“For my mother, for putting you in danger, for almost getting you killed.”
“Oh, Addison, no.” She reached out to him. “My love.”
Overflowing tenderness washed through her when she noticed the cuts and scrapes on his hand.
“I never should have walked out of your mother’s dinner. It was my fault. You simply followed me.” How many times had he followed her one way or another? She’d been a fool not to realize the depths of character in this man before tonight.
“You made love to me,” she added.
And it had been wonderful. Before the sky fell in. Before they’d both nearly been killed.
He lowered himself onto the mattress beside her, one corner of his mouth tilted up. “For the record, I am not sorry for that.”
“Neither am I.” She covered his hand with her other. “Not at all.” Which was something of an understatement. “You didn’t panic. You didn’t leave me. You… saved us. How did you do it?”
He shuddered. But then he shook his head, staring at their hands.
“All that mattered was you… saving you… getting you out of there.”
Tears welled in her eyes. “All that mattered was you.”
Me.
“I’ll never be able to thank you enough.”
“You never have to thank me.” He jerked his gaze back up to hold hers. “Just love me. Marry me. Be the mother of my children.” Hope and pain flickered in his expression. “Be my duchess.”
“Yes.”
“Yes?”
“To everything.” She no longer had even a single reservation. “Yes, to loving you, yes to marrying you, to children. Yes—to everything. You… overcame your fears—for me. I was going to allow fear to decide my future, our future. But not anymore. I want to be a duchess, not just any duchess, butyourduchess. And if it takes the rest of my life, I want…” The strangest sensation crept over her.
“What do you want, love?”
“I want to be a most excellent duchess.” She smiled at him, feeling incredulous. Would he laugh at that?
Of course, he would not.
“I will make mistakes,” she quickly added. “Possibly many, in the beginning. And I’ll likely get frustrated. But as long as you’re my duke, I’m honored to be your duchess.”
He raised her hands to his mouth, pressing a kiss to her fingers. “There is only one thing that would make me happier right now.”
Collette hadn’t ever imagined him quite like this—a full smile tilting his lips and his eyes so clear it was as though she could look right into his heart. Very deliberately, he pulled her into his arms, wincing slightly as he did so.
“You’re hurt. You should be the one in this bed.”
He slid her a glance that was far from proper. “As I was saying… there is but one thing that would make me happier right now.
“A kiss?”
“I’ll settle for that if you will.”
And very gingerly, he dipped his mouth to meet hers.
Epilogue
“The Duchess of Bedwell with her son, the duke, to see Miss Jones.” Mr. Ingles announced. “Shall I see them in?”
