“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. Ineedyou. 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—toourhome. 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.”
