Page 54 of My Ruthless Duke
“She is not some possession for you to claim, and she most certainly and will noteverbe yours. It does not matter if I am dead or not; she willneverbe your little possession,” Dorian continued to seethe.
It was perhaps somewhat inappropriate for her heart to flutter at his words, but she could not help herself.
Matthew swung wide, his arm arcing toward Dorian’s face but was swiftly blocked with his other arm. Dorian attempted to subdue Matthew, twisting his arm behind his back and lifting it as Matthew cried out in pain. She wanted to look away from the struggle, but she could not.
The men were a flurry of movements, grunts, and punches as they moved over to the floor until she could take it no more and had to close her eyes. Cordelia curled into as small of a ball as she could manage, shaking with the cold as she covered her ears against the sounds.
The next thing she knew, she was being touched softly on the shoulder, but she flinched anyway until she noticed that it was Dorian on his knees in front of her.
“It is all over now, Cordelia? Are you all right?” Dorian asked softly.
Clearly, he was very unaware of the state of his face to actually be askingherif she was all right. Her chest tightened before she threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around her husband’s neck and pulling him close to her until her arms ached from holding onto him so tightly.
She risked a glance over his shoulder to where Matthew lay on the floor, his arms restrained with what appeared to be bits of fabric torn from his shirt. But he was unmoving, and his eyes were closed. She could still see the shallow breaths that he took, but he was wholly unconscious.
“It is all over now; I am here, I promise. But we need to summon the constables at once,” Dorian reasoned, speaking gently so as not to frighten her more as he pulled out of her arms and pulled his jacket off. There was blood on the collar. She could not stop staring at the spot as he wrapped the coat around her shoulders, rubbing at her arms softly to warm her.
He started to pull away, and she latched onto his arm. “No! Do not… do not leave me here with him!”
“I promise you; he is unconscious,” Dorian assured her, but she was still not convinced. “All right, here.”
He pulled her to her feet, and arm in arm they walked down the stairs.
It took a few hours for the constables to finish their business. A physician was called to check on both Dorian and herself to ensure that there was no lasting damage. Presently, Cordelia was seated close to a roaring fire to help stave the chill out of her bones. Dorian was finishing giving his statement to the constables, but she could not listen to a word that they were saying.
It was only when the very last constable left that Dorian came to rejoin her. Instead of taking the seat beside her, he knelt in front of her just between her knees. His hands hovered over her thighs and waited for her soft nod of permission before he touched her.
“We ought to get you home, and changed out of these wet clothes before you catch a cold,” Dorian said softly.
Her hand lifted between them, ghosting over the knot on his brow. “Are you truly all right?”
“I have endured far worse than this, I assure you. I am perfectly fine,” Dorian told her.
“I do not see how you can be all right when your forehead is dented and your eye is swollen…” Cordelia spoke around the knot of emotion in her chest.
He grabbed her hands softly and lowered them. “The only thing that would have hurt me, was not seeing you again. I cannot believe that you braved your fears to come after me. You continue to surprise and impress me every day.”
She threaded her fingers through his, scooting closer to him on the chair as she shook her head. “No, I–”
“I do not deserve you. I have done nothing to deserve a love like yours, Cordelia. I–”
“I am sorry that I did not believe you, Dorian. I was so afraid of what it might mean if you were right. You were trying to be honest with me and at the first test of my loyalty to my husband, I failed. If it were not for me then–”
Cordelia’s frantic speech was cut off by Dorian’s impossibly gentle hands on either side of her face, pulling her closer so that he could kiss her. A soft, tender press of his lips against hers seemed to say all the things that words were unable to. She arched into his hold, letting her hands wrap around his shoulders as she pulled close enough to feel the warmth of him through her dress. Their kiss broke only as she pressed her forehead against his, breathing him in.
“Never apologize to me again, Little Flower. I am the one who needs to make amends, and I–”
“No, let me finish. I… I have something that I need to tell you. You were honest with me, and if I am to be perfectly honest withyou as well… there is something that I will share that I am afraid you will not like,” Cordelia said quickly.
It was the same news that had been sitting heavily on her heart since she had asked him to stay the whole night with her. She had wanted to be closer to him before sharing the news that she was so certain of. Only, she did not know if this was going to cause more issues…so before they left this house, before anything else happened between the two of them… he deserved to know.
“Anything; you can tell me anything,” Dorian said.
He might believe so, but she was directly violating one of his wishes. “I… Dorian, I am with child.”
She studied his face, carefully watching for any sign of rejection or anger. She did not know what she would do if he was cross with her. She knew that he had no desire to have an heir or to be a father, but she had been hoping so desperately that he would change his mind on the issue… she had beendreamingof having a family with him.
Dorian said nothing for a long moment, his hands dropping from where he cupped her face down to her belly, pausing over her womb as if he could feel their child through her skin.