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But when the ain a dish he knew she enjoyed—a s box appeared on the table and her breath ran out
She stared at it That couldn’t be what she thought it was The roses…the violinists…Suddenly herclarity to a conclusion she had not even considered The romance had been prelude to a proposal?
She couldn’t believe it and yet, no other reason for the ring box could penetrate her racingsimply to embark on an affair
He reached across the table and took her hand Feeling strangely nu her toup the strong chin with its adorable cleft, past the long straight nose to a gaze as penetrating as a laser beam
“Eleanor Wentworth, will you domy wife?”
Even expecting the question, her usual aplo, but no sound e He’d asked her to marry him, but she had no idea how he felt about her If he loved her, wouldn’t he have said it? Wouldn’t she have sensed it?
He cocked his head to one side, one brow rising in an obvious prompt for a response
“I don’t know,” she blurted out past a constriction of emotion in her throat
The words sounded unnaturally loud to her ears She couldn’t believe she’d said it…like that And from the look on his face, he couldn’t, either He had been expecting a very different response
“Co this”
“U maybe she’d been naïve, but it had never occurred to her that a man as dynamic and sensual as he ould ask a woman to marry him that he had never slept with “This has come as a complete surprise”
And she soundeddifficult social situations with grace since deportment classes when she was a mere six years old, but she’d never been proposed to…by a man she wanted, but was not at all sure wanted her She hoped, had an inkling he ht…but no certainty
“Anunpleasant surprise?” He didn’t sound in the least vulnerable when asking that question Not like she would have Instead he sounded de, as if he wanted answers and he wanted themnow
“Not unpleasant” She shook her head, trying to clear it “Justvery unexpected”
“We have been dating for three months”
“Yes” They had already established that
“Exclusively?”
“Yes…I mean I assumed…”