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Eudora’s wordswouldn’t leave me alone. What was that about? Had she warned him about me, too? That only brought a resurgence of the humiliating things the Hawthorne women had said about me—right to my face, no less.
A thousand backlashing, mean-spirited words ran through my mind, but I stomped every one of them away. It didn’t matter what his family thought of me, I told myself.
And not just because I knew my own self-worth this time.
Duncan had defended me.
He’d hoped to repair a breach with his family today. Instead, he’d sacrificed that chance to come to my defense. That meant more to me than any gift he could have bought.
“Duncan, that was?—”
He pulled me off to a corner near the bathrooms and swept me into his arms. His embrace filled me in ways I’d never anticipated, in ways I never knew being held by someone could. It was as though with this embrace he enveloped everything that I was—heart and soul as well as my body.
“I’m sorry,” he said, his voice raw. “I’m so sorry. They’re such snobs, Rose. I never should have come.”
He held me with such urgency, with dependency, as though he never intended to let me go again.
“It’s okay,” I said.
“No.” He crushed me to his chest. “I’m so sorry about telling them how I feel. I should have kept it to myself—kept you safe—but I couldn’t let them think otherwise. I had to tell them. I had to.”
Eudora’s words came back to me.I told you not to.
She’d known about The Pact. Did that mean she’d warned him not to fall for me, too?
I waited only seconds before rearing back. I needed to see his face.
“You’re sorry for finally being decent? Duncan, telling your family you love me isn’t going to put me in any more danger than I already am. Whoever this is sent those notes long before this moment. Theyalready know. I’m so proud that you stood up for me. That means everything.”
He buried me in his embrace once more, holding me, breathing me in as though he was the one who needed the reassurance from me.
His body trembled. I could only imagine what that must have taken for him to not only stand up to his family but to do so in front of so many people.
The setting, admittedly, hadn’t been ideal. Which made this moment all the more rewarding.
I didn’t care what happened after this—if anything did. I’d never imagined having a man like this. And danger or no, I wouldn’t trade this moment for anything.
“It’s okay,” I said. “It’s not your fault. You can’t help who your family is.”
“I didn’t want to act like you were nothing to me. Not when you’reeverythingto me.”
I fought the lump in my throat.
“You mean a lot to me, too,” I said, though the words didn’t seem like enough.
His mouth took mine, pouring emotion with every move he made. While I wanted to savor the kiss, it ended just as quickly as it began.
“I always worried what my feelings for you would do to you. I always thought as long as I kept my feelings for you to myself, no harm would come to you. Do you know what I think now?”
“What?” I said, stuck in this amazed, gaping pose. I couldn’t stop staring at this man.
“I think to heck with that. I think no harm will come to you regardless. They can’t hurt us, Rosie. They can’t hurt you, not as long as you’re with me. I won’t let them.”
I just kept right on staring at him. “Are you sure they’re even going to do anything?”
“I don’t know. They’d be idiots if they tried. Let’s get out of here,” he said, taking my hand. “Back to the real world. How’s your dad?”
“I—he’s fine.” His sudden shift in topic threw me enough that it took several seconds to get on his new wavelength.
