Page 106 of A Deal with the Broken Duke
“Tell me Father said yes,” she murmured.
“He did.”
She let out a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness.”
“Did you think he might not?”
“Not really. But so many things have gone wrong for us that I was afraid to get my hopes up.”
“You’ve nothing to worry about,” Harry assured her. “Your father said yes, and now all that remains is for you to say yes.”
“But I’ve already said it,” she said, looking up at him. “You know what my answer is, Harry.”
He smiled down at her. “Tell me again. Tell me you wish to marry me.”
“Of course I do.”
He sighed. “Thank goodness.”
“You can’t possibly be surprised,” she said. “I wanted to marry you even when you believed in that silly curse. Now that we both know it isn’t real, you can’t possibly expect that I would give you any answer other than a quick and heartyyes. This is all I’ve wanted for the longest time.”
“It’s just hard to believe I’m so lucky,” Harry explained. “For a very long time, I’ve thought of myself as the unluckiest man alive.”
“I suppose I can understand why you would feel that way.” Juliet let her hands slide down the length of Harry’s arms so that she could take his hands in hers. She glanced over at her sister and saw that Matilda was studiously examining the flowers several yards away. As long as they kept their voices low, Matilda probably wouldn’t hear what they were saying. At least, Juliet hoped not. “It must have been so awful for you.”
“I have been unhappy,” Harry agreed. “Especially after Susan’s death, of course, or does it upset you to hear me speak about this?”
“No, of course it doesn’t,” Juliet assured him. “I expected that you would need to talk about it from time to time. I knew that when I realized I was in love with you. And I want to be the person you trust enough to talk to.”
“Even though I’m talking about someone else?”
“I understand.”
“I never loved her the way I do you. And she and I were never married. Only engaged.”
“I know that,” Juliet said. “And I know what it’s like to do something because you believe it’s what your father wants from you. You don’t need to worry about upsetting me with any of this, Harry. I promise I understand.”
He nodded. “It’s just that her death made me wonder whether I was unfit to have love in my life,” he confessed. “I knew that there must be something wrong with me. Everyone I cared for died much too young.”
“It must have been so awful for you.”
“My future used to seem so barren and bleak,” Harry said. “When I thought of what lay ahead in ten years, or twenty, all I could ever imagine was myself all alone in that house. It hasn’t been so bad to be young while I still have friends who are unmarried, but I never imagined that Daniel would be on his own for too much longer. I thought once he married, of course he would give most of his attention to his wife and family, and I would be on my own. It was never my intention to be so reliant on Daniel that I felt his eventual marriage would devastate me, and the fact that I did feel that way made me feel even more pathetic. But there was just no getting around the fact that without him, I had nobody left, and I knew I would never find a friend like him.”
“The odd part of it all is that you would have never wanted for the interest of a lady,” Juliet said. “You were the most eligible bachelor in London from the moment you returned from Paris. Everyone wanted their chance with you. Lady Annie was the worst by far, but there were plenty of young ladies who weren’t so vicious, who would have been happy to share your time. You could always have found someone.”
“You know why I didn’t.”
“I know. Honestly, it just makes it all more tragic. Though, you could have ended your loneliness at any time, but you were too afraid to.”
Harry sighed. “I despise those wasted years,” he admitted. “Thinking about the fact that there was never any curse, that I was always free to find love… but then, when I really think about it, perhaps it was all a blessing in disguise.”
“What?” Juliet frowned. “How can you say that? You were made so miserable by what happened, so how could it be a blessing?”
“Because,” Harry explained. “If I had felt free to look for love in the past, I might have found an arrangement I liked with someone else, but not love. I would’ve never guessed you were waiting for me, and I wouldn’t have known to wait for you, and even though I’m sure I would’ve never fallen in love like this with anyone else, I might have decided to marry for companionship or appearances. The curse made me endure several dismal, lonely years, but at least it kept me from making a terrible mistake that would have prevented me from being with you. And for that, if nothing else, I think it’s worth it.”
“I’m not worth all that,” Juliet objected.
Harry stroked her cheek gently. “Yes,” he murmured. “You are, Juliet. Even if I had never thought myself cursed, even if I had never suffered the losses I have, even if my life had been nothing but blissful, you would remain the best thing that has ever happened to me.”
