By the time we made it to D’Lynsal, Marty was already asleep. Sam was snoring on the couch, her head on Alex’s lap while he read through paperwork.

“How is he?” Alex whispered.

“He’s going to be okay.” Meredith yawned. “Thank you for watching Marty.”

“It was our pleasure.” Alex smiled.

“Okay, cut the nicey-nice stuff. I’m too tired for it. How’d he really do?” She put a hand on her hip and Alex’s smile grew. The men in our family had a thing for feisty women, it would seem.

I snorted and set her purse on the table before kicking off my wet shoes.

“He does not like broccoli, lost a fishing rod in the lake, and accidentally squirted ketchup on Sam’s dress.” Alex chuckled softly. “But Samantha absolutely loved every minute of it. She took pictures of the fish they caught. He has them in his room.”

“Now that I believe.” Meredith smiled and dropped her hand from her hip. “I’m going to take a shower.”

“I’ll join you,” I said.

Her eyes grew to the size of saucers and Alex chuckled quietly. When he started to hum softly, her face turned red.

“Are you humming ‘Tubthumping’?” She looked incredulously at my brother.

“Oh good, I got the melody right.”

I flung one of my wet socks at his head and smiled when it made contact. “Score!”

“Shh.” He threw the nasty sock off to the side and motioned to his sleeping wife.

“Right, then.” Meredith shook her head. “Good night.”

I followed her up the stairs and into her room. Despite the way I loved her gorgeous body, I wasn’t really looking for sex. I just wanted to be near her, to hold her.

In the shower I made her turn around so that I could work the shampoo through the knots in her hair. She took her time washing my body, scrubbing every part except my feet. She threw me the sponge to do those myself.

“I’m going to have to call my school tomorrow. I guess I can withdraw from classes.” She frowned as she towel dried her hair.

“You could hire a steward.”

“That just doesn’t sit right with me. They welcomed us back, and look at all the drama we’ve caused. Dad’s probably going to have charges brought against him for driving under the influence. Granddad just died . . . I can’t leave them now.” She shook her head. “Maybe I’ll get a business degree locally.”

“That would be a waste.” I pulled up my pajama pants and looked at her reflection in the mirror. “Can you not go to England during the week and come back on the weekends?”

“Not if I’m in a show. It’s constant practices, and showtimes are usually on the weekends.” She looked down at the counter. “Being a singing duchess just isn’t going to work. Really, I should have known better. At some point the title was going to fall to me. I guess I’d just hoped that I’d have a little longer first.”

I didn’t have an easy solution for that. Instead I threw the pillows off the bed and pulled back the covers while she got dressed. She crawled in and lay on her side looking at me.

“Are you not going to stay?” She frowned.

“I was waiting for you to ask.”

“That didn’t stop you with my shower.” She gave me a sleepy smile. “Come on.”

I slid under the blanket and pulled her against me. Tracing her arm with my fingertips, I thought about what she had said. She had to give up her dream to accept her family responsibility. Something she had been doing her whole life.

“You could always have family help you run Thysmer.” I said the words quietly.

“Dad’s got a lot of recovery to go through and there’s no telling if he’ll stay sober.” She sighed.

I took a deep breath. “What about me?”

“I can’t ask you to do that.” She sat up and looked at me. “Thysmer isn’t your responsibility.”

“I told you that you were my family.” I shifted so I was sitting and looked at her. “I want to make that official.” A wave of possessiveness swept through my body. Mine. I wanted everyone to know that she and Marty were mine.

“What?” Her eyes widened.

“Marry me, Meredith.” I didn’t realize I was holding my breath. I hadn’t thought those words would ever leave my mouth.

“Is this one of those times where you blurt out something and then realize you didn’t mean it?” She gripped the blanket with white knuckles. “Is it?”

“Well, I blurted it out.” I smiled sheepishly. “But I really mean it. I was going to ask you later, somewhere romantic, but I blurted it out.”

“But . . . but . . . you can’t . . . we’ve only had a week!” She looked at me like I’d grown a second head, and I was starting to think that maybe I was crazy. “You’re only doing this because you feel sorry for me.”

“What?” I frowned.

“You feel bad for me.” Her eyes wouldn’t meet mine.

I pulled her to me so that our foreheads were touching. “I want to marry you, Meredith Thysmer. I want Marty to teach me how to fish. I want to watch him grow up. And I want to sit in the wings, out of the spotlight, while you sing. You, me, and Marty. It’s that simple. I don’t feel sorry for you. How can you feel sorry for the strongest person you know? I just want to be part of your life every day. The good and the bad. Forever.”