He was taking care of me and my needs from the very beginning. Before we became closer, before we kissed, and before any affection arose between us. He was being thoughtful and caring.
The signs of this had been there all along. The way he had been sothoughtful about always making sure she ate after asking her at the wedding if she had skipped breakfast and how so many of the foods at his home were her favorite recipes. She had known that he was trying to help her and make her strong, but she had never suspected that this level of thought and planning had gone into it.
She looked up at her cousin, a new urgency in her now. “Did the Duke ask for all my favorite foods?” she asked. “Did he ask you to send him my favorite recipes?”
Again, Niles looked surprised. “Yes, he did. Did you not know that?”
She shook her head.
Other memories were coming back. Not just memories but realizations. Things she had never thought about but now couldn’t believe that she had missed.
He knewabout Lizzy ‘Nobeard’ Seacliff and Captain Blackthorn. He mentioned them to me and the story of Lizzy crossing the ropes before I ever spoke to him about those books. He hasread them!
Rosalie’s mouth fell open. How had she never realized this? When the Duke had mentioned her favorite book, she hadn’t even questioned why he knew it and even intricate plot details.
Was I really so wrapped up in myself and my own disappointment that I didn’t notice something so important?
“And my favorite novels,” she whispered, staring at Niles. “Did he ask you for those as well?”
Niles fidgeted slightly, as if uncomfortable by the question or the intensity of her look. “Well, yes, he did,” he said. “Was I not supposed to tell him? He wrote to me before the wedding and asked for the names of your favorite novels? I knew because you had talked about them so much over dinner when it was just the two of us after your sisters had married and moved out and before Geneiveve and I married.”
“Yes, I remember,” Rosalie almost laughed. She remembered very well how bored and irritated Cousin Niles had seemed as she had recounted all the details of the plot ofThe Pirate Captain’s Wife.She had known she was being annoying, but she’d been so enraptured by the book that she hadn’t been able to stop herself.
Nathan had asked him for the names of her favorite novels, and once her husband had found out the names of the books, he hadn’t just made sure that there were copies in her new bedroom in his house—he had actuallyread them.
“I can’t believe it,” she said out loud.
“What?” Genevieve asked. She looked excited, as if she understood that something very important was taking place. “What is it?”
“The Duke…” Rosalie was having trouble speaking; she was so overcome by the emotion that was pumping through her. “He read all my favorite novels.”
“Oh, how romantic!” Genevieve gushed. “That is true devotion! He must love you so dearly!”
“No, I don’t think he—” Rosalie cut herself off.He knows good writing! He’s read all the books I’ve read! He truly does believe I can write like that!
She thought she was going to cry. All her doubts vanished. Nathan wasn’t just getting her hopes up. He’d studied her favorite literature and truly believed in her. More than that, every time she had thought her husband was similar to her father, she had been wrong. He had never been like her father, even before they had started to soften to one another. From the beginning, he had been looking out for her, trying to make her comfortable and happy, learning about her interests and passions.
He had been a good person from the very beginning.
The dashing, selfless gentleman she had always hoped she would marry.
He had been, in other words, the romantic lead in the novel that was her life.
“I have to go,” she heard herself say, as if from a great distance. “I need to find my husband.”
“Of course, you must go to him!” Genevieve said, and without saying goodbye, Rosalie turned and began to dash back through the ballroom.
She had to find him. She had to tell him that she now saw everything he had been doing for her. She had to reassure him that she knew he was not the Beast of Carramere, that she knew he was the exact opposite of her father. She had to thank him for everything he’d done for her, even though he had never sought credit for all his efforts, even though he had never told her how much he’d done for her.
I have to tell him,she thought with tears in her eyes.I have to tell him I love him.
She saw him! Right up ahead, talking to several gentlemen. She took another step forward, and then someone cut across her path.
“Excuse me—” she began, but the man cut her off.
“Hello, my darling,” he simpered, and her heart froze.
It was Lord Cain.
