Page 15 of To Tempt A Highland Duke
“I love Flora and I hope one day she will forgive me and love me too.”
Tessa studied him for a moment before nodding. “I believe you think there is something missing in your life, but you had your chance eight years ago. You broke her heart when you let her marry Iain. You’ve also had your chance the three years she has been a widow. It makes me wonder why you are so fixated on marrying Flora now, just as the King is arriving on Scottish soil.”
He did not flinch or look away under her calculating stare. “You don’t think she is right for me? Or is it you don’t think I love her?”
She gave a wistful sigh. “I think you are not being honest with yourself. You say having a son is not important to you, in fact Flora told me it scares you to think of a woman carrying your babe. I can sympathize with your fear. But life is long. What happens if suddenly you crave a child? You’d destroy Flora if she found that out. She had five years of disappointing a husband, and she didn’t even love him. She would wither and die if she found you felt the same.”
“I won’t change my mind. Flora means too much to me.”
Tessa’s mouth curled down. “Because you are an honorable man, I will take you at your word.”
“Thank you.”
“But if you break her heart, I’ll… Well, I’ll get Angus to beat you senseless.” She pushed him toward the floor. “Now break in and claim the woman you are about to marry before this crowd forms the wrong idea.”
He pressed a kiss to Tessa’s cheek and did as she suggested. As he strode determinedly through the dancing couples, he could see tongues wagging.
When he tapped on Glengarry’s shoulder the man’s face looked like thunder, but he handed Flora over graciously, too concerned at making a scene. If someone had tried to step in while he was dancing with Flora he would have punched the rotter out.
No sooner had they twirled about the floor, than a sea of decorated fans fluttered and heads turned.
“That was rude and uncalled for,” Flora held herself stiffly in his arms. “Is this what I can expect when I become your duchess.”
He swore his feet left the floor at her words ‘become your duchess’.He felt his heart burst from his chest. He’d never been so happy.
“You will not regret this,” he whispered in her ear. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
He almost tripped over his feet. It was the first time she’d said that to him in eight long years. He didn’t care that the whole of society was watching. He turned and almost dragged her from the ballroom. He didn’t stop until he reached the bedchamber he had been given in the Palace.
The minute he pushed the door closed with his foot, he swept her into his arms and carried her to the bed. As he laid her down, he whispered, “I’ve been waiting what seems a lifetime to have you in my bed.” He lay down beside her so they were facing each other, the rampant desire still there and heightened by the knowledge he could make love to her the way a woman should be loved.
Her smile faded, and he saw the emotion pass over her face. She must remember too.
“I hope you can forgive me for letting you go. But I swear I’m never letting you go again.”
“While I will always regret out lost years, I can understand your reasoning, although I don’t agree with it. My marriage was not horrid, but I found little joy in it.”
Pain ripped across his face. “I thought what I was doing was right.” He looked away and talked. “I was ten years old when my mother died in childbirth. I remember it like it was yesterday. The screams went on for hours, getting weaker and weaker until there was silence and I heard a baby’s cry. My father was not home, and I was trying to be the man of the house. I went racing up the stairs and into her room, and all I saw was blood. There was so much blood on the floor I skidded on it and fell onto the blood-soaked sheets of her birthing bed. Something went wrong with the birth and she bleed to death. The midwife said the baby was too big for my mother. I would have had another brother if the babe had lived.”
Flora sucked in a breath. “I’m so sorry you had to see that, and at such a young age.”
“Then when I learned of Connie’s agonizing death and the reason why—that the child was too big… I vowed I would not cause another woman’s death in childbirth.”
She pressed a kiss to his cheek and turned his head to look at her. “I wished you had talked to me about your fear. Even if I could not dissuade you from your notion about childbirth, I would have understood why you did what you did.”
“I think it was better that you did not know and that you could hate me.” He gave a bitter laugh. “If you had stayed my friend during your marriage, I don’t know if I’d have had the strength to stay away from you.” His voice was ragged.
Flora cupped his face, and she pressed a kiss to his lips. She blinked back tears because she wanted none shed in this room or in his bed. They had both cried enough tears to last a lifetime. This would be their new special place.
“No more recriminations. Only words of love, desire, and need.”
Iain had been a considerate lover. She had not found her wifely duties terrible, but neither did she understand how some woman craved their husband’s attentions, like Tessa did. “I’ve never made love before because I could not give Iain my heart. Care to show me what I have missed all these years?”
He squeezed his eyes shut. “I’m scared that when I open my eyes, this will be but a dream. I can’t believe you have forgiven me.”
“I would not be here if I thought I could not put the past behind me. Open your eyes. I’m here. For as long as you want me.”
