Page 110 of A Rogues & Gentlemen Christmas

He felt her stiffen a little in his arms and shifted them both so he could look into her eyes.

“Ye said some nonsense about making a mess or not being like Sarah.”

She looked away from him a small frown between her eyebrows. Ned reached out and smoothed it away with a fingertip. “Gracie, ye promised to tell me if anything made ye unhappy.”

Grace turned back to him and let out a little huff. “I’m not unhappy, foolish man. Indeed, I’m horribly selfish and jealous, and you ought not put up with it or pander to it. Really, it’s nothing.”

“Jealous?” he said, incredulous and not a little intrigued to know what the devil she was on about. “What in blazes have ye to be jealous of?”

She stared at him as though he was being obtuse.

“What?” he demanded.

He watched as she rolled her eyes at him. “Of Sarah, of course,” she said, and then buried her face in his chest. “I know it’s horrid and I’m a bad person,” she mumbled. “But I’m jealous of the ten years she had with you, and of how good a wife she was to you, and… and I’m frightened I won’t measure up, that… that I’ll not be good enough.”

Ned blinked, so astonished he didn’t know what part of the ridiculous nonsense to address first.

“Gracie,” he said, finding it hard to keep the amusement from his voice as she burrowed further, clinging to him so he couldn’t look her in the eyes. “Gracie!” he protested, eventually resorting to hauling her out and pushing her gently onto her back, holding her down by the wrists.

“Where did ye get such a maggoty idea in yer head?” he demanded, and then his heart broke as he saw her eyes fill and she turned her head away from him. The foolish creature really believed it.

“Gracie, love, listen to me,” he said, his voice gentle. “Ye have it all wrong. I never loved Sarah.”

That got her attention, and he smiled as she stared up at him.

“But when you spoke of your marriage it… it sounded like such a happy partnership, like everything worked perfectly and—”

He snorted. “A business partnership maybe,” he allowed. “And that’s my fault for making it sound a deal happier than it was. Only, I didn’t want ye to think it was my fault, that… that I was a bad husband and didn’t care for her as I should.”

“Oh, Ned, no—”

“She tricked me into marrying her,” he said, not letting her finish.

“What?”

Her blue eyes blazed with indignation, and he laughed and pulled her into his arms and told her of the night Sarah had gotten him drunk and taken him into the stables behind the pub he’d been drinking at. Looking back on it, she must have been damned determined, for it had been the only time she’d given herself to him willingly.

“She told me she was with child, so I married her,” he said with a shrug. “But she never wanted me. Her ma had died when she was young and she’d run her father’s farm with him since she was a girl, but then her pa married again, and his new wife took over and put Sarah’s nose out of joint, I reckon.”

“So she decided she’d find another farm to run,” Grace said, looking so furious he could do nothing but smile helplessly at her.

“Aye,” he said, nuzzling into her silky hair and breathing in the sweet scent of her. “But she only wanted the farm, not me. What she wanted most was to lord it over her stepmother and show how successful she’d been in marrying a man with a bigger place than her father. She couldn’t bear it when I touched her, and there never were any children. I barely knew her, Gracie, and I certainly didn’t love her, though I swear I tried. I tried to make things better between us, more like they ought to be, but….”

He shrugged. He’d never been able to figure Sarah out, and he certainly wasn’t going to spend any more time trying.

“Oh, Ned,” Grace said, her eyes filling once again, but for him this time. “Oh, my love, I’m so sorry. You must have been so lonely.”

“Yes,” he said, trailing a fingertip down her cheek. “But I’m grateful now, grateful that things worked out as they did, so that I was here, waiting for ye. For now I know how precious this is, what is between us.”

“Oh,” she said with a sigh. “Ned, you do say the loveliest things.” She snuggled into him again. “Do you… do you think you might love me, then… a little at least?”

He gave a bark of laughter, and turned her onto her back once more. “A little bit!” he exclaimed. “Hell’s bells, woman, do ye not know I’m head over ears in love with ye, foolish creature?” He huffed and shook his head. “A little bit,” he repeated, rolling his eyes.

“Really?” she said, a smile dawning over her lovely mouth that stole his breath and his heart all over again.

“How could ye not know?” he demanded, genuinely perplexed. “Surely ye could see it from the start? Lord knows I couldn’t hide it.”

“I didn’t,” she said, shaking her head. “Truly. I just thought you a lovely man whose nature was to be sweet and kind.”

“Well then.” He moved between her legs and she coiled about him at once, tugging him closer, welcoming him. “I love ye, Gracie,” he said, and then gasped as he slid inside the fierce, slick heat of her. “I love ye with all my heart, I shall worship ye with my body, and I’d do anything, anything at all to make ye happy.”

Grace laughed with delight and tugged at his neck, pulling his head down for a kiss he was more than willing to give her.

“Just love me, Ned,” she said, her head tipping back and her eyes falling closed as he thrust deeper inside her, and the pleasure of it overwhelmed him. “Just love me.”