But Morgan ignored them. Their interference actually gave him the privacy he’d been seeking, at least for a moment. “He’s not wrong. I am not worthy, Elizabeth,” he insisted. “I just fought a bloody duel, for God’s sake, over my wicked behavior.”
“I know! I watched you,” she cried out.
Everyone in the room stopped, and suddenly all the eyes shifted back to Elizabeth. Morgan saw the discomfort that caused her—he knew how she hated it. But she lifted her chin, her lower lip trembling with indignant anger and passion.
“What are you talking about?” he asked, his voice barely carrying.
She folded her arms. “I followed you,” she whispered. “We all did.”
“Amelia,” Brighthollow said with a shake of his head as he glared at his wife.
The Duchess of Brighthollow arched a brow. “Don’tAmeliame, my love. I wasn’t about to let you all go dueling like children fighting over a toy and not keep an eye on you. Now hush. Lizzie has something to say and youwilllisten.”
Brighthollow huffed out a breath, but to Morgan’s surprise, he didn’t interrupt again.
Lizzie was shaking from head to toe, her gaze never leaving Morgan’s. “I stood on a hill and watched you, knowing that if you were wrong about your friend, that I would never get to tell you that I…I love you.”
A ripple moved through the room and Morgan felt it zip up his spine. Love. Lovedhim.
“And when it turned out you were all right, that you would live…” She caught her breath on a shaky gasp. “I knew that I couldn’t let another day, another hour, another moment go by without telling you how I felt. I wanted to do it privately, but now I have to do it in front of my friends and my family while you and my brother argue over how little you are worth compared to me.”
“It’s not an argument,” Morgan said, casting a quick glance toward Brighthollow. “You are worth far more than I am.”
“That is bollocks!” she all but shouted, clenching her fists at her sides. When the room gasped in surprise at her language, she glared around at them. “It is. I am not a princess in a tower.”
“You should be protected like a princess,” Brighthollow said, but he no longer sounded so certain. “Taken care of and—”
“Can you not see how you diminish me, both of you, by seeing me this way?” she asked.
Morgan drew back, shaking his head. “Diminish?”
“Yes.” She bent her head and her breath exhaled shakily. “I amnota princess. I amnotan icon. I amnota delicate flower. I am a woman, with a woman’s heart. No different than Charlotte or Katherine or Amelia. I have desires.”
Brighthollow turned his face, his cheeks red, but he didn’t interrupt her again. Morgan didn’t either. No matter what he wanted to say, how he wanted to react, he folded his arms and forced himself not to.
She was owed it.
“I have made mistakes,” she continued. “Everyone knows what they were. I own those mistakes. They were never anyone else’s. And I have walked a road that led me here. I say again that I know what I want: you, Morgan Banfield. I want…” Her face brightened, as if saying these things had freed her. “I want you.”
Lizzie felt a weight come off her chest even though nothing had been resolved. Even though she had to share this moment with a roomful of people, including her angry brother who still looked as though he could kill.
Even though Morgan was just standing there, staring at her, as if he had been caught in a trap and now had no idea how to escape or what to do.
“Please say something,” she said softly.
Before he could, Hugh stepped forward. “Lizzie, emotions are running high. And you and Mr. Banfield have become close thanks to the garden. I can see how you might mistake your feelings.”
“My feelings are not mistaken,” she said with a glare for him. “I’m not a child, Hugh. Not anymore. This isn’t like the last time.”
“It feels the same,” Hugh retorted.
That brought Roseford forward, his hands gripped at his sides. “I would request you do not compare my brother to a man who used your sister ill and then nearly killed your wife.”
Hugh glared at Roseford, and it looked for a moment that they, too, might come to blows. But before they could, the Duke of Donburrow stepped into the room and put a hand on each man’s chest. He shook his head slowly, sliding his glance back and forth.
“Well said, my dear,” Charlotte said as she entered the room. “Forgive me, but you two are being idiots.”
“I agree,” Katherine chimed in. “This is between Lizzie and Morgan. It doesn’t involve any of us.”
