He regarded her steadily. “Give me some time to come up with a workable solution.”

“It must be workable for all of us. Teddy and Aunt Charlotte, too.”

His mouth hitched into a smile. “That goes without saying.”

Laura’s heart swelled.

And she wanted to tell him that she loved him. That she was in love with him. But she couldn’t seem to work up the nerve. Not when she didn’t know whether or not he felt the same.

But life was about taking risks. Wasn’t that what she’d told him in Surrey? One couldn’t be a spectator, watching the parade go by. She certainly wasn’t. And she didn’t wish to start being one now, no matter how afraid she was of the consequences.

She touched his cheek, looking deeply into his eyes as she took her courage in her hands. “I love you.”

Alex flinched. For an instant, it seemed he might pull away from her touch. But he didn’t move. He stared at her, his big body as still as a marble statue.

“I love you,” she said again.

His throat convulsed on a swallow. “Laura—”

“You don’t have to say it back. And you don’t have to promise me anything. All I ask is that you be true to me. That’s all I want. To know that I’m yours, and that you’re mine. Just as you said on the beach at Margate.”

He covered her hand with his. “I am yours. Only yours.”

She managed a tremulous smile. “Well, then.”

“Well, then.” His eyes held hers, even as he brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. “Now that we understand each other.”

“Yes.”

After a long moment, he stood, drawing her to her feet along with him. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten that we’re on our honeymoon.”

“I haven’t forgotten either.”

A glint of heat shone in his gaze. “Come here.”

She moved closer to him, her pulse quickening.

He curved one large hand about her waist before bending his head and kissing her. Heat flared between them as it always did, weakening her knees and flooding her veins with warmth.

And suddenly it didn’t matter that he hadn’t said it back. That he might not love her as she loved him. All that mattered was that she was his wife, and that she was in his arms.

Sometime later, she rose from their bed and slipped back on her clothes. Alex was asleep on his stomach amid the crumpled sheets, the bare skin of his muscled shoulders and back rendered golden by the sunlight that filtered through the curtained window. He looked vulnerable in sleep. No longer wolfish or dangerous. His body was relaxed, his dark hair wildly disheveled.