Page 23 of The Duke's Improper Bride
“I can protect you.” He hated the edge of desperation in his voice.
Her fingers traced his collarbone, over the still-healing flesh that was yellowed and stitched. “It looks like you could use someone to protect you.”
More than she knew. “As my wife, you could do as you wished. You could roam all day if you wanted. And no one would be able to harm you.”
She sighed. “And who are you, Mr. Isaac Barnes, to make such promises?”
A pit in his stomach opened up, as it always had when confessing what came next. He wished to keep things the same, simpler. Sharing always changed everything.
He kissed her fingertips, his voice shaking as he confessed, “The Duke of Ashbornham.”
She drew her hand back.
“I can’t be a duchess.” Nora jumped to her feet, rushing around him out into the small parlor.
Heavy, Scottish rain meant to drill a chill down to one’s bones began pounding against the roof.
Isaac bowed his head, swallowing his hurt pride, and strode into his bedroom, grabbing a shirt draped over an armchair in the corner. He buttoned it, keeping his head down, even as he heard her in the doorway.
“Could you be my wife then?”
“My father will n-never allow it.”
He snapped his head up. “We’re in Scotland. We could elope.”
Her hesitations were all sound, but he hadn’t revealed the whole truth yet and already he sensed her slipping away.
Nora pushed off from the doorway, padding close as she unbuttoned the buttons he had just closed. “You’re a good man, Isaac Barnes, Duke of Ashbornham. A kind m-man who deserves to be happy.” She smiled up at him, her eyes glistening. “But I don’t have any idea how to be anyone’s wife. And you deserve someone better than me.”
“I don’t deserve you.” Men had died at his hands. He didn’t deserve to be in the same room as Nora never mind become her husband. He couldn’t feel less deserving in this moment.
“You don’t know me.”
“Then let me. Tell me what you want.You, Nora. Not your parents’ wish for you so they may achieve their own gain, not for Mrs. White’s continued friendship, and not for the fear of returning to London. Tell me what you want with us, from life, for the future.”
Nora leaned her forehead against his chest for one beautifully sweet moment before pulling back to gaze up at him. “The im-impossible is what I want, or so I’ve been told. A girl—”
“—a woman.”
She glared up at him. “No, a girl, at least in their eyes. A spinster at best. I want love, Isaac, without being c-cut down or laughed at. I want a family of my o-own. I want something more than hiding away, even if it’s f-foolish to believe that’s possible.” She unbuttoned two more buttons of his shirt, pressing her lips to his chest. “I want to be b-brave enough to have you as my own.” She rested her hand over his heart. “And to know that’s e-enough.”
What beautiful visions for herself. And yet where could Isaac fit in if he wasn’t completely honest? He should tell her. Now, before—
“—I must have your p-promise first.”
“Anything.”
“I have a dear friend who has gone missing, Daniel. Stuart had promised to help me find him. Daniel is Stuart’s cousin. But I fear Stuart helped in my friend’s disappearance. I have reason to believe he’s been committed to an asylum. Against his will.”
“And you need me to find him?”
She nodded, grabbing his hands in hers.
“You understand that’s dangerous,” he said. “That in finding him, it puts him at risk.”
“He’s at risk either way. Do you know w-what they do to patients?”
“Yes.” Those places weren’t humane. They were a place to hide those were considered unwanted, and a place to punish, all under the guise of medical advancement.
