"I could say 'I love you'--and I do." Raising his lids, he met her gaze. "But it's not that simple... not for me. I never wanted a wife." He drew in a breath. "I never wanted to love--not you, not any woman. I never wanted to risk it--never wanted to be forced to find out if I could handle the strain. In my family, loving's not easy--it's not a simple sunny thing that makes one merely happy. Love for us--for me--was always going to be dramatic--powerful, unsettling--an ungovernable force. A force that controls me, not the other way about. I knew I wouldn't like it--" His eyes met hers. "And I don't. But... it isn't, it appears, something I have a choice about." His lips twisted. "I thought I was safe--that I had defenses in place, strong and inviolable, far too steely for any mere woman to break through. And none did,"not for years." He paused. "Until you. "I can't remember inviting you in, or ever opening the gates--I just turned around one day and you were there--a part of me." He hesitated, studying her eyes, then his face hardened, his voice deepened. "I don't know what will convince you, but I won't ever let you go. You're mine--the only woman I could ever imagine marrying. You can share my life. You know a hock from a fetlock--you know as much about riding as I do. You can be a partner in my enterprises, not a distant spectator standing at the periphery. You'll stand at the center of it all, by my side."