Page 90 of A Duke Makes a Deal
“Yes?”
Turning back, he waited for the blankets to be pushed away as his wife emerged from beneath the sheets. She was visibly tired, with weary eyes and slightly disheveled hair but he was sure he had never seen her more beautiful.
“Silas—”
“Clara, I love you,” he said, quickly, worried that he would lose his nerve if he hesitated. “I thought I was incapable. I thought I was too broken to love again, but I think that I was never heartbroken to begin with, not truly.”
Clara looked at him with wide eyes.
“You weren’t?”
He shook his head.
“No. Because I never knew what love truly was until I met you,” he said. “The calm I feel in your presence. The happiness I feel when you say my name.” He sat on the bed and reached for her hands. Pulling them to his chest, he continued. “I’m forever in awe of your patience, your ability to love someone who told you he couldn’t return it.” Her head dropped, but his hand cameto her chin. “Your kindness and your bravery have astounded me.”
“Bravery?” Clara laughed, though she didn’t seem amused. “What bravery have I shown?” She shook her head. “I’ve never done a brave thing in my entire life.”
“You have,” he said. “You loved me when there was no hope for it. Don’t you see? You brought me back to life.”
Emotion swept over her face as her eyes shone.
“And you love me?” she asked.
Silas felt it deep in his chest. Almost as if his heart was expanding.
“Yes, I do,” he said slowly, his hand coming up to her cheek.
A tear rolled down Clara’s cheek before she spoke.
“I love you too.”
Silas bent down to kiss her and didn’t stop for quite some time.
Epilogue
One year later…
“Clara?” Silas calledthroughout the foyer of Greystone, having just searched the library and dining hall for his wife. “Clara?”
“Have you checked the garden?” Violet asked, coming down the staircase. “I believe she said she was intent on going there once we left.”
“No,” he said coming around the back of the staircase to look up at her. “I thought you and Mother were going back to London this morning?”
“We are,” Violet said, tugging on her gloves as she came down the steps. “But she insisted on staying a few more hours to play with the Augustus. I was just following her to the carriage. I’m afraid Mama has become one of those doting grandparents.”
Silas smirked and leaned on the baluster. His son, Augustus Harrison Winters, had been born only two months ago and he could barely smile, let alone be played with. And yet, his mother had found that she was quite happy to be a grandmother. She was unable to help herself when it came to buying the baby presents that he wouldn’t be able to use for months, and she had barely left Clara’s side since their son was born.
“It was bound to happen,” he said. “Are you attending the Trembley party then?”
“Yes, but Fredrick is trying to get out of it,” Violet said, shaking her head. “He wants to go to the opera instead, but Derek is quite fixated on him being there. I swear, why I ever agreed to such a long engagement is beyond me.”
“A few months isn’t so long.”
“After a half a year of courting, and another half year of being engaged, a day is torment,” she said ruefully. “At your insistence, we’ve waited. Even though you didn’t wait more than a month.”
“It was different for Clara and I.”
“How so?”
