"I love you too." Her voice was soft, but confident, comfortable.
Damien grinned. That was it then. Now that he knew she still loved him, he wasn't taking no for an answer. She was going to be his, happily ever after, damn it.
Marley had driven the rental car faster than she should have, but she was anxious to see Damien. He had called her. He had said he loved her without a prompt from her, hadn't suggested she was a lunatic for flying down to see him unannounced.
She was hopeful, but worried that she was reading too much into it. And it had been a long plane ride, then drive out to Rosa de Montana, feeling like her entire future rested on Damien's reaction to what she had to tell him.
There were two vans pulling out of the plantation as she pulled in. Both drivers waved cheerfully to her, and Marley automatically lifted her hand in return, confused by their presence. But then she saw Damien, sitting midway up the front steps, hands on his knees, legs spread, watching her arrival.
In the two months since she'd left, her feelings for him hadn't changed one bit. If anything, they'd grown stronger as she'd had time to reflect on what Damien had endured, the bad choices he had made and the consequences he'd suffered for those mistakes, how he had chosen to continually fight against the reality of his servitude, and find good for himself in that which was inherently evil.
She had come to tell him she respected that, and let him know that circumstances had changed, that she was no longer afraid, that she trusted both him and herself, and to offer him the opportunity to discuss their future, together or separate, in a rational manner with no outside influences. Or just fling herself at him, one or the other.
Parking the car, she got out and met him at the bottom of the stairs. "Hi," she said nervously, feeling a goofy little smile cover her face.
"It's so good to see you," he said, taking her hand, kissing the back of it. "You look beautiful, ma cherie."
Actually, she probably looked ragged out from the traveling, but he was definitely looking at her with admiration. She'd take it. "Thanks. So, what were those vans doing here?" she said, just to say something. He looked good. Different somehow. Content.
"It was a tour group. Now that I'm no longer, uh, entertaining, I decided to allow tours here on Fridays. The admission fees go into a foundation I started in Marie's name. We'll be giving scholarships to a university for disadvantaged high school students. Marie enjoyed her years at the convent school and I think she would have approved."
Marley knew she was touch and go with her emotions, but that made tears pop into her eyes. She blinked hard. "That's wonderful, absolutely wonderful. And you're not entertaining?"
"No." He smiled at her. "No more parties. Are you disappointed?"
She gave a laugh. "Hardly. If I wear a bikini ever again, it will be too soon. But…" She was wondering about the Grigori, his servitude, but she couldn't force the words out. Tucking her hair behind her ear, she cleared her throat. "So you don't mind that I'm here? I had a three-day weekend and I thought… maybe…"
"I'm very pleased. Can you stay here, with me? No hotel?"
"Sure."
"Good. Can I get you a drink or some refreshments? Do you want to sit on the gallery?"
Marley laughed. "Wow. We're being awfully polite, aren't we?"
He nodded. "Yes. And it's absolutely killing me."
"So if you didn't have to be polite… what would you really say or do?" Marley asked, her heart thumping with love, desire. He looked so handsome, so delicious, so masculine, and she loved him. She wanted to know that she was entitled to a place in his arms, wanted to claim it and own it, but was scared to make the first step.
It had been her choice to leave.
But it had also been her choice to come back.
Despite the demons, or maybe actually because of them, Damien had become a good, moral man, and she needed to tell him the truth. Wanted a life with him if he was interested.
"If I wasn't being polite, I would do this." And he leaned forward, buried his hand in her hair, dragged her mouth to his.
With hot, urgent passion he kissed her, and Marley grabbed on to his T-shirt, overwhelmed, dragged under. She had missed him so much, and he felt so strong, so real.
"I called you," he said between kisses, "to tell you that I am free to love you, free to live my life, free to marry you."
Marley tried to pull back, startled, her hope swelling to irrational proportions, confused and needing to see him, but Damien wouldn't let her go. "What do you mean?" she whispered.
He nuzzled along her ear. "I mean that Rosa's father freed me from my immortal servitude. I am very much mortal now, and I very much want to marry you if you'll have me."
"Are you sure?"
"That I want to marry you?" he teased. "For the most part."
"No!" Marley yanked back, stared into his eyes. "How do you know you're mortal?"
"Rosa told me I am, and I have to trust her on this one. I can't go and shoot myself to prove it." He gave her a wry smile. "But I haven't done anything sinful in the last two months and neither Rosa or Alex has said a word of censure to me. I've been practically monklike, Marley. It feels fantastic. I feel different too… vulnerable, yet stronger. That makes no sense, but it's true. I feel separate, like my own man."
She wasn't sure what to say, couldn't believe that it was going to be so easy. Then she realized that while she had been living in agonies of indecision, missing him, he hadn't bothered to share the news with her. "Why on earth didn't you tell me?"
Damien grimaced. "Well, you said you needed time to think. I didn't want to infringe on that. And to be totally honest, I wasn't sure if you had fallen in love with me, or fallen for the lure of the demon. I was afraid I'd tell you the truth, you'd take one look at me, as I am now, and wonder what you ever saw in me. I tested it, you know, by flirting with some women on Bourbon Street. Some responded, but others just completely blew me off. That's never happened before, not since I took the curse. I was a little… concerned that you might not be attracted to me any longer."
Marley felt a grin split her face. He was worried, shoulders tense, eyes narrowed. She uncrossed his arms from his chest and squeezed his hands. "You are so adorable."
He winced.
"I fell in love with you, the man, Damien, not the charms of the demon. I am attracted to you, and I absolutely want to marry you and make a life with you."
"Really?"