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She laughed. “So, that is why you are here? To make good on your promise?”

“No,” he said. “To stop breaking them.”

“And after the fifth chance? What then?”

Through with words. Done playing games. And certainly not about to beg. Anthony reached a hand to Caroline’s face, pulling her lips toward his mouth, and kissing her.Proving through action how he felt about her.

She kissed him back. Her arms wrapped around his neck. Her body melded into his. She held on for dear life, their kiss saying everything that needed to be said, confirming the truth of what Anthony had told her, locking down fully what Caroline knew herself to feel for him, and realizing in them both how perfect they were for one another.

Caroline had known that what Anthony had said to her last night wasn’t the truth. She had known it because the love that she felt could not be faked. It was a type of love that they had both fought against. That neither of them had wanted. But that had grown between them because of who they were and how perfect together they were.

Anthony was not the Cruel Duke. Nor was he perfect. But Caroline loved Anthony for who he was, just as he loved her for the same reason. She loved how she felt when she was with him. She loved how he saw her. She loved how he saved her, just as she saved him. She loved... well, she loved him, and it really was that simple.

This marriage of convenience, built on the premise of peace and quiet, had proven to be anything but convenient, anything but quiet, and anything but peaceful. But then again, that was what made it so perfect, the same as it was what made them so perfect for one another.

The End?