“I had him arrested,” Dorian said from the doorway. “He will be remanded into the custody of the Bow Street Runners, and hopefully he will spend the rest of his life behind bars.”
“Thank God,” Lucien muttered. “And you are well, Leah? He didn’t hurt you?”
“No,” she said, shaking her head.
“You must tell us what happened,” Eve said, her eyes wide. “How did he kidnap you?”
“I will tell you everything,” Leah promised, “but first I would like a moment to speak with my husband.”
Her eyes flickered to Dorian, then back to her sisters. They all looked unsurprised, and each of them nodded.
“Of course,” Emery said. “We will give you some privacy.” And they all filed out of the parlor, leaving Leah and Dorian alone together.
There hadn’t been a chance to talk yet. Between the constables arriving, explaining what had happened, and then the ride back to Nottington Castle atop Dorian’s horse, with Leah holding on behind him, they hadn’t been able to truly speak yet. And Leah needed to speak to him.
Dorian looked nervous. As he moved further into the room, his eyes darted around anxiously, and he kept looking at her in a way she didn’t fully understand.
“What is it?” she asked, her voice very soft. Dorian’s eyes snapped to hers.
“I can’t believe I almost lost you today,” he said. “That you were almost taken from me.”
“You already had lost me,” she pointed out, her body stiff and her voice cool. “You pushed me away, when all I wanted to give you was love.”
“I know,” he said, and he took a step closer to her. “And I am so sorry, Leah. I cannot apologize enough for how I acted. When I heard you were missing, I completely lost my mind. I couldn’t stand the idea of any harm coming to you, and I knew, with every fiber of my being, that if I got another chance with you, I wouldn’t waste it.” He took another step forward. He was now only a few steps from her, his eyes burning with regret. And hope. “But even before that, I had come to realize my error in pushing you away. I was about to ride here and tell you when my solicitor showed me the fake annulment papers. It took me far too long to realize, but the vow I made to my father was a mistake. Pushing you away was a mistake. Ever letting my past dictate my future happiness… It was all a mistake.”
He took another step forward, then another, until he was standing right in front of her.
“I want to be with you more than anything on this earth,” he murmured, and his voice moved through her like flames, heat and light coursing through her at the sound. Her body seemed to hum as she stared up at him. “I wasn’t letting myself be with you to punish myself, but it was foolish and cruel to both of us--and especially to you. When I realized Dubois had taken you, it wasthe moment when I knew I would do anything to give you the life you want.”
He took a deep breath. “So if you want to be alone, now that Dubois is arrested, if you want to find a different man, a better man, then I will grant you an annulment. But if you are willing to give me a second chance, then I promise I will not waste it. I will do everything I can to earn you, to prove my love for you, and to make up for my mistakes.”
Leah couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think straight. The humming was stronger now. Everything in her body yearned for him, yearned to throw her arms around him, to tell him she forgave him. But she had to know.
“I want a family,” she whispered, “but I want you worse. If that’s not what you want…”
“Of course it’s what I want,” he said, and he laughed as he said it. “Leah, I was scared. But you make me brave. I want you to have my sons, to raise daughters with you, to grow old with you surrounded by our family. It is all I want in the world. You are the love of my life, and I want everything with you.”
“Oh, Dorian…” She could hold herself back no longer. Just as she had done in the garden all those weeks ago, she stood up on her toes, threw her arms around his shoulders, and kissed him as if her life depended on it. And just like then, he seemed surprised by the kiss.
Surprised and delighted. M oments later, his arms seized her, and he pulled her more tightly against her, kissing her with the most ravenous passion she could ever have imagined.
“Never again,” he whispered, as he continued to kiss her along her lips, her jaw, her nose, even her eyes. “I will never let you go again.”
And she believed him. At long last, she felt certain that he wasn’t hiding anything from her or deciding anything for her. She was choosing the life of love she wanted, and best of all, he was choosing it as well.
EPILOGUE
“He is so beautiful!” Leah sighed, as she gazed at the infant in his mother’s arms, all dressed in the long white christening gown. “Congratulations again, Emery.”
She wrenched her eyes away from the little baby boy to glance up at her sister-in-law, who was beaming at her as she waited in the foyer of the chapel for the christening to get started.
“Thank you, Leah,” she said. “Lucien and I are so happy.”
It was only the second time Leah was meeting the boy. It had been a long, difficult delivery, and Emery had been too exhausted after to receive visitors, but she now seemed more than well: she seemed to be the happiest Leah had ever seen her. Lucien, too, couldn’t stop smiling, as he joined his wife and put an arm around her.
“How’s our boy doing?” he asked, reaching down and stroking the child’s cheek.
“He’s doing very well,” Emery said. “He hasn’t been fussy at all.”
