Page 51 of The Seductive Love of a Lady
‘Mary.’ He opened the door before a footman could and jumped down without the step.
She raced down the shallow steps, decorum forgotten.
He raced to her too, met her midway and as she flung her arms about his neck with a fierce cry of joy, he hugged her middle and lifted her off the ground. He hugged her hard, with relief. He thought he would never hold her again. His cheek pressed against her hair as the embrace of her arms wrapped about his soul too, and her head rested on his shoulder.
‘I am sorry,’ she said.
She had lost weight, he could feel her spine and her ribs beneath her gown.
His fingers splayed in her hair. ‘You have nothing to be sorry for. I am sorry. I could not bear for you to see the real me. I thought you must hate me. That you could never love me. I pushed you away to avoid the pain of you choosing to leave me. I regret it.’ He pressed a kiss on the crown of her hair.
She stepped back, her arms lowering. There were tears on her cheeks.
He smiled as tears clouded his vision too.
‘You are not hurt,’ she said. She ran her hands across his chest, as though she could see through his waistcoat, looking for wounds.
‘No.’ His fingers lifted her chin, raising her gaze to his face. ‘Mary, I am fine. No holes.’ He wiped the tears from her cheeks with his thumbs. Then smiled as her fingers wiped his cheeks dry. ‘I have been an ass. Caro told me so too.’
He held Mary again, absorbing the scent of her, and pressed another kiss on her hair. Then he met Pembroke’s gaze.
Pembroke stood a few feet away, watching with that hint of a smile.
Drew took a deep breath. It would not be easy to let her family see who he really was. It would make him vulnerable. Yet, he had to. Mary’s family were important to her and she was important to him, he had to trust in that.
They were devoted to Mary, and so was he. If she loved and trusted these people with her life and happiness, it would be crass of him not to trust them too.
He left one arm about her shoulders and nodded at Pembroke as they walked towards the house, ignoring the discomfort flooding his veins.
The Duchess slipped an arm about Pembroke’s midriff, and they walked together too.
‘Shall we stay outside for a while and talk?’ Mary said.
‘If that is what you want to do, sweetheart.’
‘Dinner will be served at six. You do not need to dress. It is just the four of us,’ the Duchess advised.
Mary lifted Drew’s hat off his head and held it out. ‘Please take this and Lord Framlington’s gloves inside,’ she said to a servant.
Smiling, Drew pulled off his gloves and handed them over.
‘Let us walk to the lake.’ She caught his hand and pulled him onwards, leaving the Pembrokes and their multitude of servants behind.
‘Is this where you grew up?’ he asked.
‘No, my father has an estate, but it is nothing like this. Papa’s property is a small manor house with farmland. We used to come here once or twice a year to stay when grandfather was alive, but never for long because Papa and Mama didn’t like him very much. But since John has owned Pembroke Place, we comeoften. I love the grounds. In the summer when all the family are here it is fun.
‘How is your sister?’ she asked.
He had doubted her belief in him from the moment Marlow had found them at the inn; thought her incapable of loving the damaged man he was. Yet when rumour had him at his lowest – incestuous – without any moral fibre at all, Mary believed him innocent.
Drew glanced back, looking at the house. Pembroke and his staff had gone.
He stopped walking, tugging their joined hands and smiling as he pulled her closer. Then he kissed her. A long deep kiss, weighted with feeling, love gripping at his heart.
When he ended it, a wide smile parted her lips.
He walked on, her hand in his. ‘Caro is shaken and afraid. It took an enormous amount of courage for her to leave. It will take her considerable time, I think, to feel safe and settled. She is scared Kilbride will find her. If he ever did, I would be frightened for her. He beat her on the last occasion, because she miscarried his child.’
