Page 97 of The Duke’s Hidden Duchess

Her mouth trembled.

“I love you, Nathaniel.”

There. The words were out.

For one strange moment she waited for something to follow them. Some alteration in the night. Some punishment for having named what mattered.

Nothing came. Nathaniel was simply there.

“That was considerably worse than I expected,” she said.

His face changed. “Was it?”

“I am trembling.”

“I can see that.”

“I dislike that you can see it.”

“I know.”

She gave him a wet, unsteady laugh. “You are being remarkably unhelpful.”

“I am trying very hard not to tell you not to be afraid.”

“Why?”

“Because you are afraid. And I do not think courage requires you to pretend otherwise.”

Selina looked at him for a long moment.

“I do not know how to stop waiting for it to be taken away.”

“You need not know tonight.”

“And tomorrow?”

“I shall still be there.”

“The morning after?”

“I expect so.”

“You sound very certain.”

“I am a man of tedious habits.”

That made her laugh properly, the sound breaking loose before she could make it respectable.

Nathaniel smiled.

“I can promise you tomorrow,” he said. “After that I shall promise you the next day when it arrives. Perhaps, after enough of them, you will grow bored of asking.”

“I should not rely upon it.”

“I do not.”

She reached for him then, catching both his lapels in her hands.