Thomas rolled to his side and looked down at her. “I didn’t want to presume anything.”
She smiled at him. “Why are you such a decent man, Thomas Easton?”
He leaned down and kissed her. “That doesn’t mean I’m not going to slide myself between those lovely thighs of yours a few more times before Benson appears.”
Lisbeth wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back. “I would hope not.”
*
Thomas and Lisbethgrinned at each other as the carriage door shut. Benson and the driver had returned to retrieve them, though Thomas now wished they’d spent the night. He had a surprise for Lisbeth and was nervous about how she would take it.
Still, she’d seemed to love their alone time today. “I have a surprise for you.”
Lisbeth lifted a brow. Thomas had the urge to kiss her again. She still had the look of a flushed, sated lover. He continued, “I bought the land I showed you today. I was hoping that we could build a house and live there when we don’t have events inLondon. It is only a half-hour train ride or a one-hour carriage ride from the townhouse in Mayfair.”
He had hoped for excitement, but she looked back at him, blinking and stunned. Hurt flared in Thomas. “I’m sensing you are not as excited as I thought you would be.”
“It is very thoughtful, but we have a townhouse in London and a country estate,” she explained calmly.
“The dukedom does,” he said, trying to reason with her.
“I don’t want to add stress to Alice and Jeremy’s lives.”
“Change is good sometimes,” he said. It didn’t escape him that the anger he thought he’d buried deep enough never to flare was bubbling and demanding to erupt.
Lisbeth bit her lip as if she wasn’t sure what to say. He was choosing to step into another man’s life. A life that should have been Thomas’s to begin with. The anger erupted. “Will I be denied everything? First you, then my child, and now I can’t build anything for our family. It all should have been mine. You should never have left Tuscany.”
The moment he said the words, he knew he shouldn’t have. The color drained from Lisbeth’s face. “I’m sorry. Blame me. It is all my fault.”
“I blame the expectations of society, I blame your father and brother, and yes, I blame both of us for thinking it was wise for the daughter of an earl and a housekeeper’s son to fall in love.”
Thomas needed to calm down. He was being irrational. Somehow, this conversation had morphed from discussing whether to buy an estate to addressing all their problems. Her eyes watered. “It was a foolish decision to fall in love, but one I couldn’t have stopped, nor do I regret it.”
He gulped and looked away. She leaned forward and placed her hand on his. “I knew these feelings still lingered and I don’t blame you, but we must be honest with each other for this towork. My only concern about your purchase of the estate is Alice and Jeremy.”
“I want this life with you, Alice, and Jeremy, but I can’t only exist in the duke’s spaces. I need a place that is just ours.”
She smiled sadly at him. “Let’s take some time to think about this. This has become too heated. I just need you to understand that a new estate won’t make the past disappear.”
Lisbeth was likely right about needing time. The anger snapping and sparking in him would not soften. “It seems we both have plenty to think about. I don’t think it is too much to ask for you to build something with me.”
She remained silent.
The next day, Thomas watched as Alice and Jeremy played in the garden with Miss Ashby. They were comfortable in this space, and it was because they’d grown up here. This was their home. He was still hurt that Lisbeth wouldn’t consider the estate at all. Thomas had thought the nearby property was a perfect compromise.
Still, she’d been right. He was the only one who could decide whether he could live in London with them. Hell, right now he was staying in a guest chamber of this house because he couldn’t fathom sleeping in Lisbeth’s deceased husband’s bed. Fuck. Everything was a bloody mess.
Yet, he knew with all certainty that he loved Lisbeth. He glanced at Alice and Jeremy, and his heart ached even at the thought of leaving them. He never wanted to blow up on Lisbeth again. She’d been hurt and shocked.
He would make this work, he told himself. What other option did he have? To live the rest of his life incomplete? Without Lisbeth and the children, that is what it would be. Thomas walked down the terrace stairs, and Alice and Jeremy smiled at him. This was his family, and he wouldn’t give it up.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Lisbeth sat atSeely House, reviewing the club’s finances. In truth, she was hiding. Her fight with Thomas the previous day had been atrocious. He’d been so angry, and the feelings he’d been keeping bottled up exploded. Her heart ached as she remembered him saying that he blamed them for foolishly falling in love.
She scoffed quietly as if they had any say in that. Lisbeth gulped, wondering if they could be together without making each other miserable. There were so many hurtful things between them. Still, she wasn’t completely faultless. Why had she said no right away about the country estate? The request wasn’t that unreasonable.
Her thoughts had been focused only on Alice and Jeremy. She didn’t want them to go through more change after enduring Nicholas’s death and her and Thomas’s shocking wedding. Still, it was a lovely property. Had she reacted without really considering it as an option? Jeremy would love the small lake, and Alice would adore the Manor ruins. She sighed.
