Bewitching the Duke

“Come along, Selina. We have more tenants to visit.”

After they had finished their visits, they made their way back to her cottage. Colin had told her that he’d had the servants pack up her things from Hart’s property as well as the few she kept at the duke’s home. By the time they had arrived, everything was back at the cottage.

Colin hadn’t told her about the surprise. He’d made the footman remove the bed from the room she’d been sleeping in on the third floor and bring it here. It was time she discovered he knew her secret.

Selina walked inside and smiled broadly. “Thank you again, Colin. You have no idea how much this means to me.”

She brought her bag into her bedroom and stopped at the doorway. “What is that doing in here?”

“Is there a problem, Selina?”

She turned around and glared at him. “Where is my bed?”

“Whatever do you mean? Isn’t that the bed you’ve been sleeping in for the past few weeks?”

Her face paled in the waning light. “You knew about that?”

“I learned of it just last night.”

She stared away from him as if attempting to process what she’d learned. “Who told you?”

“Does it matter?”

“Yes.”

“Kate.”

She squeezed her eyes tight. “Thank God,” she said quietly.

“Why are you thanking God that my sister told me?” He folded his arms over his chest.

“The servants had nothing to do with it.”

He laughed harshly. “They had everything to do with it.” He slowly realized why she’d wanted it to be his sister who had told him. “You don’t think I would blame the servants for what they did, do you?”

She blew out a long breath and shook her head. “At first when you came back, yes, I would have believed it of you. But not any longer.” She turned to face him. “Something in you has changed. For the better, I might add.”

“I have you to thank for that,” he whispered. “I was so angry with everyone when I came here.”

“And now?”

“Now, I wish I had returned sooner. I wish I had returned from this living hell I’d let myself drown in for years.” He stared out the window and could see his home from here.

Warmth enveloped him as her arms wrapped around him. Her head rested on his back. “Grief is a horrible thing. I once watched as my mother tried to heal a young woman. She died several weeks later and the only cause my mother could think of was that she’d been so heartbroken over the loss of her betrothed that she had lost the will to live.”

Hearing her talk about her mother made his muscles tense. He hadn’t thought about what she’d done to Mary and their son in a couple of weeks. He knew it wasn’t Selina’s fault. So he inhaled deeply and released the anger.

“Are you all right?” She gently rubbed his back muscles.

Remain in the moment, he told himself. Selina was important, not her lying mother. “Yes.”

He twisted in her arms and brought her against his chest. Holding her like this always sent desire straight to his loins. “Do you like my gift?”

“It was very sweet but I cann—”

He cut her off with a hot kiss. “Yes, you can accept it.”

“But I—”