The Rakehell Regency Romance Collection Volume 2(348)

"Then he tried to club you to death. If he hadn't hit the stone wall so hard and made the barrel explode, the gods only know what would have happened to you. To us both."



"Yet despite the danger, you tried to save me. I saw the way you fought him, like a tigress defending her cubs."



"It was the least I could do for you. You were my guardian angel from the moment I met you."



He sighed, and the tears began to fall anew. "If that were true, then Adam would never have had a chance to attack you."



"You can't blame yourself entirely, my love," she said, reaching up to dry his eyes. "Philip warned me. He said not to trust in appearances. To just believe you loved me. To trust in our love blindly, without any doubts or hesitations.



"If I had done that, none of the lies that Rosalie or Leonore told would have upset me. I never would have run out of the house and into Adam's clutches."



He hugged her tightly. "You can't blame yourself for what he did. He was a devil, a fiend. He assaulted, violated and murdered without an ounce of regret."



She shuddered once more and whispered, "It's all true. He did. But he's dead now. He can't hurt us or anyone else ever again.



"I'm so sorry you were so worried about me and so miserable because of it. Thank God he didn't rape me, give me a disease. He beat me, but I'm all right now. And I'm going to stay that way."



"I was miserable, yes, but relieved when you didn't remember anything. I was terrified of pregnancy and disease, it's true. But I was just so glad you were still alive, nothing else mattered.



"Your losing your memory was a blessing in a way. If you had told me it was Adam, I probably would have tried to kill him, and ended up in jail, leaving you unprotected. And if I hadn't killed him, well, I shudder to think what would have happened next. As long as he was alive, he would have kept on with his murderous career."



He nestled her against him tightly. "Coming so close to losing you, and you losing your memory, also gave me a second chance, however bad things were. I got to do it all over again, better the second time around. I got tell you the whole truth about how much I love you, and why I was terrified.



"I'm not frightened any more. I don't have a single doubt about the wisdom of what I've done in marrying my ward. I love and trust you, and I'm going to show you every day for the rest of your life as soon as you're feeling better."



She snuggled against his lean hard chest. "Being in your arms like this makes me feel better already."



Arabella suddenly heard the sound of crinkling paper next to her ear. "What's that?" she asked, poking at it.



He patted his breast pocket. "Oh, a letter from Peter. It arrived just after I finished giving my deposition to Geoffrey and his son."



"What does it say?"



"It's addressed to both of us." He frowned at the multiple addresses crossed out on the outside of it. "It's travelled all over the south of England to get here. I was going to save it, but if you're feeling up to it--"



"I am. Let's see what news he has."



He tore open the seal and scanned the first two lines. Then he laughed and shook his head, and it was as though a final cloud had been lifted from his heart and soul.



"What is it? What does it say?"



He cleared his suddenly choked throat and read aloud,



"Dearest Arabella and Blake,



"If you are reading this letter now, it is because my little matchmaking scheme has worked, and the two of you are safely married. Welcome to the family, Brother. For so I have always thought of you, and am delighted it is in fact as well as deed.



I hope you can forgive my machinations, both of you, but I couldn't think of any other way of bringing this most perfect of matches about. If any two people were meant for each other, it is the pair of you.



You, Belle, are too shy and retiring, though, and you, Blake, too modest and self-effacing to ever dare pursue her. Though the guardianship was no doubt a burden upon your conscience for some time, Blake, I feel sure that the two of you managed to work things out happily in the end.



I know that you will both look after each other and make each other's happiness, and you have my blessings now and for always.



Mr. Brown has been instructed to deliver this to you a month after you are wed, so that you will be sure that you have not done anything of which you should feel ashamed. You have made your best friend and brother a most happy man.



Warm kisses and hugs to you both, and I hope to be an uncle by the time I return from India.



With much love, Peter."

Arabella read it and re-read it, her eyes wide with wonder. "That sly little pup. Why, I have half a mind to give him a good telling off."