would not force her to remain his wife.
She had made her decision, and it had not been him.
He played and played. Tears were hot in his eyes, on his cheeks. And still, he played on, unleashing the torment within through the musical instrument. Until he became aware of another presence in the room. He felt suddenly as if he were being watched. His fingers stilled over the keys, the music dying.
“Jack.”
He opened his eyes at her soft voice to find her standing on the threshold of the room, watching him.
Bloody hell, he was a sniveling mess. He stood, hastily reaching for a handkerchief to dash away his maudlin tears.
Jack cleared his throat. “Nell. You have returned from paying your call to Sidmouth, I see.”
“Yes,” she agreed, moving toward him in a silken swish of skirts. “I called upon him as soon as I returned to London.”
Although he had already known, her admission still stung. His handkerchief was damp now, but he stuffed it back into his waistcoat all the same. “I am sure Sidmouth appreciated his victory. You need not fear I shall stand in your way any longer. I will agree to the divorce. It was never my intention to force you to remain my wife. I had merely hoped you might change your mind.”
She stopped before him, her blue stare unrelenting. “I told him I cannot marry him, Jack.”
He froze. “You did?”
“I did,” she agreed, solemn.
That stupid, old, futile hope returned, sparking back into a flame.
“Why?” he asked hoarsely.
“Because I am already married to the man I love.” She took another step forward, cupping his face in her soft hands. “I do not want a divorce. I want to be your wife. I want to bear your children. I want to spend the rest of my life making up for the time we lost.”
“You love me,” he repeated stupidly.
“I love you, Jack.” She smiled then, but there were tears glittering in the brilliant depths of her eyes. “I loved you from the moment I first met you, in Cowes. And I have loved you every day after. I never stopped. I will never, ever stop loving you.”
He settled his hands on her waist, needing to touch her, to prove she was real. That this moment was real. That Nellie, his Nellie, loved him.
“Do you mean it?” he demanded, afraid to believe.
She nodded, and for once, her expression was unguarded and filled with tenderness. So much unabated tenderness. All for him. Only for him.
“I should have believed you that night,” she said. “I never should have asked you to leave. I am sorry for doubting you. After I visited Tom, I paid a call to Lord and Lady Sandhurst, and I learned that Lady Billingsley left behind a letter for Lord Sandhurst. In it, she told her side of the story of that night, and it was just as you have said. A drunken mistake. Can you forgive me for not believing you, and for tearing us further apart when I should have fought to keep us together?”
“There is nothing to forgive, my love. Had I not been such a drunken fool that night, it never would have happened. And had I remained instead of arguing with you and then leaving, and had I not allowed my wounded pride to keep me from you for so bloody long, everything would have been different.” He lowered his forehead to hers. “I love you, Nellie. I loved you since I first saw you in that pink gown at Cowes, and I have never stopped. Nothing will make me stop. Not time, not distance. Not anyone or anything.”
“Oh, my love.” Tears clung to her long lashes. “Promise me you will never leave again.”
He kissed the tears from her cheeks. “I promise. Wherever we go from this moment forward, we will go together.”
“I will hold you to that vow,” she told him, before sealing their lips together in a lingering kiss. “For now, the only place I want to go with you is to the bedchamber.”
He grinned. God, how he loved this woman. “That can be arranged, my darling.”
If the servants had been shocked by the sight of the Marquess of Needham carrying his marchioness through the halls and up the stairs, they were wise enough not to say a thing and to feign intense interest in whatever household work they were performing.
Nell swore one of the footmen winked at her as Jack hauled her triumphantly past.
She had protested that she could walk