Page 19 of Stone Cold Duke (Frigid Dukes #1)

Chapter Nineteen

T here was the Marshalls’ house. And the Parkers.’ And as Diana stared at each of the houses they passed, she wondered just what she was going to tell them. What she was going to tell… anyone.

What would she tell her family?

She dropped her head into her hands, thinking of what she’d just lost.

Matthew. The man she thought she would always hate. The man she had been so convinced had ruined her life.

And now… now she wished more than anything that she was there, in their home, spending time with him.

“Your Grace?”

Her eyes darted to Margaret, who was watching her with a sad expression of her own.

“We shall have to tell them what has happened,” Diana told her softly.

“I am not concerned about them, Your Grace.”

“I wish that I could be unconcerned as well,” Diana mumbled. “I wish that I did not have to tell my father that I have failed at my marriage.”

As they rode through the streets of London, she could feel Margaret’s eyes on her, filled with sympathy and compassion. But there was nothing that would make her feel better. Not now. Not when she had lost everything she hadn’t even realized she wanted.

“Your Grace?”

“Please, Margaret. I can’t… I haven’t any energy left to speak,” she protested.

“Your Grace!”

“Margaret,” she began again, but then she looked up and saw the frantic look on Margaret’s face as she glanced out the carriage window. “What’s wrong? What is it?”

She glanced out the other window and then peered out Margaret’s when she could see nothing but dust billowing up.

“Is that…”

“The Duke,” Margaret announced.

“Stop the carriage!” his voice called out loudly.

Diana felt the carriage slow down as the driver pulled on the reins. And then the door was flung open and she was staring straight into a pair of deep brown eyes she had thought she was never going to see again.

“Matthew.” His name spilled out of her lips on barely a breath, and that frantic look in his eyes seemed to ease slightly just with that single word.

“Diana… My Diana…”

Her heart swelled at his words, and she felt hope blossom in her chest.

Was his uncle wrong? Was there some hope? But Matthew didn’t seem to know what to say. Because he was staring at her, completely silent, searching her face as though he was drinking her in.

“Don’t go.”

The words that finally spilled from his lips were not romantic. They were not smooth or polished. But the earnestness in them and his gaze made her heart melt with love and relief.

“I will have children,” she blurted out.

He shook his head. “I don’t care about children. I don’t care whether we have ten or we never have any. All I care about is you. I want you, Diana. I need you. You have made my home and my life so much brighter and so much more wonderful than I ever could have imagined. You make everything about my life unpredictable and chaotic, and you disrupt all of my routines and my plans, and yet I have never felt the way I feel with you, and I know that if you leave… ah, Diana, if you were to leave me, you would take all of the good from my life with you. I cannot live without you, Diana, and I do not wish to. You are all that I need to be perfectly happy, and I beg you not to leave.”

“You have no need to beg,” she replied, tears streaming down her face at his words. “You need only tell me that you want me to return, and I shall.”

“Then that is exactly what I shall tell you, Diana. I want you to return to my home—to our home. To me. Please, Diana, return to me.”

She nodded earnestly, and he pulled her into his arms, his lips meeting hers in a brief kiss that still managed to convey all of his love and feeling for her.

When he leaned back from her, he still held her in his arms, his eyes searching her own, and she felt her face flush at the intensity of his gaze.

“Shall I tell the driver to take us back home, Your Grace?” Margaret asked gently.

Matthew looked startled for a moment, as if he had not even realized she was there.

“Yes. Yes. Tell the driver to take us back home,” he said impatiently, staring back at Diana.

But Margaret was waiting for Diana’s response, sitting completely still until Diana gave her a smile and a nod.

“Very well, Your Grace,” Margaret said with a smile of her own. “And I shall sit with the driver.”

With that, she climbed out of the carriage, and within moments, they took off, heading back the way they had come.

“The horse-“ Matthew began abruptly, peering out the window, but the driver had tied him off to the carriage so that he fell into step with the others.

Matthew settled into the seat beside Diana, still watching her, that look in his eyes just as steadfast now, and she could not hold back the questions bubbling up inside her.

“But I do not understand. Your uncle… he said that you did not wish to be married to me anymore. That you did not wish to even see me.”

Matthew’s face clouded over in an instant.

“He has been sabotaging my life this entire time. Spreading lies about me. Poisoning me against trusting others. It was he who orchestrated my marriage to your sister, knowing full well that we were ill-suited. And he pushed you away at the first sign that we were having trouble.

“I never even spoke to him after our fight. I did not know he had heard me speaking with John or that he had come to you until I arrived home and found you gone and Miss Jenkins gave me your note.”

“But why? Why would he wish to do such a thing?” Diana stared at him, wide-eyed.

It made no sense. What could his uncle have to gain by making him out to be the villain? What possible reason could he have for sending her away?

“He wished to ensure that I never had an heir. And that the duchy would pass on to his family. To himself or his son—he had no preference. But so long as it was taken from my family, he would be pleased,” Matthew spat out bitterly.

Diana stared at him in shock and dismay. “But then John?—”

“No,” he said quickly. “I do not believe that John had any knowledge of his father’s plans. He is an unwitting participant in this charade just as I was.”

“And so… what shall this mean for you? And for your uncle?”

“I have decided to cut ties with my uncle forever. As for John and Isabelle, they shall always be welcome in my home just as they always have.”

“I am glad of it. I am glad that John and Isabelle had no part in their father’s schemes because I fear they are the only true friends that you have ever had. But how did they never defend you against the rumors? Certainly, they have heard them over the years.”

“They may have,” he replied, his brow furrowed slightly at the thought. “But they would never have told me if they did. Both of them may well have defended me behind my back, but they would never have repeated anything bad they heard about me, even to myself.”

“But your uncle’s plans… We must produce an heir to prevent his plans from coming to fruition.”

“Dash it all, Diana. Have you not been listening to me?” he huffed, frustrated. “I do not care if my uncle’s plans come true. I do not care if he gets to be the Duke or if John does. I only care that I have you back in my life and my home.”

“You needn’t be frustrated with me simply because you’ve changed your mind about such things so quickly,” she shot back.

Matthew scowled at her and then let out a short laugh. “Ah, Diana, this is what I need. The spitfire that I married. The one that I thought was going to be the death of me. And now… I do not want it any other way. But, Diana, I meant what I said. I do not care if I have children. I do not care if there is an heir or if John becomes the Duke once I am gone. It matters not. You are all that matters to me.”

“And if I should like to give you an heir?” she asked cheekily.

This time, he was the one to give her an incredulous look, and then he let out another short laugh.

“Now who is changing their mind about things quickly?”

“Well, perhaps we could start by sharing a room in our new home. That is if you haven’t decided to sell it.”

Matthew stared at her for a long moment, a smile spreading across his face. “I have not.”

“I think it’s perfect for us.” Her eyes sparkled. “And for the children we shall fill it with.”

Again, he leaned forward and gave her a gentle kiss. One that made her cheeks redden even more.

“Then that is what we shall do.”

“And you shall have plenty more people in your life to interrupt your plans and wreak havoc on your schedules,” she teased.

“I would not have it any other way,” he replied. “Even if every one of them is a spitfire like you.”

“Ah, but what if they are as obstinate and stubborn as you?”

“You think that you are not just as obstinate and stubborn as I am?” he retorted, raising an eyebrow at her.

“I think I am the picture of tranquility compared to you.”

At that, he burst into laughter. Laughter she did not think he had allowed himself in a very long time.

“Perhaps, my dear, you need to look at yourself a bit more closely if you believe that.”

She smiled in response but did not admit to anything. Even if she did know that he was right.

“Perhaps you need someone who can stand up to your stubbornness.”

“I most certainly do,” he agreed. “I need you.”

No matter how many times he said it, the words continued to warm her heart, making her smile brighter each and every time. And that look in his eyes as he stared at her…

Diana hardly noticed that the carriage had stopped, so caught up was she in the way he stared at her. In the feel of his hands on hers. In the closeness between the two of them.

And until the driver opened the door and announced that they had arrived, that was all that mattered.

Matthew jumped out of the carriage as soon as the door opened and turned back toward her with a soft look in his eyes.

“Come, my dear. It is time for me to take you back to where you belong—our home,” he murmured, reaching for her hand, which she eagerly placed in his own.

He helped her down from the carriage, and the two of them stared at the house that was to be their new beginning.