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Sir Jasper opened and closed his mouth, trying to say something. Hope bloomed in Emma’s chest. She was ready to kiss the duchess on both cheeks.
“Do you understand me?” the duchess pressed.
“I do,” Sir Jasper said, shaking.
“What do you say?”
His shoulders sank, and he lowered his head, going into the pocket of his tailcoat where he found a folded paper. He stretched it out to the duchess, who snatched it from his fingers.
“Excellent. Go and fetch the box for me, as well,” she ordered Sir Jasper. “Then let’s get those papers signed, and I’ll take you, Emma, back to the duke.”
* * *
Sebastian blinked at the sunlight that suddenly flooded the blissful darkness of his study. Only, it wasn’t that blissful, was it? With his head bursting with pain and his stomach burning. He couldn’t see from one eye, which was swollen shut. His face ached in multiple places from cuts and bruises, and he may have a cracked rib.
“Standen, for heaven’s sake…” he muttered as he turned around, facing the back of the tiny sofa he lay on. “Close the curtains and bring me more gin.”
“It’s not Standen,” said a female voice…
Her voice.
Even with his head spinning and his mind fogged, he recognized it. And the figure silhouetted by the light coming in the window was not that of his butler.
It was her figure. In her high-waisted dress, with her straight and confident posture, and her delicate shoulders, her hair…
“Look at you.” She came closer and sank to her knees in front of him. When they were on the same eye level, she said, “What are you doing to yourself?”
“You left me,” he said, blinking the fog away to look at her properly. She seemed thinner than he remembered her. She had those ghastly clothes that didn’t suit her coloring, but her eyes shone, as beautiful and as green as he remembered them. Those long, curled eyelashes and the high cheekbones. And heavens, those plush pink lips. “You left me for him.”
“And you told me you never loved me,” she said, cupping his face gently. He welcomed the slight pain even her feather-soft touch caused. Because it meant she was real, and she was here with him.
He caught her hand, leaning into it with his unshaved face. He turned and kissed her palm, inhaling her usual sweet, flowery aroma mixed with the dusty scent of the road and carriage.
“You hurt me like no one has ever hurt me before,” he said. “Not even when I let them beat me in the boxing ring, hoping for oblivion.”
“But you didn’t destroy the annulment papers.”
“I could never.”
“And so the Duchess of Grandhampton delivered them, and Sir Jasper and I signed them. We’re no longer married.”
He swallowed hard, regretting drinking so much. He couldn’t believe he was hearing her right. What he wouldn’t give now for a clear head…and a bath.
“Then why did you leave me for Sir Jasper?”
“He found a letter from your mother to the Duke of Ashton that implies they were lovers. And it could question your legitimacy. He threatened to send it to The Society. His condition was that I return to him. I had to protect you and your mama. You could have lost everything, and your mother’s name would have been destroyed.”
Sebastian sat upright, blinking. Not believing his ears. She had gone back and locked herself in the jail of her terrible marriage for him, to protect him and his mother…
“Emma…you did all of that for me…and for Mama…”
“I love you,” she said. “Of course I protected you. I would do anything to keep you safe.”
She loved him…
Something tight as a fist cracked open within him. He was warm and light. She loved him so much that she was willing to sacrifice her freedom for him.
He stood and she stood with him. He took her face in both of his hands and kissed her lips lightly, his whole being invigorated from that simple touch, so soft and warm and delicious.
