The Earl's Design of Love: The Stenwick Siblings by Kirsten Osbourne, Morganna Mayfair

question him for it.
    “It would if I wanted to use it for that, but I don’t.  I married you because I can’t imagine my life without you and because I love you more than words could ever express.  I need you in my life every day.”
    She shook her head.  “But I heard what Anthony said!”  Why couldn’t he understand that she knew better?
    Percy sighed.  “Did you stick around long enough to hear my response to him?  I told him then the money was going into trust.  He tried to talk me into using it for the debt, but I told him I couldn’t do that.  I need you to know I married you because I love you, not because of the money.”
    She stared at him in surprise, though why she was so surprised she wasn’t sure.  He was exactly the man she’d agreed to marry.  The man she’d thought he was at the end of their first weekend together.  Their aura had told her from the very beginning that they belonged together, so why was she shocked?
    She took a step closer to him and placed her palm against his chest.  He was wearing his work clothes, as he usually did when no one else was around.  She liked how he looked in a suit, but she liked how he looked even more when he was dressed in his work clothes.  The clothes to her symbolized the hardworking good man she’d married.  “Percy, I didn’t expect you to love me so soon.”  She shook her head.  “I’m surprised to say the very least.”
    He frowned down at her.  “Why didn’t you expect it?  You saw our auras.  You knew I had feelings for you from the first moment we met.”  He was sad that she’d ever doubted his feelings for her.  Did she really not realize what an incredible woman she was?
    She shrugged.  “When I heard Anthony talking about how you could use the dowry, I guess all my hopes fell away.  I was certain I meant nothing to you from that moment on.”  She looked down, embarrassed.  “I’m sorry I had so little faith in you.”
    He reached out and gathered her close to him.  “I understand that the evidence must have seemed very incriminating.”  He did wish she’d had more faith in him, though.
    Diana bit her lip.  “I should have trusted you from the very beginning, the way you trusted me.  I told you an outlandish story about special powers I had and you barely questioned it.”  She stood on her tiptoes to kiss his chin.  “I hope you can forgive me.”
    Percy stroked her back through her traveling dress that she was still wearing.  “Of course, I can forgive you.  I love you.”   To him love was all-forgiving, especially with her.
    She looked up at him with her heart in her eyes.  “Oh, I love you, too.  I never dreamed that I would find love.  I thought my destiny was to match others, not to feel any kind of real love myself.”
    “You really love me?” he asked, his eyes glowing with wonder.
    “How could I not love you?  You’re everything I’ve ever wanted.”  She smiled her face against his chest.  “I thank God every day that my father talked to your mother and they decided we should marry.  I can’t imagine what my life would be like without you.” 
    He sighed.  “I’m just happy I decided to go ahead and marry you instead of waiting until I was out of debt like I’d originally planned.”
    She smiled.  “I am too, although I would have waited until you were ready.”
    “But would your parents have been willing to wait?”
    “They wouldn’t have had a choice.  I’d have waited for love.  I’d have waited forever for love if that’s what it took.”  She smiled, taking his hand in hers and leading him toward the house.
    “Where are we going?” he asked.
    She nodded toward the west.  “The sun set.  I believe this means we’re supposed to be upstairs?”  It had been their joke since their wedding day that if the sun was down, they were meant to be making love.
    He smiled.  “I like the way you think.” 
     

Epilogue
     
     
    Charlotte wandered the