Page 102 of Indecent
“Should we go speak with our families?” she asked.
“No, I need you to myself for a moment.” Bennet put her arm around his and guided her to a darkened corner. Then he pulled her behind a shrubbery and cupped her face. “I love you.” He kissed her, softly at first, then more deeply as she twined her arms around his neck.
At last, he pulled back and brushed his lips across her cheek, her forehead, her temple. “I have loved you for so long.”
“How long?” she asked breathlessly.
“Since Riverview—the first time,” he added. “I like to imagine those days we spent together, except I didn’t have you kidnapped, and I wasn’t beholden to my family or duty. I was worry-free and able to choose my own path without fear. I would have chosen you then. I would have begged you to marry me.” He traced his finger along her hairline from her forehead to her cheek. “Now, I beg your forgiveness. I’m so sorry I wasn’t honest with you. I was afraid for my future and for the future of any child I will have. That fear prevented me from wanting to marry, from allowing myself to love.”
She laid her palms flat against his upper chest, pushing them out to the sides near his shoulders. “I didn’t want to marry either. After my father died, my mother urged me to bury my emotions, assuring me they weren’t helpful. I believed that, especially after she died and I felt so alone. If you don’t allow yourself to feel, it’s much easier to bear loneliness.”
Her words twisted his insides so that he could scarcely breathe. “Oh, Pru. You always seem so strong and confident.”
“I didn’t even realize I was lonely until I met you.” She touched his cheek. “But I think I was—am—strong and confident too. I’m confident that I love you. I was not, however, confident that you loved me. I was sure you didn’t, especially when I learned you’d kept the truth of your family from me.”
Agony and regret washed through him. “If I could go back and tell you everything from the start, I would.”
One of her brows arched. “From the start? You would tell me about your family’s troubles when I was trussed up like a pheasant? I think that’s what you said, isn’t it?”
He couldn’t help but laugh. “Perhaps not at that precise moment.” He grew serious once more. “Don’t ever doubt my love for you. I vow to tell you every day, multiple times a day, for the rest of our lives.” He kissed her again, a leisurely exploration filled with promise.
She pulled back and looked up at him intently. “What about the baby? Are you still afraid?”
“Yes.” He wouldn’t lie to her. Not anymore. “But with you, I’m less so. My great-aunts have also pointed out that I am not—probably—afflicted with the family illness. It seems I’m merely, ah, emotional. Or can be, anyway. And that while I have made some rather poor decisions, they don’t compare to anything my father did. They don’t think I demonstrate any behavior that’s out of the ordinary for most people.”
“How lovely of them.”
“Yes, it was, actually.” Bennet was extremely grateful to them.
She laid her hand against his cheek. “You’ve been alone in your fear and worry for so long, shouldering a terrible burden, even when your father was alive, I suspect. But you’re the one who holds them all together. Don’t you see how wonderful that is? How much love and strength it takes to be who you already are?”
How he wanted to believe that. “You see a better man than I am, but then that’s been true since I kidnapped you.”
“You are a far better man than you think, but I suppose I shall just have to remind you every day.”
“I will never tire of that,” he said fiercely. “To think that I get to spend every day with you is a joy I never imagined.”
“I know neither of us wanted this, that if not for a series of misfortunes, we would not be here right now. But I am not sorry.”
“You say misfortunes, and I would have agreed. I told you I was unlucky. I don’t think that anymore. I look at those misfortunes and see the greatest luck a man could have. All of it led me to you. To us.” He put his hand over her belly and thought of the life growing inside her. “Whatever the future brings, we will manage it—together.”
She stood on her toes and touched her lips to his. “Together.”
Epilogue
Prudence jumped up from her chair the moment she heard masculine voices. She rushed to the entry hall as the Duke of Evesham came from Bennet’s study, Bennet following behind him.
“Your husband made an excellent case,” the duke said, stopping near Prudence.
“He’s very committed to Aberforth Place—and to his family.” Prudence wished she could have been party to their meeting, but knew the duke wouldn’t have approved. He saw financial discussions as a purely masculine domain.
“So it seems.” The duke turned to Bennet and shook his hand. “I look forward to your first report.”
“Thank you, sir.” Bennet smiled and cast Prudence a look that was a mix of joy and relief.
Prudence wanted to throw her arms around her uncle. “We’ll see you at dinner tonight?” They were gathering at the Wexfords’ for a celebration later.
“Briefly,” he said with a slight scowl. “I don’t like to intrude on you young people, but I’ll stop in before I go to my club.”
