Page 77 of Married to the Duke By Midnight

The sea was not visible through it when you were sitting down. Just the blue sky and the dark green shrubbery. If Jo allowed him to, he would like to rectify it so she could see the sea from what was clearly her favorite room in the house. He looked back at her again. “I think that it was good that I was not there. I would never have listened to him long enough for him to tell his story.”

Jo smiled, and for a minute or more, their eyes locked on each other and they simply stared. Hope spiraled in Robert’s chest. It was the first time it felt possible that maybe, just maybe, everything could go back to the way it had been. No, even better, because Jo would know where he stood. And he would hopefully know she was on the same page. Or believed she could get there at least.

“Jo,” he breathed and placed his cup back on the low table between them.

It did not seem right to declare your love across a tea table.

“Do you mind if I sit beside you?”

Jo looked hesitant, before she scooted to the corner of the sofa. Robert hurriedly moved to sit beside her. The sofa was so small that their thighs were almost touching. It was more like a wide high-backed chair than a sofa really.

“Jo,” Robert repeated and reached for her, palm up, hoping she would place her hand in his. When Jo tentatively did, Robert felt a frisson of warmth shoot through his body. Once again, he reprimanded himself. Even though he might still desire her desperately, it would take time before she felt comfortable sharing a bed with him again. And he would wait. However long it took.

“You asked me to figure out what I want out of this marriage. And I have.”

He heard her swift intake of breath at his words. Her eyes were on their hands, not on his face, but Robert’s gaze remained on her as he spoke.

“I want everything, Jo. I want us to spend as much time together as possible. I want us to share a bed. I want the five children that we raise together. I want…” he took a deep breath, “…us to be partners. And I realize that means I cannot go above your head, not even when I think it is in your best interests. I do. I really do. I…” Robert paused again, steeling himself, since Jo was still not meeting his eyes, only casting furtive glances his way. “I love you, Jo,” he told her gently. “I am in love with you.”

She gasped at his words, and her eyes were full of tears when she looked at him.

“I am glad that you have given us this time apart, since it might have taken me much longer to realize it otherwise.” He huffed a self-deprecating laugh.

“I… I love you too,” Jo breathed, before she hurled herself into his arms.

Robert squeezed her tightly against him, feeling determined to never let her go.

Jo’s back shook against his hand, but he could not determine whether it was from laughing or crying until a grin escaped her. But when she looked at him, tears were streaming down her face as well.

Robert smiled tentatively as he smoothed the curls back from her face.

“How is it possible?” Jo whispered in a hoarse voice. “I am so strange and unwomanly.”

“You are anything but,” Robert told her fiercely. “You are everything. You are perfect.”

Jo bubbled with a sound somewhere between a sob and laughter and her mouth crashed into his a moment after. Robert kissed her desperately and urgently, matching the ferocity in Jo’s kisses. Her tongue was in his mouth as she crawled into his lap, straddling his thighs. Robert ran his hands up her back, wanting nothing more than to take the dress off and feel her skin against his again.

Jo was clearly thinking the same thing:

“Let’s go upstairs,” she breathed against his mouth.

“Not yet,” Robert told her in a hoarse voice and pried his mouth away. “I have something for you. Something I want you to sign.”

He reached between them into his jacket pocket to find the new contract he had made.

“Oh,” Jo breathed and then sprang from his lap. Robert was afraid that he might have offended her, but then she started rummaging through the drawers in her desk. She held up a slip of paper triumphantly. “I have something I want you to sign too.”

35

They settled beside each other again after Jo had hurriedly removed the tea tray. They were sitting with the contracts held up as if they were poker players, not wanting to give an inch.

“You first,” Jo breathed as she held her list in front of her mouth. Her heart was pounding fiercely in her chest at the thought of having to reveal it, yet she was yearning to know what his reaction would be.

“‘The duchess will manage her own money. The duke will help at her request but never make decisions on his own. The duchess’ autonomy trumps any fear of gossip, scandal or emotional discomfort’,” Robert began.

He sent her a questioning look, but Jo only nodded that she agreed and he could continue:

“‘The duchess will stay a minimum of six weeks at her seaside cottage in the summer or the autumn, along with the duke and the children.’ I wrote this before I realized just how tiny the house was,” Robert said as he looked around with mischief in his eyes. “But we will manage.” He smiled before his eyes returned to the paper again and he continued reading: “’However, if the duchess is expecting or her youngest child is less than six months old, the family will travel directly to Riddlesmarsh Hall when the season ends.’”