“Why?” she questioned.
“Why?” he repeated blankly.
“Yes.” Bella nodded, wishing, hoping, praying.
He began to pace the parlor restlessly, his jaw clenched, eyes glittering a bright green. “Because I love you, am in love with you,” he suddenly burst out. “Please, do not say anything until you have heard me out,” he insisted at Bella’s astonished expression. “I have always loved you, from the moment I looked at you on your sixteenth birthday and realized you were almost a woman. I loved you even more when you were a precocious seventeen. But I was, I am, eleven years older than you, and as you have since learned, my desires are…darker than most.” He shifted uncomfortably.
“I… But… You rejected my declaration of love. Told me I was nothing but a silly child playing at being an adult, and to come back and see you when I had grown up.”
Dante winced at the knowledge she had remembered his response word for word. “At the time, that difference in our ages, along with the fact you were my cousin’s—my half brother’s, stepdaughter,” he corrected, “made the situation seem insurmountable. I could not, in all conscience, admit my love to you, felt you needed more time to enjoy your Seasons and friendships before considering tying yourself down in marriage to a man as demanding and possessive as I.” His frown was pained. “I did not expect you to elope only weeks later with another man.”
“I eloped with Jeremy because you had rejected me and I could not bear to live under the dowager’s roof another day longer.”
“You have since told me you loved him.”
“I came to love Jeremy over time, yes.”
“You did not love him when you married him?”
“I liked him very much, but…no, I did not love him when we married. How could I, when I was still in love with you?”
His expression was one of anguish. “Bella…”
She nodded. “You once asked me why I cried after our own lovemaking, and I refused to answer you.”
“Will you answer me now?” he prompted gently.
This whole situation was incomprehensible to Bella. All this time, all these years, Dante had loved her but thought he was being honorable by rejecting her?
And her response to that rejection had been to marry another man.
If Jeremy had lived, Bella had no doubt she would never have known of Dante’s love for her, because he would never have told her. She would have lived the whole of her life as Jeremy’s wife, as the mother of his children, in total ignorance of Dante’s love for her.
She would never have known the ecstasy of Dante’s lovemaking either.
Or the heartache of these past ten days when she thought he merely wanted her gone from his life.
Any heartache she might suffer in the future through loving Dante—she was not naïve enough to think the two of them would never argue, because she knew that they would—would never take anything away from the euphoria of loving him and knowing he loved her in return.
How could it, when she knew she had, and would, continue to love Dante for the rest of her life? Nothing was ever going to change that.
Bella nodded. “I cried because I was saying a final goodbye to Jeremy and our marriage. Oh, I know he has been dead for over a year, but our own lovemaking made me realize—helped me to see that door to the past is now firmly closed.” She stood up slowly, aware her legs were a little shaky after the past two days of illness. “My answer to your question is yes,” she answered him softly.
His eyes burned with intensity. “You will allow me to court you?”
“Well, we can do that too, of course. But I was actually saying yes to your proposal of marriage,” she sobered. “I love you, Dante. I have always loved you.” Her voice grew stronger the more she said it. “I will always love you.”
“Are you sure? I mean… Are you sure you want to marry me?” Dante held back from sweeping her up into his arms as he so wanted to do. “I really am a selfish bastard, will want to possess you totally, make love to you constantly.”
“I’m already yours,” she choked. “I always have been yours. And I must also be selfish and possessive, because I wish to have you all to myself too.” She smiled. “But perhaps we might one day share each with our children?”
“As many as you wish,” Dante promised as he finally took her fiercely into his arms. “Whenever you wish to have them. But you must marry me first and promise to spend every day with me for the rest of your life.”
It was the easiest promise Bella had ever made, and one she knew she would not hesitate to fulfill.
Their son, Michael David St. Just, Marquis of Cornwall, was born eight and a half months later, and was the reason Bella had been feeling so unwell the day Dante asked her to marry him.
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About The Author
Carole Mortimer is a USA Today Bestselling Author and recipient of the RWA Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award 2015, a Pioneer for Romance Romantic Times Award in 2014. She was recognized by Queen Elizabeth II in 2012 for her ‘outstanding service to literature’. Carole has written over 225 contemporary and Regency novels.
She is happily married to Peter. They have 6 sons, and live on the beautiful Isle of Man. She also loves to hear from Readers!
Other books by Carole Mortimer
Regency Sinners Series:
Wicked Torment (Regency Sinners 1)
Wicked Surrender (Regency Sinners 2)
Wicked Scandal (Regency Sinners 3)
More books to come in this series
Dragon Hearts – Contemporary paranormal
Nathaniel (Dragon Hearts 1)
Deryk (Dragon Hearts 2)
More book to come in this series
Regency Unlaced Series:
The Duke’s Mistress (Book 1)
Claimed by the Marquis (Book 2)
Taken by the Earl (Book 3)
Pursued by the Viscount (Book 4)
Desired by a Lord (Book 5)
Captured by a Gentleman (Book 6)
Pleasured by a Duke (Book 7)
Seduced by a Marquis (Book 8)
Tamed by the Earl (Book 9)
Series is now complete
Knight Security Series: Spin-off to ALPHA series
Resisting Alexandre (Knight Security 0.5)
Defying Asher (Knight Security 1)
Challenging Gabriel (Knight Security 2)
Capturing Caleb (Knight Security 3)
Tempting Zander (Knight Security 4)
Enticing Ian (Knight Security 5)
Seducing Ethan (Knight Security 6)
Series now complete
ALPHA Series:
Christmas Alpha (Alpha 1)
Dark Alpha (Alpha 2)
Shadow Alpha (Alpha 3) Author’s 200th Book
Midnight Alpha (Alpha 4)
Renegade Alpha (Alpha 5)
Warrior Alpha (Alpha 6)
Rogue Alpha (Alpha 7)
Savage Alpha (Alpha 8)
Series is now complete
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Wicked Surrender (Regency Sinners 2) Page 14
