Page 124 of Stolen By the Heartless Duke

Evan slowly closed his fingers around the purse. His eyes shone. “Thank you.”

Hector nodded once.

Across the room, Colin cleared his throat. “I shall repay you.”

“You may repay me by keeping him out of trouble.”

A surprised laugh escaped everyone. Even Hector. The sound lingered warmly through the cottage. Jane smiled at him. He caught her watching.

There was something in her eyes he could not define. Whatever it was, it settled somewhere deep inside him. She believed people deserved happiness. He wondered when he had forgotten that.

Jane stepped closer to both brothers. “There is one condition.”

Colin smiled faintly. “I suspected there might be.”

“You write. Often.” Jane said.

“We will. I promise.”

She looked toward Evan. “I expect letters from both of you.”

“You shall have them.”

Hector inclined his head. “I expect letters as well. If months pass without word...”

“You’ll come looking.”

The four of them stood together in the little cottage, surrounded by worn furniture and creaking floors. Nothing about the place suggested history had quietly shifted inside its walls.

Two missing men had been found. Two families had been remade. Two siblings had offered each other freedom instead of obligation.

Hector glanced once more toward Jane. She caught his eye. Neither spoke. They did not need to. Something had changed between them.

Watching her surrender everything she stood to gain for her brother’s happiness had stripped away another layer of the walls he had built around himself. He had spent years believing love demanded sacrifice. Jane had shown him something different.

Love sometimes asked only that you let another person choose.

Outside, the countryside lay wrapped in darkness. The wind had quieted, leaving only the occasional rustle of branches against the roof, and the steady chirp of distant crickets. Inside, the fire burned low, its amber glow dancing across rough stone walls that had witnessed countless ordinary evenings. Tonight, there was nothing ordinary about it.

Evan and Colin had finally retired to the tiny bedroom. Neither brother had wanted to be separated after everything that had happened.

Jane had insisted. “You have earned one peaceful night’s sleep,” she had said with a tired smile.

No one had argued. That left the main room. Jane had claimed the narrow sofa with Hector’s insistence that at the bare minimum she try to be comfortable.

He had resigned himself to the floor without another word. He had slept in far worse places. He had just finished spreading an extra blanket over the wooden boards when he heard the soft rustle of skirts behind him.

“You truly mean to sleep there?”

He glanced over his shoulder. Jane stood near the hearth, one hand resting against the worn mantel.

“It is only one night.”

She frowned. “The floor is terribly hard.”

“I have survived military drills.”

She laughed quietly. Something about hearing her laugh after the horrors of the past weeks eased a knot inside his chest he had not realized was there.