Page 95 of Trapped with her Cruel Duke

“I know that you do not feel the same. This was never supposed to be a love match, and God knows you have made your opinion on the matter clear.”

Christian’s eyes snapped to her, a look of confusion crossing his face.

“I know that all you ever wanted was a marriage of convenience,” Louise continued, “and now you got everything you needed from it. Marcus is home, he is safe, and you have avenged yourself against my father. You have no more use for me, and I would rather remain here, where I can be conten?—”

Christian stepped forward, pulled her to him, and kissed her. Louise gasped against his mouth. She fought him, trying to push him off her, but his arms encircled her, holding her tightly to him.

He moved his tongue against hers in a wicked spiral as she gasped again, and his hands gripped her wrists, tugging them behind her and bending her backward as he ravaged her mouth.

He pressed himself against her desperately until, finally, he pulled back, his eyes glinting as she panted for breath.

“It seems that you know so many things, Duchess,” he said, keeping her hands pinned behind her back.

“Do not mock me,” she huffed as she attempted to wrench her wrists free. Christian tightened his grip in response.

“How have I mocked you?” he asked.

“You may be content with pleasure for pleasure’s sake, but I am not.”

Christian’s heart clenched at the anger in her voice. Her eyes held a deep pain that he wanted to wipe away forever.

Slowly, he released her wrists, but then he pulled her against him so she could not escape. Her hands came up to push against his forearms, trying to force him to release her.

“I love you, too,” he confessed softly.

Louise all but froze before she scoffed. “You are a fool if you expect me to believe that. I have watched you walk away from me many times. Every moment we spent together that required care or commitment, you have shunned as though it were?—”

“Louise, listen to me!”

She recoiled at his exasperated tone, and he sighed heavily.

“I confess I did not recognize my feelings before,” he said, loosening his grip and letting his hands move down her arms until he interlocked their fingers. “Not until I thought I might have lost you forever.”

He felt the same fear rise inside him as he imagined being without her.

How did I ever believe that I could keep her at arm’s length? I have been desperate to claim her as my own since the very beginning.

“My father’s actions destroyed his first wife. He humiliated her beyond bearing when my mother gave birth to me and Marcus. I was still a boy, but I could tell how much it hurt her tosee us. When she fell ill, I remember thinking how cruel it all was. How love had destroyed something thatshouldhave been genuine and made it into something sordid. Then, love did the same thing to my mother and us. Of course, no one dared to say anything to my father when he decided to marry her, when he did everything in his power to acknowledge us, but oh, peoplelovedto talk to us. Do you know how many times people have offended my mother and she just took it with a smile, all because of love? How many times I had to protect Marcus from other children in ways I shouldn’t have if my parents hadn’t fallen inlove? And yet neither my mother nor my father seemed to care what the ton thought of them. I didn’t understand how they could be like that.”

He shook his head, sighing as Louise looked up at him quizzically.

“I did not want a wife. I always knew that if I married, it would be, as you say, for convenience. And I made a bet with your father because I was half mad with worry for Marcus. I was desperate to know what had befallen him, and you were simply a pawn in a larger game. But that changed.”

Louise took a small step back from him, furrowing her brow. “You told me right from the beginning that you would never love me.”

Christian huffed a laugh as he nodded. “Yes, I did say that—a stupid, blind fool to the last. I told a woman that I would never love her, even as I was beginning to do so. In truth, from the moment I stood before the Ice Queen and demanded that shemarry me, I believe I have been fighting these feelings to no avail.”

Louise still did not seem convinced, and his heart ached for everything he had done to her.

I have pushed her away at every turn. It is no wonder that she does not believe me.

“I am a selfish man, Louise. At first, I believed my obsession with you was merely a wish to claim you. And then, as things progressed, I saw how attentive you were and how kind. The damned kitten was a testament to that. I began to see the woman I married instead of the prize.”

He tucked a loose lock of her hair behind her ear as she shivered in his arms, and he smiled softly.

“You do not need to believe me today or even tomorrow. I shall spend the rest of my life convincing you that you are who I have always needed. I cannot imagine my life without you. I love you, Louise, with all my heart, and everything we do, from this point onward, we will do together.”

For a long time, Louise did not speak, the ticking of the clock on the mantelpiece and the gentle crackle of the fire the only sound in the room. Her eyes were glistening with tears, and she sniffed, trying to prevent them from falling.

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