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“Mary?”
It took her a while to realize that Rathe was standing in front of her. Talking to her. No longer looking like he was willing to do anything to avoid spending time in her presence.
The change left her even more disoriented. Why? What had happened? Had he decided to tell her he was going to leave her for good?
Scrambling to her feet, she found herself dropping low for a curtsy. It wasn’t something she usually did for him, but she was so nervous right now, she just felt like she had to do something.Anything.
Rathe had no difficulty comprehending what was happening when Mary suddenly sank into a curtsy. He knew his little pearl well, more than she probably gave him credit for.
The sight of her anxiety slayed him because he could remember the times it had been different between them. Once, he had been the only one she could be uninhibited for, the only man she had the confidence to crack jokes with, make faces at, even do a striptease for.
Now, it was the opposite.
This was what he had wanted, wasn’t it? By distancing himself from her, he knew that this would be the end result, Mary no longer feeling safe with him.
So why did it feel so bloody wrong?
“Mary?”
Surely, surely he wouldn’t be so ungentlemanly to dump her in front of his own mother, Mary wondered wildly. It was an incredibly lame thought, but she clung to the belief as she forced herself to meet his gaze.
Oh God, please, please don’t let him say he’s going to leave me——
“I’m going to kiss you.”
Her eyes flew him in utter shock.
When he held her gaze unwaveringly, it hit her then, what this meant. Her heart stopped beating again, the pain and the beauty of moment striking her at the same time.
Her beautiful cold duke was giving her a chance to refuse his kiss, the same way he had refused hers earlier.
Rathe’s body was stiff with tension as he waited for Mary’s response. Whatever she chose to do, he would respect it. If she chose to reject him, to distance herself from him, punishing Rathe in the same way, he would...respect it, but he wouldn’t stop trying to convince her otherwise as well.
She was his.
In the end, that was the only thing that made sense.
She was his mistress, his little pearl, the most important woman in his life.
In front of him, Mary took a deep breath.
Rathe mentally prepared himself.
And then...
Mary closed her eyes, like a girl waiting for a kiss from her prince.
Ah, bloody hell.
Mary started to cry the moment she felt Rathe’s strong arms snap around her, tears once more lending a salty flavor to their kiss. His kiss was explicit. Graphic. He kissed her passionately as an apology, kissed her like he was wordlessly begging her for everything to be normal again.
When he pulled away to let her breathe, he didn’t waste another moment, saying roughly, “I’m sorry.” Loud enough for his own mother to sigh upon hearing it.
Her lips trembled. She so badly wanted to speak but she couldn’t, and in the end, she didn’t have a chance to do so, with Rathe kissing her again, his tongue aggressively driving back into her mouth.
The next time she resurfaced, she was mortified to see that Rathe’s mother had already left without her knowing.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m sure my mother understands.”
