Page 105

He smiled sadly at her. “You should know better than anyone that there are no such limitations onthataspect.”

She bristled at his words. “Even now, you can afford to make such scandalous jokes.”

“That is because you have freed me, Evie,” he implored her. “Because of you, I am no longer tethered to the past and my bitterness. I want to become a man worthy of standing by your side for the rest of our days, to become the husband you truly deserve.”

She shook her head and angrily rolled up the case containing her paintbrushes. “You do not understand what you are saying,” she bit out. “And if you do, then you probably do not mean it, anyway.”

But hedidmean it. All of it and so much more.

He wanted nothing more than to lay the world at her feet. To be the one who made her laugh and moan with pleasure. To be able to watch her belly swell with the lives they would create together. To be with her all the days of their lives together.

“I do mean it,” he said softly. “All of it, my darling. I want you and the life we will build together. When I think of you and the children we might have, I no longer think of heirs or my desire for vengeance on a miserable man long since buried—I only think of you. Ofus.”

She turned away from him, but this time, Daniel had learned his lesson and learned it well. This time, he was not going to let her go.

This time, he reached out to clasp her hand in his, determined that even if she should push him away, he would never give up on her.

This time, he would be her Daniel, the husband she needed and deserved.

He was never going to leave her again.

Hope was truly the most astounding thing.

When all seemed lost, it was all she could hold on to. Now that she had grasped it, she could not put her faith and whole heart into it.

She looked at Daniel, seeing the regret and hurt in his vivid green eyes, and her hands clenched into fists.

Not for himself, but forme, she realized with startling clarity.He is hurting for me.

“Why?” she demanded softly. “Why do you come to me with your pretty words and promises? Is it guilt that brings you to my door? I had not thought you capable of it.”

The moment the bitter words left her mouth, she knew she could not take them back. Daniel was a proud man, unbent after all that he had gone through in his childhood.

She did not expect to see him standing there, unwavering before her.

“Because I love you,” he said simply. “I love you through all your hurt and sadness, your anger and resentment, just as I love you through all your joys and laughter. I love you through all the bad and the good, all your fortunes and misfortune. There has never been anyone before you, nor will there be anyone after. I will love you solely, wholly, and truly beyond even my dying breath.”

Her breath hitched in her throat. Tears stung her eyes at his softly worded declaration.

But it is too late for us.I am so far gone in my sadness and despair that I cannot even begin to see hope for us.

“But what if I am no longer all of those things you claim to love?” she asked him. “What if I have become so irrevocably changed that I cannot possibly be all these things?”

He smiled at her, drawing her into his arms. “You think my love such an inconstant and fickle thing? You could change by the hour and I will love you still. Tenacity—” He chuckled. “Tenacity is something I learned very early on.”

His hand stroked her back most soothingly as he pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head. “You will not be so easily rid of me, Evelyn Fitzroy-Stanton. I am yours whether you care for me or not. There are no such conditions for my affections.”

She breathed in his familiar scent, her fingers unconsciously digging into his chest as her hand curled over his heart. The steady beat beneath her palm was exactly as he had professed—constant and unwavering.

“But what about your revenge?” she asked him.

He laughed softly. “I have you and the life we will live together before us. What do I care for a miserable old man who has long since been buried?”

Her heart soared crazily at his words as she looked up and regarded him with a smile. “What makes you think that I will agree to this pretty picture you have painted for me?”

“It is you who paints the pictures, my love.” He grinned at her. “I have no talent beyond my great admiration for all that you are.”

She laughed and poked at his chest. “Who are you and what have you done with my husband, the Duke of Ash?”