Page 83 of Married to the Forbidden Duke
“I know, my love. I am sorry. I never meant to put us both through this.” Finally, she let him reach for her, and she came easily, submitting to another embrace—this time one that he initiated. He stroked her hair and just let himself breathe.
She was here. In his arms. Alice, his wife, the woman he loved beyond all reason, washere. And she let him hold her.
He felt her tears against his neck, and he held her through all of them. All the hurt in his heart drained away. Whatever came, they would endure it together.
When her tears slowed, he eased her back, looking into her face. “You said home,” he whispered, and her eyes searched his as though looking for his answer. “Is this home for you, my sweet? Here?”
“What do you think?” she asked in a broken voice. “Anywhere you are, Frederick. That is home to me now.Youare my home.”
Words he had dreamed of for so long. He drew in a deep breath, then winced. “I am sorry,” he managed again.
“Why are you apologizing? Haven’t you done enough damage already?” Her eyes fluttered closed, two more tears streaking down her cheeks. He wiped them away. “When I heard you hadbeen in an accident, I thought—I thought the worst. If you had died, Frederick, the rest of me would have died along with you.”
“Shh.”
“I need to say this,” she pressed on. “You didn’t believe me before, but I thought we had time then. But we don’t—we don’t know what will happen. And I can’t bear for anything to happen to you and for it to be my fault. I can’t bear the thought of losing you. And you—”
“Shh,” he murmured again. “I know. I know you didn’t do it.”
She paused, eyelashes wet as she looked at him. “What?”
“Your friend, Charlotte Norburry, came to the house in search of you. She admitted to drugging you and spreading the rumors as if you had.” He stroked her cheek, bringing his thumb to her bottom lip. It parted for him, and a bolt of lust traveled straight through his spine. Even now, even in his injured state, he wanted her. He groaned. “I should have believed you. Can you forgive me?”
Alice shook her head. “Canyouforgive me for being the reason you are hurt?”
“There is nothing to forgive. I wanted to reach you so badly, I disregarded everything else, including my own safety. That is not your burden to bear.” He brought her face down to his for a soft kiss. “Don’t live as I did, darling.”
She cupped his face in her hands and kissed him again. “I love you,” she murmured in between kisses, and although she had told him he had bruised ribs, he felt something light and warm expand inside him, somewhere beyond pain. “I love you in a way I never thought I could love again. I forgave you long before I admitted to myself I no longer held a grudge. And I am so, so relieved you married me.”
She rested her forehead against his so they could breathe each other’s air. He breathed her in, feeling his own heart settle inside his chest. This week without her had felt like forever, and he would never carry such a burden again.
“I trust you,” he told her, wrapping his good arm around her. His chest ached, but even so, he struggled into a sitting position. “From now on, if you tell me something, I will believe it.”
“And I willneveract against you.”
He kissed her again, needing to feel the pressure of her lips against his, the certainty that she was now with him again and all was right with the world. “I want you in this room,” he told her. “Every night.”
“Every night?” She quirked a brow. “Even now?”
“Even now,” he chuckled gently. “Although I fear I am a little less mobile than I was before.”
Her full lips pulled into a smile. “It is about time it was the other way around.” She smoothed the damp hair back from his head. “I can walk again now, thanks to you,” she whispered, and he could hear the emotion in her voice.
Finally, the guilt in his chest eased.
She loved him; she had forgiven him. She could walk again. This was the closest he could come to turning back time, and now he finally felt as though he understood—his father had not disliked that his public reputation was ruined. Time could heal that, especially as he began making the changes that were important to him.
But it was the unpaid debt to Alice that his father had disapproved of the most.
Now that debt was fulfilled—or at least, as fulfilled as it could be now. He would spend every day for the rest of their lives making it up to her.
“Alice,” he breathed, tugging her back so he could look into her hazel-flecked eyes. “Have I ever told you I love you?”
“No.” Her gaze bounced from one eye to the other as she took in his expression. Dawn light spilled into the room. “Does that mean—”
“More than anything,” he whispered. “You are my light. My reason. I love you more than life itself.”
She shook her head desperately, even as she bent to kiss him again. “Not that much. Promise me, Frederick. I need you to live a long time. Just as long as I do. I need you by my side for the rest of my life.”
