Damian prowled closer until he was right in front of me. “I told you that it wasn’t about that once we got here to England, Nicole. Were you hearing me last night? My motivations changed. At some point, it wasn’t about Dylan anymore. It was about us. I was afraid you’d walk away. I wanted more time.”

  I nodded. “I’m having a really difficult time buying that you kept up that whole ruse just to be with me. I know it was mostly all about Dylan, and I’m okay with that.”

  His expression was intense as he slapped a hand down on each side of my body, trapping me against the counter and his muscular form. “Bloody hell! I’m not okay with it, Nicole. Not at all. I’m not okay with any of this. Soon after we got here to England, it was all about me. My desire to be with you. My need to make you mine. There were times that I was losing my fucking mind because of the way I feel about you, and you’re okay with thinking this was all about my twin brother?”

  I tilted my head and got lost in Damian’s wild eyes. He looked like a feral animal in pain, and I had to stifle the urge to soothe him.

  He kept going like a floodgate had opened, and he couldn’t stop the words from flowing out of his mouth. “You want to leave? You’re calmly telling me you’re ready to walk away from me, from us, from this crazy attraction that’s unlike anything I’ve ever felt in my entire life? Well, it’s not happening. How many ways can I tell you that I love you, Nicole? That if you leave, you’ll be taking my heart with you, and I probably won’t survive it? I’m not good with words, and fuck knows I’m not used to expressing myself, but I’m willing to find every way possible to make you believe that I love you. I need you, and there’s no way in hell that I’ll ever be happy if you aren’t with me. Just give me…some time. I’ll figure out a way to make you believe all of it. Every. Single. Word.”

  Damian’s chest was heaving by the time he was finished. His eyes had turned a stormy green, and my heart tripped as I said breathlessly, “You’ve never once said that you loved me. Yeah, we’ve always had this intense sexual thing going on—”

  “It’s not just sexual. Not for me,” Damian growled. “Granted, there isn’t a single day that I don’t very much want to fuck you until neither one of us can move anymore, but it goes way beyond that. The second you walk into a room, and I see you, I feel like the whole damn world looks different for me. Brighter. Happier. Like I’ve finally found someone who sees the real me, and not Damian Lancaster, billionaire duke. And you actually seem to like the man you see. Could I have been so wrong about us, Nicole?”

  Tears started to clog my throat, and I couldn’t contain the endless stream of them pouring completely unchecked down my face.

  Damian Lancaster loved me, and my world was never going to be the same because of it.

  I hated the way he was hurting right now, but he’d put his whole heart out there, completely vulnerable and raw, to try to explain how much he loved me.

  He’d actually laid his heart at my feet twice in less than twenty-four hours, but I’d been too damn guarded to see it.

  I shook my head. “You weren’t wrong, Damian. I think I fell head over heels in love with you the moment I tumbled into your lap on that plane. I think it was that damn kiss. I’ve just been so afraid because I felt too much—”

  “You can never care about me too much, Nicole,” he interrupted. “Never. I’m always going to want more. I’m obnoxiously greedy when it comes to you.”

  I started to sob all of my relief into the button-down shirt he was wearing, and Damian simply wrapped his arms around me and let me get it out. “Christ! I hope this is a happy cry,” he muttered against my hair. “Fuck! Never mind. I think any time you shed a tear, it’s going to kill me, happy or not, but I can live with that. Just marry me, Nicole, and put me out of my misery. I’ll make sure you never feel broken again.”

  I sobbed harder.

  He stroked my back. “Wrong time to ask you to marry me?” he asked in a concerned voice. “We can work it out somehow, love. I’ll live in the States with you if you don’t want to stay here. Or we can divide our time to be in both countries for part of the year. We’ll figure it all out. Just please fucking say yes.”

  He sounded so damn nervous that I was going to turn him down that I pulled back and started swiping the river of tears off my face. “Yes. Of course I’ll marry you, Damian. Now that I know you love me, nothing can drag me away.” I put my arms around his neck.

  Relief flooded his expression. “Not quite sure how you missed it. I thought it was perfectly obvious.”

  I tilted my head to look at him. Maybe, if I took all of the clues together, I would have concluded that he could possibly be in love with me. I guess it was just too farfetched to imagine that someone like Damian Lancaster could ever be madly in love with me. “You’re Damian Lancaster, billionaire Duke of Hollingsworth. And I’m just your average middle-class American female. We come from two completely different worlds, Damian. Honestly, under normal circumstances, our two worlds never even would have collided.”

  He grinned as he tucked a stray lock of hair behind my ear. “Technically, our worlds didn’t actually collide. Your gorgeous, curvy ass collided with my painfully hard cock, and I knew I’d never be the same.”

  I giggled. I actually giggled. Again. But I didn’t give a damn. I’d probably always feel giddy when Damian was around. Knowing that he loved me, and desperately wanted to marry me, was pretty damn heady and intoxicating.

  I started to unbutton his shirt. “Is that so? And what exactly did you want from me on that plane ride, Your Grace?”

  “You know exactly what I needed, woman,” he said hoarsely.

  I reached for the zipper on his jeans. “I’m not sure that I do know,” I teased. “Maybe you should show me.”

  Elation flooded my soul, and my body wanted in on the action. I needed to be close to this man, as close as I could possibly get.

  I didn’t want to think about the fact that I’d nearly lost him just because this particular ending had seemed like a fairy tale that could never really happen.

  It had been ridiculous thinking, really, because all of the trappings that I’d thought made Damian an impossible match were just…things. Circumstances. His title. His social status. His enormous wealth. I hadn’t fallen in love with those. Damian was just a man. Okay, he was an exceptionally hot guy with a panty-dropping sexy British accent, but I’d fallen in love with the man, not his wealth and power.

  I never got past taking off my jeans and panties, and Damian didn’t get beyond freeing his cock.

  He kissed me with a fiery passion that left us both panting when it was over.

  “Fuck me, Damian,” I murmured against the hot skin at his neck. “I need you.”

  After he rushed to fish a condom out of his pocket and roll it on, he grabbed my ass and easily put me onto the counter. “Never let it be said that I won’t give you everything you need, gorgeous.”

  I moaned as he buried himself to his balls inside me. “God, yes.”

  “Jesus, Nicole! You’re so fucking wet. You feel so damn good that I could happily die right here, right now,” he said with a groan.

  I was gasping for air as my inner muscles adjusted to accept Damian’s large, deliciously hard cock. “You’re not dying right now,” I insisted. “Fuck me, Damian. Love me. I need you.”

  He started to move, and the two of us got completely lost in each other. Damian fucked me like a madman: hard, fast, and with a frenzied urgency that matched my own.

  Damian loves me. He really loves me.

  My heart was soaring, and I was clawing at his shirt by the time my climax hit me. “Damian!” I screamed, the sound echoing through the entire house. “I love you.”

  Telling him how I felt out loud gave me as much mind-altering release as my climax.

  “I love you, too, baby.” Damian’s voice was raspy and guttural. “Don’t ever forget that.”

  I tightened my legs around his waist, wanting to savor the moment. Damian’s big body shuddered as he found his own release. His forehead dropped to my shoulder, and I savored every second of that post-orgasmic bliss.

  For a few moments, the only sounds in the kitchen were our ragged breaths as we struggled to recover.

  I had no idea what I’d done in my life to deserve a man who loved me like Damian, but I’d spend every day for the rest of my life being grateful for the kind of happiness he gave me.

  “Don’t make me wait long to be able to call you my wife, Nicole.” Damian’s voice was rough and insistent as he lifted his head from my shoulder. “I’d like to get my sanity back as soon as possible. Fuck! Scratch that. You’re always going to make me crazy, but I’d rather lose my mind married to you, if you don’t mind.”

  “I don’t have a single reservation,” I assured him with a beatific smile on my face. “We can make it official whenever you want.”

  Damian wanted to claim me somehow, and I was just as restless for him to be mine.

  He toyed with my hair absently. “Let’s do it here. We’ll fly Kylie and Macy here for the wedding, if you’re okay with that. I think I can pull everything together in a month or two with Mum’s help.”

  “That’s fast.” Not that I really minded.

  He sent me a wicked smile. “I want to get it done before you change your mind about taking me on for the rest of your life.”

  I rolled my eyes. “It’s going to be a monumental task, but I think I can handle it, handsome.”

  Like it wasn’t every woman’s dream to marry a man like Damian?

  “Handle me, you mean?” he teased. “I think you’ve become very adept at doing that.”

  “I love you,” I told him as I stroked a palm over his strong jawline. “I don’t need to handle you. I love you just the way you are, Your Grace.”

  “I feel the same way, love. So marry me as soon as we can get the wedding set up? My jets and my airline will be at your disposal to bring anyone you want from the States to us. We can go pick out rings later today.” He caught an errant tear from my face and wiped it away.

  “The rings can wait,” I informed him as I nipped at his ear. “Right now, I just want you. Take me to bed, Damian.”

  “Scandalous!” he murmured in a sexy, highly aroused tone as he buried his face in my neck and picked my ass up off the counter. “It’s barely afternoon, woman.”

  “I’d like you to fuck me until it’s dark, feed me, and then take me back to bed again. Do you have a problem with that plan, Your Grace?” I asked playfully.

  “None at all, Your-Grace-in-waiting,” he shot back as he carried me toward his room.

  What?

  Wait!

  Shit!

  “Do I really have to become a duchess if I marry you?” I asked him, my voice panicked. “I’d rather leave all that stuff to your mother.”

  Damian tossed me onto the bed with an uproarious, booming laugh. “You have to be the only female I’ve ever met who doesn’t want to be a duchess.”

  He got busy taking off the rest of my clothes, and then he shrugged out of his open shirt. He kept going until he was gloriously nude, and then joined me on the bed.

  “I’m American. I don’t give a damn about a title. I don’t. I really don’t. Seriously. I’m not kidding, Damian.” My protests got weaker as his hot, bare skin slid sensually against mine.

  His lips and tongue caressed the side of my neck, and suddenly, every negative, nervous thought fled my brain. “Oh, Damian,” I whispered, my heart overflowing with love and tenderness for this incredible man I loved.

  “I love you, Nicole,” he said huskily.

  I sighed. Maybe being a duchess wasn’t such a big deal after all.

  CHAPTER 36

  Kylie

  “WHO IN THE fuck are you, and why are you here? Never mind. Just go away and stop pounding on my door.”

  I lowered the fist I’d been using to bang on the door now that Dylan Lancaster had finally opened the door of this outrageous home.

  I’d rung the doorbell for two minutes straight, and then resorted to hammering on the door for several more minutes before Dylan had finally popped his head out.

  I wasn’t about to…go away.

  Not in the near future, anyway.

  I plowed past him and into the foyer of the Beverly Hills mansion, a rolling suitcase in tow, and my miniature beagle, Jake, cuddled against my body.

  I took a deep breath as I turned to face him. “I don’t really have to ask if you’re Dylan Lancaster. You do look a lot like Damian. Although I do have to say that your brother looks a lot…healthier.”

  I stared at Dylan, assessing his bloodshot eyes, unkept attire, and his general malaise.

  His eyes were the same color as Damian’s, but Dylan’s didn’t seem to have a single spark of life in those pretty irises. What a shame, because I’d always thought Damian’s eyes were one of his best features.

  Dylan slammed the door. “I’ll ask you again. Who in the fuck are you? And what do you mean that Damian looks…healthier?”

  I smirked because I knew I’d hit a nerve. Obviously, Dylan didn’t like being compared to his elder twin.

  Jake squirmed in my arms, so I put the miniature beagle down on the floor. He was well potty trained, and he wasn’t a chewer. “I mean that you look like the anti-twin. Your eyes are bloodshot, you’re way too skinny, probably because you prefer to drink your meals instead of eating them, and your general sense of style with your clothing is horrible. Not to mention the fact that you need a haircut, and possibly a shower because I can smell you from way over here.”

  Okay, I really couldn’t smell him, but I’d much rather nip the cleanliness thing in the bud. There was absolutely nothing worse than a guy who reeked, and I was going to have to be around Dylan every single day.

  “I do not stink. I shower every single day.” His answer was haughty, and he sounded somewhat offended.

  Since I wasn’t about to get close enough to him to sniff for myself, I ignored his comment. “Don’t you have caretakers here?”

  I could have sworn that Nicole had mentioned a couple who lived here, and managed the estate.

  Dylan glowered at me. “They’re on vacation somewhere in the Caribbean. I didn’t expect to be back here so soon. Now tell me who you are and what you want, or I’ll throw your ass out of here.”

  “Oh, yes. I forgot. You were staying at Hollingsworth House until your mother decided that it wasn’t appropriate behavior for you to fuck a female under her roof while she was throwing her gala. Not to mention the fact that you broke Nicole’s heart. Is that why you ran back here like a coward instead of telling Nic that you were sorry?” I plastered an innocent look on my face while I waited for his answer.

  Bastard!

  He had no idea how much I wanted to put my knee in his balls for making my best friend cry.

  “I was in a private bedroom, for fuck’s sake. It wasn’t like I knew she was going to come and watch,” he said testily.

  I folded my arms over my chest. “But you apparently had no problem if she wanted to join you and your girl-toy.”

  Dylan glared at me. “She wasn’t a girl. The woman was thirty years old, and as for Nicole, I thought the more the merrier. How was I supposed to know that my brother was madly in love with her? Damian has never fallen in love with any of the women he’s shagged.”

  Don’t do it, Kylie. Don’t punch the bastard in the face so hard that he can’t talk anymore.

  I was usually more patient, but Nicole was my best friend, so it fried my ass to hear Dylan referring to her like she was just another fuck for Damian.

  Since it wouldn’t exactly start us out on a good footing if I punched Dylan, I resorted to insults. “Seriously? I doubt you could handle one woman in the shape you’re in, much less two. And by the way, Nicole is my best friend, so if you say anything bad about her, I’ll put my knee in your balls until you sing soprano. Do we understand each other?”

  Dylan’s expression turned dark. “The shape I’m in? What in the hell does that mean? I’m thirty-three years old. I’m perfectly capable of handling any number of women in one night.”

  I snorted. “I noticed you didn’t say you could actually satisfy them. You probably are capable of pawing them, but not much more than that.”

  The visual for that whole scenario wasn’t exactly pleasant, so I made a face and shut down the image of Dylan petting a harem of women.

  He let out a low, throaty sound as he moved toward me. “You know nothing about me. I don’t really think I even care anymore who you are. I just want you to leave. I don’t even know why I’m having this unpleasant conversation with you. I don’t give a damn what you think. Go. And take that miserable excuse for a hound with you.”

  I tilted my chin up as he got close enough to grab me. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  Dylan started to crowd me, so I stepped back, even though I didn’t really want to back down.

  Really, he wasn’t terribly skinny, and he was extremely tall. I was five foot seven, over the average height for a female, but Dylan towered over me. I didn’t like his menacing expression, either.

  With my back against the wall, I put my palm out to keep him from moving any closer. “Back off.”

  Dylan smirked as he took another step closer. “Could it be that you’re only brave from a distance, Red?”

  God, I hated it when people made fun of my hair. “Fuck off, Lancaster.”

  “Is that an invitation?” His voice became low and seductive.

  I wouldn’t say I was afraid of Dylan Lancaster, but I was more uneasy with this new, provocative Dylan than I had been with the asshole.

  He’s trying to throw me off-balance. The bastard is trying to make me nervous.

  I met his gaze and refused to look away, even when he placed his palms against the wall, trapping me between his arms.

  “It’s not even close to an invitation,” I scoffed. “I wouldn’t screw you if you were the last man on earth, and my hormones were running rampant.”

  I’d be damned if I’d back down from someone like Dylan Lancaster. He was a man-whore, a spoiled rotten billionaire who treated women like their only purpose was sex, and to plump his already over-inflated ego.