“
Marry me," he said.
Her eyes widened. "What?" She nearly fell off the horse.
"Marry me, Kate," he repeated. He swallowed hard. "I need you in my life. Please. Say you'll be my duchess."
"Rohan..."
He took a step closer. "I know I said some boorish, stupid things that day in the music room. You were right. I was scared. I didn't know how it could be between us, but I see it now. And that night on your father's ship, I acted like a brute, telling you to prove your love by sleeping with me. It was wrong."
She shook her head. "You needed me."
"I did. I still do. I always will. I don't know what I'll do if you say no." He lowered his head. "I know you've reason to be wary. That I can be a thoroughgoing bastard sometimes. I've had too many women in the past, but, God, I don't want that anymore. And it is true, I, er, kill people now and then, but just to safeguard England. And if you can live with that---" He shook his head with a tempestuous fire in his eyes. "On my word, I will be true to you, and I will love you until the end of time."
Kate had lost the power of speech. Indeed, she could barely breathe. Tears rushed into her eyes.
Lord Byron himself could not have uttered more romantic sentiments.
"There can be no other for me, Kate, but you." The Beast walked over and stared hard into the depths of her eyes; sitting on the pony's back, she was on eye level with him for once, and the whole tumult of his soul was there in his eyes, discovering love for the first time, setting his heart free at last. "You... make me feel things I've never experienced before. You've been so patient, and I've been such a fool."
"No, you haven't," she breathed, wonder-struck by him. Was this just a dream?
"Stay with me always," he implored her in a confidential whisper. "And love me... as I love you."
"You---love me?" she echoed, her chin trembling in the most embarrassing fashion.
"With all my heart," he vowed in a soft but fierce tone, looking as deeply moved as she. He touched her hair, tucking a windblown lock of it behind her ear. "Kate, you and I were meant to be together. I'm still superstitious enough to know when I have found my destiny. It's you. You're the one who broke the curse.
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