“What are you doing out in this weather? You should be at home, safe in the cottage.”
“Why do you care what I do with my life? You made it perfectly clear that you want no part of it.” Vivian turned on her heel and began to walk back to the cottage. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back home.”
“At least let me take you there.” Thomas gestured to the horse as he fell into step beside her.
“No. I do not want anything from you.” She wrapped her arms around herself and sped up, wanting to be rid of him.
Why is he here?Her heart pounded furiously as the rain battered down on them both. She tried to drown him out, but she could not.
Thomas caught up with her easily. “Vivian, I know that I hurt you, but really, this is ridiculous.”
“I do not care.”
“Vivian, please—” Thomas began, but she rounded on him.
“What, Thomas? Why should I listen to anything you have to say? What are you even doing here?”
“I needed to speak to you,” Thomas shouted above the roaring of the wind.
“There is nothing more to say to each other,” Vivian yelled back, the wind snatching her words. “You said it all by not even bothering to show up at my fundraiser. When you refused to even say goodbye to me. I thought we were friends.”
“I do not want to be friends.” Thomas gestured to her as they reached the cottage.
She had expected the words, but they still stung. “Well, that much is obvious.” She flung open the gate to the cottage and stormed toward her front door.
“I meant that I want to be more than friends.” Thomas put a hand on her shoulder, and Vivian froze, turning to face him. “I want to be with you. I want to be your husband. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, however short it might be.”
Vivian closed her eyes. “Why are you doing this? Do you enjoy tormenting me?”
“I am not trying to hurt you. I never wanted to hurt you.” His blue eyes bored into her.
“You broke my heart, Thomas!” she roared at him, her voice breaking with emotion. “You cannot just show up here in the pouring rain and say you want to be with me and expect me to jump into your arms. That is not how this works.”
“Just let me explain, please,” Thomas begged.
“Explain what? That you did not want me, and now you have changed your mind?” She wrapped her arms around herself. “I have been through that once before, and I would be a fool to subject myself to it again.”
“I am not Lord Brixten.” Thomas’s eyes danced with fury. “I should never have let you go. I told myself that it was the best thing to do, that you would be better off without me. I thought what I was doing was noble, but it was the opposite.”
“And why would breaking my heart be noble?”
“I did not think it would break it.” Thomas let out a breath. “I was trying to prevent your heart from breaking. I am cursed, Vivian. And I am terrified that I might die, and that in dying, I would do what my father did to my mother. That you would be broken.”
Vivian frowned. “I thought you did not believe in curses.”
“I am not sure what to believe.” Thomas gestured between them. “That is why I was late to your fundraiser. I was trying to break the curse, but my last chance failed. I thought that if I asked you to stay, I would doom you.”
“Why are you telling me now?” Vivian asked.
Thomas gave her a look that was both pained and amused. “Because I love you, Vivian. I love you with every fiber of my being. I love you more than I ever thought possible. You are the sun that lights the sky; you are the reason I want to get up in the morning. And selfishly, I want to spend whatever time I have left with you.”
“And what if I say no?”
“Then I will walk away a broken man. Tell me that you do not love me, and I will never darken your doorstep again. But if you feel as I do, I swear I will spend the rest of my life earning back your trust. That I will prostrate myself before you and beg for your mercy.” He kneeled in front of her as though to prove it.
The sight of him kneeling in the mud shifted some of the anger she felt. “Damn you, Thomas. Damn you.”
“Say you do not love me, and I will leave.” He gestured to the road.
