Caught in the Storm of a Duke's - Abby Ayles Page 0,48

fact that he was not alone in his confusion; that she might also have feelings for him.

Could he dare hope? How could he not?

Heaving a sigh, he lowered himself to sit near her.

“You are right to be wary, my lady. I am indeed a difficult man, very much so.”

“Why is that, Your Grace?” she asked, barely letting him finish.

Her question took him aback. He had not been expecting it, especially not so suddenly.

She looked at him then, and he became lost in her eyes before he could guard himself against their power.

Here, with the trees surrounding them, those green eyes shone brightly. They appeared to be at one with nature.

It was beyond beautiful; it was captivating.

“Why?” he asked, almost forgetting what they had been talking about.

She nodded. “Why are you a difficult man, Your Grace? What happened to make it so? I know it is something you do not like to talk about, but was it losing her? Your wife?”

His eyes widened, and he snapped out of his reverie. What did she know about Abigail? How much had she been told? Who had betrayed him so?

“Who told you?” His voice was gruff, laden with emotions.

She shook her head. “I surmised it. There was something awfully odd about this place when I arrived. Its master was, and remains, more the mystery. Even though someone had gone to great lengths to hide it, I could see traces that a woman had lived here, but no more. The sadness that clung to the hallways was enough to tell me that Dunham mourned. It could not be your mother, so it had to be your wife.”

“Is that all you were able to surmise? You know nothing of what happened?”

She shook her head again. “Not a thing. I supposed it must have been a terrible incident to leave such … sorrow and pain behind. I am sorry.”

There was honesty in her voice. Her words were heartfelt, that much he could tell.

He closed his eyes, letting himself receive the comfort she offered. Should he tell her? Of all that had happened? Or just a little?

“You do not have to be sorry, my lady. You did not cause any of this.”

“Still … your deep pain is so evident. You must have loved her very much.”

Stephen bobbed his head. He would not deny it.

“With all of my heart and soul. I would have given my life in her stead if I could.”

“What was she like?” Lady Judith asked, her soft voice soothing his soul.

“Like spring. The first rain, the first bloom, happy, charming. Once upon a time, there was a man who had watched his parents grow old in love, dying only days apart, for neither could be without the other for too long. He had only ever wanted love like that, so pure, so true. All his life, he dreamed of the day he would find it. Then one day, he did. At the market, in a bookshop. She was only a lowly maiden but, by God, she was the fairest he had ever seen.”

It had been love at first sight for Stephen.

“He knew right away that he had found what he had searched for all those years. It mattered not that society would disapprove, that he was a duke and she was no more than a scholar’s daughter. He wooed her, he courted her, and, when she came to love him in return, he had married her, and she became his new family.”

He had never been so happy, never been so at peace. For two years, they lived as husband and wife.

“It was clear even to the blind that the love they shared was profound. They enjoyed this love, and the joy that came with it, for a while. Then, they learned their family was going to grow bigger. She was with child, you see, his heir.”

He heard Lady Judith gasp, but he did not stop.

“Their lives could only get better, or so they thought. Alas, fate had other plans. One cruel winter’s day, they were snatched away from him by the cold hands of death in the most despairing way. The wife he loved, and the child he never could hold in his arms, for it was never born. He lived, but parts of him died with them, and they remained buried.”

Until recently…

Opening his eyes, he turned to Lady Judith. His heart skipped when he saw tears falling from hers.

“Are those … for me?” he asked, reaching out to gently touch her face. When he