Page 44 of The Duke of My Desire

“Very good,” he said. “Then I shall go outside and wait for the magistrate. If you need me⁠—”

Justina shot to her feet, her heart hammering. “Wait, Gregory. Please stay. I...I need to speak with you.”

CHAPTER 12

Justina watched as Gregory’s mother left the room and shut the door behind her, the click somehow both quiet and loud, seeming to reverberate through the heavy silence.

She swallowed, nervous now that they were alone, although it was exactly what she’d asked for. She had no idea what she intended to say to him, but she couldn’t leave things the way they’d ended. Not after all that had happened today. Not with the way she felt about him.

She turned to look at him, intending to speak, but he beat her to it.

“I’m sorry,” he said softly. His mouth was grim, his eyes troubled.

Justina shook her head, confused. “Whatever for?”

“For leaving you alone. For allowing Lovelace to get near you. I shouldn’t have left you. I—” He went to her, taking her hands in his, and she could feel his anguish in the trembling of his fingers. “God, Justina, you might have been hurt.”

“But I wasn’t,” she said, giving his hands a squeeze, reminding him that she was here, with him, touching him. “I am well, Gregory. I am safe.”

He nodded, his throat working, and Justina longed to embrace him, to feel his arms around her, strong and comforting.

But he made no move to hold her. And why should he? He’d told her he loved her, asked her to marry him, and she’d rejected him without explanation.

She owed him that, at least. An explanation. The trouble was, she wasn’t sure even she understood her feelings.

All she knew was that she wasn’t ready to say goodbye to him. Not yet. Maybe not ever.

And that revelation was both wonderful and terrifying.

Heart pounding, she drew in a calming breath, and said, “Will you sit with me?”

He nodded, and she led him to the fireplace where a fire still burned, warm and welcome. Gregory waited for her to sit before claiming the other chair, and they sat there for a few moments in the silence before Justina cleared her throat.

“It’s been an interesting day, hasn’t it?” she said, a rueful smile curving her lips.

He huffed out a laugh. “It certainly has.”

“First Lord Lovelace and then your mother. I’m not certain which encounter was more frightening,” she said, only half-joking.

“I was rather annoyed with Mother for following me here,” Gregory said, “but if she hadn’t, I don’t know what would have happened.”

The words sent a shiver up Justina’s spine as she remembered the cold press of the knife, the unsettling gleam in Lovelace’s eyes. God, she had come so close to losing everything.

“We were lucky today,” she said, her words thick with emotion. “Your mother…” She swallowed hard. “She…asked me about us. About why I turned down your proposal of marriage.”

Gregory looked at her, his expression unreadable, though his dark eyes were full of somber intensity. “And what did you tell her?”

“I...” She couldn’t speak, her throat tight with emotion, her mind confused, her heart full—of regret and uncertainty and love, both old and new.

“Justina? What is it?”

Her pulse pounded in her ears, and she surged to her feet and faced the fire, suddenly too restless to sit. “I—I’m afraid.”

It was the truth, overly simple but no less sincere.

Gregory stood and took her by the arms, gently turning her to face him, and Justina leaned into him, taking strength from his touch and the tenderness in his eyes.

“What are you afraid of, sweetheart?”