Page 60 of Duke of Myste
“My mother died from pneumonia,” he revealed quietly. “She caught a chill after walking in the rain during one of her and Father’s particularly brutal arguments, and within a week, she was gone. I was twenty-five, old enough to understand that if I had been there, if I had insisted she come inside, if I had protected her from his cruelty…” He stopped, swallowing hard. “I failed to protect the person I loved most, and she paid the price for my failure.”
Tears pricked Jane’s eyes as understanding dawned. “And you saw me in that lake and thought?—”
“I thought I was watching it all happen again,” Richard confirmed, his voice barely audible. “I thought I was about to lose you because of my inability to keep you safe.”
“Oh, Richard…” Jane’s heart broke a little at the pain in his voice, at the weight of the guilt he had been carrying alone. “You cannot protect everyone from everything. Some risks are simply part of living.”
“I know that.” He turned to face her, the moonlight illuminating the desperation in his eyes. “But knowing and feeling are entirely different things. When I saw you returning, soaked through, I realized what had happened at the lake… and logic abandoned me entirely.”
Jane studied his face, seeing clearly for the first time the fear that drove his need for control, the love that manifested as overwhelming protectiveness.
“I need your trust, Richard,” she said quietly. “Trust that I can make reasonable decisions about my own safety. Trust that I can protect myself from things like cold water and runaway puppies.”
“It is not your competence I doubt,” Richard clarified. “It is my ability to survive if something happens to you.”
The raw honesty of that statement stole her breath. She reached out instinctively, covering one of his clenched fists with her gloved hand. “Then we must find a way to balance your need to protect with my need for freedom. Because I cannot live like a bird in a cage, no matter how gilded.”
Richard stared down at their joined hands. “I do not know how to stop worrying about you,” he admitted, his voice rough.
“You do not have to stop worrying,” Jane said gently. “You simply have to trust me enough to let me be afraid for myself sometimes.”
For a long moment, they sat in silence while Richard absorbed her words. Finally, he turned his palm up beneath hers and intertwined their fingers.
“I can try,” he relented. “Though I warn you, it will not be easy for me.”
“Nothing worthwhile ever is.” Jane squeezed his hand gently. “But perhaps we might practice?”
A smile spread across Richard’s lips, the first genuine expression of warmth she had seen from him in over a week. “Are you suggesting we resume your lessons?”
“I am suggesting,” Jane replied, returning his tentative smile with one of her own, “that we might try our hand at being married, instead of simply sharing a name and a house.”
“I should like that very much,” Richard said softly.
They sat together in comfortable silence, the distant sound of voices carrying across the water from the village. A group of workers returning from the night shift at the mill, their quiet conversation and occasional laughter a reminder that life continued around them in these private moments.
“The village folk seem to appreciate the evening as well,” Jane noted, watching shadowy figures move along the path that skirted the far edge of the lake. “I confess, I have wondered what they truly think of me. Whether they approve of their Duke’s choice of a wife.”
Richard’s hand tightened slightly around hers. “They adore you,” he said with quiet conviction. “Mrs. Pemberton spoke of nothing else for a week after you visited her shop. According to her, you possess ‘proper manners without putting on airs,’ which is apparently the highest compliment she can bestow upon the nobility.”
“And the others? I know there have been whispers about our marriage being rather… sudden, and the circumstances being somewhat… unusual.”
Richard turned to face her fully, his expression serious in the moonlight. “There were whispers initially, yes. But they have seen how you conduct yourself, how you treat the staff and villagers with genuine consideration rather than mere obligation. Your reputation for fairness and kindness has spread quickly through the community.”
“I had hoped to be accepted eventually, but I confess I feared it might take considerably longer to overcome whatever gossip had preceded my arrival.”
“The people here are pragmatic,” Richard explained, his thumb tracing gentle patterns across her knuckles. “They judge character by actions rather than rumors. When they see their Duchess taking a genuine interest in their concerns, remembering their names and asking after their families, treating everyone from the blacksmith to the vicar with equal courtesy… well, such behavior speaks louder than any amount of speculation about romantic attachments or marriage settlements.”
Jane felt a familiar warmth spread through her chest at his words. “I am glad. I want them to know that their welfare matters to me, not simply as an obligation but because I have chosen to make this place my home. These people, this land—they’re part of the new me.”
“And they can see that choice in everything you do,” Richard assured her, bringing her hand to his lips for a gentle kiss. “It makes all the difference in the world. A duchess who rules out of duty alone can command respect, but one who rules out of love earns devotion. You’ve earned theirs, Jane, just as you’ve earned mine.”
The sincerity in his voice made her heart flutter with something deeper than gratitude—a silent recognition that she had found not just a title and a home, but a true partnership in every sense of the word.
As they made their way back to the house, Jane felt the tight pain in her chest ease for the first time in seven days.
The path ahead was far from simple—Richard’s fear and her need for independence would require constant recognition—but at least they would brave it together.
CHAPTER 19
