Page 57 of The Duke Who Claimed Her

“I know that now,” she said. “I do, Caspian. When my father came to me with this, I forgot who I was and all that had happened. I ought not to have. I ought to have understood that whatever this marriage is, it is better than what I left before.

He nodded firmly. “I do not want you to be scared of me, Arabella. I do not want you to think that… You are not a prisoner here. And if there is anything that you need, it is yours. I will not do to you what my father did to my mother and me.”

“Caspian…” Arabella looked at Caspian as if his words made no sense. She almost felt guilty. “Is that what you… I am not scared of you. I do not think you are a horrible person.”

“You do,” he said. “And that is⁠—”

“No,” she cut him off. “You are withdrawn. Isolated. Confusing…” She laughed softly. “You are many things, Caspian, but you are not evil. Please, do not think such things of yourself.”

He stood directly over her, so close that she could reach out and touch him if she wanted to. As he gazed at her with that burning intensity, Arabella decided to take a chance.

For days now, she had felt confusion about Caspian and what he wanted. She had denied her own feelings, certain there was no point in having them. Finally, she was starting to see the truth, just as she was starting to see Caspian for who he truly was, and what he truly wanted.

All he needed was to be shown that it would not be the end of him; that he was not someone to be feared, and that whatever might happen between them, it would be for the best.

Taking that chance, she reached out and took his hand.

He flinched as their fingers touched, but he did not pull away. Instead, he stared at her hand, entwined through her fingers, seeming not to understand what she was doing, why she would do such a thing, after what he had just said.

But he is not pulling away, and that is what matters…

“I do not think that you are your father, Caspian,” she said as their fingers interlocked. “And I ought to know. Having grown up as I did, I have witnessed exactly what you described. I know fear. I know the feeling of a lack of control, the feeling of being trapped. And I tell you now, that is not what I feel with you.”

He still looked at their fingers. “It is not?”

“No.”

“What…” He swallowed. “What do you feel?”

It was a good question.

Where Caspian was concerned, Arabella felt many things. Confused, almost always. She never truly knew what he was thinking or what he wanted. And more than once, she had stopped and questioned everything about their relationship, convinced that it might be easier for them both if they simply avoided the other entirely.

But just as she felt those things, she knew there was so much more to it than that.

Their fingers on their right hands were interlocked. It sent a pulse up her arm and through her body. Arabella made sure to be looking right at him, wanting Caspian to see into her eyes so that she could feel his thoughts, as he could feel her own. And when their eyes met, she knew exactly what she had to say.

He does not control me, but that does not mean I do not want him to have some control when I need him. That is the difference.

“I feel safe, Caspian,” she said to him. “You are a good man, despite what you think. You took in your nephew as your own son to give him a better life. You married me to ensure that he had one. And when you did, you saved me from my father.”

“I had no choice,” he argued.

She shook her head. “My father controls me, not you. And you know well that you could have denied him. But I think that when you saw what he was, you saw your own father, and you married me not because you had to but because you wanted to. You wanted to save me from him, and if that does not prove how different you are from your own father, then I do not know what does.”

“You truly believe that?”

“It is not a question of what I believe,” she said. “It is the truth. And because of that, no matter what you say or what you do, I will always be grateful to you. You saved me,” she said again. “And do not ever forget that.”

He clutched her fingers but shook his head. “You did not need saving, Arabella. You are strong; you are stronger than you think.”

“So are you,” she said. “And as I have changed, I know that you can too.”

She could see the effect her words were having on him. His gratitude. His relief. And as he held her hand and looked down at her, Arabella knew that they had just taken a huge step forward in their relationship.

Hopefully, it is not the last one.

For a moment, Caspian just looked at her. It was a look that suggested he was seeing her for the first time. His eyes flicked from her face to her hand, then back to her eyes, and then to her lips. He paused on those lips, and Arabella felt the change take him.