All she could feel was him.
The solid weight of Blake behind her, his body caging her in, his heat bleeding through their clothes. She leaned back, letting herself settle into his chest, and the faint, erratic thump beneath her cheek.
He smelledsogood.
She should have felt pure happiness. After all, this was what she had wanted—Blake had come for her, had chosen her. But her thoughts kept circling back to the same question: why now? After he had practically pushed her toward another man, why had he changed his mind? Her heart demanded answers. The pain had burrowed too deeply to go without them.
She turned her head to try to catch a glimpse of his face. “Why did you come?”
His eyes lowered before returning to focus on the path ahead and guiding the horse through a busy crossing. “You left.”
Oh.
“Without a word,” he continued. She felt the rise and fall of his chest against her back. “That terrified me.”
Her gaze returned to the street as well, the clatter of hooves oddly reassuring—just as much as his arms around her. “You pushed me away.” She could practically feel the protest rising up within him. “Did you expect me to stay after saying those things to me?”
“I thought...” He hesitated, lowering his head until his lips brushed her ear, his voice dropping. “I thought I was doing the right thing. I was wrong.”
Rosilee’s heart ached at the rawness in his words. “I didn’t leave because I wanted to,” she said softly. “I left because I didn’t want to trap you.”
“You’ve never trapped me.” Blake’s legs shifted against her as he adjusted his grip on the reins, his movements tight, almost uneasy.
“And yet it seems that way. I didn’t want to put you in a cage, Blake. A cage of expectation where you felt obligated to protect me, to rescue me. I thought if I left, we could both be free—free of whatever... this is.”
Blake let out a slow breath, tickling her ears. His arms tightened around her. “You were never a cage, Rosilee,” he said quietly. “If anything, I’ve been the one trapping myself.”
His words took her by surprise, and she turned her head to look at him again. Their eyes met fleetingly, and she caught the sincerity in the depth of those green pools. He didn’t seem to be a man who spoke of his feelings often, not that she’d had many opportunities to test that theory, but Lord, when he did, his words always seemed to pack a heavy blow to her heart.
Lord, she loved him.
Loved him beyond reason.
“It hurt, pushing me away,” she admitted.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured. Then sighed in her ear. “Stagbourne is a better man than me. He can give you a normal life. A life you deserve.”
“No,” Rosilee denied. “He can’t. Only you can do that. In any event, this situation was never normal, and I never wanted normal to begin with or else I would have married long ago.”
“I’m glad you didn’t,” the mutter came and she jabbed her elbow in his stomach, causing him to grunt.
“That is for hurting me.”
A chuckle sounded in her ear, rough and low. “You can hit me as many times as you want, love. I’m a fool, I admit. I can’t let you go. I was foolish to think I could.”
The horse slowed as they neared a quieter street, and Rosilee nestled deeper into him. “You came after me,” she said softly. “That’s all that matters.”
And now with Baston being dealt with by Mrs. Dove-Lyon, they had an opportunity to retrieve her brother, if the duke’s men—who had apparently already been given the task—hadn’t done so already. For the first time in a long time, Rosilee felt truly at peace. The confusion that had plagued her disappeared,replaced by the certainty that Blake had chosen her not out of obligation, and not out of duty, but because he wanted her.
Just her.
And that was all she needed.
Blake drew Beastto a halt in front of their townhouse.
He didn’t move, didn’t want to. Rosilee was his now. After all that had happened, after everything he had almost lost, he couldn’t bring himself to let her go—not yet.
She fit so perfectly against him. She made him feel complete, like the part of him that had always been missing was finally where it belonged. He held her tighter, squeezed her against him, lowering his chin to her shoulder. The scent of her hair filled his lungs, a soft blend of sweetness and the faintest hint of smoke from the Den. God, he didn’t deserve her, but he’d be damned if he ever let her slip away again.
