Page 113 of Duke with a Deception
King.
He washere. She didn’t know how or why, but it didn’t matter. He had come to her.
Verity’s heart soared. She had missed him so dreadfully. Without a second thought, she gathered up her skirts with one hand and jumped down as well, the absence of carriage steps rendering her landing a bit shaky. But to her credit, she remained on two feet. Thank heavens she had donned her sturdiest travel boots that morning, else she might have turned an ankle.
“Verity!”
“King,” she cried back.
He was running toward her, and she was moving without thought, flying to him, going as fast as she could manage in her cumbersome skirts. King reached her first, sweeping her into a crushing embrace so powerful that he lifted her feet from theground. She clutched him just as tightly, drinking in the familiar scent of him, absorbing the press of his lean body against hers. She had missed everything about him.
“My love,” he murmured. “I’ve missed you desperately.”
She felt him press a kiss to her crown and tilted her head back so she could see his beloved face. “I missed you too.”
His dark eyes devoured her hungrily, his countenance a study in pain. “Where were you going?”
“I was coming home to you. Where are you going?”
Relief washed over his handsome face. “To bring you back to me, where you belong.”
They grinned at each other, and she felt the rush of tears stinging her eyes. So many words remained, waiting to be said. She had much to tell him, so much to confess. But for now, it was enough to be here with him, soaking in his warmth. He had come for her.
She drank in the sight of him, noting for the first time that he didn’t look at all like his customary, elegant, flawless self. In the absence of a hat, his hair was wild and wavy, untamed by a comb. His cheekbones looked sharper, his jaw unshaven. There were dark circles beneath his eyes.
He was still beautiful, of course, but the stark evidence of his suffering was written on his face.
“I have much to tell you, my love,” she told him, thinking of the babe growing within her womb.
“And I have much to tell you.” He settled her gently upon her feet and stepped back. “I had planned this much differently. It wasn’t my intention to meet you on the road, but I can’t go another second without telling you how much I love you, Verity, and how lost I was without you. You don’t even have to love me back. You don’t need to forgive me. Just be with me. Let me love you. Every day without you and little Emma has been a complete and utter misery.”
“Oh, King.” She began to say more, but King shook his head.
“No, don’t say a word yet. There is more.” He reached into his coat and extracted a tiny, folded sheet of paper, offering it to her.
She took it, giving him a questioning look.
“Open it,” he urged. “Carefully. I scoured London to find the perfect one, whilst wearing a dead man’s trousers.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I will explain,” he said. “But first, open the paper if you please.”
She did as he asked, carefully opening the folded sheet twice before discovering the fragile bounty within. It was a perfect, pale-blue forget-me-not, pressed though not yet entirely dried.
“I didn’t walk with you by the stream and pick you the forget-me-not that you pressed and kept in your locket,” he rasped. “But I did find this one, and it is my most fervent hope that one day, you may have room within your locket for two pressed flowers instead of just one.”
“My love,” she whispered, tears flooding her eyes at the gesture.
“And I hope that there will also be room in your heart for me, too,” he added. “I know I don’t deserve it after the way our marriage began, but I am willing to earn my place in your life, at your side, in your heart. I love you with everything that is within me, now and forever.”
“I love you too,” she managed. “There is more than enough room in my heart for you. Indeed, you own it. My heart is yours, King. I never thought I would love again, but you have shown me that it is possible. That happiness is possible. I love you more than I can possibly convey.”
He stared. “You do?”
Verity sniffled. “I do. I was so confused when my memories returned, and I didn’t know what to think or believe. But if there is anything the last fortnight has taught me, it is that I cannotlive without you. I love you, King, and I never want to be apart again.”
“Thank God,” he breathed.
