CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY – THE PROPOSAL

There was no mistaking the renewed virility, the blazing sparks returned to those azure depths as his crooked grin answered in kind. Yet when he spoke, his tone was laced with a quiet solemnity that stole the very breath from her lungs. "I am only here because of you, Kayla. I'll never have the words to atone for all you've sacrificed to pull me back." She opened her mouth to protest, to brush away such self-deprecation. But those implacable eyes held her immovable. "I'm reborn thanks to you - remade into a man even remotely worthy of whatever God smiles upon my life." His thumb traced the curve of her cheekbone with maddening tenderness. "So let me prove my fealty, beloved. From this moment forward, no one will ever come before you again. Not business, not wealth, nor even family." Inexplicably, Kayla's eyes prickled with a surge of hot tears. Because in that vow resonated not only the pure distillation of Lance's unshakable ardor, but the implicit rebuke of Barbara. The gauntl