Page 75 of Her Duke By Accident
Matthew glanced up at her.
She scoffed, taken aback. “I make you afraid.”
“Not in that way, Alicia,” he said. “I–I cannot explain it.”
“You can, you just choose not to.”
“Alicia… ”
“The only one holding up this wall between us is you Matthew,” Alicia said, more harshly than she intended. “I have been trying all this time, but you refuse. I will remain a stranger you hate to see lurking in your halls as long as you put me there.”
She searched his face, waiting for him to turn back to her looking open, to smile and keep talking. Matthew only remained still, his eyes once again stuck on the flames of the candelabra. Their food had long since gone cold.
Alicia sighed, rejection tainting her heart with something dark and twisted. She only wanted to run and hide, to bury herself under the covers of her bed, never to be seen again within Garvey. After all, perhaps that was what he wanted all along.
“Excuse me, Your Grace,” she said, the words heavy against her lips as she stood from the table. “I will leave you be. Have a good evening.”
Alicia bowed her head before stepping around her chair. She was about to cross the room to the opened door, but managed only one step from the table when Matthew’s hand shot out and grabbed onto her wrist.
Alicia’s breath caught in her throat.
Matthew held onto her, turning to face her. Without raising his head, he looked up at her, meeting her stare in a gentle way; a way that pleaded for her to stay. There was nothing to stop her chest from heaving up and down as he had her hand just inches from his nose, his warm breath fanning her skin.
“Don’t,” he whispered. “Don’t go.”
Everything felt like water within her, ready to sink down beside him.He wants me to stay,she told herself.He wants me to stay.
“You do not make me afraid in the way you think,” he said against her hand. “Everything I felt… with you near… made me afraid.”
Alicia felt a heat rush to her face, unable to look down at him.
“I never wanted to marry,” he continued. “All that mattered was Lucy, and her succeeding where I could not. We were wed out of necessity, out of responsibility, but I lied to myself, and forced it to be another way. It isn’t like that anymore.”
“It isn’t?” Alicia repeated, breathlessly.
Matthew stirred in his seat and slowly stood, still holding her in place. Once standing, her gaze was stuck on his chest, and she felt unable to meet his stare.
“You tell me,” he said, using his other hand to delicately touch her chin, raising her face slowly till he could look into her eyes. “Alicia.”
Staring up into his eyes, everything within her felt finally at ease. Matthew was there, and he held her, an assuredness in his eyes that told her he had never once lied. The wall once between them was nowhere to be seen, as though it had never existed in the first place. There was only him, the duke, holding her, his eyes flickering to her lips with a deep yearning.
Alicia had known her answer all along. “It isn’t.”
He released a sigh like he had been holding his breath. “Alicia,” he muttered.
As her heart seemed to engulf her with a calming warmth, Alicia stepped up on her toes, lifting her lips just a hair away from his own. For a moment, they remained just like that, close and soaking up each other’s presence, before Matthew breathed deeply, and sunk himself into her. He pressed a hand into her lower back, gently pushing till she was as close as possible. Alicia allowed her hands to grasp him, to take in his shoulders and the weight they carried.
Despite the darkness swallowing up the world outside, Alicia only felt the sun against her skin as he kissed her. Everything, finally, was as it should be.
CHAPTER 18
The sun had never shone more brightly on Garvey Manor than the following morning. Alicia erupted into a wide smile as soon as Juliet flung the curtains open, the wave of light slapping her with a new sense of excitement that she had never experienced before. She rose from her bed before the maid could even say a word.
“My, my,” Juliet mused, a sneaky grin growing on her thin lips, “don’t you look pleased this morning!”
Alicia touched her cheek and felt a heat rise. “Is it dreadfully warm in here?”
“I would think not,” Juliet giggled as she crossed the room to her. She raised a delicate hand to touch Alicia’s forehead gingerly. “No fever, Your Grace. But there is quite a rosy look to your face.”
