“Give it away? I am afraid he is not quite as noble as he pretends to be. No, he was well compensated for this act of kindness. I merely fibbed on the details a little on the chance he would try to take advantage. And as he did demand thrice what a tourmaline necklace would be worth, I’d say I got the better end of the deal.” He grinned like a tomcat.
Whatever hope May felt, it faded right away. She shut the box with a sigh before placing it into the duke’s hands.
He protested, leaving it in her grasp instead. “You must not think I wouldn’t have paid full price on it. I swear I would have, sapphire or tourmaline, it matters not to me.”
“I am sorry to say that I cannot afford it, Your Grace.”
“Do not be silly, May—it is already paid for. It is yours to keep.”
She wanted nothing more than to agree. May still couldn’t believe the lengths he went to in order to recover the necklace. In this universe, nobody had ever—no,wouldever—do something of this magnitude for her. It made no logical sense, and it felt terrifying and heady all at once, just as walking on a cloud might feel. But…
“That is terribly kind of you… but I cannot place myself in your debt anymore.”
“What about my debt to you?” he insisted. “I’ve never paid you as promised. If I had, perhaps you could have recovered the necklace on your own. Yet instead of appreciating and trusting your words, I twisted them to confirm my own fears. You told me just how much you were risking by associating with me, yet I called you false in front of others and was careless of your reputation, all because I was afraid of being hurt. And what for?” His voice was filled with shame, and he tightened his fist until his knuckles whitened. “Whatever misery I was preventing by my actions, it was nothing compared to the despair I felt when I chased you out of my life and realized that I would never see or speak with you again. And you know what the worst thing about it is?”
Entirely overwhelmed, May shook her head.
“It’s that I’ll never know why you called me to the library that night. I’ll never get to feel your arms around me again. I’ll never hear the words you meant for my ears, I… I thought I was saving myself from heartache by shuttering my heart, but you’d taken root too deep, and now the whole thing is yours. Carve it out,toss it aside… do with it as you will—it is no use to me without you—but let me do this much for you, May, please. I know what this means to you; your search for the last piece of your home, the place where you belong, is over, at last.”
Tarnation.
May put the jewelry box aside, completely at the whim of her thumping heart. She tried her best to pretend that he had been an unfair and cruel man these past few days. But no amount of repeating the lie would make it true, and Elias… he was the most wonderful man, who, inexplicably, was professing his feelings to her. Her, May, a lady’s maid, who’d lied to him for weeks and left without the explanation he deserved.
Whatever happened next, these words were his to hear.
May stepped into his territory, slipped her arms under his, and stared up at his wonderfully surprised face. That was how it ought to have been that night: with the right man in her embrace, his face in her line of sight. Nothing held back, nothing to shy away from… and it all felt right, her heart thrumming in a true duet with his.
“That’s just what I was going to tell you that night. My search is really over because I found you. You make me feel like I’m home, Elias. I am so sorry for deceiving you… This was not supposed to happen, you see. A chance to earn some money was all I was after. I had long forbidden myself from taking risks… only to fall in love with you despite my best efforts. Not the mask of duty you wear so diligently, but the man wielding his devious smirk, the bold and funny person who dares to dream. The man who is willing to admit his shortcomings. The calculating duke, who pursues improvement in the name of legacy. The family protector, fiercely loyal to his last breath. That is the man I cannot get out of my head, the man I… love.”
Elias’s fingers rose to her cheek, brushing the locks framing her face. His lips found her, then, soft yet demanding, as hepulled her into the deepest kiss. Everything fell away in his embrace, and she felt drunk with him, trembling yet, as ever, desperate for more. She swayed as he broke off. Elias held her tight even as her legs buckled, her body finally catching up to all that had happened between them.
“I love you too, my darling,” he whispered, those devious lips of his already solidifying into a beautiful smile. “Oh, I love you more than I knew was possible. Just you wait. I’ve got a thousand more kisses for you, but I will save them all until you answer me this.” His embrace fell away as he lowered to one knee and pulled another jewelry box out of his coat pocket. “This ring was my mother’s. What say you to adding it to your family collection?”
She couldn’t believe what he was telling her. Tears of laughter formed in May’s eyes as she sunk to the floor alongside him. She could not remember the last time she was so blissfully happy.
“Aren’t you afraid of losing all your fortunes at the hands of a devious lady’s maid?”
“Take my money, I do not care. I just want you as you are. This is my vow to you: maid or queen, you are all I need by my side. Now,” he winked at her, as shameless as ever, “my beloved May Carr, will you consent to be my duchess?”
“You try and stop me, Elias Alexander.”
“Not a chance in hell, May.” He laughed. “None at all.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The wedding banns were read in the drawing room of the Southam estate, courtesy of the special license Elias acquired without any particular difficulty. It would take some getting used to for May to call this sprawling house her home. It already felt like one, though.
They shared their vows for one another, surrounded by a few most precious people. Hannah—that is how she demanded May address her from now on—had laughed in delight at the news of their engagement. Today, she was beaming with pride so fiercely one might have thought her the eldest sibling. She’d gotten married first after all—a fact May had been absolutely delighted to discover—so she was well justified in her joy.
“You’ll come visit us, won’t you?” Hannah squeezed May in a tight embrace.
“I promise.”
A couple of months had passed since Christie’s: Elias was determined to do everything by the book without any undue haste, so that no one dared speak a word against her. Besides, Lady Hannah’s wedding came first. It took Elias admitting hiswrongs, begrudgingly accepting Lord Spencer into the family, as well as him telling Hannah they did not need to get married twice for his sake alone, only for her to insist they would do it anyway. There was no use in wasting perfectly good arrangements, after all. And so, peace was made, and Lord Spencer and Hannah married each other once again before departing as man and wife in the eyes of all good society.
They’d come down from Newcastle for Elias and May’s nuptials but would soon return up North, leaving the newlyweds to their honeymoon.
“How do you feel, dearest?” Elias’s hand had found her waist. He pulled her close as he pressed his lips to her temple.
