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“Your Grace,” the maid said quickly, standing over Juliet with one hand poised over her arm as though she was preparing to shake her. “I greatly apologize, but you must wake up right away.”

Juliet murmured, burrowing deeper into her blankets. She vaguely knew that it must be late in the morning if not already noon. She had recently developed a knack for staying up at night, frantic with worry about her husband, only to eventually fall asleep just as the sun began to break over the horizon.

“Your Grace, please!” Leila quietly hissed, finally letting her hand drop onto Juliet’s arm to shake her gently.

Juliet’s eyes cracked open slightly. She was quite displeased to have her fitfully earned rest snatched away from her.

“What is it, Leila? Why have you …”

“The Duke, Your Grace,” the maid said breathlessly. “He has returned.”

Hector rifled through the drawers of his desk, looking for the documents he had been sure would be there as he fought the urge to seek what he truly wanted.

Whohe truly wanted.

He had not intended to stay very long, no more than one day, but with every passing second he spent within the walls of his home, the more he craved to crawl into Juliet’s arms and remain there for as long as he could.

Hector had been partially successful in keeping himself distracted by overshadowing his thoughts of Juliet with his tasks and duties. However, his nights alone left him tormented with the discomfort of not knowing how she was feeling and faring.

He knew that returning home after weeks away would be challenging because he would not arrive with good news. He had barely managed to buy himself and his businesses some time in order to prove himself and had not been completely successful in erasing his associates’ doubts.

With things still as dire as they had been when he initially left on his business trip, he felt that he could not face Juliet with his full plate of failures and needed to get away from her as quickly as possible.

He should have known that she would never stand for that.

“Hector,” she stormed into his study, breathless.

Slowly, Hector raised his head, his heart sinking at the sight of her.

She looked ever so lovely, even though she was still in her nightgown with only a dressing gown providing her with a semblance of modesty.

Her beautiful hair glowed in his sunlit office, and her flushed cheeks made him ache to pull her into his arms and kiss her.

Instead, he curled his fists and nodded in an awkward, jerky motion.

“Juliet. Good morning,” he said quietly.

“You have returned,” she gasped, staring at him in awe.

“Only for a little while,” Hector admitted, straightening himself up.

“A little…you wish to leave again soon?” Juliet questioned.

“Yes. I still have much to deal with.”

He wanted to say he was sorry, but he felt his apology would sound hollow and held his tongue.

Apologizing would do no good if I was unable to guarantee that things would be better in the future.

“Will it again be for so long? You were gone for weeks, Hector. I barely heard from you during that time. I did not know if you were well or if you were even still alive, and I did not like not knowing. It did not feel fair to me, sitting here helplessly, unsure of what you were doing and why you were not writing to me as you’d promised you would.”

Hector forced the air out from his lungs in a slow exhale, doing his best to curb his impression that her tone was accusatory in nature.

“I told you I had much work that needed to be done. I barely had time …”

“To busy to even write to me? Hector, I felt so alone. I had to attend events and functions on my own, and people said so many horrid things to me about our marriage, about our future. I really needed you by my side, but you couldn’t even be bothered to write to me. You just…left me here to deal with it all by myself.”

Hector tried not to snap, resisting the rush of irritation flooding his veins because he knew it would not help either of them. Still, he couldn’t ignore the bitterness rising in his throat as he thought of all the days and nights he had spent attempting to overcome his monstrous financial hurdle.