She sniffed angrily, and tugged away from him, averting her eyes. "Let me go. I"ve no wish to cry in front of you."
"Is that what telling you I love you will do, make you cry?"
She swallowed hard, and turned to him, eyes wide with disbelief.
He took her hands in his, and brought them to his lips. "Rhiannon, just hear what I will tell you, please. I"ve fought my love for you from the night when you found me, nearly dead on that battlefield, and took me in your arms. Oh, I thought I had reasons. I was an animal, unworthy of such a G.o.ddess as you. I told myself my love was poison, that it would bring you only misery as it had everyone I had loved before. I resented the way you would come and go at will, leaving me longing for your return, and convinced myself I didn"t care if you stayed a day or a month with each visit. But I did, and I died a little inside every time you left me alone."
He turned toward the covered painting, and took one corner of the cloth in his hand. "This time I swore I"d keep a small part of you with me, for always." He tugged the fabric away, and heard her sharp intake of breath.
He looked at her as she stared at the image of herself on the canvas. Her hand trembled as it moved from her lips, to the painting. She touched it, and tears rolled from her eyes, down her cheeks. She shook her head. "This... isn"t... can"t be... me."
"It is the very essence of you, Rhiannon. But I"m afraid I"ve changed my mind." He met her startled gaze. "I won"t let you go this time. I won"t be satisfied to gaze at this painting. I want to gaze into your eyes. And I want to see them alight with life and mischief the way they"ve always been. Not dull with the effort of reining in your own nature. I came to love you just the way you are, Rhiannon. And I will fight with you through all eternity if ever you try to change."
He fell to his knees at her feet, clutching her hands to his heart. "Stay with me for always, G.o.ddess among women. Be my mate, my lover, my friend. Never leave me alone to long for you again."
She dropped to her knees, as well, her hands threading through his hair. "I adore you, Roland. But I"m not sure I can exist in seclusion, live this life of a hermit the way you do."
"No, I would not ask it of you. My sentence is at an end, Rhiannon. You"ve given me the keys that set me free."
She smiled, then, and it held all the mischief and devilment he"d missed these past days. "Tell me again."
"I love you, Rhiannon."
He rose, and his arms crept around her waist. Hers slipped over his shoulders. He kissed her mouth deeply, thoroughly, as if he were tasting her for the first time.
"Your father was so wrong, Rhiannon. Do you know that yet? You are a treasure, one so rare, so precious... one that can be sought, and found, but never owned. Only held for a while."
"Then hold me, Roland. Hold me for a very long while."