Page 95 of A Deal with the Broken Duke
It might not be a curse, but if anything happened to her tonight, he would be responsible. And he couldn’t bear it.
He left her room and ran down the hall, opening doors as he went and fearing what he might find behind each one.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-TWO
“Lord Stickland,” Juliet said shakily, fear rising in her like a tide. She backed towards the door of the library.
Lord Stickland held up both hands. “Just wait,” he said. “Please, just wait. Just let me speak.”
“Don’t come near me.”
He shook his head. “I won’t,” he assured her. “Only please, just hear me out.”
“I shouldn’t be in here with you. If anyone found out we were alone together—”
“No one is going to find out. I promise I’ll never breathe a word of this to anyone. And I won’t come near you, Lady Juliet. I won’t touch you. I know you don’t trust me after what happened between us, and I don’t blame you. I really don’t. I was in the wrong, and I can’t tell you how deeply sorry I am.”
That made Juliet pause. She had never expected to hear him admit it, and she had to concede that it was a bit of a relief to hear him say that he had been in the wrong. She remained by the door but allowed herself to relax ever so slightly.
“All right.” She exhaled. “Say what you want to say.”
He took a breath. Juliet could tell that he was bracing himself to get the words out.
“I love you, Lady Juliet,” he confessed. “I’m in love with you.”
Juliet was momentarily shocked. Then, she laughed. “You’re not in love with me.”
“I am,” he said. “Truly.”
“No, you aren’t. You couldn’t be. You don’t even like me. You’re never kind to me.”
“I’ve behaved appallingly,” he admitted. “I was frustrated that you didn’t return my affections, and I was frightened of losing you. When I think of the way I grabbed your arm that night…” He shook his head. “I’m so ashamed of my behavior, Lady Juliet. I should have never treated you the way I did, and I’m very sorry.”
“Why are you telling me this?” she asked.
“I know your courtship with the Duke has ended,” he said. “I know your father will be trying to secure a new match for you. I’m asking you to consider me.”
“I know perfectly well that you don’t care how I feel about it,” Juliet said. “You’ve always said that the only thing that mattered was my father’s permission. And you’ll get that now. You must know you will. I don’t know why you’re even bothering to talk to me.”
She was surprised at herself, at the fact that she was being so bold. But at the same time, she knew that boldness was her only recourse. If she was quiet and refused to speak up for herself, nobody would. Her father never would, that was for certain, and now she had lost Harry’s protection. Daniel would probably help her, but how much would he be able to do?
If she was to have any hope of escaping Lord Stickland, she was going to have to find her own way out.
“I’d do anything to be with you,” Lord Stickland said ardently. “Anything.”
Was that supposed to make her feel better? Safer? She had always been fearful of the fact that she didn’t know what he would do, how far he would go. Now he was coming right out and saying it, and it made her want to run away.
“Why are you talking to me?” she asked. “Why not just talk to my father? You must feel confident that he’ll say yes to you, and you’ve made it abundantly clear that once he does, it doesn’t matter what I have to say.”
“But itdoesmatter what you say,” Lord Stickland countered. “I almost had you once before, and you slipped through my fingers. Your father could have ordered you back to me, but he didn’t, and I can only assume that was because he wished to give you what you wanted. But if you went to him this time and told him that you wanted me…”
“I’ll never want to marry you,” Juliet snapped. “I don’t believe you really love me, Lord Stickland, and even if I did believe it, it wouldn’t matter.”
“But I’m very sorry,” he insisted. “I’m sorry for the way I’ve treated you.”
“You’re sorry now because you think it’s the only way you’ll persuade me to marry you,” Juliet countered. “When you believed you could circumvent my wishes and force me into marriage simply by talking to my father about it, you were more than happy to do things that way. And I truly believe that if you thought that would work now, you would still do it. You say you love me, but you have no interest in what I want or what’s best for me. You want to possess me. That’s all this is.”
“Who wouldn’t want that?” Lord Stickland asked.
