Page 39 of Her Runaway Duke
In their discovery of one another, they had almost forgotten all of the turmoil that had brought them to this moment and the destruction that lay beyond these doors.
“My lady?” came Mary’s distressed voice. “Are you there? Are you well? We couldn’t find you and?—”
“I am fine, Mary!” Siena called out. “Please, give me a moment to collect myself and then perhaps a bath would be lovely.”
“Very well, my lady,” Mary responded in relief as well as some confusion, but her footsteps soon faded down the hall.
Levi looked down at Siena, one corner of his mouth uplifted in amusement as he reached out and brushed his thumb over her cheek.
“You missed some soot,” he said, although his smile quickly fled as he was also apparently brought back to the terror from earlier.
“Thank you,” she said quietly, earnestly, and his brow furrowed in confusion.
“For what?”
“For sharing with me. For helping me understand who you are.”
“Mine is not a happy story,” he said, his hands twisted in the blankets beneath him. “It’s also one that many people meet with suspicion.”
“Because they believe that you started the fire,” she said, repeating the rumors she had heard time and again.
“You have read the scandal sheets.”
“I have, and they are nothing but that – scandalous papers that will do anything to make a sale. I know that you had nothing to do with that fire, and that if you could, you would go back in time and stop it from ever occurring.”
“Thank you,” he said, reaching out and covering one of her hands with his own.
“For what?”
“For trusting me. Believing in me.”
“It’s the truth,” she said simply, pausing for a moment before asking, “how did the fire start?”
“That is where the rumors began,” he said, throwing himself back down on the bed, “for signs pointed to the potential of the fire being started deliberately. There was an abundance of oil in the kitchen and a few of the servants identified a person fleeing from the area at the time.”
“None of that should lead anyone to believe that it was you.”
“It shouldn’t,” he said grimly. “But people can be quick to turn one small fact into a much bigger story. I am sorry to share all of this melancholy with you.”
“Don’t be. It is your story,” she said, reaching out and pushing his hair, which had grown far too long for the style of the day but suited him, away from his face. “When I told you that we will face it together, those were not just words.”
He nodded, the trust on his face causing her heart to swell.
“I suppose we best get you cleaned up so that we do not scandalize Mary,” he said, reluctantly lifting himself off her.
“I have a feeling that your staff would be quite pleased to know that you are happy,” she said as she crossed the room, finding her wrapper and slipping it over her shoulders.
He nodded as though he were about to say something, scratching his head, telling that he was just realizing what their coming together likely meant for her and their future.
Enough emotions had arisen today already, though, and Siena worried that having to make any further decisions would be altogether too much.
That could come another day.
“You should go before the bath arrives,” she said. “I know we are both scandalous already in our own way, but?—”
“This might be too much, even for us,” he said with a small, slightly relieved smile as he dressed before crossing to her, leaning down, and placing the sweetest, most caring kiss on her lips.
It was one she would carry with her until they were together like this again.
