He didn’t know why he’d said what he had. She spoiled him in ways he didn’t want to admit. Their bodies fit together like the perfect interlocking pieces of a puzzle. They communicated without words, knowing what the other needed, wanted, desired. He’d never spoken as honestly with any other woman—save his mother and sisters—as he spoke with her. He could tell her anything, wanted to tell her everything. It was the reason he’d shared his paintings. He only displayed a few; no one except his family knew they were his. Some were far too personal, had come from the depths of his soul. Sharing them made him feel vulnerable—but he hadn’t had that feeling with her. How could he when she’d had him at his most vulnerable: tied to a bed? He’d trusted her then, even if it had been poor timing on his part. He trusted her now. Still, he couldn’t confess all that, couldn’t allow her to know what an important part of his life she’d become. Because a time could come when she wouldn’t be a part of it at all, when she would grow weary of doing so much in public alone and would be in want of a man who could be seen by her side. “I shall resent wearing a sheath when I’m with other ladies in the future.”

Within his arms, with her back to his chest, she went completely still. He wasn’t even certain she drew breath. “I will never be with another man.”

He squeezed his eyes shut. Her response was not what he expected. He tightened his hold on her, wanted to encourage her to find someone else, another duke, because he couldn’t bear the thought of her living out her years in loneliness. “You’re too young to never again marry.”

“Lushing said the same thing as he grew weaker. He encouraged me to find someone else, to remarry. But if I become someone else’s wife, I’ll no longer be able to come to you.”

He couldn’t imagine her being content to spend the next half century sharing only stolen moments with him. Eventually the world would again open up to her once she was out of mourning. She would be flirted with and courted. Marriage proposals would come her way. How long before one appealed to her? Another man would then have influence over his child. He didn’t want to consider that. Turning her over, he offered a self-deprecating smile. “Perhaps we should avoid speculating about our futures.”

Her eyes were limpid pools as she nodded. “We should concentrate on the present. Make the most of it.”