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"Although I have been fortunate enough to have Vinnie for company."

She gave his hand the gentlest squeeze before carefully placing it back upon the blanket and dipping her quill into the ink.

"I am afraid I have very little news to share after hiding away for three whole days."

The nib hovered once more.

"I suppose the most significant development is that the Duke has decided our marriage shall remain exactly what it was intended to be."

She swallowed.

"A marriage of convenience."

Even writing the words hurt.

"I know I once told you that I believed I was beginning to reach him." A sad smile touched her lips.

"I truly convinced myself that perhaps he cared for me too."

She lowered her gaze to the page.

"It appears I was mistaken."

Another pause.

"His first love has returned. Her name is Sophia."

Her hand tightened almost imperceptibly around the quill.

"And, my goodness, Colonel, she is beautiful."

She stared at the ink drying upon the page before continuing.

"I shall not stand between them."

The words looked almost foreign written in her own hand.

"What is done is done, and I have no wish to become another source of unhappiness in the Duke’s life.

“If the Duke has been given a second chance with the woman he first loved, then I cannot ask him to throw it away for my sake. I know now what it is to give someone your heart for the first time, only to feel every inch of it breaking.”

Her eyes drifted to the sleeping colonel.

“So I have decided that I shall dedicate my time to my duties as Duchess, and beyond that… well, I hardly know. I have spent so long wondering who the Duke wanted me to be that I have quite forgotten to ask myself who I truly am.”

She looked down at the words she had written. She found she no longer knew what words were to follow.

"You are a fine young woman." A deep, gravelled voice shattered the silence.

Eliza let out an involuntary squeal, springing so abruptly from her chair that it scraped loudly across the wooden floor.

"Colonel Radnor!"

Her eyes flew to the bed. He was awake. His blue eyes, though still dulled by weeks of illness and exhaustion, were fixed steadily on her.

"Oh..." Relief washed over her features so quickly that she almost laughed.

"You are awake." Without thinking, she hurried to his bedside, every trace of her own sorrow forgotten.