His jaw hardened. “Since you became pregnant, you mean. You have not been with another man since you became pregnant.”
“No,” Catherine countered softly. She looked down at her hands. Her simple gold wedding band seemed to glow in the dim candlelight and she spun it anxiously around on her finger, struggling to find the words with which to tell her husband the truth. “I mean never. I… I should have told you sooner, but when you never asked me directly, when you just believed all of the rumors…”
She felt a faint pressure on her knees and looked up to see Marcus kneeling in front of her chair, his face unnaturally pale and his eyes almost feverishly bright. He had lost weight since the last time she had seen him and his cheeks were gaunt, his hair untended. He looked miserable.
“What are you saying?” he asked hoarsely.
It was time – past time – to finally reveal the truth. Catherine swallowed hard, and proceeded to do just that. “I have never been unfaithful, Marcus. I flirted, true, but it was only an attempt to bring you back to me. I was young and vain, and missed you oh so terribly when you left. I thought if I made you jealous you would want to keep me by your side, but it only drove you away. Why did you leave? Didn’t you love me?” Unshed tears pooled in the corners of her eyes but she held them back, instinctively knowing this was her final chance to find resolution with her husband, if only for the sake of their unborn child.
Marcus flinched as if she had struck him. He closed his eyes and drew in a ragged breath. “I loved you with every part of my soul, but I was stupid and arrogant. I had everything I needed, but I needed to have more. When I returned to England and believed you had been in the arms of other men… it drove me mad. I couldn’t reason, couldn’t think. I made the wealth I thought was so important, but the sacrifice was far too great. I see that now.” His fingers dug into the soft flesh of her thighs as he leaned towards her and the desperate love she saw etched across his face robbed the very breath from her lungs.
“I would welcome the life of a pauper,” he whispered achingly. “If it meant I could spend just one more night in your arms.”
“Oh, Marcus…” Tears flowed freely down her cheeks. In the space of an instant they were in each others arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck and sobbed into his chest; he fisted his hands in her hair and pressed his face into her neck.
Time itself seemed to slow. The room spun in a lazy circle while Catherine clung to Marcus with all of her strength. He lifted her chin and kissed her damp cheeks, her temple, her nose… before settling with desperate hunger on her mouth. Their tongues entwined as they strained towards each other and liquid heat slid down Catherine’s body to pool in the most intimate part of her.
“Wait, my darling.” His face straining from the effort, Marcus gently grasped her shoulders and set her away from him.
Catherine murmured in helpless protest, loathe to be separated from him for even a second. He chuckled low in his throat and reached out to tuck a loose curl behind her ear, his fingers lingering like a whisper on the curve of her jaw.
“We still need to talk and I cannot think clearly when I am touching you,” Marcus admitted, the hint of a smile tilting his mouth upwards.
Catherine’s gaze flitted down his body to where the bulge of his manhood was quite evident and pink stained her cheeks. Nibbling on her lower lip she obediently took a step back and linked her hands across her belly. “Y-yes?” she asked, unable to keep the quiet hitch from her voice.
“We have been unbearably cruel to each other, Catherine. We have done and said things – I have done and said things – that cannot be easily forgotten, or forgiven.”
Her eyes closed as pain closed like a vice around her heart. He was going to leave her again, and heaven help her but she would not survive it. Not now, when she had felt what their love for each could be like. A single tear dropped from the corner of her eye and glistened on her cheek like a diamond. It contained every heartache and every betrayal she had ever suffered, every sleepless night she had endured, and every hope she had seen crushed.
She started when she felt something press ever go gently against her cheek. Her eyes opened to watch in silent wonder as Marcus caught her tear on his thumb and pressed it to his lips.
“Do not cry any more, my beloved. I cannot bear it,” he said gruffly, his own eyes suspiciously damp.
Catherine reached out for him blindly. He caught her outstretched hand and pressed it flat to his chest. Beneath her palm she felt his heart beat, steady and strong, and she knew.
She knew the past was the past. She knew the hardships that had once kept them apart were now bringing the together. She knew the bond they shared could be strained, but never broken. And most importantly, she knew that…
“I love you,” she said fiercely.