“Are you all right?” he asked. “Your head?” His face was scrunched with worry. “Seeing you fall like that scared me to death, and I—”
She put a finger to his lips, savoring the feel of his mouth against her skin. She was touched by his concern, but her injury was the last of her worries. In fact, in that moment, her head didn’t hurt at all. She just needed to hear the truth.
“Do not worry on that end, Nathaniel. I am very well and recovered. I rested last night and this morning, but I am here to speak to you now. There are things that must be said.” She took her hand away. “The rumors, Nathaniel. Everything that's in the scandal sheets. Are they true? I mean the money, Delilah, everything.”
Nathaniel put his hands behind his back as well, and he breathed in slowly. “You are very right to ask me, and I'm glad you have. It is time that everything comes to light. As for Delilah, what I have told you is the truth. There is a past between us, but it is over. I have never wanted anything from her since, but ever since herreturn to London, she has been more flirtatious that I expected. That evening when you saw us, she was showing me that I had sent her a note asking to meet her on the balcony.
But I swear to you that I did not, and I do not know how she got that note. She wouldn't even let me look at it. She had put her hand on my mouth when I tried to speak. That is why my hand was on her wrist when you saw us together. There were so many things on my mind, and I was confused. I wanted to talk to you, Jane. I swear it. There is nothing between us.”
Jane could feel the eagerness and the honesty in his words. She closed her eyes and let out a breath. At least there was that.
“And as for the money-” he began, and she held up a hand.
“Just wait a moment. I find I must speak a few things to you first. I want to let you know that Edward has made me a proposal. It seems that he is the one who organized your meeting with Delilah. He's the one who told everything to the scandal papers.”
Nathaniel made a noise, something between horror and surprise, but Jane continued.
Tears began to fall down her cheeks as she said the rest. “I know you were afraid when I mentioned my feelings for you. But the truth of this is now we were not safe in that moment. It is too early to tell anything, but if I'm with child, then the situationis worse than I expected. There is also the matter of if you are forced to wed another because of what happened…”
He finally stepped towards her and reached out for her hands, pulling them to the front. He squeezed them and brought them to his mouth and kissed both of them.
“Jane, if you can find it in your heart, I beg you to forgive me. I've been a cad in more ways than one, and one of which is that I've exposed you to such things as to not have thought about the protection. It is not an excuse, but I was completely lost when we were together, so full of love that I couldn’t possibly think straight. But there has also been much on my mind of late. Everything that was in the scandal sheets is true.
Edward had overheard correctly. The bad investment my father made has ruined us. It has caused his illness, and we feared that if I did not marry well, then we would be lost. When I heard of your wealth, of course it made it simple, but even before then, when I first laid eyes upon you, Jane, I knew there was something different about you. I could feel it in my bones.
Her tears were still streaming down her face, and she could see that his eyes were wet as well. He kissed her hands again.
“I pursued you for your wealth. It is true, but it was no difficulty, I can assure you. Almost as soon as we had met, I fell for you. Despite my lies, everything that happened between us has been real. I love you more than I ever thought I could love anyone.”
Jane was trembling now. They were the exact words she hoped he would say, but no matter what, their future was still uncertain.
“I understand if you can't forgive me, but I do love you. I care nothing for the money. I want only you. I know they may seem like empty words to you, but they are true. As for Delilah, I will think of a solution. It was all planned, as you say, so there may be a way around it.”
Jane smiled through her tears and stepped closer, taking her hands from his grasp to reach up and wrap her arms around his shoulders. He moved his arms to her waist, and he swallowed nervously again. Jane wondered how it could be that she, of all people, the woman with her head in the clouds, the woman who had dreams far beyond anything to do with the season, and had never thought of love, could make a marquess nervous.
“I love you too, Nathaniel. I care little for my reputation, but I did not wish to marry someone who wished only for my money. But you have shown me love from the beginning, love for my whole self, not just the money.”
Nathaniel didn’t waste any more time before he kissed her. He kissed her as if his life was depending on it, and she was the source of his final breath. Jane didn’t hesitate to kiss him back.
Chapter 44
Jane was there. She was really there in his arms. His mouth was upon hers, and at her taste, he groaned with the desire that rushed over him. He had missed her, missed this. Even in his greatest dreams, it had never felt like this. His tongue delved into her mouth and played against hers, eliciting a little moan from inside her.
His hands roved all over her, and he wished to pull every strip of clothing from her body and touch his lips to every inch. But instead, remembering where they were, he pulled away and leaned his forehead against hers. He loved how swollen her lips looked and how breathless the both of them were.
“Say you will stay with us here. I must stay to monitor my father's condition. They say he has taken a turn for the worse, and I need you, Jane. I just need you. Nothing else.”
He thought the words would be hard to say, that somehow, they would make him weak or expose them to ridicule or something else dangerous. But instead, they set him free. She loved him, too. Now all he had to do was make a plan to get them the future they both desired. And he needed a way to prove to her that he truly didn't want her money.
“Yes, I will stay with you,” she said, “If your mother will approve of it.”
“She will, I'm certain of it.” He kissed her on the forehead. “I will have your room prepared, and I will have a meal sent there later. We will likely eat in my father's room. We have been told not to leave his side, and I wish to honor that, at least for the first day. But I will come to you later, my love.”
It would feel like an age, he knew, but he had to do this for his family. He was just glad that Jane was there with him, and at least for a little, they could just focus on his father getting better as well as their love. The situation in London could wait just a few hours, could it not?
His heart swelled in his chest at the hope he now felt, and she nodded. He left her with another kiss to her hand, and he turned his mind to his duty and his family for later. He would be with Jane. Everything was going to be all right; he could feel it.
***
