Page 61 of When her Duke Returns
“Oh, that is quaint,” Harry lulled and came to settle beside him. “I see Burkley didn’t knock the humor from your ears, at least.”
Alexander felt his face curl into a grimace. “Not my humor, no. Although my pride certainly took a beating.”
“A small thing to lose, all things considered. At least your face was of no concern though I suppose we cannot actually blame Burkley for that as well,” Harry mused. “So, America, is it? You are so apt at keeping secrets. Although next time, you might want to considernotleaving a note.”
“I thought I’d be gone by the time you were up.”Alexander looked out across the water. “But yes, America it is.”
“Please… Oh,pleasetell me I didn’t put the idea in your head. I shall never hear the end of it!”
“Then I shan’t comment on your involvement.”
Harry sighed. “Things are not so bad that you must leave, Alex.”
“It does not matter how bad they are. I will not survive another round with the ton—I haven’t the patience for it. I need to start fresh, to live somewhere without a past, if only for a while.”
“I doubt there is any corner of the earth quite like that... If you leave,” he said with a pause, “it almost feels like Burkley wins.”
Alexander could not bring himself to refute it. “What news have you of him?” he asked instead.
“Regrettably little, I’m afraid. I’ve received mismatched accounts from different acquaintances. Some say the Simons have given him sanctuary in one of their houses, further North, and that the constables have turned a blind eye. Others say he’s veritably on the lam… Supposedly forgeryandan attempt on someone’s life just won’t do… He’ll get his comeuppance, sooner or later, I have no doubt. I shan’t be around to witness it, however.”
“But you would begrudge memyescape, I see,” Alexander murmured against the wind. “How are your lot fairing?”
“To be quite frank, not as terribly as one would think.”
“Is that so?”
Harry hummed in agreement. “Francis is his usual crabby self, and he and I certainly aren’t on speaking terms after he orchestrated that whole blasted affair with the stealing of my pistol… Joke’s on him, I suppose, in that regard. And before you ask,no, I don’t think he expected Antony to actually use it; and,yes, he was in cahoots with the deuce from the wordgo.”
“I’m not sure what I did to earn his scorn,” Alexander tutted. “I always thought Francis and I were all right.”
“I wouldn’t take it personally. If I had to guess, I’d say he bit off more than he could chew when he became Earl and wanted some normalcy about the place. You made that quite difficult.”
“I shan’t apologize,” Alexander said with a grin. “What of your mother?”
“Who can say? She’s put on a brave face and is making her rounds, attending her operas,et cetera… Though she’s none too pleased about the idea of my heading out. No doubt she’ll come to understand in time. Burkley will see to that.” Harry laughed then, a strong, hearty laugh that rang oddly against the pallid blue of the sea and the overcast sky. “Even after everything we’ve been through, you still cannot bring yourself to speak plainly. Ask about her, Alex. I know you’re just dying to.”
Alexander had clearly done a terrible job of hiding his pining. “Fine. What of Mary?” he managed at last.
Harry brought his lips to a purse as if in deep contemplation. Then, he turned around in a half-circle and gestured to the end of the pier. “Why don’t you ask her yourself?”
Alexander felt a chill of anticipation spring from the base of his spine and prickle at his skin. He could hardly bring himself to look, lest it be an awful ruse on Harry’s part. By some miracle, it was not, for there she stood at the very end of the pier where the pebbled beach bled into the sea in a coat of soft blue, the dark ends of her hair falling loosely to her waist.
Their eyes locked from their pained distance, and it took all of Alexander’s strength not to run down the pier and sweep her up in his arms. The last thing he wanted to do was scare her away. Still, she seemed to soften under his gaze and slowly began her ascent up the pier.
“I’m getting the strangest sensation, you know,” Harry began, but Alexander could not keep his eyes off of Mary, “as though I’ve lived this exact moment before. Perhaps one day, you shall learn that longing is, in fact,notits own reward. I shall not be around to mediate forever.”
With a pat on his shoulder, Harry left Alexander’s side, meeting Mary in the middle of the pier and planting a tender kiss on her cheek. He continued to the beach as Mary made for Alexander.
“They will say I’m a fool,” she began, her voice soft and full, and Alexander was grateful that he had not been summoned to speak first. “They will say I was a temptress—with any luck, an adventuress to round things out. But what they will not say, what I fear will never be said, is that I loved you. That I love you still. That I worry, in fact, that I will never stop loving you.”
Alexander felt his heart burst. He threw all sense aside and rushed toward her in broad daylight, taking her into his arms and kissing her with all the devotion in the world. His face still hurt from his injury, but he could not have minded less as the sweet taste of her lips—herlovinglips, the lips thatlovedhim—met with his and set his soul on fire. He pulled away then kissed her again, his hands pressed against her face as if she would slip from him.
“If I died in that chapel,” he whispered against her lips, kissing her again. “If I died and this heaven,” he said between another set of kisses, “I shall never want to live again.”
“This is real,” she hushed, bringing a finger to his bruised lower lip. “I am here and alive and real,” she continued and nestled herself more deeply into his embrace.
“You never came to see me,” he said despite himself, “when I was recovering. I thought you had… I truly thought you were done with me. That I had ruined you.”
