His mouth twisted wryly as he glanced away. “Yes, the rigid upbringing that taught me to hide my emotions behind a wall of cool hauteur. At least that is something I can change.”

When he returned his gaze to her, she was touched by the vulnerability on his strong features. Out of necessity, he had learned at a young age to steel himself against the pain of affection after he’d been torn from the arms of his mother and placed under the tutelage of a cold guardian.

Now, he looked hesitant and uncomfortable, but she was pleased to provide a little gentle prodding. “And?”

He drew a ragged breath. “And … I love you, Natalie. With all my heart and soul. And with everything that I am.”

Her heartbeat quickened as she absorbed the words she’d so yearned to hear. In his warm gray eyes, she saw a naked love and longing that matched her own. Could it really be true? Yes.

“Oh, Hadrian, I love you, too. With everything that I am.”

Joy propelled her up from the chair and into his arms. Their mouths merged in a kiss of fire and fervor, as a wild hunger consumed them both. His touch, his ardor, made her feel as if she were drowning in a sea of happiness. Mutual passion brought them down onto the plush carpet in front of the hearth, where she lay draped over him, reveling in the strength of his hard, muscled body. It seemed a lifetime that she had craved him like this, needing to know that he belonged to her alone, and she to him.

In a frenzy of lost buttons and torn fabric, their clothing vanished until they lay tangled together, skin to skin. Despite her glowing memory of the one time they had made love, she quickly realized that the bond between them had created a vast capacity for pleasure beyond her wildest dreams. Fire and tenderness and exultation transported them upward, and in the glorious heat of the moment, it seemed they were one flesh, one body.

Yet nothing brought her greater bliss than his whispered words of love.

In the aftermath, as they lay sated in each other’s arms beside the fire, Natalie smiled to remember how much she had resisted the notion of falling for an English duke. It seemed they both had needed to learn that love was the most precious gift of all—and that all else in life paled by comparison.

Rubbing her cheek against his raspy jaw, she murmured, “Now, it wasn’t so terribly difficult to admit your feelings, was it?”

“Had I known this to be the reward, I’d have analyzed my heart much sooner.” His eyes gleaming, he let his hands glide appreciatively down her silken curves to cup her bottom. “To be honest, I fell hard for you from the very start, but I was so scornful of love that I failed to recognize it in myself.”

“Perhaps saying I love you is a bit like curtsying. It’s difficult the first time, but if you can manage to do it once, then it becomes easier.”