Meadow’s POV:

My heart was beating so loud, I could barely hear myself think.

His thumb brushed lightly over my knuckles, grazing the rock that sat pretty on my ring finger. I squirmed under him again, hating the way my heart responded to his touch. Hating how badly I wanted to close the distance between us and say yes, like some desperate, touch-starved idiot.

Not that I was that far off.

“I…can’t,” I breathed, my voice barely above a whisper.

Be his wife?

Alaric made it sound ...