Waking Up With the Duke

She thought her world had stopped falling apart, but she was wrong. It had simply become isolated, her focus narrowed to struggling not to continually grieve for all that had been irrevocably lost.

But in the moonlight they were little more than silhouettes. A reflection of her life. A
mere shadow of what she'd expected it to be.

"I think your mother loves Leo."
"I don't know if she loves him enough."
"What would be enough?"
"To give up on the promise of love from another."

She angled her chin proudly. "Very well. If you insist. I've come to invite you to my wedding."
He shook his head sadly. "That I cannot do, my love."
"But it shall be the talk of London. I want you there. Desperately."
He gazed out to the sea. "I never thought you to be cruel, Tess. I can deny you nothing. But please don't ask this of me."
"But if you're not there, my dear, dear Leo, then however shall I marry you?"
She watched as the shock of her words rippled over his beloved features. "Me? But you always said no when I asked for your hand."
"I was a foolish woman. Lynnford was the love of my youth. And as we have talked these many weeks as we've not been able to talk in years, so we discovered that neither of us is the person that each of us fell in love with. We were holding onto someone who no longer exists."
She took a tentative step toward him. "You love me as I am now. And I shall love you always. Marry me, Leo. For God's sake, marry me."

He wondered if his own child would like to have a dog, then shook off the thought. He was years away from having a child. He needed a wife first, and obtaining her would be far more trouble than obtaining a mistress. Here, he had yet to get a mistress.

She wondered if any of them had truly understood the cost of what they were asking of each other.

Sometimes little is better than nothing at all.

What had seemed so simple then seemed so complicated now.

Doors had closed and opportunities had opened. She felt lost, at a crossroads, not knowing which path to take.