. And I’m ready to throw that life away,” she said. “And start a new one.”

Overwhelmed now with the promise of her beautiful soul being entwined with his, he stroked a lock of her soft hair back from her face, savoring the growing intimacy between them. “I’m happy to supply it for you,” he assured. All doubt lifted from him then, leaving him feeling as if he was soaring, like an ember sparked from the fire, slipping up into the heavens.

He felt his heart swell, feeling quite good. For her words confirmed that he had chosen rightly. That he had been correct in his intuition about her. And though he did not wish to truly admit it, because he’d never really been worried about the sort of person that he was or the fact that he was like his father, he was genuinely happy that she had not judged him.

Someone like Lady Magnolia and her mama? He doubted they would have been kind or understanding. They would have been appalled and cruel and perhaps suggested a doctor to fix him. Or an isolated chamber in Scotland, to keep him away from society.

He knew his father had been desperately worried about that for years. That someone in society would deduce that sometimes he was not what everyone else considered sane. He’d been so worried that he had hid it, lest his power be seized from him.

Yet, Nestor had had the privilege of freedom from such fears. Some might say it was the way his grandmother and his mother and all of his aunts and uncles treated him and his father, caring for them just as they were.

But Nestor knew it wasn’t that alone.

It was the fact that he had his father, who could lead him and show him the way through those dark days. Because his father had experienced all of that first.

Whereas his father had not had that. From what Nestor understood, his grandfather had not experienced such intense shifts in emotion or intensity. Nestor’s father had had love and acceptance from his family. But no guide.

And because Nestor had that guide? He knew there was no need to be ashamed or to hide himself away when he became different.

For he saw that the difference in his father, as his grandmother had helped him see, made him kind, it made him empathetic, and it made him willing to help people in a way that many aristocrats simply were not willing to do.

Nestor was glad he had inherited it, though sometimes it did cause him a great deal of pain. The days in which the energy left him and he felt as if he were stuck in the darkest of caverns surrounded by the most awful of feelings were not really welcome. But what was life without the bitter to the sweet and the dark to the light? Nothing.

He refused to pity himself.

He knew that his own suffering was one of the reasons he had longed to help Lady Margery when no one else had, for he could see far beyond the facade that she had presented to the world.

Yes, he could see the lady longing to be freed.

He tilted her head back with his hand, determined that she was absolutely sure. “So you have no reservations?”

“In marrying you? Aside from you being young?”

“Good God!” he exclaimed, not out of annoyance but out of joy because she was teasing him. And oh how he loved to see her feel safe enough to tease! “You make it sound as if I am two years old,” he said.

She grinned, but then her brow furrowed. “We should be honest about all things. For a rake, you are very young to be married.”

“I’m not a rake,” he said.

“Aren’t you?” she asked, batting her lashes.

“No,” he confessed.

And the truth was he wasn’t. Not at all. He was good with ladies, but he had not gone on the town like his brothers, and it made him a bit nervous because he was not as experienced as his older cousins. Actually, he was quite inexperienced.

“The truth is, Lady Margery,” he said softly, “you will be a mystery to me.”

“That sounds rather vague. I don’t understand what you’re saying. Are you trying to say that ladies are a mystery to men?” She arched a brow. “Because that doesn’t sound like you at all.”

“No, no,” he said. “I understand ladies quite well, I think, because of all the wonderful women in my life. My cousins. My aunts. But in terms of romance…”

He swallowed, gathering the courage to say what he must aloud. “You will be my very first.”

“First,” she breathed, clearly not following.

He winced. “I should have realized that you might not have the education to—”

But then her eyes rounded and she cut in, “You mean the very first?”

He nodded. “Can you accept that?” he said. “I know that young ladies often prefer someone with carnal experience.”

She tilted her head to the side and pressed her hand over his heart again, as if she could somehow soothe all his doubts. “You keep offering up all the reasons I should suddenly retract my acceptance of your proposal. Do you really wish to marry me?”

“Oh, indeed I do. But I wish you to have all the facts.”

“What can I say?” she said softly. “You and I are about to go on an adventure together. We will both be young and inexperienced. Instead of you knowing all and teaching me? We shall teach each other. How could I not wish that?” she breathed.

“May I ask why you did not go on the town like all the other bucks?” she asked gently.

He let out another sigh of relief. He had not realized how tense he was. But now? What was there to worry about? Nothing. And her question was perfectly reasonable. So he replied, “Unlike so many young men, I never understood the point of racing after fleeting pleasure for the sake of it. I want something deep, something meaningful, something powerful, and I can have that with you. I can give myself entirely to you. I don’t have to engage in petty nothings as so many do. That’s not for me, Lady Margery. Not at all.”

She gave him the strangest look then. “You really aren’t like anyone else, are you, Nestor? And it’s why I…”

“Yes?” he asked.

She shook her head quickly. “It’s why I’ve always admired you so much.”

He stroked his hand along her back, awakening again to the feel of her, the warmth of her, and the fact that she was going to be his. “I’m glad to hear you admire your future husband,” he said.

He cleared his throat, his gaze slipping to her lips. “There’s something that I think we should do.”

“Oh, yes?” she said.

“Yes.”

And then he dared himself to do it. He dared himself to kiss her. He was not accustomed to seduction. He had no idea how to sweep a young lady up into passion. But he wanted this. More than anything. And he wanted her to enjoy it too.

It was a bit awkward at first as he angled her to take his kiss, and he slid his hand into her coiffure. His fingers tangled for an instant in her curls, and he felt a fool. He thought perhaps he should step back and abandon it altogether. But then he felt her hands slide up to his shoulders, pulling him closer, and he realized she did want this as much as he did.

Softly, gently, they learned each other. They teased and explored each other’s lips in hot touches and caresses of mouths and tongues and breaths.

They gave themselves to each other.

Swift passion swallowed them, and he felt as if the entire world spun upside down, leaving him suspended and entirely lost to pure heaven. Entirely lost in her.

And he hoped that he would never ever be found.