Page 58 of In Need of a Duke
It wasn’t as if Ian hadn’t been dreaming of this very moment for years now. He had been. But finding her crying in his bathtub was not how he envisioned the moment going between them.
Ian scratched the back of his neck, uncertain how best to proceed. “You’ve been crying.”
“So I have.”
“Why?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“I would argue that it does.”
She rubbed her temple and sighed. “When have I mattered to you?”
Always. He had been a cad for lying to himself that she didn’t.
He pushed off from the doorway and approached the bathtub before sinking to his knees to look into her eyes. He needed her to see the truth.
“You matter very much to me.”
“Then I am here to seduce you.”
He reached out for her, feeling her brokenness, and needing more than anything in that moment to be her strength.
Charlotte pressed her face into his palm, tears brimming over and spilling onto her cheeks. “She’s having a baby, Ian.”
“Who?”
“Kate. And I am the very worst friend in the world because I am so happy for her, and yet I…”
She swatted his hand away, sitting up.
“You what?”
“Lily has Rafe, and they have two children running around London. And now Kate is with her husband. Did you know Gabriel is already guardian to his two nieces Lorna and Maisie? Kate has a new family entirely.”
Ian felt a cold wave of dread wash over him. She was jealous, and though she wouldn’t admit it, the blame lay with him.Hehad left. He had robbed her of the same happiness her friends now shared.
“And you have…”
“Bees!” she exclaimed, throwing her head back to cry. “I have bees, and then you come back demanding an heir.”
“I didn’t exactly demand it.”
She waved her hands in the air, sniffing back her tears. “I want a divorce, and you need an heir. I wish for a child, I do. But you broke my heart, Ian. I can’t have a child with you. I need to be loved. And whether you like it or not, in the time you’ve been gone, I have found my voice, and I deserve more than to be stuck at Stonehurst waiting for you to grow bored with seeing the world.”
He stood and nodded, then slipped one button free from his shirt.
“What are you doing?”
“I was promised a seduction.”
She scoffed. “I couldn’t even keep my husband’s attention for the wedding night. How do you expect—” Charlotte gestured to herself crying, alone in the bath.
When he unbuttoned another, she squeaked. “You can’t come in here.”
“Iwasplanning on a bath. Consider this a convenient coincidence.”
Ian shrugged off his shirt and left his trousers on. There was no point in pushing her away when he was so close.
