Page 98 of Stolen By the Duke of Ice
“Dahlia…”
“I want more, Peter. I want all of it—the marriage, not just the wedding.”
So do I.
“I do not want to go my own way. I do not want to leave after Christmas day. I do not want to leave your sisters, heaven knows how much I adore them! An only child my whole life, you have no idea how wonderful it was for me to finally have siblings, to share moments with them, the happy and even the ones that were not.”
Dahlia pressed at her eyes. Watching her fight her tears, Peter felt helpless.
“The castle feels like my home now; I never thought that something so huge could be so warm, so embracing.”
She appeared to struggle with her next words. Peter moved to her, but she moved back.
“And you, Peter, you… you are different from what I thought you would be. You are not… You are a revelation to me.”
She covered her face with her hands, as if saying the words cost her something.
“I have always been found lacking—not beautiful enough, not accomplished enough, not interesting enough. The plain daughter of beautiful and lively parents. My whole life has been that same story.” She chuckled bitterly. “And now, here I am, married but in the same place as I have always been. My own husband finds me lacking and does not want me as a wife.”
Peter shook his head firmly at her words. He took her hands in his.
“You are not lacking anything.”
Dahlia turned away, shaking her head.
“You do not have to say such words, Peter.”
“Dahlia, listen to me, please.”
How could he tell her that he thought her the most beautiful woman? The most interesting, the kindest, the only one who could really move him. The exact opposite of how she described herself. But he could not utter the words, he could not allow himself to.
“I cannot give you romance, Dahlia, but I can give you my word as a gentleman—as a man, that this is the wisest course.Wanting you is exactly why this marriage must remain one of convenience.”
“That does not make sense to me, Peter,” she said. “I don’t understand it at all.”
You do not have to. I cannot afford to do otherwise. This must be the way.
Peter moved back and away from her. He stood silent. His stance said it all.
Dahlia’s eyes were dry when she looked at him, but Peter could not deny the pain that he caused, for it reflected in her green eyes. She backed away a step and took a deep breath as if fortifying herself.
“Come, let us return to the castle.”
Dahlia had an agreement with herself. She would take each day as it came. She would not linger on the past, nor would she look to the future. Nothing of importance was there anyway. Her future was already secure after all; she would be living in comfort in her own home for the rest of her life.
Really, wasn’t that what she, Celine, and Helena professed to visualize as their ideal future? A woman of independent means living honorably.
I live for today.
She opened the door to her chambers and walked out towards Mary’s. She knocked on the door upon reaching it. Pasting a smile on her face, she heldThe Duke and The Aspiring Detectivesin front of her as the door opened.
“You have finished a chapter!” Mary exclaimed.
Moving to the door, Claire flung it open and pulled Dahlia inside.
“You must read it to us this very instant, Dahlia.”
Laughing at them, Dahlia said that she would.
