Could he...?
Of all the people present here this evening, Christian knew her true story rather than the one that Lord Maystone had chosen to share with society: a tragic tale of love and loss, resulting in him at last being able to claim his long-lost daughter.
Christian knew that story to be completely false. Knew too that her mother had been in the past, but was no longer, thank goodness, an enemy to both England and the Crown.
Dukes did not marry women such as she.
Nor, as she knew to her humiliation, did they take them as their mistress either.
She pulled her hands free of his. ‘I have no idea why you have chosen to deliberately humiliate and hurt me in this way—perhaps as recompense for my mother’s actions last month, I do not know—but I do not deserve such mockery from you. My father certainly does not deserve for you to have behaved in such a fashion in his own home.’
All humour had gone from his expression. ‘Your answer is no, then?’
‘There was never any real question, so there can be no answer either!’ She moved aside and swept past him towards the doorway, and the humiliation that would now be her lot in life.
‘Lisette, I love you!’
Lisette froze in the doorway leading back into the ballroom, her breath caught in her throat, her heart pounding loudly in her chest. Seconds later she felt the heat of Christian’s body against her back as he moved to stand behind her.
‘Lisette, I love you,’ he repeated forcefully. ‘I want to marry you, to make you my duchess—’
She spun around in his arms, her gloved hands pressed against his chest as she looked up searchingly into his oh-so-handsome and dearly beloved face, the love he proclaimed shining brightly, steadily in his beautiful lavender-coloured eyes.
She swallowed. ‘You love me...?’
‘I do,’ he stated firmly as he took her hands in his and pressed them to his chest, allowing Lisette to feel the rapid beating of the heart he claimed was hers. ‘So much that at this moment I am even prepared to forgive your father for being a wily old fox. Maystone is responsible for us not seeing each other this past month, Lisette,’ he explained as she frowned her lack of understanding. ‘Every time I called at Maystone House I was either told you were out or unavailable. I believe now that was on your father’s instructions.’
She swallowed. ‘But why?’
‘Because he knew I love you. Marcus knows I love you. Julianna knows I love you. Damn it, I do believe everyone has known I love you except for me!’ He gave a self-disgusted shake of his head, his hands tightening about hers. ‘Could you not just love me a little bit in return, Lisette?’ He looked down at her earnestly. ‘I promise if you agree to marry me you will never have cause to regret it. As my duchess you will be the most cherished, the most loved woman in all the world—’
‘A duke does not marry a woman like me—’
‘What does that even mean?’ he dismissed impatiently. ‘You are a woman of great courage, honesty and loyalty. A woman who was not afraid to risk her own life to save mine—’
‘Helene has said those men were not instructed to kill, only to issue a warning.’ Lisette spoke distractedly, huskily, such hope building in her heart she was afraid to let it loose in case her chest was not large enough to contain it.
‘You did not know that,’ Christian insisted. ‘Any more than you knew those men would have fled by the time you reached my carriage. You came rushing out into the street anyway, staunched my wound, drove my carriage home, tended my wounds and Pierre’s—he is completely recovered, by the way. François sent word just last week.’
‘I am glad.’ Lisette nodded.
‘Lisette...darling Lisette,’ Christian groaned. ‘I have been such a fool—that arrogant, pompous ass—for not telling you, for not realising how much I love you. I believe I fell in love with you at first sight. I know I could not take my eyes from you, and that I incurred your mother’s wrath because of it.’ He gave a rueful grimace. ‘Each time we met after that I fell a little harder, a little deeper, until my love for you now consumes my every waking moment. I cannot sleep. I cannot eat. Marcus assures me I have been insufferable this past month.?
??
The hope in Lisette’s heart grew to unbearable proportions. ‘If you marry me, the illegitimate daughter of Lord Maystone, you will be risking incurring the condemnation of society—’
‘I do not give a damn for what society thinks or says.’ He waved an impatient hand. ‘Besides which, none would dare to gainsay Lord Maystone, his friend the Prince Regent and all of the Dangerous Dukes.’
Lisette looked up at him searchingly. ‘You believe your friends will publicly support you in this...this endeavour?’
‘I know they will,’ he asserted without hesitation. ‘And it would not matter to me if they did not. I shall marry where and with whom I choose. And I choose you, Lisette. Indeed, if you will not agree to marry me then there will be no Duchess of Sutherland.’ His gaze softened. ‘Can you not love me just a little in return, Lisette? Will you not marry me and save me from the long and unhappy life of being a Taciturn Bachelor to your Old Maid?’
Hope burgeoned in Lisette’s chest, flying free and carrying her with it as she allowed the last of her concerns—for Christian, not for herself—to be satisfied, dismissed as if they had never been.
Christian loved her.
He wished to marry her.