Page 106 of His Grace, the Duke
“She is dead to me,” he growled, his breath warm on her cheek. “She is not even a memory I hold. She isnothing.”
The sincerity of his words washed over her like a cleansing rain. His arms wrapped around her as he pulled her close. “What can I do, Rose?” he muttered. “How can I remove this doubt once and for all? How can I prove to you that I love you?”
She stilled. “Did you . . . you love me?”
“We’ve been dancing around the saying of it for days—hell, it’s been weeks for me,” he admitted, his thumb brushing her cheek. “I swore to James and Burke I’d not push you. I’d let you lead and follow dutifully at the pace you set. But clearly, that is not working for us. I am near-mad with wanting to speak the words. I cannot breathe but think them at every moment. I feel them on the tip of my tongue, desperate to fly from my mouth.”
She held his gaze and whispered, “Then speak them now.”
He smiled down at her, eyes shining. “Rosalie Harrow, I love you. I am in love with you. Iachewith love for you. I am consumed. I am burned down to ash and remade anew. I am yours, body and soul.”
A broken cry escaped her lips as she felt the bars around her heart rattle and crack.
“No other woman has ever compared,canever compare to you,” he went on. “Your kindness and generosity, your fierce protection of others, your optimism in the face of adversity. Most importantly, you inspire me to be better, to be happier. You freed me from my cage of fear and made me bold enough to admit what I want from my life.”
He took her gloved hand at the wrist and splayed her palm over his heart. “You are the missing piece of us, Rosalie. You are the fourth piece we always needed, but never knew how to find. You belong with me. You belong withus. Please, say you feel this too.”
She pushed against his chest, needing to see into his depthless blue eyes. “Tom... I love you so much that I fear it might break me and leave me a devastated ruin.”
He cupped her face gently, his forehead dropping to rest against hers as he breathed her in. “Keep going,” he murmured.
“I’m no good at this,” she replied, voice shaking. “I’m sure to say the words wrong...”
“Just try, Rose.”
She nodded. How did she even make this make sense? “I didn’t think it was possible to love a person the way I love Burke. My love for him is something... wild,” she whispered, feeling the way her heart quickened. “With Burke, I feel so free. In loving him, I have set my soul free. It scares me. It thrills me. He makes love feel like a leap of faith, and every day I get a little braver, a little more ready to test my wings.”
“I know well the passions he can inflame in another,” Tom replied.
“It confused me... because my love for you feels so completely different,” she admitted. “You came into my life and burrowed into my very soul, bringing me comfort and friendship, two things I thought I could never earn. And you offered both wholly without conditions. Yougive, Tom. Men have only ever taken from me. Even Burke takes all my passion, he rips it from my chest. And I want to give it,” she added. “I give it gladly. I’d give him anything. Any piece of me... butyou are the first man I’ve ever met who gives first. You make me laugh. You make me dream. Tom, you are my hope for a happier future.”
He sighed with relief, taking her gloved hand and pressing kisses to her fingers.
She stilled, letting the rest of her emotions cascade through her. For this perfect moment was marred by a storm cloud. “She called me a whore in front of a crowded room,” she whispered.
Tom stiffened.
“She called me a three-penny upright. She said I was going to ruin you, Tom. I’m afraid she might be right—”
“Don’t,” he growled. “Do not listen to her poisonous words. God, I don’t know what I ever saw in her. The Marianne I knew was kind. Time has changed her. Whoever I thought I knew, that person is gone... perhaps she never existed at all.”
Rosalie let out a shaky breath. “I said not to speak her name. Tom, I can’t bear it.”
His eyes narrowed. “What can I do to ease your mind?” She closed her own, trying to center her breath. “Rosalie...”
“You were with her,” she whispered. Silence. He shifted on his feet.
“Yes.”
“You were intimate together . . .”
“Yes.” She could feel his eyes on her. His hand grazed down her arm. “Please, Rose, just tell me what you want me to do, and I’ll do it.”
Rosalie opened her eyes, resolve burning like a flame in her chest. “I will not be intimidated by a ghost. She is your past and we cannot change it.” Reaching out, she wrapped a gloved hand around his cravat. “But I am your future, Tom Renley. And itstarts now. You aremine. Every piece of you. I mean to have them all for myself.” She paused, brushing her gloved fingers over his mouth. “Show me a piece she’s never had.”
“What?”
She took in his uniform and felt a smile curve her lips. “Give me the sailor. You threatened me with him in the woods, do you remember?” She leaned in close, licking his mouth with a flick of her tongue.
