Octavia stilled and blinked at him. “Why?”
“Because she is not who I want.”
“Then what are you going to do?”
He simply stared at her. Did she not realize she literally carried the answer to what he needed? “Marry you.”
“No!”
His heart sank. She did not love him, and she swore that she would never marry again. But didn’t she realize that a child changed everything.
“I am not who you want.”
“Who do I want?” he asked slowly.
“Do you not remember?” she asked him. “A woman who is no older than three and twenty. I am soon to be thirty. Sweet and kind, which I can assure you I am not. Not independent.” She arched a brow as if making her point. “Biddable.”
Angelo did his best not to smile. “Yes, I had that list when I assumed that my wife would be someone who I would settle upon without the benefit of love or passion.” He took a step forward. “Do you now understand why that list is no longer necessary?”
She stared at him with wariness. Octavia may not love him, but he would love and cherish her, and there would be passion.
"We had a pact that we would only be lovers and that there would be no emotional attachment, or words of love.”
“I am aware,” she stated.
“I broke that rule.”
“No, you did not.”
“I never said the words, Octavia, because they were not allowed and would have made our parting more difficult when it came. That does not mean that I am not very much fell in love with you, and I remember the first time it occurred to me.”
“When was that?”
“That first night, when I simply held you.”
She closed her eyes and tears leaked from the corners. “Please do not say what you think I want to hear.”
“I would not lie to you about this,” he insisted. “There was a reason I could not go to Lady Briana’s father. There was a reason that I could not even so much as kiss her. I used every excuse to avoid doing what I thought I must because I knew that once it was done you were lost to me forever, and because it was unfair to marry her when my heart belonged to another.”
She stared at him, looking deep into his eyes, as if searching for the truth. “You truly do love me?”
“Yes. And I hope that someday you will love me as well.”
A sob broke and he pulled her into his arms. For the longest time she cried, and anxiety mounted at the fear that she would only accept him because there was a child but resent having to marry once again.
“I am sorry, Octavia. I know you did not want this. But, for the sake of our child, we should wed, and I promise that I will never do anything to make you regret being my wife.”
Her sobs turned to laughter. “You do not understand.” She looked up, her grey eyes still watery and her cheeks wet with tears. “I broke the rules too.” More tears filled her eyes. “I fell in love with you, but I knew that anything between us would be impossible because you needed an heir that I could not provide. Then to find out I carried your child and believing that you were already betrothed…these past few days have been horrendous, if you must know.”
He chuckled and pulled her close.
“There is only one woman that I want as my wife, Octavia, and I could not be happier with this unexpected turn of events.”
She glanced up. “Truly?”
“Had you not conceived, it is likely we would have never admitted the truth and been quite miserable for the rest of our lives.”
Octavia sniffed and Angelo pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her. “Instead of a rake for the Season, how about a rake for life.”
