“You are my only hope.” Daniel caressed Lettie’s hands, trying to rid them of the chill that had descended on the room. From her lost, faraway look, he suspected she was no longer in this room with him. Jealousy spiked at the thought of her in his arms but thinking of another man—or even another place. Could a man be envious of a place, especially a place that lay a far distance away? “Without you, I have no future.”

“With me, you may not have one either. I am uncertain if I am capable of going on.”

His stomach dropped with her declaration, and tendrils of ice coursed through him.

He didn’t want to think about what he’d do if she pushed him away, told him not even a friendship could exist between them. It would be more than he could handle.

Lettie could survive years of camp life and hardship, but he couldn’t even live past the rejection of a woman.

Not a woman.

His woman.

Lettie, Lady Colette Hughes, was the only woman he’d ever envisioned himself with. Wedding and starting a family with. Living in town or the country—hell, he’d move to Scotland if that’s what she demanded of him. Anywhere she longed to be, he would follow. Any purpose in life she settled on, he would wholeheartedly support.

There was no other option for Daniel.

He loved her so entirely, without her, he’d have no will to go on. He would not sink back into his rakehell ways. No. He would simply cease to be.

“Tell me, Lettie, tell me you will at least try.” His voice cracked on the final word.

“My heart wants all you offer.” Lettie lowered her head. “However, my mind is unable to reconcile it all. Does the heart have the ability to love two men so entirely?”

His back stiffened and hope soared. “Are you saying you love me?”

She shook her head as if to banish her muddled thoughts and lifted her eyes to meet his once more. “Daniel, my heart has always loved you—it was my mind that wouldn’t give in to the emotion, fearing your drinking and debauchery would rip my heart out and leave me destitute. However, I chose another…and here I am, still destitute.”

Daniel saw the regret in her. “You did what you thought was right. I can never blame you for that. At the time, I was not prepared for a woman of your caliber. I likely would have hurt you.”

“But you are different now?”

“Of course,” he whispered. “I have realized my missteps, dealt with the loss of my father, and I know—without a doubt—that you are the woman I want by my side for eternity. If the eternity is spent in London, that is where we shall be. If you deem a life in the country suits you best, we will travel there. Hell, if you want to live on a schooner in the Atlantic Ocean, I will learn to swim and fish.”

“The place is not important,” she sighed. “A place cannot make me whole again.”

“Then what, Lettie? What will make you whole again?” he demanded patiently.

“I do not know. I may never know, but because of you, I want to try.” She ran her hands through her short hair and stood.

His heart soared. “What are you saying?” He needed her confirmation, to know she wanted him by her side to help her find herself once more.

She leaned in toward him, her hands reaching for his face and settling at his cheeks. She ran her fingers under his eyes and across to his temples. Daniel hadn’t realized his head thumped in expectation. The headache receded as she caressed his face.

Finally, she smiled a tentative smile. Not weak—in no way was Lettie weak. She was the strongest person he’d ever known. “You may be lost now, but together, we can—no, we will—overcome this. I have no doubt of that.”

She lifted on her tiptoes and set her mouth against his for a light, chaste kiss before stepping away. “I do not know if it is easy to overcome what holds my mind hostage, but…” Her words trailed off, and a soft sob left her.

Her mouth parted, and she drew her bottom lip in and nibbled on it.

“Nothing in life worth having comes easily,” he said.

“Oh, Daniel, I want to try—with you,” she confessed.

The words were all he needed to pull her back into his arms, everything else forgotten.

The gathering in the dining hall downstairs. The expectations for her parents. The future of her mother’s estate. The watchful eye of society.

None of it mattered.

Lettie mattered, only Lettie.

And she was willing to give him the opportunity to love her. The chance he’d turned away from six years ago.

The future he would never take for granted again.

He loved her with his whole heart and mind.

She loved him with her heart—now, they only need convince her mind that it was capable of the same.

It would be a difficult, harrowing journey, but Lettie had seen and done worse. With her steel strength and him to guide her, there was no way they’d fail.

He pulled back far enough to lean down and kiss her and run his hand through her hair.

She pushed against him, her lips as demanding as his.

He allowed her control, gave her the power to take their kiss and embrace in whatever direction she longed to.

Not surprisingly, she wrapped her arms around him to caress his back, her fingers digging tightly into his waist to keep him securely to her as her tongue darted out and slowly crept along his bottom lip.

She tasted him, and Daniel wanted nothing more than to savor her in return.

The softness of her welcoming lips, as she hesitated for a brief moment before giving in to what Daniel knew she wanted—complete exploration of one another both emotionally and physically.

Daniel pulled back, needing to gaze into her eyes, make sure she understood and believed in his commitment to her—and their future together. “Lettie, I am here for you, with you. Every minute of every day I will stand devoted to you…and to us. Anything and everything you desire will be yours. I will make sure of it. I will love you until my last days on earth, and then, never fear, I will love you in the next world. I will live every day to make you happy.”

“This, with you near, is when I think that healing is possible.” She looked up at him, her eyes no longer holding the haze he’d noted since picking her up at The George. “It is because of you I also have hope—for myself and the future.”

“Allow me to love you forever, Lettie.”

“I will have it no other way.”