She shrunk away from him when he reached over her head to alert the driver they were ready. Could Grace actually believe he would strike her? Alex was horrified. His wife thought him capable of hitting a woman. But his anger took precedence over any horror he might feel.

“Why,” he began, his words slow and soft, “is what you want unimportant, Grace? Why should I make decisions and force them upon you when you have a mind of your own?”

She started to answer him, but he hadn’t finished. “Why do you pull away from my touch?” His pitch escalated with each word. “Why do you flinch when I raise my hand, as though you expect me to—to beat you?”

He was near to yelling and she cowered in her seat, yet he continued. “And why, please tell me why, will you allow everyone to love you but me? Why Grace? What have I done?”

She stared at him, wide-eyed, but in anger, not fear.

“Allow them to love me? And just how do you propose I’ve allowed anyone to love me, yet somehow stopped you?” She appeared ready to pounce on him and scratch his eyes out like a cat.

“So you didn’t notice my entire family fawning over you then? And you don’t see how your aunt and uncle adore you?”

“That isn’t love.” Her chin trembled.

He slid across to her seat in a single, swift move. Alex leaned over her, towering above her, pinning her hands to her sides. “If it isn’t love, then what, pray tell, is it?”

She shook beneath him but never wavered from his stare. “Kindness. Pity, perhaps. I don’t know.”

“That’s right, you don’t know. They love you, Grace. Everyone around you loves you, but I’m the only one you push away. If you’re incapable of recognizing their love for what it is, then it’s no wonder you cannot see mine.”

“You…you don’t love me.” She shook her head as tears sprung to her eyes. “You cannot love me.”

“Why, Grace?” he roared. “Why can’t you see?”

She struggled against him, pushed him away with all her strength. Her movements set his loins aflame, and he kissed her hard on the lips, forcing his tongue inside her mouth. He slid the fabric of her traveling gown off her shoulders and freed her breasts to his touch. He stroked and kneaded first one mound, then the other.

She arched her back, pressing herself more fully into his hands. His need took control when she surrendered to him, and he forgot they were in a moving carriage.

He lifted his hips to unfasten his breeches. Alex fumbled with the buttons, his large hand bungling with the small implements, but he kept his other hand on Grace. When he finally freed his erection, he lifted his wife above him to straddle his hips and moved her skirts up about her waist, pulling frantically at the strings to her drawers.

She lowered onto him, her tightness enveloping him with exquisite torture. They moved together, hips rocking in time with the carriage rolling over the road. Grace rose and fell above him, arching into his touch, his mouth.

He nibbled her breasts. She moaned low with desire. Alex took her hips in his hands and increased the pace of their loving. She quickened around him, her eyes closed, her head rolled back. Soft little sighs sounded from her throat.

“Open your eyes, Grace. I want to watch you when you peak.” He needed his own release, but forced himself to hold it at bay.

She obeyed and stared into his eyes, her frosty centers aflame with desire and need.

He thrust inside her and held her still, filling her to the brim. “I love you, Grace. I need you to believe me. I need you to accept my love.”

She turned her head to the side.

“No. Look at me.” With one hand, Alex pulled her head to place her eyes in line with his again and held her firmly in place. “I love you.”

A single tear filled her eye and spilled over. He wiped it away with a finger and placed a chaste kiss on her lips.

“I love you, Grace.”

She tried to shake her head and deny his love, but he held her head still.

“I love you.” Alex moved inside her again, showing her his love with long, smooth strokes.

“I love you.” He kissed her, his tongue matching the pace of their bodies.

“I love you.” He moved a hand between them and stroked her taut nub.

She shuddered in his arms and tightened against him. He watched as her eyes melted from the heat. Grace cried out and collapsed against him, hiding her face against his neck.

Alex resituated them on the floor of the carriage and continued to show her his love. He pulled her legs up and around his waist and thrust deep and hard and fast, desperate for release. He held her close and murmured his love in her ear.

She reached climax again and screamed out his name as he came to completion inside her. Alex rolled them both over and pulled her atop him. Her head lay against his chest as they searched for air.

“I love you, Grace,” he said as he stroked the wisps of hair that fell from her tight knot. “I’ve loved you since I first saw you, I believe. Your eyes have haunted my dreams since that first day, even before I heard your voice.”

She raised her head to look into his eyes. Wetness covered her cheeks.

“I didn’t marry you because I had to, or because honor demanded it. I didn’t marry you because your father insisted. I married you because I love you. And if it takes a lifetime to convince you of my love, then that’s precisely how I’ll spend my life.”

Her chin trembled. “You love me? Really, truly?”

The dismay in her voice knocked the air from his lungs. He searched for another way to convince her. His search was stopped by her tiny fist to his gut.

“Why did it take you so blasted long to tell me?”

She tumbled onto him and they rolled until he was above her again. She took his face between her hands and kissed him long and deep.

“I love you, Alex.”

He breathed freely for the first time in a long time. “I love you too, Grace.”