Page 112 of A Deal with the Broken Duke
“Not as much as we’d be in if someone found me in your room.”
“No one’s going to find you here. They’re all asleep. But I saw you bringing Daniel home. Is he all right?”
“Yes, he’s fine. He just had a bit too much to drink and I thought I ought to help him get home. But he’s all right. He’s in bed now.”
Juliet sighed. “I would have thought you’d go straight to bed too. I’m sure Daniel asked you to stay over.”
“He did, yes.”
“Are you all right? Did you need something? I could send for something to eat—”
“No, it isn’t that,” Harry said. He was impressed that she could tell he wasn’t himself. “I’ve just had a lot on my mind this evening, and I’m not sure what to do with it all.
“Well, come and sit down,” Juliet suggested. “You can tell me what you’re thinking about.”
“I don’t want to trouble you. And I really shouldn’t be in here at all.”
“It will be all right,” Juliet murmured. “We can take fifteen minutes to talk before you go to bed. You know nobody will catch us.”
Harry hesitated. “I suppose it’s all right. After all, in three days, we’ll be married anyway.”
“Exactly.” Juliet nodded. “Come, sit down.”
He joined her on the window seat. “The view from here is very nice.”
“Yes, I’ve always liked it.”
“I suppose you’re going to miss it quite a lot.”
“No, I don’t think I will,” she said. “It’s been a lovely place to live in for the first part of my life, but I’m ready for what comes next. I’m ready for my life with you to start.”
He sighed.
Juliet sounded doubtful when she spoke again. “You still feel the same way, don’t you?”
“Yes, you know I do,” he reassured. “You should never have any doubt about that.”
“Then what’s the matter? You really don’t seem well at all. You didn’t have too much to drink, did you?”
“No,” he said. “Perhaps I would be better off if I had.”
“What do you mean?”
“My trouble is that my thoughts are getting the better of me tonight,” he explained. “When I think about marrying you, becoming a part of your family… Don’t misunderstand me. I want that more than anything in the world. But I’ve had a family I loved before, and I lost them.”
“I see,” Juliet murmured.
“I know it’s foolish to be afraid that the same thing will happen again.”
“It isn’t foolish at all.”
“I know the curse isn’t real. That isn’t what I’m worried about. And I don’t fear that we’ll ever be forced to deal with another Lady Annie. No one else could possibly wish us harm that way. But things happen to people. What happened to my mother and father wasn’t the result of a curse. They just died. I lost them.”
Juliet nodded. “I understand,” she said. “The same thing happened with my mother. I just lost her.”
“And yet you’ve never been afraid to let yourself love again. You’re so much braver than I am.”
“Perhaps I’m the foolish one.”
