Page 62 of When her Duke Returns

Mary pulled away slightly to meet his gaze and shook her head. “I couldn’t see you for long—not with how you were. I wanted to, more than I wanted tolive, but I knew I would not survive it. The guilt would surely have killed me. I came twice in the first week of your convalescence, but you were so tired and worn from the shock of your fight, the doctor said you would not remember it. When I received word that you had begun to heal, to speak, I sent Harry in my stead... I was a coward, I know. Worse than I coward! I simply needed more time before I could face you. And now...”

“You are not to blame for any of it; do you hear me?” he pressed, cupping her cheeks with both his hands. “Not a moment of it. Burkley made clear his plotting and his delusion when he put that pistol to my head. Whatever you think you have done, whatever ill you think you have brought upon yourself or, heaven forbid, uponme, it was not a thing of your doing. Do you understand? I will not allow you to believe for one second that you acted in anything other than survival—be it in body or in heart.”

Mary kissed his palm then stepped from his grip. His hands and arms ached for want of her already. “I still cannot believe he was cunning enough to fool us all, to use us as he did. That he was callous enough to wish you dead. I—” she stopped herself when her eyes grew cloudy with tears. “I am only sorry I could not see through the fog of things sooner.”

“I’m not sorry,” Alexander confessed though he worried it would be his undoing. “For every pain he wrought, for every slight against me… it only brought me the joy of knowing you, of wanting you, and having you want me back.”

Mary sobered then and cleared her throat. “As you can well imagine, my reputation is in tatters,” she commenced in eloquence. “The general opinion of our acquaintances is that I shall never have a chance to wed again, that I am, as they put it, forever on the shelf.”

“Mary, I—” Alexander tried to contest, but he was briefly cut off by a show of her hand.

“I must ask, then,” she drew out upon his silence, “whether you have come to know of any men who might quite like to take a chance on me.”

Alexander shook his head. “I don’t understand.”

“I am asking, Your Grace, whether you know of any men, perhaps recently without a match themselves—and who are most pig-headed, it would seem—who would be willing to take me on.”

Alexander sighed a breath of relief and shame as the full weight of her proposal dawned upon him. “I believe I can think of one or two, given some time naturally.”

“Oh, naturally,” Mary echoed with a roll of her eyes. “Say it,” she ordered then as her hair whipped around in the steady breeze of the coast.

“Mary… I’m set to leave in a matter of minutes,” he muttered, and he hated every word of it.

“Do you think I am without wit? Say it, or I throw myself in the sea, I swear it,” she ordered with an unruly smile.

“Marry me,” he asked without pomp but with precedence, and the words felt as natural as breathing.

Mary took a moment to consider his proposal, bringing her fingers to her lips and staring away most theatrically. Every moment of quiet that passed between them seemed to last a lifetime, but Alexander could not tear his eyes away from the woman who had long been but a dream.

At last, she turned to him with a reply. “I shan’t,” she stated plainly, her eyes heavy with mischief.

“You… shan’t?” Alexander echoed in disbelief.

“I fear I cannot marry a man who does not have a home of his own, a place to hang his hat, as they say, to speak of at present. I fear it would be most unwise to say yes while so much of our life is yet to be decided.”

“If this is all a ruse to enact some form of vengeance, I shall be quite upset with you,” Alexander purred.

“I do not doubt it,” she hummed back. “No, I think it best to see for myself what promise such a match might hold if you will have me on your journey.”

“You wish to travel with me to America? You would give up your life here?”

Mary shrugged. “That’s the rub—I have come to realize there is no life with you.” she laughed then.“Surely you did not think Harry had come solely foryourbenefit. I needed someone to load my things between coaches.”

“Mary, I…” Alexander felt overcome with emotion. “You must be clear in your intent, lest my heart breaks from misunderstanding.”

With a gentle smile, she pulled him in close. “No, Alexander. You are not mistaken in the slightest. I’m afraid we’re stuck with each other, after all.”

The End?