Page 126

And if Ethan was determined to love her, then he had to love herentirely. He would not be able to do that if she only showed him bits and pieces of herself.

“Then we shall leave you to discuss this further,” Evie spoke as she and Alice started walking away.

Alice smiled at her younger sister as they passed her by the door. “We will be close by if you need us,” she told her.

“Do not hesitate to call for us if you want him thrown out,” Scarlett chimed in.

Phoebe gave the ladies a grateful smile. “I hope I will not need to do that.”

“You never know,” the redhead replied ominously, shooting Ethan another glare before she left with the others.

It was now only the two of them in the room. One begging for forgiveness and the other unsure if she should grant it. Husband and wife on opposing ends.

She sat down on the upholstered chair opposite him. She was not going to sit beside him yet—not until she heard everything he had to say.

Besides, she had to see his eyes clearly to make sure he was telling the truth.

The eyes never lie.

“I went to Dexford House today,” he told her softly. “I… had a discussion with the Viscount, and he clarified several things for me.”

“Oh?” Phoebe raised an eyebrow. “And what are these clarifications, pray tell?”

“He is destitute, Phoebe. He is mired in gambling debts and desperate.Thatis why he asked for your hand in marriage from the very start.”

Phoebe laughed harshly. “So, he did not ask for my hand because of my stunning beauty or my charming wit. Is there anything else I need to know?”

“He meant to marry you for your dowry,” Ethan continued, looking deep into her eyes. “Just as he intended for Miss Delaney to marry me to gain access to the Sinclair wealth.”

She sucked in a harsh breath. “You mean?—”

He nodded. “The child that Miss Delaney carries is Dexford’s. He is the father.”

Phoebe felt the tension leave her body. So, she had not misheard, after all. Ethan truly was not the father of the child, and she had not been mistaken in trying to stop their wedding.

She smiled sarcastically at him. “You must be very relieved, Your Grace. After all, you had no intention of marrying Miss Delaney, just as you had no intention of marryingme.”

He smiled at her. “But that is where you are wrong, my beloved Phoebe, for I have already wanted you long before my wedding to Miss Delaney.”

Phoebe frowned at him. “You are lying.”

But Ethan simply laughed and shook his head. “No, wife. I have wanted you from the very moment I met you, when you asked me if I truly was a Wolf.”

He was doing it again—charming her. Saying things her heart desperately craved to hear.

“You had not made your bow yet, so it was unfathomable,” he continued. “But from that moment on, it was as if I was bewitched. I was no longer attracted to women the way I was before. I had not slept with anyone up until the party, where I woke up to find Miss Delaney beside me, and even then…” He paused and smiled achingly at her. “Even then, I did not touch her. She only made it seem that we… had relations so that I would believe that the child she was carrying was mine.”

It was all so unbelievably bizarre. The Duke of Sin, the most charming of the Wolves, unable to sleep with any woman after just one meeting withher?

It was the stuff of fairytales, of unrealistic romance novels, that Phoebe was finding it very difficult to believe. Even she, as a writer, could not bring herself to pen such an incredible tale.

“It was why I was quite certain the child was not mine,” he confessed. “Because even before that party, I had not been able to sleep with other women. From the very moment I saw you, you have been all I ever wanted, Phoebe, but I was too stupid to see that, and I am so, so sorry for it.”

“So, you wanted me but you did not love me,” she said flatly.

That, she could at least believe.

“I suppose you could put it that way.” He laughed softly. “All I knew was that I wanted you. Love was not something I had ever felt before, so I did not know what it was like.”