Page 84 of If the Duke Demands

“You don’t need to worry about me, Your Grace,” she whispered, the admission barely more than a breath. As she turned her face away so he wouldn’t see the pain he put there, she caught sight of the cook and housekeeper peering out the window at them. Oh, perfect! Now her humiliation was complete. She choked out, “I—I’m going away. I’ve decided to leave Islingham so that you won’t be bothered by me.”

With a somber expression, he closed the distance between them. “I hope not,” he told her, caressing her cheek with his thumb. “It would be a shame if you continue to make me chase after you after I’ve come all this way.”

“Chase after…” Blinking hard as confusion trampled at her heart, she tried to clear the hot tears from her stinging eyes, but only caused more to fall. “I don’t— I—I don’t understand,” she stuttered out between sobs. “Why are you really here, Sebastian? Why did you go to all this trouble just to…just to…”Just to permanently end what we shared?

Unable to finish the sentence, she pressed her hand against her mouth, squeezed her eyes shut—

“Just to propose,” he finished gently.

Her eyes flew open, and she searched frantically for answers in his tear-blurred face. “Propose?” She couldn’t dare hope—it would be so utterly foolish and ludicrous…But her heart had a mind of its own when it came to this man. And always would. “To me?”

He laughed gently and reached once more for her hand. “Yes, sweet, to you.”

When she tried to wrench her hand away, he held tight, refusing to let her go. She feared he could feel her heart somersaulting furiously in confusion. “But—but you said you could never marry me.”

“I was wrong.” His broad shoulders sagged with solemn regret, and he kissed her fingers tenderly, as if seeking absolution. “Since my father died, I thought I had to honor him by being the perfect son, which meant being the perfect duke.”

“And marrying the perfect duchess,” she interjected. She couldn’t prevent the stab of jealousy that made her strike out at him even now. He’d hurt her, so inexcusably. “You thought I could never be that for you.”

“Yes,” he admitted, remorse flitting across his features. “Because I wrongly thought that was what my father expected of me. But I know better now. Yes, the title was important to him, so was making certain its legacy would be respected. But he also knew how hard being a duke could be, that I would need help to oversee the dukedom and take care of my family.”

“He didn’t mean me,” she whispered, lowering her face.

“Maybe not you exactly, but a woman who loves me the way you do, who makes me laugh and smile, who makes me happy, now and for the rest of my days.” He cupped his palm against her cheek. “You do all that, and more. Forgive me, Rose, for not believing in you until it was almost too late.”

She shook her head, her heart tearing anew. “But I’m…I’m not good enough for you,” she breathed out, so softly that her words barely made any sound.

His face darkened with anger. “Don’teversay that again, do you hear?” He cupped her face between his hands. “I’m the one who isn’t good enough for you. But if you can find it in your heart to forgive me, then I promise to spend the rest of my days proving my worth to you.”

He leaned in to place a soft kiss against her lips, and she gasped at the raw emotion she tasted in him.

“Forgive me, sweet,” he whispered against her lips.

She shook her head, unable to find her voice beneath the tidal wave of emotions warring inside her. “You were so set on finding a society daughter to be your duchess—”

“Youare the woman I want to be my duchess,” he assured her, his eyes shining with unabashed certainty as he stared down at her. “You’re the toast of the London season and the savior of orphans. A woman so believing in love that you were willing to sneak into a man’s bedchamber to get it.”

A hot blush colored her cheeks, and she turned her face away. Oh, would he never let her live that down?

He took her chin and turned her back to look at him. “When you sing hymns at Sunday service, you dream of being an opera singer, and every time you read or watch a play, you dream of being onstage. You cause mayhem everywhere you go, and there’s not a peer in England safe from your spilled wineglass.” When she stared at him, her lips parting in incredulous disbelief that he would saythatas a compliment, he added tenderly, “And you’re the woman I love. The only woman I want for my wife.”

A sob tore from her. The nightmare had turned into a dream.

“I love you, and I need you to be by my side to guide me, to counsel me and argue with me, to challenge me and love me…to save me.” His sapphire blue eyes took on a pleading aspect as he took both her hands in his. “Save me, my sweet Rose.”

He lowered himself to one knee and withdrew her red slipper from beneath his jacket. The same slipper he’d been holding hostage since January. In all the turmoil and confusion of the past few weeks, she’d forgotten all about it and their pact to help each other find love this season. And how he’d promised that she would get it back only when he’d found a bride and the marriage offer was accepted. She laughed through her tears.

“Will you marry me, Miranda?” He reached for her leg and gently lifted her foot to remove her shoe, then placed the slipper delicately into place. “Say yes so that I can go hat in hand to your uncle Hamish and beg the man to let me have you.”

She could barely breathe for the sudden rush of emotion pulsing through her, all the love she held for him surging to the surface and filling her to her soul. Her fingers trembled as she touched his cheek. “Sebastian—”

“Marry him!” the children shouted at her, urged on by Mr. Grundy, who circled around them and waved his arms to encourage them to shout even louder. Unable to contain their curiosity any longer, the housekeeper and cook rushed through the door into the garden and joined in the chorus of chants. “Yes! Yes!”

She glanced around the garden at the people who helped her with the orphanage, at the elaborate trouble they had gone through to make this moment as romantic for her as possible, and at the children she loved—then her eyes landed on Sebastian, and the way he gazed up at her made her heart bounce. He wasn’t seeing the troublemaking girl in braids, nor the seductress in masquerade…He had finally come to see the woman she was and the role she could play in his life. And he loved her.

“Yes,” she choked between fresh tears, this time of pure joy. Stepping into his arms, she laughed and nuzzled her face against his shoulder. “Yes, I will marry you!”

Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her down onto the grass with him. He leaned over her and gave her a scandalous kiss that sent the orphans cheering.