Page 107 of Corrupting his Duchess

“Do you think I desired this? That I sought his company? Do you think I wanted to be out here pretending with someone like him?”

“You don’t have to pretend,” he said, voice low.

“Don’t I?” she snapped. “What choice do I have?”

He said nothing.

“Every room I walk into, I look for you. Every day I wake up and think maybe– just maybe– ”

She broke off. Then swallowed.

“I can’t even pay attention to him,” she said bitterly. “And it’s not because of Lord Vaun, it’s because of you! Because my mind keeps turning back to you.”

He took a step closer.

She stepped back.

“You made me trust you,” she said, voice tight. “You made me feel seen. Safe. And then you cut it off like none of it meant anything.”

His face cracked.

“You left me,” she whispered. “You broke my heart.”

“I thought I was doing what was right.”

“For whom?” she asked. “Because it was not for me.”

Henry stepped toward her, very carefully.

But she turned her head, just enough.

“Don’t,” she whispered. “Please. Don’t make it worse.”

CHAPTER 20

Henry said nothing. The garden was still. Not silent but still. A bird shifted somewhere in the hedges. Distant music swelled from the ballroom.

And Anna stood there with her back half-turned to him, her arms wrapped tightly around her middle, as though she was trying to hold something inside from breaking.

He could have walked away.

She had given him the out. A clear one.

But he didn’t take it.

Instead, he took a breath and said, very quietly, “You think I came out here to soothe my conscience?”

She didn’t reply.

“I didn’t.”

Still nothing.

He tried again. “I came because you are the only person I have ever known who makes me wish I were better than I am.”

Her shoulders stiffened– but she didn’t turn around.

That was something.