“Are you hurt?” he demanded.
“I—I am fine,” she whispered though her cheek still burned from the blow. “Evan?—”
She barely had time to finish before he was pulling her into his arms. She pressed against him, inhaling his familiar scent.
“You came for me.”
For the first time since she had been taken, she felt truly safe.
“I thought I had lost you.” Evan pulled her closer to his chest, his voice breaking. He kissed the top of her head and then her cheeks.
“I am sorry,” Isadora rushed out, now crying with tears of her own. “I should not have left. I am the one who put myself in danger?—”
“No,” he stopped her. “I am here now, and there is nothing to worry about.”
Beside him, Hartenshire swore and kicked as the constables dragged him away.
“He will never see daylight and freedom again,” Evan promised. “I promise you that. That fool made a mistake trying to keep the woman I love from me.”
The woman I love.
“Evan,” she turned to look at him. “I?—”
“I love you,” he whispered, “I am sorry, and I love you.”
Tears were flowing freely down Isadora’s cheeks now.
“I love you, too.”
He kissed her then, tender and brief. And entirely unconcerned about who might be watching.
“Come,” Evan murmured against her skin. “We’re going home.”
“Do you feel faint? Should I call for a doctor? Or perhaps?—”
Evan had not stopped worrying over his wife since the moment they had arrived home. Every few moments, he would turn toward her, his eyes scanning her face, her wrists, every inch of her, as though checking for injuries he had missed.
“Evan,” Isadora tried to insist. “Please. I am fine.”
“No, you are not,” he argued back. “Let me see your wound.”
“It will heal in a matter of days,” she said as he ran his fingers over the faint scratch marks on her wrist where the rope had bound her. “You need not worry. I am with you now.”
She reached for him, moving closer and pressing her hands against his chest. His heart was hammering beneath her palms.
“I am safe. Thanks to you,” she whispered, looking up at him.
He exhaled, his hands rising to cup her face delicately. And then, with a low curse, he pulled her against him.
She felt everything in that embrace. Her own hands curled into his back, holding onto him just as tightly.
Oh, how I have missed him.
His breath was warm against her hair. “I thought I had lost you.”
“You never will,” she murmured back.
For a long while, neither of them moved. But finally, someone had to break the silence.
