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He waited for her to say sorew more impatient "You know h to know that I would never do anything to hurt or humiliate you" His hands landed heavily on her shoulders, and he fought the urge to shake her until she agreed "Because if you don't, then there is no hope for us"

Her lips parted in surprise, and Jaue And somehow, as he stared at the face that had haunted him for weeks, he knew exactly what he needed to do

Before she had a chance to react, he reached out and took her hand in his "Do you feel this?" he whispered, placing it against his heart "It beats for you"

"Do you feel these?" he echoed, raising her hand to his lips "They breathe for you

"And s walk for you My voice speaks for you, and my arms--''

"Stop," she choked out, overcorown hoarse with emotion "They ache to hold you"

She took a step forward--just an inch or two--and he could see that she was close, her heart was so close to ad the inevitable

"I love you," he whispered "I love you I see your face when I wake up in the1 a I want to be--"

She rushed into his ar her face in the warm haven of his chest "You never said it," she said, her voice nearly strangled by the sobs she'd been holding in for days "You never said it before"

"I don't knohy," he said into her hair "I ht, and then it was never right, and--"

She put a finger to his mouth "Shhhh Just kiss me"

For a split second he was frozen, his muscles unable to move in the face of such supreme relief Then, overcoht disappear in his ar hers with a htly away from her And then, while she looked at him with confusion, he reached for her hair and pulled out a pin "I've never seen it down," he said "I've seen itover your shoulders"

One by one, he pulled the pins loose, each lost pin freeing a long lock of pale golden hair Finally, when it cascaded freely down her back, he held her at arth and turned her slowly around "You're theI've ever seen," he breathed

She blushed "Don't be silly," she ," he repeated Then he drew her back to hi it over his o to bed at night"

Elizabeth had thought her skin had felt ware Her cheeks burned, and she would have used her hair to shield her blush had not James touched the underside of her chin and tilted her head up so that he could look into her eyes