Page 91 of Her Duke By Accident
Matthew launched his fists into the man below him, not stopping till the brigand was as still as a statue.
“M–Matthew,” Alicia barely whispered. She reached for him, but her legs were too unsteady.
“Wait, Your Grace,” Juliet began, trying to hold her up.
The duke began to rise off the ground, swiping a drop of blood from the corner of his lip with his sleeve. His knuckles were painted a rusty red, but his cut mouth looked to be the only injury he had managed to sustain. Sweat trickled down his forehead as he glanced at the brigand behind him, and the rock that brought him down.
Matthew turned towards them. When his gaze landed on Alicia, his shoulders relaxed drastically, as though he had never known they were tensed.
“Matthew,” she said again, louder this time. A relieved smile spread across her lips. Alicia took a few steps towards him till her knees rattled together, and she slowly began to sink to the ground.
Before she could get close enough to hitting the floor, Matthew was there, cupping one arm around her waist and the other hand was at her cheek. He swiped a tear from her cheek with his thumb before he took in her face, his gaze taking in every part of her.
“Alicia,” he mumbled, his lips barely moving.
She reached up, running a hand gently through his dark locks. “You came,” she whispered.
Matthew gripped onto her tightly before he dipped down, barely touching his lips against hers. “I always will,” he spoke against her mouth.
She could barely take a breath before Matthew crashed down upon her, kissing her fiercely in the sun’s gaze. Alicia clung onto his hair, pulling him as close to her as possible. It was different from their first kiss, which was soft and discovering; one that was meant to open them up to each other.
There, in the heat of a life or death moment, Matthew kissed her as though it would be the last, his hands taking in every piece of her. Alicia pulled back for a moment, breathing in deeply before she leaned back in, gently pressing kisses along the corner of hislips, across his cheek that was stained with dirt, across his jaw that finally relaxed under her touch.
Matthew held onto her cheeks, resting his forehead against her own. “I–I feared I might never see you again,” he said quietly.
“I’m here, Matthew.”
Suddenly, fervently, he lifted her head so as to meet her eyes. “Alicia,” he whispered, “I know I have disappointed you.”
“What?”
“I know you have given me more patience than you were ever supposed to give. I know that I accused you of heinous crimes that should never have been said to a woman of your stature.”
Matthew paused, furrowing his brow as he searched for the words he wished to say. When he met her eyes again, tremendous emotion seemed to seep out of him. “But if I asked — if I begged — for forgiveness, would you have any more kindness left to give to me?”
“Matthew,” she breathed, “you do not need to ask such a thing.”
“But I do. I have scorned you.”
“It is the past.”
“It isourpast,” he said. “And I do not want you to look at our beginnings with a heavy heart. I do not want you to think—” he stopped himself, his mouth snapping shut.
“Think what, Matthew?”
He fidgeted, despite still clinging on to her.
“Please,” Alicia whispered, desperately. “Don’t put the wall back up.”
Matthew met her eyes. “I do not want you to think I do not love you.”
“Wh–What?” Alicia asked, her voice as light as air. “What did you just say?”
“I love you,” he said, lips barely moving. “You have slept inside my soul since the night we met, and I have never been rid of you since, and I never wish to be.”
Her breath caught in the back of her throat. “Matthew.”
“I am not worth loving,” he said, quietly. “I know this and I am not afraid of it. What I am afraid of, is losing you. I am afraid you will decide you have had enough of me and my faults. I am afraid you might look at me one day and say, ‘you are as your father always was; a monster.’” He looked away from her. “And I’m sure I’d agree with you.”
