In the distant background, the slight blur giving it a mystical feel, was Sheffield Hall. On the path leading up to it, the main focus of the piece, was a woman and a man, each holding a hand of the small boy walking between them. The man was fainter than the other two, as though he wasn’t there, didn’t truly belong.

While only their backs and a narrow profile of each of their faces as they gazed down on the boy were visible, she recognized herself and Aiden. In a world that for them would never exist. Tears flooded her eyes.

He had told her he painted from memory. At the bookshop, she’d seen that, in addition, he painted using his vivid imagination. Now, she understood that he also painted his dreams.

And his dream was the same as hers.

The air shifted as though more space was required for the arrival of a formidable presence. A collective intake of breath hissed through the room.

But neither of those things told Aiden she was here. Even though his back was to the doorway and he’d been giving his attention to a countess who was having a difficult time calculating the sum of the cards in her hand, he knew who had strolled into the room. He felt her as though she’d reached out and skimmed her fingers along his spine.

Straightening, turning, he saw he had the right of it, and every cell in his body rejoiced at the sight of her. So beautiful, so stunning, so—

Unmasked.

It had taken him a moment to realize she had entered his dominion without shielding her face and now was striding through it—

No, not through. Toward. Toward him.

Her blue eyes were aflame with purpose. That lovely mouth of hers was tilted up slightly at the corners. Her steps were measured, graceful, bringing her ever nearer.

And when she reached him, without any hesitation at all, she rose up on her toes, wound her arms around his neck, and claimed his mouth as though it belonged to her alone.

God help him if it didn’t.

Without thought for the consequences, he closed his arms around her and brought her up against him, enfolding her in an embrace that made the world seem right again. For a week, he’d barely slept, tossing about whenever he tried. He’d missed her so damn much. It took every shred of decency he possessed to not go see her, to not tell her how it was slowly killing him not to have her in his life.

Leaning back, she held his gaze and what he saw there nearly brought him to his knees.

“I love you,” she said with clear certainty.

He slammed his eyes closed as emotions rioted through him.