Page 92 of Her Duke By Accident
“Do not say such things,” she whispered.
“It is true, Alicia. I will not deny where I have come from; the evil that bred me into the man I am today,” he said. “I cannot erase my past, the legacy my parents left within the halls of Garvey. These are the pieces that have made me into the creature I am today.”
Matthew held onto her intensely. “This is me,” he fervently whispered, as though he were out of time. “This is me,” he repeated. “Can you take me as I am?”
Alicia sighed, reaching to hold his face gently within her palms. He looked so small like that, with her hands delicately framing the sharp features lining his face. Matthew leaned against her embrace, his breath coming out long and burdened. Alicia could see the cracks within him, his heart shattering more than he would have liked to let on. She pressed her palms onto his cheeks.
Perhaps she could put him back together again.
“I’ll take every piece of you,” she said. “If you’ll let me.”
Relief filled his face faster than a wave crashes against the shore. He leaned into her, resting his head in the crook of her neck. Alicia engulfed her arms around him in a hug, pulling until she could pull him closer no longer.
With her lips just inches away from his ear, Alicia whispered, “I love you.”
And she could feel him smile against her skin.
CHAPTER 21
Rather valiantly, Matthew released one of the horses from the carriage, securing Juliet’s tiny form on the large steed. Connecting the horse’s reins to his own steed’s reins, Matthew scooped his arms beneath Alicia, and swept her off her feet. It only lasted a second, because he set her down on the very front of his horse’s saddle. Matthew jumped on afterwards, being careful not to bump into her.
The ride back to Garvey was a quiet one. Alicia pressed against Matthew’s chest as she rode side saddle. He kept his gaze straight forward, holding tightly to the reins, and keeping a watchful eye on Juliet lingering nearby.
“Matthew,” Alicia said once the manor came into view, “what will you do with her?”
“Do you refer to Miss Ayles?” he asked, the venom heavy in his voice.
“What will you do?”
“I will send for the constabulary right away,” he replied.
“And?”
Matthew looked down at her with a raised brow, an amused smile slipping onto his lips. “What makes you think there’s an ‘and’?”
“You aren’t that hard to figure out.”
“Really?”
Alicia bumped her shoulder into him, feeling a blush crawl across her nose. “Answer my question, Matthew. What happens when we enter Garvey?”
He sighed tiredly. “She will be arrested, Alicia. What she has done is despicable.”
“Writing fraudulent letters doesn’t seemthatbad,” she said quietly, referring to the letter the governess gave to Matthew as well as the one supposedly from Owen. “It brought no physical harm.”
“Don’t let your kindness make you ignorant,” Matthew said, speaking gently in the small amount of space between them. “You offer her much more than she deserves.”
“If I don’t, who else will?”
Matthew kept his lips pressed together in a firm line as they came upon Garvey’s front steps. Before he could pull the horse to a stop, Mr. Livingston had already rushed down the stairs, a worried look on his pinched face.
“Your Grace!” the older man shouted, waving his hands over his head. “Your Grace!”
The duke slid off the horse, reaching up to take Alicia by the waist, and lowering her off the steed. Juliet was next, her small frame looking like an ant when standing beside the horses.
“Mr. Livingston,” Matthew called out. “Come with me. We must fetch the fastest footman to run for the constabulary.”
“Constabulary?” Mr. Livingston repeated once he reached the bottom of the stairs, entirely out of breath. “What on earth for?”
