Part 15 (1/2)

He smiled. ”Darling, I can tell you want to shout in glee, so please, feel free.”

Francesca grinned. ”When?” she asked eagerly. ”I mean, should we actually elope? I know we had decided against it- and Mama would never forgive me. Or we could have a very small ceremony, just with family. What do you think?”

He tipped up her chin. ”I hate coming between you and your father, Francesca,” he said quietly. ”I know you adore Andrew. I hate forcing you to make a choice between him and myself.”

Her smile vanished. ”Calder, it's too late. I have already made that choice-I have already chosen you-and I am not retracting it.”

He pulled her close. ”If I were selfless and n.o.ble, I would back off, find patience and somehow persuade your father to our cause. But I am not selfless or n.o.ble and I am savagely glad that you have chosen a life with me. I only hope you will never have any regrets.”

She stood on tiptoe and kissed him. ”Calder, I intend to bring the brunt of the entire family to bear on Papa. I will be very surprised if he does not cave in. He is no match for me, Mama and Connie, not when we unite against him.”

”No man could be a match for the three of you,” he said wryly. ”He loves you. And he also respects your intellect. Perhaps he will come around before the fact, and not after it.”

”He will,” she said with genuine confidence. ”I am sure of it. I will begin planning the wedding tomorrow, if that is all right with you. I will speak with Mama and Connie and we will decide on a date. I still prefer June.”

He nodded with a smile. ”That is fine.”

She knew he had something else on his mind. ”Calder?”

”There's something I want to say,” he said, very seriously now.

She froze, and then her heart leaped with excitement. She nodded, filled with antic.i.p.ation.

Would he finally tell her that he loved her? She crossed her fingers behind her back.

”Please.”

He clasped her shoulders, smiling a little. His eyes had become impossibly tender. ”The moment I first met you, I knew you were the most unique woman I had ever encountered.”