Page 79 of Married to the Cruel Duke

William chuckled. “He’s welcome to try, but he’s hardly the first to say anything against me. I’ve managed just fine up until this point. You don’t need to worry about me.”

“But who knows what he could say? Or who he could say it to?” Rebecca said, chewing her lip.

“Look at me,” he took her face into his hands. Her breath caught in her throat. “His hold over you is over. He will never hurt you again,” William assured her. “Not only because I won’t let him, but also because you have the power to stop him.”

“I do?”

“Yes, I know it might not feel like it, and I’m not saying you have to use it yet if you don’t feel ready, but you out rank him. You can tell him he has to leave you alone and there’s nothing he can do about it.”

“I don’t know if I can do that.”

“Then I can do it for you until you feel ready, and if you never feel ready, that’s fine too. I’ll happily defend you forever if I have to.”

“That’s- I-” for a moment, Rebecca struggled to find the words to thank him, but when she realized there were none, that there was nothing she could possibly say to express just how much that had meant to her to hear, she took action.

Without a second thought, Rebecca darted forward. She didn’t give herself a moment to think, talk herself out of it or worry about the consequences.

Heart pounding, she pressed her lips to his in a small sweet kiss.

It couldn’t have lasted more than a second. The same moment. She made contact, Rebecca’s courage failed her and she pulled back, apologies already blooming on her lips.

She squeezed her eyes shut, unable to face him as she stammered. “Please forgive me for that. I shouldn’t have been so forward.”

“Why?” he asked in a carefully even voice.

“Why what?”

“Why are you apologizing? Do you regret it?”

“That isn’t the point!”

“It seems to me that in this moment, that is very much the point, so please answer the question.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Then why are you sorry?”

“Because I’m sure that you do.”

“And how can you be so sure of such a thing?”

“Because you have to. You can’t- you can’t have wanted that.”

“And you are the expert in what I want, are you?”

She frowned, feeling a fresh round of tears beginning to build behind her eyes. “I don’t understand?” she whispered.

How had she done it? How had she messed things up so badly so fast? This wasn’t how she had wanted it to go.

Then, to her surprise, William reached out, pulling one of her hands away from her face. “Why don’t you ask me what I think?”

She hesitated. Rebecca was no fool. She knew a trap when she saw one. It was hard not to given how she was raised, but this wasn’t her father.

This was William.

And surely by now, he has earned a little trust.

“Rebecca took a shaky breath and forced herself to find her voice. “What did you think of the- of what I did?” she asked, looking away.

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