Page 95 of The Duke Who Saved Christmas
“I wish I could say I’d never done that.”
“You’ve worn a suit of armour?”
Thomas sighed. “I was fourteen, an idiot, and my cousin dared me to.”
“That sounds like a story I need to know.”
“Only if there’s one equally embarrassing you can tell me.”
“You wish,” I scoffed. “I was an annoying goody-two-shoes when I was younger, as you well know. My cousins were brats, though, and I knew not to listen to them. Unlike Hazel.”
Thomas raised his eyebrows. “Does she have any embarrassing stories?”
“Yes, but you’ll have to wait for the wedding for them. I’m not getting tricked into spilling my secrets here.”
He laughed. “Then I’m not telling you anything about my jaunt in the suit of armour.”
“Rude,” I muttered, wrapping my arms around myself and turning my attention to the fire. “Have you really never spoken to your ex again?”
“Nope. It wasn’t for a lack of trying. After a couple of weeks, I tried to hunt her down, but she wouldn’t answer her door, and there was only so many times I could go there before I risked getting reported for harassment.”
“Huh. Persistence must be a longstanding personality trait of yours.”
He met my gaze, fighting a smile. “Something like that.”
“Did you ever get closure? You were together for so long.”
“I don’t know if closure is the right word.” He bent his knees and rested his arms on them, gazing over at me. “Acceptance is probably the closest thing to it. Neither her friends nor her family would tell me anything beyond the fact that she didn’t want to marry me, no matter how many times I asked them, so I had no choice. In a way, just accepting that I’d never know made it a lot easier than giving in to the theories that were swirling around in my head.”
“That makes it sound terribly easy.”
“I suppose so, but I also thought that what she did was a really fucking shitty thing to do,” he continued, his voice just assoft as it was a moment ago. “I was losing my dad, I was under immense pressure, and she wasn’t even a good enough person to give me the reason why she couldn’t be with me anymore. Strangely enough, accepting that she was a terrible person made me feel a lot better.”
“And now you’ve sworn off love forever, right?”
“I wouldn’t say I’ve sworn off it. I’m not looking for it, but I wouldn’t be mad if it found me.” He glanced up, and there was a little sparkle when his eyes met mine. “If I was a romantic kinda guy, I’d think us reconnecting was fate.”
“I didn’t know we were telling horror stories,” I muttered.
“You wound me, Sylvie.”
I pressed the tip of my nail to my scar on my eyebrow. “An eye for an eye and all that.”
“I thought you were over that.”
“I’m a woman. I’m never over anything. More fool you for believing me.”
“Just when I think we’re getting somewhere, you go and crush my hopes and dreams again.”
“I have to. If you keep saying nonsense like ‘fate’ and ‘hopes and dreams,’ what choice do I have but to destroy those fantasies?”
Thomas’ lips pulled up to one side in the tiniest of smiles, and he stood up, chucking his blanket on the sofa behind him. “Come on.”
“For what?”
He held his hands out for me. “Soup. Heath’s soup is the best, and Mum said there’s some left in the slow cooker.”
“Okay, but who’s Heath?” I grabbed his hands so he could haul me up to my feet, and I quickly pulled my hands out of his much bigger, much warmer ones.
