Page 46 of The Duke's Only Desire

“It’s beautiful,” she murmured. And it was her home, now and always. No one would drive her away from here.

“Hmm.”

His mood had changed, she could sense it. “I hope Mrs. Latimer has dinner waiting for us when we arrive.” She hesitated before asking, “You will stay and eat with me, won’t you?”

He gave a sharp nod. “We can have a large fire in the dining hall.”

With plenty of servants around to keep him from being alone with her so she wouldn’t have the chance to seduce him again. “I’m not the enemy, Shay.”

Surprised, he turned on the seat to face her. “I know that.”

“Do you?” Her soft voice intruded into the silent countryside around them. “Then why do you always keep me at arm’s length?”

“Not arm’s length.” To make his point, he rested his arm across the back of the seat and curved it around her shoulders because she sat so close to him on the narrow bench.

Yet still a world away.Sophie knew the truth. They were outside in the open where nothing more than cuddling could happen.

“After last night, I thought that you might…that you and I would…”Make love. Make our marriage into a proper one, in every way.But she couldn’t bring herself to say something that would make her look pathetic, so she said instead, “That you and I would share more pleasures. Don’t you want that?”

He slid a look over her as if considering just that, and the heat that flamed in the depths of his eyes made her shiver. There was no mistaking the yearning behind his gaze. But instead of pulling her toward him and taking what little kisses and touches they could, he lowered his arm and leaned away.

“You need to understand how our marriage has to be.” He turned toward the house, even then, she realized, keeping his face away so that she couldn’t see his scars. “I will protect you always, and I will give you whatever you want—fine horses, gardens full of flowers, all the money for any charity projects you’d like to champion. I will give you a life of luxury and greater purpose than you ever could have imagined.” His gloved hands clenched as he wrapped the ribbons around them. But thatdistraction didn’t keep an expression of dark guilt from gripping his face. “But I will never let myself love you.”

“Then Malcolm was right,” she whispered. “Ours isn’t a marriage at all. It’s little more than a business arrangement.”

“That’s more than most society wives ever have.”

He flipped the ribbons, and the horse started forward, once more pulling them onward through the snow toward the house. Only moments before, the soft glow from its windows had seemed so warm and inviting, so hopeful and promising… Now it was nothing more than a snow-covered mirage.

Sophie kept her face turned away, letting the cold be the excuse for the glistening tears welling in her eyes, refusing to let him see how much he’d just wounded her.