Page 18 of The Marquess’s Stolen Bride (Dukes Gone Dirty #3)

18

L istening to Madeline’s tale was torture.

It took everything Hayden had not to excuse himself so he could run off and murder her mother. And her father. And Foley, though it was well established that man should have been put out of his misery months ago.

But he didn’t move except to pull Madeline close and hold her as she shook in his arms as she recounted first her miserable childhood trapped in that home. It seemed her father was overprotective to an extreme on the best of days. On his bad days, he’d been paranoid and cruel. The brother hadn’t had it easy, by the sounds of it, but his illegitimate daughter had suffered most of all.

The brother at least had a mother who—if not loved him the way a mother ought—supported him. As the heir and her legitimate son, she’d favored him.

“It’s not Albert’s fault,” she said when she caught a look at his features.

He kept silent.

He supposed her brother had done what he could for her, but that did not excuse the way he’d left her there these past two years. Coming to visit, perhaps, but setting off again and again to obey his mother’s orders, leaving Madeline alone and imprisoned.

Hayden stroked her hair, holding her head to his chest as she wrapped her arms around his waist. He kissed the top of her hair. “Love, what happened with this Percer man?”

He felt her stiffen, but she lifted her head. “I don’t want to tell you.”

His heart twisted, but not because he doubted her. He knew now that Benedict had been right. Trust wasn’t something you could reason your way into. It was based in faith. But his heart ached all the same at the pain in her eyes.

He would happily kill whoever had put that pain there.

“You don’t have to tell me this morning if you don’t wish,” he started.

“No. No, I have to. It’s just…I don’t want you to see me differently.”

He cupped her face in his hands. “When I look upon you, I will only ever see the woman I love.”

Her smile was watery but genuine. But then it fell and her gaze darted away. “My mother realized that the earldom was facing ruin. My brother has been trying to salvage the situation these past two years since he came of age, but with Father still alive and Mother’s control over him and the household…” She shook her head. “Anyway, she’s never worried about the earldom or its legacy. Only her own future. She was terrified of being poor. Of what would happen to her when Father dies…”

She bit her lip and shook her head. “She treated Albert better than me, but I don’t think she’s capable of love. Maybe she was before…before Father. Perhaps his cruelty made her hard.” Madeline shrugged. “Or maybe Father chose to marry her because she was ruthless. I don’t know.”

He stroked a thumb over her cheek. “What did she do, love?”

“This last time when she sent Albert away, I knew…I knew she had something planned. But I’d never guessed…” She visibly swallowed and licked her lips. “She meant to…to sell me.”

He went rigid beneath her weight but fought for control as he stroked her back. “Sell you how, love?”

“Suddenly Foley was a presence in our house and it soon became clear that he was her…go between, I suppose. He was spreading the word to wealthy men that the mad earl had a virgin daughter for the taking.”

Rage had his muscles tensing, his jaw clenching. He didn’t trust himself to speak. Her fingers toyed with a button on his coat, her gaze riveted on his chest.

If he were to speak now with all the anger he was feeling, he was afraid she’d clam up for good.

“Percer was one of them,” she said. “I heard my mother talking. She even gloated to me once about how much these men would pay to be the ones to claim my virginity.”

“She was going to turn you into a whore,” he said, the words sputtering out in his shock and rage.

“Yes.” She lifted her gaze. “My father is so far gone, you see. She could have told him I’d run away or…” She shrugged. “She could have claimed I’d died, I suppose. And Albert…”

She swallowed hard again, and he felt his ribcage crushing his heart at the pain in her features. “Well, that was why she was so forceful about sending him away. By the time he returned, he would have been too late to save me.”

“I will kill her.” The words slipped out in a harsh whisper. A promise. A vow.

To his surprise, she smiled up at him even though her eyes were rimmed with tears. “No. You won’t. For you are no murderer.”

He opened his mouth to protest, but she carried on with her sordid tale.

“The night you arrived so gracefully in my bedroom…” She shot him a wry smile that did nothing to hide the wariness in her eyes.

He reached for her hand and squeezed it. “You can tell me anything, love. I want to know it all so I can help to carry your burdens.”

Her lips quivered. “It turns out there are a fair number of wealthy men with…dark appetites. So many that my mother decided to hold an auction.”

“An auction?” He clamped his mouth shut at her wince. “Sorry. Go on.”

“These gentlemen arrived at our house, and my mother brought me into this room to…to parade in front of them?—”

His curse cut her off. “Like a damned animal,” he spit out.

She nodded. “Yes, but then. They wanted to…to see more…and then they were…” She squeezed her eyes shut. “Then they were touching me and?—”

“Sweetheart,” he groaned, pulling her against him.

Her eyes flew open. “I did not…I never…I was a virgin when we wed.”

Her gaze was so full of pleading that it very nearly broke his heart. “I know, love. But even if you weren’t, you did nothing wrong.”

He kissed her as if that could make her see. But she shook her head. “I didn’t fight, though. I should have fought.”

“You didn’t fight because you were frightened and outnumbered and…” He caught her chin in his hand, forcing her to meet his gaze. “I hate your mother and those men for what they did to you. And I swear, I will make them pay. Every one of them.”

She tried to look away but he held her still.

“But Madeline, my love, you did nothing wrong. You were the victim of cruelty and those men’s sick perversions. You are not to blame.”

She bit her lip, the tears welling in her eyes and then spilling over.

“You said you were worried about how I would look at you when I knew the truth,” he said, his voice low and gruff with emotions. “Well look into my eyes and tell me what you see.”

She did look. Her breathing hitched and her eyes widened as she truly looked into his eyes. Her brows drew together as her expression crumpled, the tears flowing freely as she drew in a shaky breath. Leaning forward, she pressed her lips to his, and he kissed her for so long and so thoroughly, he could taste the salt of her tears.

When she pulled back, she whispered, “I love you too, William. I love you so very much.”

The words rippled through him and a groan was torn from deep down inside him. His arms came around her as he pulled her closer still. He hadn’t realized how much he wanted and needed to hear those words until they passed her lips.

He crushed her to him, his face buried in her hair, against her neck, kissing her shoulder. “I love you,” he said again and again. “I love you, and I will never walk away from you again.”

She clung to him just as fiercely. “And I will never keep secrets from you.”

He slid a hand beneath her knees. “Come upstairs with me, love. Let me show you how much I adore you.”

She was already kissing him as he scooped her into his arms. The trek to their bedroom felt like an eternity as she teased him with kisses, her fingers restless in his hair and moving over the muscles of his chest and arms.

When he set her down on the bed, he took a moment to stand back and admire her, this strong, courageous beauty in his bed.

“What?” she asked with a small smile. “Why are you staring at me like that?”

He shook his head. “Just marveling at my good fortune.”

She started to laugh. “I’m the one who ought to be marveling. If you hadn’t come along that night…” She trailed off with a shake of her head, and he knelt beside her on the bed.

He kissed her gently. “Until I met you, I’d never believed in love. I thought it was a thing of fiction. And I certainly didn’t believe in fate or destiny.”

She reached up for him. “And now?”

He leaned over her, his nose brushing against hers. “Now I know that I was wrong. I was meant to find you that night.”

She smiled, her eyes shining with love and affection. “Well, until I met you, I never believed that a happy ending was in store for me,” she said. “But everything changed that night.”

He leaned down until his chest was pressing against her, his swollen shaft fitting perfectly in that soft, welcoming heat between her thighs.

She parted her legs for him readily, her hips arching as she ground herself against him.

“And to think,” he teased as he dipped his head to kiss her neck. “My friends thought me a fool for all those nights drinking and taking ridiculous risks.”

“But now we know better,” she said, laughter in her voice.

“That’s right.” He flicked open the buttons along her bodice, his lips covering each new area of exposed skin. “All that time I was just searching for you.” He lifted his head with a grin. “I just didn’t know it.”

Her laughter was light and sweet, and he could have sworn he felt it warm him through like sunshine.

“And now I am the most happily married man,” he said, using his nose to nudge aside the fabric of her nightdress so he could trail his lips over the soft, smooth skin of her breasts.

She gasped when his lips found her puckered nipple. Then he licked it, flicking it with his tongue until she whimpered, her fingers digging into his shoulders and upper back. When he drew the hardened peak into his mouth and suckled, she moaned, her hips bucking upward in invitation.

“Oh, my love,” he said with a grin as he slid upward to capture her mouth in a lazy, hot kiss that left them both panting. “Now that I know just how badly you were mistreated, I’m going to make it my mission in life to replace every bad memory with good ones.”

She groaned and writhed beneath him. “You already have.”

He shook his head. “Oh, no, my sweet wife. Not yet.” He moved back down to begin a slow trail of kisses. “I mean to kiss every inch of you. To make sure you know that there is no shame here with me. Your body is heaven on earth. It’s meant to be treasured and adored.” He glanced up as he moved his mouth down between her breasts, pressing gentle kisses to her belly. “ You are meant to be treasured and adored, my love.”

Her eyes glinted with emotion as she ran her fingers through his hair, cradling his head. “You deserve the same, you know. The fact that you believed me and trusted me even when I did not tell you my secrets…” She smiled down at him. “You were already my knight in shining armor for rescuing me the way you did. But now…” She moaned when his lips moved lower, finding that birthmark just above her curls. “But now you are truly my hero.”

“Not a hero,” he corrected. His grin was wicked as he spread her thighs wide and gazed down with hungry eyes at her wet folds. “Your husband.”