She cried out her release, clenching on him, bringing him deeper. He sank inside her faster, harder, riding out the ripples of her pleasure, until he reached his release. He came with a hot rush inside her, and she clung to him, their hearts pounding together.
“I love you,” she said when she had at last caught her breath.
He kissed her slowly. “I love you, my angel. You are a miracle.Mymiracle, and I’ll never stop loving you.”
*
Frederica looked atthe Duke of Amberley, and she could only feel one emotion: pity. Before her sat a man in the sunset of his life, a man who had no one and nothing left. He had shuffled into her drawing room with his walking stick and his pronounced limp, as if the weight of the world had settled upon him and he found himself struggling against it. He looked far older than his years, a man who had lived a life of iniquity and now paid the price.
It was late afternoon, and Duncan was not yet due to return from his club. When the duke had initially sent word he wished to meet with her, she had been stunned. Her initial reaction had been to deny him, but she had relented against her better judgment, wondering why he had requested an audience so long after what had transpired with Willingham.
“Thank you for seeing me, my lady.” His tone was formal and stilted.
“Mrs. Kirkwood,” she was quick to correct. A habit it would seem.
“Mrs. Kirkwood,” he acknowledged, the name sounding even more awkward than his greeting. As if he disliked the taste of it on his tongue.
How odd to think he was the father of the man she loved and yet wished nothing to do with him. She would never understand how the duke could have so cruelly refused to help his own son. But then, his treatment of Duncan had made him the man he was—formidable, determined, and strong. The best man she knew. “I admit I am curious as to why you would seek me out, sir.”
“As you can imagine, it concerns your husband.”
Her lips compressed. Just what she had feared. If this man thought to hurt Duncan in any manner, he was deadly wrong. She would protect him at all costs. “Mr. Kirkwood is not at home.”
“I did not expect him to be. Indeed, if he were, I would not imagine he would see me.” The duke paused, seeming to gather his thoughts. “I have written him, and he refuses to answer.”
Either the man before her had no notion of how deeply he had hurt her husband or he was utterly lacking in empathy. “I am sure he feels there is nothing left to be said between the two of you.”
“That is precisely what he feels,” came a deep voice she knew and loved so well.
With a start, she turned to find Duncan striding over the threshold of the chamber. He delivered a perfunctory bow to the duke and then another to her before standing at her side. She wanted to throw her arms about him in a protective embrace but settled for silently demonstrating her support.
Amberley struggled to regain his feet. “Kirkwood.”
Duncan’s hand sought hers, their fingers tangling. Tension radiated from him, and she absorbed just how tightly he was wound through their joined hands. “Amberley. What reason have you to importune my wife and trespass at my home?”
“You will not answer me, and there is a matter of great import I wish settled.”
“You have your vowels back,” Duncan bit out. “As promised. What more could you want from me?”
“Nothing.” The duke’s expression changed, softening somehow, making him seem more world weary and less frigid. “There is something I wish to give you.”
Duncan stiffened at her side. “I do not want anything from you, Amberley.”
“It belonged to your mother.” The duke reached inside his coat and extracted a ring, holding it out to Duncan. A large ruby winked from an elegant gold setting. “It was a gift from me to her, and when I ended our arrangement, she left it, too proud to take anything from me. I…I thought it fitting for you to have.”
Duncan did not move to take the ring, so Frederica accepted it in his stead, knowing it was a piece of his mother he would wish to keep, regardless of who it had come from. He had nothing else left of her save his memories. Here, in this ring, he would have something she had worn on her finger.
“Why now?” Duncan asked coldly.
“Because it is long overdue, and I have regrets. More regrets than you can imagine.” Amberley seemed sincere. Almost regretful.
But her husband was not convinced. “Do you require funds?”
“No.”
“Then why?” Duncan growled.
She squeezed his fingers, aching for him. He still bore so much pain from his past, and now he was once again being forced to confront it. His grip on her tightened, as if he drew strength from her.
