Page 133 of His Grace, the Duke
Burke cupped her face. “He loves you, Rosalie. Do not doubt that fact. He is lost in love with you; it eats at him night and day. He grows weak with loving you.”
She placed her gloved hand over his. “You can’t keep being the one who says it for him,” she replied.
With a growl, Burke got to his feet. “Enough. This ends tonight.” He stalked off towards the door.
Tom slipped Rosalie off his lap and stood. “Burke—”
Burke spun around, one hand on the door. “He isours. It ends now. Tom, get her home.”
“What will you do?” Rosalie called from the settee.
Burke flashed them both a furious scowl. “I warned him that the next time he runs, I’ll break his goddamn legs.”
Tom closed the space between them, grabbing for his arm. “Burke—”
Burke stiffened, eyes swirling with storms. “If you’re about to spew your drivel about leading horses to water, I swear to Christ, I’ll knock you out flat. The time for gentleness is over. I will have my way in this, or he will crawl away from me on broken legs.”
Heart racing, Tom jerked Burke closer and kissed him. Burke only hesitated for a moment, lost in his anger, but then he was returning the kiss, his mouth opening to overpower Tom with his tongue. They broke apart, both of them panting. Senses swimming, Tom gave him a little nod. “Go get him.”
63
Burke
Burke stormed upto the third floor of Corbin House, heading straight for James’ room. He didn’t even bother knocking. He just shoved his way inside, emotions flooding his body in waves.
This ends tonight.
Burke was done. No more waiting. No more goddamned civility. A hunger for too many things left unsaid ate at him. He could scarcely breathe. Rosalie needed him. James needed him. The future they all wanted was right within reach. He couldn’t fail them now.
He shut the door with a snap, leaning against it. He’d always hated this room. Like his own on the floor below, at one point it belonged to George. James never bothered with making a space his own unless it was an office. This room still screamed George Corbin—the furniture was too ornate, the patterns too loud, the style too French. James looked wholly out of place, like a blacksmith’s hammer in a silver cabinet.
From the middle of the room, James spun to face the door, an angry retort dying on his lips as he took in Burke standingthere. He’d clearly been pacing. He always paced when he was upset. The man was a mess. His coat was slung over a chair, waistcoat unbuttoned, no cravat. Unless Burke was very much mistaken, it was still lying on the floor of the opera box.
“You shouldn’t be here,” James muttered, turning away. “You should be with her.”
“Tom is with her,” he replied, still not trusting himself to leave the safety of the door. He smoothed his hands against the painted wood.
James spun around when he reached the fireplace. “She needs you, Burke. Please... just go. Leave me.”
“I’m right where I’m meant to be.” The words fell from his lips and soothed him like a balm. He let their truth sink down to his very bones. He was right where he was meant to be.With James.
It always came back to James.
James Corbin was the center of his world. Burke smiled. Nothing could ever be so bleak that they could not find the horizon together. No task too arduous. No problem unsolvable.
James dragged both hands through his hair. “Is she alright? Did she...” He pressed the heels of his palms against his eyes. “God... did she tell you what happened?”
Burke pushed off the door and moved to the middle of the room. “I’m sure there are a thousand better ways I could’ve done this, but we are quite literally at the end of our rope.”
James stilled.
“If we don’t correct course now, I’m afraid we may drift too far apart and this mooring between us will fray and snap. Such a severing will be a mortal wound to us both, and we will bleed inwardly until the pain leaves us worse than dead.”
James narrowed his brows, lips parted in confusion. “I don’t understand—”
“I love you,” he declared, taking a step closer. “I’ve always loved you,” he added with a helpless shrug. “From the time we were children, my love of you has been buried deep in my heart. Over the past two decades, that seed of fidelity has bloomed inside me. You’ve completely filled my heart. It beats for you. But that’s not enough. Nothing is ever enough for you. You claimed my lungs too. So now Ibreathefor you. Every breath I take is yours.”
“Burke—”
