Page 160 of Snowbound Surrender

She smiled at him tremulously. “I’m sorry,” she said, shaking her head as she bit her lip. “I shouldn’t have doubted you.”

“No, you shouldn’t have,” he said, pulling her to her feet as he threaded his fingers into her hair. “Since I married you, Scarlett, I have been faithful to you, I promise you that, despite the fact that you have wanted nothing to do with me.”

“Truly?” she asked, her eyes watering ever so slightly. “All those months alone?”

He smiled ruefully. “I wouldn’t say they were aneasythree months. But I always told myself that when I did marry, I would give it my very best, and, well, had I been unfaithful to you from the beginning, that wouldn’t have set us off on a good start, would it have now?”

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “Not at all. You have been a good husband to me, despite how horrible I have been to you.”

“I wouldn’t necessarily say that,” he said, dipping his head. “I should have come to you sooner. I was too wrapped up in my work. I didn’t put any effort into what we had.”

“I didn’t give you much reason to.”

“I never much believed in what you call the Christmas spirit,” he mused. “But I think I’ve been convinced now that miracles do happen.”

“Christmas spirit isn’t about what’s around you,” she said, looking up at him, her eyes shining. “It’s from within.”

He kissed her then, taking her lips with his, drawing her flush against him. He hungered for her in a way he could hardly explain. No other woman had ever called to him like this before. He didn’t know if it was because she was his, or if it was Scarlett herself who made his blood pound through his veins, but he wasdesperate. He had been so long without her — or any woman — and now he couldn’t get enough.

He picked her up, placing her on the bed, and began undressing her as though he were unwrapping a package. He began softly, delicately, but was soon removing her clothes in a frenzy. When he finally had her completely bare, he took a moment to appreciate the true beauty that lay below him before he undressed. Hunter tried to go slow, to take his time, but she hauled him to her before he could do anything further, and with a few quick movements they were gasping, groaning, and finally finding fulfillment with one another.

It was glorious. As he lay there afterward with his wife sleeping in his arms, he never wanted to be apart from her again.

Hunter should have leftby now, Scarlett mused a couple of days later. The roads to London were clear, and the weather, while freezing, had held. Though she wondered exactlywhyhe needed to leave so soon. He spent a good deal of time sequestered in his office, and now she wandered down the hall from her bedroom, knocking on the door before poking her head in.

“Hunter?”

He looked up from his papers. For a moment, his gaze was hazy, unreadable, but soon enough he came back to the moment, grinning as he saw what — or whom — his interruption was.

“I’m sorry, I can come back later,” she said, taking a step backward.

“No, no,” he said, beckoning her in. “You are always a pleasant interruption.”

She walked into the room, running her fingers along his huge mahogany desk. The furniture in here was solid, the walls filled with portraits of previous earls. His father was the marquess, as he would be one day, but he was proud of this seat, which had become part of his family a few generations earlier.

“Do you look forward to becoming the marquess one day?” she asked suddenly, the question falling to her mind, as she realized that her own role would change then too. No longer would she be the mistress of this one home, which had become so familiar to her.

His grin faltered slightly. “No, not overly,” he said, leaning back in his chair as he contemplated her. “As you have seen, I am not particularly adept at running even one estate. I have no wish to oversee multiple properties. It means less time away from my duties in London.”

She nodded, knowing better than any that what they wanted didn’t so much matter, as what would come, would come.

“Something on your mind?” he asked.

“Well, since you speak of London…” she said, finally turning from the back wall and sitting in front of him. “I was wondering when you plan to return. Do you … do you really have to?”

He frowned, running a hand through his hair, making it stand on end.

“We do not return to actual Session until the first of March,” he said, swirling his quill pen between his fingers. “But as you know, the truce papers were signed shortly before we left for our recess. I’m concerned about the outcome, it is true, and prefer to be involved in further decision. We think they are true papers, but one never knows for certain unless you are in the room when they are signed. Besides all that, there are matters that may not seem of great importance to most, but that matterto me. The child mills, the prisons, the asylums. I must garner support for them in order to try to create change. These things take time, and I need other lords on my side.”

She nodded. She agreed with him, as much as her heart was telling her otherwise.

It would also mean returning to London, to society. Did she want that? She could hardly handle one barbed comment from Lady Raymond. If she were to return to London for the season, those situations would be rampant. Could she do it?

“I admire what you are doing,” she said carefully, not wanting to promise anything.

"Very good,” he said with a nod. “Nia has been pestering me about attending her New Year’s ball. I’ll stay until that is over and then return to London, at least for a time. You are more than welcome to return with me, you know that. In fact, I would very much love you to.”

She nodded but refused to commit to anything, though she appreciated the fact that he was allowing her to make the decision.