They descended, one by one, soles finding the solid gravel of the Harlton Hall drive. Leo clapped Clay on the back. “I expect you are eager to revisit your bride.”
Clay gave him a meaningful look. “You as well, brother. Do not be a fool.”
He was about to say he would not be, that he was going to attempt to speak to Bridget, to solve their differences, when the door of the hall opened. A trio of females burst forth, skirts flurrying down the front stairs, one dark-haired lad following in their wake. Ara, Lily, Bridget, and Edward met them halfway.
Leo did not miss the astonished joy on Bridget’s lovely face as she took in the sight of her brother. “Cullen! My God, Cullen, is it truly you?”
O’Malley stalked forward, arms open, and a sleek blur of skirts launched herself at him. Leo was dimly aware it was his wife, elated to greet her brother after so long. Cullen’s arms tightened around her, and he rocked backward, lifting her feet from the ground. As one, they twirled, laughing, clutching each other delightedly. Leo watched their unabashed joy, and for the moment, the sweet panacea of contentment washed over him.
Ara too had flung herself at Clay. Edward had come next, attaching himself to Clay’s leg. Lily swept Leo into a sweet-scented embrace, pressing a kiss to his cheek. “You have come back, my darling son. Where you belong.”
He hoped she was right, that he was where he belonged at last. That his love for Bridget would be enough to heal the distance between them.
“Yes,” he agreed, his throat going tight with emotion, the back of his neck itching.
“Find your way back to her, Leopold,” Lily whispered in his ear.
Only she could call him by his full name with impunity.
He smiled, releasing the fierce mother hen in his arms so she could greet Clay and Cullen. Bridget extracted herself from her brother’s embrace and turned to Leo, tears of happiness shining on her cheeks. Her elation faded before him, her expression growing guarded. Solemn. Her arms were not open.
“Thank you for bringing my brother home,” she said, as formally as she would to any casual acquaintance.
He wondered if he had waited too long, pushed her too far. Her stiff greeting was a barb to his heart. “You are welcome, wife. I trust you are well?”
She looked no different than she had when he had last set eyes upon her, except perhaps a trifle more pale. It was almost impossible to believe she carried a life within her womb. A life they had created together, in love, although they met again as detached as strangers.
“I am as well as can be expected,” she answered, a world of meaning simmering beneath her words.
They walked into Harlton Hall, their divides intact.
But it felt wrong. So horribly wrong.
His mother was right. Bridget was his other half. He had to find a way back to her. A way back tothem.
Bridget stopped justshort of Leo’s chamber door that evening, her hand outstretched. The closed door was symbolic of their marriage. How fitting it was he stood on the other side, just out of reach, this barrier between them as if it had been erected of her own making, a product of her sins against him.
She did not deserve the man on the other side of the door. That much she knew. But she wanted to deserve him, and he had met her halfway by coming here. Or at least, she wanted to fight for the chance. To fight for him. For them. For what they could be together.
Lily’s words returned to her.
The most important decision you can ever make in your life is to love someone. Loving is not easy. It is raw and messy and hard-won. But it is also worth every struggle made to gain it.
Love was worth swallowing her pride, and so was Leo. She owed it to him—owed it to herself, to the tiny heart beating within her—to take this chance. To try to make him see she was still the same woman he had fallen in love with. That she was not perfect, but she loved him. She loved him fiercely and fully and deeply, and there was not one single thing in this world she would not do for him if it was within her power.
A short, deep breath for courage.
And then she tried the latch.Unlocked.The door opened, as if willed by a magic hand, swinging inward. There he was. Her eyes lit on him, hungry for any sight of him she could garner. She had not realized how desperate she was for him until she had seen him striding up the drive alongside her brother and Clay, tall and impossibly handsome.
He stood now in the center of the chamber, clad in a dressing gown and nothing more, his bare feet and calves peeping out from beneath the hem. She crossed the threshold without invitation, closing the door at her back.
His bearing went rigid, gaze burning into her. “Duchess. What do you require?”
So icy and formal. He treated her as if they had never shared such wild and wicked moments in each other’s arms. As if they had not been as close as two people could be. Her courage faltered for a moment, wilting beneath the ice of his indifference.
Again, Lily’s words recalled themselves to her, venturing back into the recesses of her mind when she most needed them.
Leo has a soft heart.
