Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 121460 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 486(@250wpm)___ 405(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121460 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 486(@250wpm)___ 405(@300wpm)
As for the main house, we’d opted for something more open than Thane’s and Lachlan’s, with an impressive staircase greeting us in the middle of a massive space. To our left would be our finished kitchen and, to the right, our living room. A wall of windows ran from one end to the other, giving us awesome views over the North Sea.
“What the …” Monroe gaped at what I had Arro do for me just minutes before our arrival.
In what would be our living room, a picnic blanket was laid out with pastries and petit fours Sloane had baked especially for the occasion, two glasses of non-alcoholic sparkling wine, and a bottle in a bucket. And along the edges of the room were candles upon lit candles. The flames flickered and glowed, dancing in the reflection of the windows.
“Come on.” I led her inside and helped her out of her light spring coat. I draped it carefully over one of the stacked boxes that contained pieces of our kitchen. Then I shrugged out of mine, my eyes going to Monroe’s small, rounded belly as she turned to gaze at the candles.
“What is all this?”
She was four months pregnant, and other than morning sickness that dissipated after her first trimester, Monroe was doing well. Which was a good thing because who knew your fiancée being pregnant could make her hornier than a teenager? Roe’s libido was in overdrive at the moment, and she was extremely sensitive. We were taking advantage of it now since Arro and Robyn had warned Roe that she probably “wouldn’t want to touch me with a barge pole by the middle of the third trimester.”
The candles cast a glow over Roe’s hair, making it dance like the sunset. We didn’t know if we were having a boy or a girl yet, but I was hoping for a girl with hair like her mother’s. And a heart like Roe’s. I’d love a boy, too, of course. Whatever the universe saw fit, I would be grateful. I was just bloody in awe and amazed that I was standing in a house that belonged to me and Monroe Sinclair, that she was pregnant with my child and wanted to spend the rest of her life with me.
Speaking of … “Come here.” I took her hand and led her over to the layers of picnic blankets. “Stay there.” I lowered myself down to one knee and her eyes rounded as I raised the black velvet ring box before her, snapping it open to reveal the ring that had taken me weeks to pick from the selections jewelers had sent me. I watched Roe’s face like a hawk for her reaction.
To my utter relief, her jaw dropped, and she lifted her hands as if to touch it, but then stopped, delight and disbelief dancing in her eyes. “Brodan.” Her gaze flew to mine. “It’s perfect.”
I hadn’t wanted to get her a ring that was too modern or too old-fashioned. Finally, I’d found one that had a vintage edge that I immediately could see on Roe’s finger. The jeweler told me it had a vertical marquise center, which I think was just a posh word for oval. Smaller marquise diamond petals on either side, then two single horizontal marquise diamonds on a knife-edge, rose-gold band.
“I’m sorry it took me so long to make good on my promise to propose properly … but I wanted to find the perfect ring.”
Her eyes brightened with emotion. “You certainly did that.”
I grinned, relieved, and she reached out to clasp my face in her palms. I leaned into her touch, feeling so much, too much. More than I could ever deserve to feel. “I have loved you, Monroe Sinclair, since I was a boy. I’ve loved you as my best friend, I’ve loved you as a teenage boy’s fantasy”—I laughed as she rolled her eyes—“I’ve loved you as a scared young man. I’ve loved you even when I didn’t realize I loved you.”
She nodded in tender understanding.
“I have loved you most of my life, and I know with a certainty that awes and terrifies me in equal measure … that I will love you until my last breath. Maybe even then.”
Tears spilled down her cheeks, and she lowered to her knees beside me.
“And I promise I will love our child with the same fierceness. That I will do everything in my power to make our family happy. To spend the rest of our lives loving you the way you’ve always deserved to be loved.” At her choked sob, I felt my emotion rise, and I released the ring from the box and took hold of Roe’s left hand. “Will you spare me the agony of life without you, Monroe Sinclair, and do me the honor of becoming my wife?”