He got down on his knees.
"What are you doing?"
"Just keep quiet," he warned her. "And if you laugh, you pay."
Mortified, he swore under his breath, dragged a hand through his hair. And bit the bullet.
"'When I arose and saw the dawn, I sighed for thee.'"
"Rafe..."
"Don't interrupt me." Miserably embarrassed, he glared at her.
"Now I have to start over."
"But you don't have to—"
"Regan."
She drew in a breath, wondered if there was another woman in the world who had ever had Shelley quoted to her with eyes that threatened murder. "Sorry. You were saying?"
He shifted his weight. "Okay. 'When I arose and saw the dawn, I sighed for thee / When the light rode high, and the dew was gone, and...' Oh, hell." He raked his fingers through his hair and tried to concentrate. "I got it. 'And noon lay heavy on flower and tree, And the weary Day turned to her rest, lingering like an unloved guest, I sighed for thee.'"
His breath came out on a huff of tremendous relief. "That's all I've got. It took me more than a week to memorize it. If you mention this to anyone—"
"I wouldn't dream of it." Incredibly moved, she laid a hand on his cheek. "That was very sweet of you."
"It kind of fits the way I feel about you." And now that it was over—thank God—it hadn't been as bad as he'd feared.
The Return of Rafe MacKade
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George Clooney Reveals How He Proposed to Amal Clooney
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“And I'll remind you of the night you asked me to marry you, when you gave me flowers and candlelight, then shouted at me and raged up and down the room, making me love you even more.”
“If that's all it takes, you'll be delirious about me by the time I'm sixty.”
“I already am.” She lowered her mouth to his.
“Suzanna.” He drew her closer, started to roll her under him, then swore. “It's your own fault,” he said as he nudged her aside.
“What?”
“You were supposed to be sitting over there, dazed by my romantic abilities.” He fought to untangle his jeans and pull the jeweler's box from the pocket. “Then I was going to get down on one knee.”
Eyes wide, she stared at the box, then at him. “You were not.”
“Yes, I was. I was going to feel like an idiot, but I was going to do it You've got no one to blame but yourself that we're lying naked on the floor. Here.”
“You bought me a ring,” she whispered.
“There could be a frog in there for all you know.” Impatient with her, he flipped up the top himself. “I didn't want to give you diamonds.” He shrugged when she said nothing, only stared into the box.
Suzanna's Surrender