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“Don’t.” Margaret raised a hand to stop her. “Don’t you dare apologize because it is true. I did waste my youth trying to mourn a man who was happily living his life, and that is why you should learn from my mistakes. Do not waste these years you have on giving in to grief. You know him, and you know that the Duke is a man who goes after what he wants. If he wants you, he’ll be back.”

“But—”

“No excuses, darling girl. That man, if he wants you, will comb the heavens and the earth looking for you.”

“But—”

The carriage stopped with such force that it threw them out of their seats. It took them almost a minute to re-orient themselves.

“Mr. Jenkins, what in the world is going on out there?” Margaret scolded.

“My Ladies, there’s a bandit on the road,” the man announced, sounding scared. “Don’t come out. I’ll try to deal with him.”

Oh God.

Helen’s heart pounded, worrying for the driver and for themselves.

Who knew what evil the bandit would perpetuate before letting them go?

“Identify yourself!” she heard Mr. Jenkins yell.

“You have something of mine in that carriage, and I want it back,” she heard the bandit say.

His voice was oddly familiar, but fear didn’t let her place it quickly.

“Nothing here belongs to you, bandit,” Mr. Jenkins answered him.

The bandit laughed. “Bandit?” he asked. “I am not a bandit. Only a man who is crazy in love, who has been searching for his wife.”

Helen and Margaret gasped.

It was Alexander. He was here.

“You have no wife here,” Mr. Jenkins said.

Of course, he wouldn’t recognize the Duke. He had just started working for them, so he wouldn’t know Helen was married to him.

Margaret shot her an ‘I told you so’ look and nudged her. “Go to him,” she urged.

Helen shook her head, wondering what it meant that Alexander was here. He’d been looking for her?

“Helen, love,” he called. “Please put this foolish man out of his misery and come to me.”

“Go, Helen.” Margaret pushed her again.

“I can’t.” Helen shook her head.

“Why not?” Margaret asked, surprised. “You wanted to see him, and now he’s here.”

“I did want to see him, but now that he’s here, I don’t know what to say.”

“Say what’s on your heart,” Margaret advised.

“Helen,” he begged again, “please forgive me.”

His voice sounded broken and full of emotion, tugging at her heartstrings.

“Speak your anger, your pain, your grief, and your love,” Margaret suggested. “Tell him everything you told me.”