Page 87 of Winning Her Duke

But what if in protecting themselves they missed out on happiness by trying to avoid unhappiness?

She got caught up in their love making, as his eyes bore into hers communicating all he could not say aloud. When they broke, they did so just as silently, allowing the other person to see them at their most vulnerable moment. When their hearts were exposed.

He let out a breath and pulled her close once more.

“We don’t need to have the answer tonight,” he whispered as if he’d heard everything that had passed through her thoughts.

An hour later, Gia climbed the servants’ stairs and sneaked into her room. And she knew as she slivered into the cool sheets, she didn’t want to lie in a cold lonely bed the rest of her life.

She wanted a husband.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Hale returned home at only half ten, feeling as if he’d left a rather important part of himself back in the Tomison gardens.

Apparently, their time together was not just about satisfying their physical desires. If it had ever been simple lust—which he doubted—it had grown to be more. He felt empty to have to return to his home alone when he wanted to sleep next to her and wake in the morning to her teasing.

There was only one way to ensure he would always have that.

Marriage.

The word no longer held the revulsion it once had. It wasn’t something to be feared or avoided. Not if it was engaged with the right person.

He’d not wanted to be forced into a marriage like his parents had. But a life with Gia would be so far from that.

If he chose her because he didn’t want to spend a day without her, it would not be the same at all.

He’d thought them incompatible. She who hated the city and flourished in the country. He who clung to London and the distractions it offered so he’d never be alone.

But no distraction of the ton would ever make him as happy as seeing Gia in her breeches, smiling and laughing in the sun.

And suddenly he knew exactly how it could be with them, and everything he wanted turned on its axis. Plans clicked into place and before he realized it, he was knocking on his valet’s door.

“Yes, Your Grace?”

“Pack my trunks, we leave at first light tomorrow.”

“Yes, Your Grace. And where are we going?”

“Home.” That wasn’t quite right. It wasn’t a home yet, but he wouldn’t stop until he made it in to one. At Chauncey’s confusion, Hale clarified. “To Scotland.”

*

Three weeks had gone by since Gia had last seen Jeremy.

He’d left without so much as a mention of where he’d gone or what important business had called him away—not that it was her right to know—but she did wonder what made him flee so abruptly.

Part of her worried she’d spoken too much of her feelings out loud that night when she’d stumbled across the knowledge she wanted to marry. It would explain why Jeremy had run off to the country of all places.

For all she knew, he could have been set upon by pirates—though he hadn’t said anything about a sea voyage.

She had even made certain to bump into Lord Melville and Lord Stormont in order to ask them if they’d heard anything, but they only said he’d told them both he had business in the country. So at least he hadn’t kept the details from just her. His other friends knew as little as she.

Maybe he was trussed up in some hamlet to be ransomed off, only no one in his household had responded to the request.

Her mind had no shortage of dangerous scenarios as to why Jeremy had not returned in time to comfort her when her world had suddenly turned upside down.

Just a few days after Jeremy had left, her father and Lydia shared some shocking news. Not only were they getting married, but Lydia was with child.