The words landed between them like a dropped glass.
James’s breath caught. “Eleanor.”
She tilted her head, watching him carefully. “It is what you wanted, was it not?”
He took a step toward her before he seemed to realize he had done it. Then another.
“No,” James said hoarsely. “It is what I thought I needed.”
Eleanor’s chest tightened. “James.”
“I cannot let you go,” he said, the words spilling out now, unguarded and urgent. “Not after this. Not after you stood in front of her and did not flinch. Not after you trusted me when I gave you every reason not to.”
Eleanor swallowed hard. “You do not owe me anything.”
“I owe you everything,” James replied.
He stopped just in front of her, close enough now that she could feel the warmth of him, the steadiness of his breath.
“If living separately is what you truly want,” he continued, voice rough, “then I will give it to you. I will give you whatever you desire. But I have to try. I cannot remain silent any longer.”
Her pulse thundered. “Try what?”
“Loving you,” James said.
The word settled into her bones.
“I have loved you,” he went on quietly, “since long before I allowed myself to admit it. I loved you when you challenged me. When you refused to be frightened. When you looked at me and demanded the truth. And I love you now, standing here, alive,brilliant, and entirely unlike the woman I thought I had married for convenience.”
Eleanor’s eyes burned. “James.”
“I know I am not gentle with my feelings,” he said. “I know I have been cruel with my distance. But if you will have me, truly have me, then I will spend the rest of my life making amends.”
She reached for him before she quite realized she was moving, her fingers curling into the fabric of his coat.
“I love you too,” Eleanor said, her voice steady despite the tears threatening at her lashes. “I have loved you in all the quiet moments you did not notice. In every rule you set and every wall you built. I loved the man beneath them even when he tried to disappear.”
James closed his eyes briefly, as if the words were almost too much to bear.
When he opened them again, the restraint he had clung to for so long was gone.
He drew her into his arms carefully at first, as though giving her every chance to pull away. Eleanor did not. She pressed closer, resting her forehead against his chest, breathing him in.
“I am here,” he murmured. “And I am not leaving again.”
Eleanor smiled against him. “Good.”
He lifted her chin gently, giving her time to stop him.
She did not.
Their kiss was unhurried, reverent, full of everything they had nearly lost. When they parted, James rested his forehead against hers.
“Come with me,” he said softly.
She nodded.
The instant the door clicked shut to James’s room, and every barrier between them shattered. James’s hands slid around Eleanor’s waist, thumbs pressing into the curve of her hips as he pulled her flush against him.
