You are so beautiful,” he sighed into her hair. She tried…

““You are so beautiful,” he sighed into her hair. She tried to check her girlish giggle, unsuccessfully. “Gray, it’s dark as pitch. You can’t even see me.” “Even in the dark,” he murmured against her skin. “You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known, even in the dark.” Suddenly, it was tears Sophia fought to suppress. She lost that battle, too. “I swear I’ll never leave you,” he whispered. “I said it before, and I mean it still. I don’t care what you’ve done in the past, because your future is with me. if I never learn your name, it doesn’t matter. I intend to give you mine.” He rose up on one elbow and smoothed the hair from her brow. His smile was a flash of white in the dark. “You can be ‘Mrs. Grayson’ to the world, but to me…to me, you’ll always be ‘sweet.’ I don’t think I could call you anything else.” Sophia swallowed hard. Did he mean what she thought he meant? “Are you certain? I may still get my courses.” “I’m certain. I’ve never been more certain.” “I thought you weren’t the marrying sort.” “I wasn’t. And it’s a damn good thing, too, or I’d be off with some inconvenient wife instead of here with you.” His hand drifted down to her belly. “You could be carrying my child. I want our child. I want a life with you.” Hope fluttered in her chest. “Gray…” “Shhh.” He laid a finger against her lips. “Don’t say anything, unless it’s yes.””

— Tessa Dare