Page 91 of A Duke to Steal Her
“Ambrose.” Her voice came out as barely a whisper. “Juliana says Lord Peirce has left England.”
“He has.” His expression didn’t change. “He won’t trouble you again.”
“Why?” The question escaped before she could stop it. “After everything you said about justice, about what you owed Lavinia…why did you let him go?”
Ambrose was quiet for so long that Emily wondered if he would answer at all. When he finally spoke, his voice was rough with emotion.
“Because I realized that holding onto my anger was costing me something far more precious than revenge.” His eyes met hers. “It was costing me you.”
“Emily,” Ambrose said, and there was something broken in the way he spoke her name. “I need to say something, and I need you to let me finish before you respond.”
She nodded, not trusting her voice.
“I’m sorry.” The words came out raw, scraped from somewhere deep inside him. “I’m sorry for kidnapping you, for dragging you into my vendetta, for that scene at the soirée, for every moment of pain I’ve caused you since the day we met. There’s no excuse for any of it—not my grief, not my anger, nothing.”
He took a step closer, his hands clenched at his sides as though he was fighting the urge to reach for her.
“I’ve been drowning in rage and guilt for twelve years, Emily. It became so much a part of me that I didn’t know who I was without it. And then you came into my life like sunlight breaking through storm clouds, and for the first time in over a decade, I felt… happy. Truly happy.”
His voice cracked on the last word, and Emily felt tears spill over her cheeks.
“That terrified me,” he continued. “Happiness was foreign to me. I didn’t know how to trust it, how to believe I deserved it. So, when Peirce threatened that happiness, I reverted to what I knew: anger, revenge, the comfortable weight of old grievances. I told myself I was honoring Lavinia’s memory, but the truth is I was just too much of a coward to choose joy over suffering.”
Emily pressed her hand to her mouth, trying to contain the sob building in her chest.
“I’ve made many mistakes in my life,” Ambrose said quietly. “I’ve been selfish, cruel, driven by pride and vengeance. But hurting you, making you feel like you weren’t the most important thing in my world, that’s the greatest mistake I’ve ever made. The only unforgivable one.”
He was close enough now that she could see the tears gathering in his eyes, the way his hands trembled slightly.
“I love you, Emily. I love your courage, your kindness, the way you see good in people even when they can’t see it in themselves. I love how you make me want to be better than I am. I want to spend the rest of my life proving to you that you are my family, my heart, my everything. I want to dedicate every breath I take to making you happy.”
His voice dropped to a whisper. “But if you can’t forgive me, if you don’t want me in your life anymore, I’ll respect that.I’ll sign whatever papers Vincent draws up, give you whatever settlement you desire, and disappear. All I ask is that you know—truly know—that losing you is the price of my own stupidity, and I accept it completely.”
The silence stretched between them, broken only by Emily’s quiet weeping. When she finally found her voice, it came out shattered.
“You broke my heart,” she said, and Ambrose flinched as though she’d struck him. “When you said we barely knew each other, when you made it clear that your dead sister would always matter more than your living wife—you broke something inside me.”
“Emily, my darling.”
“I’m not finished.” Her voice grew stronger, steadier. “You hurt me in ways I didn’t think possible. But you also… You also showed me what love could be. Before you, I thought marriage was a duty and children were an obligation, and happiness was something that happened to other people. You taught me to want more.”
She wiped at her tears with the back of her hand, her eyes never leaving his face.
“You made me believe that I was worth choosing, worth fighting for. And then you proved I was wrong.” Her voice broke again. “Do you know what it was like, watching you work so hard toprotect me this past week while knowing that when it mattered most, you chose revenge over our marriage?”
“I was wrong,” he said hoarsely. “I was so wrong, Emily.”
“You were wrong,” she agreed. “But you were also lost. And hurt. And carrying guilt that was never truly yours to bear.” She took a shaky breath. “And despite everything, despite the pain and the betrayal and the awful things we said to each other… I still love you. God help me, I love you so much it terrifies me.”
The hope that bloomed in Ambrose’s eyes was so bright it was almost painful to witness.
“But I need you to promise me something,” Emily continued, her voice gaining strength. “If we do this, if we try again, —I need your word that it will be different. That we’ll always choose each other first. That when the world tries to tear us apart, we’ll stand together instead of letting our fears drive us into separate corners.”
“Emily,” he breathed, and then he was moving, crossing the space between them to take her hands in his. “I swear to you, on my honor, on my life, on everything I hold sacred, you will always come first. Always. Our marriage, our happiness, our future together will be the most important thing in my world.”
He pressed one hand to his chest, over his heart, while the other held hers.
“I vow to love you above all else, to protect our bond above all other considerations, to choose you every day for the rest of my life. I swear this to you, Emily, as solemnly as I once swore my wedding vows.”
