“We lost our mother a little over a year ago. She lived to see Adelaide happy though. It happened quickly. She did not suffer but it came unexpectedly.”
Upon hearing this she finally turned to meet his eyes, hers genuinely sympathetic. “I’m so sorry Chance. When you spoke of her before, I knew that you loved her.”
Chance smiled sadly. He had loved his mother. “I did. Very much.” Losing the last of one’s parents left one feeling somewhat unrooted, rather like one of the cuttings he’d brought over to Aubrey’s house before he’d replanted it.
“Did she know the nature of your marriage? That you had been compelled?”
“Thank the heavens no. She lived to see Adelaide happy. She was at peace. I believe the only thing that grieved her was Hannah’s health. She loved her but had been hopeful she’d become aGrand’Meresomeday.”
“Your wife was lucky, it seems, then. She had kind in-laws and a husband who would not force her to do anything that would compromise her health further. Friendship is a firm basis for a marriage. It sounds as though yours was not an unbearable one. For either of you.”
“It was as good a marriage as could be expected.” Aubrey had spent years in an unbearable marriage—married to a pious villain, Harrison Bloomington. Chance would murder her husband himself if the bastard was not already dead.
Chance did not wish to diminish the hardship she’d endured, but he could not help but make himself very clear, “Marriage to anyone but you would be unbearable.”
She let out another small cry, again, as though she did not want to know how he felt.
Chance turned her so that she could not look away. “I’m not playing games, Aubrey, Love. I’m not going to give up.”
She closed her eyes but this time stepped closer to him and buried her face in his chest. This was almost more than he could take.
“Come with me toSecours. Meet Adelaide and see my home.Mon Dieu. I beg of you.”
She was shaking her head. “I-I cannot.” And then she tilted her head back and met his stare with regret. “I am to travel to meet Richard’s family at Season’s end. He is planning on announcing our engagement there.”
Chance wasn’t certain he’d heard her properly. He simply stared into her eyes and wondered if the horror of her announcement showed on his face.
“Do you love him?” He finally managed.
She dropped her arms and stepped back, lifting them again to hug herself. “He has been very good to me. I feel great affection for him.” And then twisting the sword in his heart. “I do.”
It was Chance’s turn to step away. “Are you engaged now, then?” Her announcement made no sense, and yet, it ought to have. She spent a good deal of time with the bounder. All the while Chance had been toiling in her garden.
“It is not official. His mother wants to meet me first.” She raised a fist to her mouth and did not meet his eyes. “I’m sorry, Chance. I tried to tell you. I’ve moved on.”
He had nothing to lose now. He’d already lost the one thing in his life that mattered.
“I love you,Princesse. Don’t do this. Don’t make this mistake.” He’d taken hold of her shoulders again. “Don’t make both of us pay for this for the rest of our lives.”
Finally, she met his gaze, her emerald eyes shining with tears. “If only I’d known.”
He held her close again, though, and could feel the need, the desire thrumming off her body. This time he would not allow the opportunity to pass.
It might be the last one he would have.
Winding his arms around her, he drew her soft figure against his hard one and before his lips even found hers, she’d melted into him.
She tasted like an erotic dream. How many times had he dreamt of holding her again, of exploring her mouth with his tongue? Would she make the same little sounds of satisfaction she’d made that night they’d been together? Would it feel the same for both of them?
She did.
It did.
Except it was so much better but also so much worse. God, he could not imagine saying goodbye to her forever. Not again. Not when he’d come so close.
“Please,” he begged the word against her lips. “Think it over. My mistake tortured me for two years. Your mistake would torture us both forever. And you. Tell me you do not feel this fire between us. Tell me we are not meant to spend what remains of our lives loving one another.”
Her head dropped back and his lips dragged along the tender skin of her jaw, her neck. “We are fated for one another,ma Princesse. It was in the tea leaves. The love. It was not meant to be at the time, we both had to wait. Tell me that was not the answer you were given. You’ve been mine since the day I caught you staring out the window.Ma Princesse, Mon Aubrey.Please, don’t decide yet. I beg of you.”
