AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Eden smiled at him from across the aisle, the corners of her sweet mouth curving up, bringing out the tempting little dimple in her cheek. Their fingers touched briefly, again awakening the current that flowed between them every time they made contact. Then the turn separated them, leaving him again bereft. A tiny crease appeared between her brows, telling him she’d felt it, too.
Passion was one thing they shared in plenty. What he needed now was to win her love. He wouldn’t repeat his past errors by choosing a woman incapable of loving him wholly. All the married women he’d obliged had been tied to other men, and even Sabrina had already given her heart to another when they’d met. But what reason did Eden have for holding back? Reputation aside, he was gallant, chivalrous, an attentive lover, and he rightfully treated women as equals in intelligence, ability, and worth. Why wouldn’t she love him?
His father’s stern voice whispered the answer in his memory. Because you are unworthy, a waste of good material that ought to have been spent making a better man than the one I see before me. Had your brother lived, I would have disinherited you long ago and made him my heir.
Old pain skewered him anew. It was astonishing how much that memory still hurt. Even now it ate at him, gnawed at his guilt-ridden conscience. He could have been a better son, a better brother.
It should have been me who died that day, not David.
David had worshiped him, looked to him as an example. At fourteen, Percy had dared his eleven-year-old brother to ride a half-broken stallion their father had purchased from a local fair. Having already proven himself able to control the beast, he had assumed David would be able to do the same. He’d thought it a good way to boost his timorous brother’s self-confidence.
Rearing up under the hands of its uncertain rider, the horse had thrown David. His neck had snapped on impact, killing him in an instant. A part of Percy had died with him.
Father had shot the horse, and the look in his eyes as he’d handed the gun back to the groom had justly accused Percy.
He’d wanted to die.
But death hadn’t been an option. With David gone, his sole purpose in life had become to serve his family and continue the line. Father’s tolerance for error had vanished, and the old man who’d once smiled at his son’s occasional recalcitrance had grown obsessed with crushing it from him, into making his heir a perfect replica of himself.
And Percy had chafed under his harsh yoke. At eighteen, knowing there was no other heir, he’d slipped his chains and run wild. Father had never forgiven him for it. Just as he’d never forgiven himself for David’s death.
He’d flourished in his dissolute life, too. Powerful people had flocked to him, drawn by a charisma he hadn’t known he possessed until after it was pointed out by a particularly gifted courtesan. His charm had garnered him favor with the highest in the land, but never with Father. The rift between them had never been bridged, and death had only widened the gap.
It had taken a blow to his heart and the occasion to stare down Hell’s throat to show him the true cost of his way of life. A way of life he could never again countenance. Thus had begun the irreversible process of his reformation.
If Father could see me now…
Eden gracefully rounded the
turn to again slip her fingers into his palm and join him in a promenade. Desire flashed in her azure eyes and brought roses to her cheeks.
But desire was not enough.
His punishment was now upon him. Her reticence, her unwillingness to commit her heart into his keeping, was the penance for his past conduct. It was only the natural consequence he deserved. Even so, he couldn’t help wondering if he was consigned to forever be viewed with a jaundiced eye.
Montgomery claimed to have seen the good in him long ago, despite the fact no one else ever had. Father had once accused him of having no conscience. At the time, he’d taken it as a compliment. But one had indeed existed, buried deep beneath the degenerate mask he’d so cheerfully donned. He’d hidden it well, afraid to reveal any vulnerability lest it be exploited and his father win their moral war.
Father was dead now. He didn’t have to wear the mask anymore. He didn’t want to wear it. But prying it off was proving more difficult than he’d ever imagined. Being a marquess, people would always bow and scrape before him, regardless of his sins. They would obey his whims and seek to please him because of his title and clout.
Love was different. You couldn’t buy it. You couldn’t make someone love you by any means other than being worthy to receive the gift. Would he ever be worthy? Could Eden believe him a different man than the one everyone else saw?
If ever there was a woman capable of forgiving him, of seeing beyond his past and understanding him, it was her. Everything in him knew it for a certainty. If he could just redeem himself in her eyes, earn her trust and her love, it would mean there was hope. Hope for happiness, for contentment. For salvation.
The dance once more separated them. Again they stood at opposites across the aisle as the other couples passed between them. A smile lived in her fathomless blue eyes, one he knew was intended for him alone.
All the air vanished from his lungs. God, how he wanted her to love him!
Realization struck, temporarily blinding him. All his thoughts up to this point had been greedy ones. He wanted her love. But what had he given her in exchange? His desire, yes. The promise of pleasure, certainly. The assurance of amenable companionship, indeed—they were, he was convinced, compatible in every way. But what of his heart? As he stood gazing at the woman he’d chosen to be his bride, he suddenly saw the truth of her.
Like him, she was fragile and vulnerable beneath the exterior. Like him, she hid under a veil of nonchalance to protect herself. Like him, she was afraid to love, afraid of putting her heart into someone’s hands and then finding that person undeserving of it.
Tenderness flowed like warm honey through him, and the calluses guarding his innermost being softened. In that moment he gave her his heart. By all that was true and good on earth and in heaven, he would be worthy of her.
Across the aisle, a question formed in Eden’s eyes, but all he could do was smile back at her. She wouldn’t believe him if he revealed himself now, but he would make her see the truth.
He was wholly hers. Now if he could just convince her to take him.
…
