Page 70 of Ravished By the Beastly Duke

He kept his arm around her shoulders so that she was pressed against him even as they walked. This was a far cry from the other couple in the garden, who simply held each other’s hands.

“How do you pull such antics without giving a care about what people would say?” William could not help but ask.

Eveline shrugged. “I am used to receiving disapproving looks,” she said simply. “I am used to entering ballrooms and seeing ladies whisper to each other behind their hands.”

The thought of people treating his wife in such a manner infuriated William to no end.

“You must let me know if someone says anything like that to you again,” he pressed. “No one speaks to my wife like that.”

Eveline nodded. “Then you must understand why I am so protective of you too.”

“It is true. I do not particularly care if they run at the sight of me, but I cannot stand the thought of anyone even looking at you with less than respect.”

“And I feel the same about you,” Eveline returned. “I could not give a care for the wagging tongues that followed me as a maiden. However, someone looking at you askance is enough to incite my wrath.”

William looked down, smiling at her at the same time she beamed up at him. They did not have to exchange words to know what the other was thinking.

At that moment, William finally realized how much she had come to mean to him in the very short time they had spent together.

“It is getting quite chilly,” she said. “Let us head home.”

The moment they were in the safety of their carriage, William cupped her face in his hands and captured her lips.

He kissed her, not with ferocious hunger or need as he usually did. This time, it was with pure adoration.

With his lips, he communicated with her what a thousand words could not quite convey.

When they finally pulled away from each other, she smiled sweetly at him. He pulled her towards him, and she rested her head on his shoulder.

That single motion broke the last of his defenses, and he knew right there and then that she was the one. She was his person.

“You know, I never had anyone like you have your sisters and Ava,” he suddenly said.

Eveline sat up and turned to look at him.

“Growing up, it was only me,” he continued. “I had the staff, of course, but they were not my siblings or friends, so I could not feel quite connected to them.”

“But what about your father?” Eveline asked.

“My father was rather…”

The carriage suddenly lurched to a stop, interrupting William. A part of him saw this interruption as a welcome relief. After all, telling her about his past was possibly the most nerve-wracking idea he had ever conceived.

“Oh, we are home,” he announced, before helping her out of the carriage.

As William stood there beside his wife, in the evening breeze, he was torn between simply having a quiet dinner with her then going to bed early, and finally telling her all that he had been holding back.

A part of him wanted to take the easy way out, and yet the other part of him ached to finally let go, to bare himself to this woman, who completed him in a way that he never could have imagined.

“It is a rather breezy evening. Shall we spend some time at the pavilion?” Eveline asked.

William was not yet sure what choice he would make, but he knew now that he was not having an early night.

His wife slipped her hand in his as they walked to the pavilion in the garden.

“The garden is even lovelier at night,” he remarked.

He was in awe of how much his wife had transformed the garden, which was, once again, a testament to how much she had changed his life.

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