“Ye saw the way Clarissa looked at him.”
“Aye,” Nicholas grunted.
“Do ye not realize that she is in love with him, and that he is in love with her?” Gwen said softly.
Love?Is that what he was feeling. Did heloveClarissa?
He did. Realization dawned on him as if he’d taken a rock to the head. Helovedher.
Nicholas’s sigh reached Alexander in the hall. He leaned forward, peering into the room. “Aye,” he repeated. “But he is no position to provide for her.”
“Dinna be ridiculous, Nicholas. People said negative things about us as well, but did that deter us?” She didn’t wait for his answer. “Nay, it only brought us closer together and made us stronger.”
“Clarissa needs more than just promises.”
“Nicholas, darling, ye have known Alexander all your life. Do ye really think he willna do everything in his power to ensure she has what she needs? Look at everything he is doing to right the wrongs his brother did?”
“I suppose ye are right,” he admitted begrudgingly.
She lifted on her toes and gave him a peck on his cheek, her hand patting him on the chest. “Love will always find a way, Nicholas. It did with us, and it will with them as well.”
She headed towards the hall, and Alexander scrambled back as quickly and quietly as he could and then turned as if he were just entering the hall when she appeared in the doorway.
“Ah, Your Grace,” she dipped her head in greeting. “I believe Nicholas would like a word with ye. He is waiting for ye in the drawing room.” She placed a hand on his arm and squeezed, the small gesture somehow making him feel as if everything was going to work out in his and Clarissa’s benefit.
He could only hope that was true.
