Page 70 of The Duke's Cursed Bride
He groaned, understanding at last. That made perfect sense. Of course that was how his words had sounded. “I thought youwantedto be told to keep your distance,” he said. “You were so frightened of your curse, Madeleine. And I don’t believe in that curse, but you wanted me to tell you that we could keep a wall between us. That’s what I thought, anyway.”
Her cheeks were red. “I do want that,” she said. “I mean…I did want that.”
“And now?”
“I don’t know,” she whispered. “I’ve had trouble…remembering. Deciding. I know I need to keep my curse in mind. I know I can’t let myself forget about it, not for a moment. But when I’m with you, Idoforget, Thomas. You make it too easy to wonder what it would be like if I was allowed to love.”
“You’re allowed to,” he murmured. “You’re allowed to feel however you want to feel, Madeleine.”
His heart was racing. He longed for her to tell him that this was what she wanted—to give in to her feelings for him. If she wanted it, then he could do it too. He could give in to his feelings for her. He could finally stop fighting this thing growing within him since the moment he’d first met her.
But she had to say it first. She had to tell him that she wanted it. If she didn’t, respect demanded that he keep his distance from her. He wouldn’t impose himself on her, knowing that she hadn’t wanted this marriage to begin with. She had to tell him she’d changed her mind—if she had.
She looked up at him, her eyes wide. “If I did want something more,” she said. “If I did want a real marriage. If I told you my feelings for you weren’t going to go away when the novelty wore off and that I think I’m falling in love…what would you say?”
He reached out and caressed her cheek. “Madeleine.”
“You don’t have to—”
“Hush.”
She watched him, barely breathing.
“I’ve been falling for you all this time,” he said softly. “I never meant for it to happen. I tried to keep myself away from you. I thought this wasn’t what you wanted, and I didn’t want you to feel as if you had no choice.”
“I don’t think I do have a choice,” she murmured. “Maybe I did when this started, but I don’t anymore. I haven’t in a long time. I don’t know how to stop myself from having these feelings for you. I don’t even want to stop it anymore.”
“I don’t want you to stop.”
“But the curse—”
“Shh. Stop. Let me worry about the curse. I don’t care, Madeleine. You’re worth it.”
Her eyes widened.
“No one’s ever said that to you,” he realized. “No one has ever made you feel like you were worth the risk, have they?”
Wordlessly, she shook her head.
Thomas had been holding back his feelings from the moment she had arrived at Westcourt. But now, suddenly, he couldn’t do it anymore. All it had done was hurt her…and it was hurting him too.
“You’re worth it to me,” he said quietly. “I don’t care if the curse is real, Madeleine. I don’t believe it is. But even if I knew for certain that it was, I’d want to be with you. I want to live my life with you. I want you to be my wife—not just on paper, but in every way possible. This is the life I want for us.”
She stared into his eyes as if she had never seen him before. Maybe she really was seeing something in him for the first time.
He felt as if he was seeing something in himself for the first time, so he could understand how she might feel that way.
He slid his hand down her arm and took her hand. For a moment, they just stood there, hand in hand, saying nothing, and Thomas felt he had never been closer to another person in all his life.
He wanted to tell her everything about him, all the things the two of them had never discussed. He wanted to tell her every detail of what it had been like growing up with his father. He wanted to hear every moment of her life before they met—he couldn’t think of anything more fascinating.
Then Madeleine gasped and jerked away from him.
For a moment, he didn’t know what to think. He was afraid he had somehow done something to offend her. Maybe he had even hurt her somehow.
“The milk!” she cried, whirling away from him.
“Oh—” Now he could smell what must have alerted her—the scent of something burning. In the heat of the moment, they had forgotten to monitor the milk, which was scalded.
