Chapter 27
Jude stood, enthralled by his words, by his tone, by his every breath. She’d never witnessed Cart in such an imperious way—he was forceful in his stare and confident in the way he held her hands, firmly, but with gentleness only he possessed.
Somewhere behind her—and far away—Jude sensed the door to Craven House’s office open and close as Garrett and Marce left, giving them the privacy she needed.
She was ready to give Cart everything—but telling her sister and brother what she and Sam had been doing all these months was too much, but with Cart by her side, maybe one day she could.
“Miss Judith Pengarden,” Cart started again, never once taking his eyes from her as his hands released her and framed her face.
“Nothing in my life has prepared me for you. You are everything I am not—cunning, adventurous, spontaneous, fearless. I could recite your qualities all day and never run out of words. But your best quality is that you scare me to death…you force me to recognize all that is lacking within myself.”
“You are not lacking,” she protested, eyes wide.
“Not outwardly, but in my heart.” Cart didn’t know how to make her understand something he was barely realizing himself.
He raised their clasped hands and untangled their fingers before placing her palm on his chest. “Do you feel that?” he asked.
When she nodded, wordlessly, he continued.
“That is my heart beating. It beats more solidly than it ever has before…because of you. I feel alive, not lost in my studies of ancient things. I am here, I am present…and that is all thanks to you. The change I feel within is all because of you, Jude.”
“But I lied about so many things.” It was the one thing she regretted about everything and, eventually, it would be the only thing that stood between them. His heart continued to beat beneath her hand—steady and sure. “How can I be responsible for any of this change?”
“You may not have been completely honest with me, but like you said before, our connection goes far deeper than the surface. Beneath both of our shortcomings, we are linked on a level more primitive and transcendent than I knew existed. You never once noticed my oddities and I see the woman behind your actions.”
His words were too much to hope for, Jude knew. “I have brought scandal to your family—tarnished your good name even beyond that of your uncle.”
“How do you know of that?” His face clouded and she sensed him retreating, but she would not allow it.
“Garrett told me of your uncle’s deception, his lies, and his disappearance.
” She pulled her hand from his chest and moved his palm to hers.
“Feel my heartbeat as I tell you this…I have never met someone with more compassion and understanding as you, Cart. For a rational man, you are able to look past the facts of our situation and truly appreciate my actions. I never, in a million years, sought to hurt you—in any way.” She knew her heart sped up as she confessed her innermost thoughts, the beat surely felt by his hand.
“I would give anything to go back and start over. I would also, if you demanded it, give myself up for my crimes. I would clear your family name by taking responsibility for everything.”
“That will never be what I want.” He lifted her fingers to his lips. “There is a time when happiness is far more important than anything else. If I am happy, my family will be happy, and society will see that happiness and hopefully celebrate with us.”
Us. Jude didn’t know what to say. The same thing continued to swirl through her mind. She’d tried to ignore it, push it from her thoughts, but it was the one thing that kept returning. “I thought you said our entire relationship was a mistake…”
“Yes, but if you’ll remember, I also said that intent has little bearing on consequences—well, your intent was to use me to rid yourself of a certain stolen vase…but the consequences are nothing either of us could have foreseen.”
She looked at him, her eyes questioning his words—and their meaning.
For a brief second, Jude feared her heart had stopped.
She wanted nothing more than for him to stop talking, for if he did that, the damning words she feared were coming would never be spoken.
She could hold this moment in her memory forever, banishing all that followed.
She looked to where his lips once against brushed her knuckles.
“Look at me, Judith,” he commanded.
“I cannot risk it.” She didn’t want him to say anything further. Her heart would continue to beat with all he’d said previously, but if her love was not returned, his words of dismissal would crush her—it was a thing she’d never recover from. Her will would be gone, her flame extinguished.
“I will say what I have to say regardless, Jude.”
“Does it have to end this way?” she asked.
“Judith,” he sighed. She would never, in all her life, tire of her name on his lips, and she feared this would be the last. “Your intent may have been dishonest, but the consequences are pure and sincere…and completely out of your control.”
“I cannot hear more—“
He released her fingers and tilted her chin to look her in the eyes, but she shut them tightly. “But you will, you owe me that much.”
She could not disagree with that as she opened her eyes once more to see his intense stare.
“The consequences are that I have fallen deeply in love with you—every part of you. The part that makes me question every decision I’ve made in my life.
The part that terrifies me at the prospect of things taking over my life that aren’t routine or even vaguely known to me.
The part that dispels all my previous notions about love and its power over people.
I will gladly give love the influence to control my every move with you.
” He finally paused, a tenderness entering his gaze.
“You—and this love I am dedicated to explore—are worth more than any antiquity or artifact.”
Jude knew the vast meaning behind his words.
Not only was she more important than any of his precious collectibles, but he was also telling her she was far more significant than the scandal created by her transgressions.
He was willing to put all of their troubles behind them and face the future—whatever it entailed—together, side by side.
“What I am trying to tell you, Jude, is that I will gladly give up everything I possess to have you by my side.”
He was running out of words to express all he wanted to say, Jude knew. It was, by far, the most she’d ever heard him speak when it had nothing to do with his passion for objects and collecting.
“Lord Cartwright.” Jude blinked several times to banish the pesky tears that threatened to overwhelm her once more. “Never will I command you to give up anything.”
For the first time since arriving in the office, his confidence shook and Jude saw the doubt in his eyes.
“I will fight my way through everything and everyone to remain at your side from this day forward.”
Obviously, it was the only thing he need hear, because the words had barely left her mouth before his lips were on hers—sealing their pact.
A life together.
An unbreakable love.
An eternity in each other’s arms.