Page 81 of Duke of Storme
“Ye don’t know what ye’re talkin’ about.”
Diana moved closer, close enough to see the way his hands clenched into fists at his sides. “I know you kissed me two nights ago like a man starving for connection. I know you confessed things in that drawing room that you’d never told another living soul. I know you’re terrified of letting me matter to you.”
“Diana–”
“And I know,” she continued, her voice dropping to something barely above a whisper, “that despite every wall you’ve built, despite every reason you give yourself to push me away, you’re falling in love with me just as hard as I’m falling in love with you.”
The confession blazed between them like a spark catching tinder, impossible to take back once spoken. Finn went very still,his breathing shallow as he stared at her with an expression she couldn’t quite read.
“Don’t say that,” he said finally.
“Why? Because it’s true? Because admitting it out loud makes it real?”
Finn turned away from her. His voice was thick with something that sounded close to despair. “Because I destroy everything I touch, Diana. And I won’t–”
Diana felt something fierce and protective rear up in her chest. “You’ve rebuilt an estate, earned the loyalty of people who had every reason to distrust you, created something beautiful from nothing. How is that destruction?”
“Because all of it is built on lies!” The words tore from him like a wound being reopened. “Every success, every moment of acceptance – ‘tis all dependent on me pretendin’ to be somethin’ I’m not. The moment anyone sees what I really am beneath all the careful polish...”
“What happens then?”
Finn’s laugh was bitter and cold. “Then they leave. They always leave.”
Diana moved until she was directly behind him, close enough to touch but careful not to cross that line without permission. “I’m still here.”
“‘Tis only a matter of time–”
“No.” The simple word carried absolute conviction. “I’m still here, and I’m not leaving. Not ever.”
Finn’s shoulders sagged slightly, as though the weight of her persistence was finally breaking through his defenses. “Ye should take that book and everything it represents and accept that this marriage will never be what ye’re hopin’ for. Ye shouldn’t waste yer heart on someone who can’t love ye properly.”
“What if I don’t want anything, or anyone else? Diana asked quietly. “What if I want the one standing in front of me, exactly as he is – walls and wounds and stubborn determination to push away anything good?”
Diana watched the tension in his shoulders. She saw the way his hands gripped the window frame as though it were the only thing keeping him upright.
“The book,” she said finally, “does it mean anything to you?”
Finn was quiet for so long that Diana began to think he wouldn’t answer. When he finally spoke, his voice was barely audible above the Highland wind outside.
“It means everythin’,” he admitted. “And that’s why it’s so damned dangerous.”
Diana felt her heart skip at the admission, hope blooming in her chest like spring flowers after a harsh winter. “Finn–”
“No.” He turned back to face her, and what she saw in his expression made her breath catch. Not cold distance this time, but something raw and desperate and utterly vulnerable. “Don’t make this harder than it already is.”
“What if I want to fight for this, for us, even when you won’t?”
“Then ye’re a fool,” he said quietly. “Because I’ll only hurt ye in the end.”
Diana studied his face, seeing past the words to the fear beneath them. “You know what I think?”
“What?”
“I think you’re already hurting me by pushing me away. I think your attempts to protect me are doing exactly what you’re afraid your love would do.” Diana moved closer, close enough to see the rapid pulse at the base of his throat. “So perhaps it’s time to stop being afraid of the wrong things.”
Finn stared at her, this woman who’d somehow seen straight through every defense he’d ever built, who refused to be deterredby his cruelty or his coldness or his desperate attempts to drive her away.
“Diana…” he said, her name emerging like a prayer and a curse combined.
