"I…" she started.
But the next words would not pass her lips.
I think about someone else. I cannot stop thinking about him.
Henry.
Even now, after everything, his name rose inside her. She did not know if she loved him. She did not know if what she felt for Henry was love, gratitude, longing, or the memory of the first man who had deemed her worth saving.
But she thought about him.
"Diana," he said. "I am giving you stability. I am asking you to choose a life where no one can drag you backward. You are no longer the girl from Beaumont's. No one knows you here. After a while, people will not even remember there was ever anything to know. For once, I would like my title to be useful for something other than making women swoon."
"Embrace the new you. Diana Bellamy and make me the luckiest fool in England."
"Can I…" She drew in a breath. "Can I think about this?"
"Of course. But I'm not hiding, Diana," he added. "Do not ask that of me. I have always been terrible at it."
