Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 116570 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 583(@200wpm)___ 466(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116570 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 583(@200wpm)___ 466(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
“You—You gold digger.”
He shrugged. “I will tell the judge you knew that before you married me.”
I yanked my arms away, wanting to smack the hell out of him. But I took another deep breath. Maybe he was drunk already. Maybe I was dreaming. Maybe I had fallen asleep in front of the television, and this was just my mind playing tricks on me. Either way, I wanted to keep as calm and rational as possible.
“Gale.”
“Yes, Odette,” he said my name with a smile.
Ignoring him, I went on, “When we got married, it was a spur-of-the-moment thing. Everything was different. We were just going to be a duke and duchess. Come out for the press, then hide away. But then the world shifted under our feet. It is not our fault. These last few months, I have been thinking and—”
“The vows I made,” he interrupted me, taking my hand back into his. “Has the time apart made you forget them?”
“Gale—”
“‘Odette, because of you, I laugh, I smile, and I dare to dream of a future that is worthy of poets. The reasons that brought us together weren’t the best or the most romantic, but I am glad for them nevertheless, and I swear to you, from now until the day I die, your dreams are my dreams. Your joy is my joy. Your pain is my pain, and I will never betray you. You are now my body, my mind, my soul, and my heart. You are my sun, my moon, and all of my stars,” he repeated, gripping me tighter. “I told you I would send for you when things calmed down. But they never did, Odette. Every day, every hour, and every second, something was calling for the Adelaar’s attention, and I was the one everyone was looking at for answers. I followed your advice and took it one problem at a time. Why? Because I trusted you would keep your promise. Do you remember what that was?”
I didn’t answer.
“I asked you, ‘Promise me you will be patient with me on the days I am not so romantic,’ and you said?”
I hung my head. “I said, ‘I promise.’ But I promised to moments not months.”
“Months are just a measure of time to record moments.”
“Gale. I’m serious.”
He frowned, sighing. “And I am serious as well.”
“It’s been months. It’s not like we can just pick up where we left off.”
“Why?”
“What do you mean why—”
“Nothing about how I felt about you, how I still feel about you, has changed, Odette. Nothing.”
“Well, my feelings have changed!” That’s a lie. “And my feelings are what matters to me. I’m moving on from all of this. From you. I want my life back now.”
He stared at me for a long time. Was it a long time? I wasn’t sure. Staring into his eyes, I wasn’t sure of anything but the fact that my heart kept shaking. And the more he stared, the more I felt...weak.
“So,” I went on as he was silent, “please don’t make this hard for me, Gale. We will just go as we have been going on for the last few months. Our own way. You’re a great guy, so I’m sure you’ll find—”
“Are you running because you are scared?”
“I am not scared!” I said quickly, even though that wasn’t completely true.
“Odette,” he whispered, frowning slightly, shifting to move closer to me. “I know you are scared because I am also scared.”
Our eyes met again, and now, because we were so close, I could see the lines under his eyes. Now that he was this close to me, he looked like a completely different man on the television.
“I am sorry I did not call or write. Truly, I am sorry. It was wrong of me. I should have done better. I will do better. I swear,” he said and placed his warm hand on my cheek again. “The world might not know you are my wife, but you are, and I am thrilled you are here with me again.”
“You cannot just say that and make everything go away.”
“Then tell me what to say or do, and I will say and do it.”
“You...” My throat burned all of a sudden, and the words were stuck, struggling to come up for some strange reason. “When I married you, I was just barely okay with the idea of being some duchess of a country I did not know. Now you are a future king. I want to say the world is made of rainbows. I want to say sure we can just go on like we were. But we can’t—”
“So you are not against me. You are against my title?” Gale replied, placing his forehead on mine. “So that means you know there is still something between us, Odette. You feel it—even after so long. I feel it, even if I do not understand it entirely. I do not understand you entirely, but I want to. I want you here. I know your fears. And I know if you truly wanted to leave me, if you truly did not want me, you would not be looking at me with such sad eyes right now.”