WolfeBlade: de Wolfe Pack Generations by Kathryn Veque (reading an ebook txt) 📕

gossip, only to explain the relationship between Falstone and her neighbor to the north, Hell’s Guardhouse. One thing led to another and the situation came out. So, I knew before your father shouted it out for the world to hear.”

She stared at him a moment before breaking down into tears again. “When we met in London, I tried to discourage you,” she wept. “Do you not recall? I told you that I was not meant for marriage. I led you believe that I was meant for the veil because it was better than telling you the truth. The truth that something horrible happened to me that I shall have to live with for the rest of my life.”

Andreas pondered that a moment. “And you should not have to assume that burden alone,” he said gently. “Gavriella, I am not sure how to say this gracefully so I shall come out with it. Nothing has changed with me. Not my determination to court you nor my desire to marry you. I knew that you were hiding something from the first – it was something we even discussed. But I also knew that you would belong to me, no matter what. Once you were finished being rude to me, there was something about you I could not get away from. I told you before that I see a sunrise in you, a new day, and I do not want to see that sun set. Sometimes, you meet the person who speaks the language of your heart and you just… know.”

She hadn’t stopped weeping. Her hand was over her mouth as she looked at him and when she spoke, it was through splayed fingers. “You still feel the same way even after… after knowing everything?”

“After knowing everything.”

Her hand came away from her mouth. “But after what my father did… everyone will know what happened now,” she said. “This shame we tried to keep secret will be something everyone knows and when they look at me with disgust, they will look upon you with disgust, too. You know that is what is going to happen and it should not. You do not deserve that.”

He was moving closer to her now. “I am a de Wolfe,” he said, his voice a gentle growl. “I come from the most powerful family in the north, one whose reputation is beyond contestation. I am a knight of the highest order, an elite warrior, and when a de Wolfe chooses a mate, it is for life. There are no regrets. We marry for love and we marry a woman who is worthy of that devotion. I think that you are more than worthy, so if there is any condemnation for something that was beyond your control, I will dare whoever speaks of it to cast the first stone. And then I will kill them. Is this in any way unclear?”

By the time he was done, she wasn’t weeping any longer, but looking at him as if mesmerized. His words were powerful and honest and poignant. It was finally starting to sink in that he hadn’t come to condemn her.

Quite the contrary.

“It is clear,” she whispered, hardly daring to hope. “But, Dray… you must know that someday, I intend to reclaim my son. He was an innocent in all of this and I cannot stomach the thought of him being in a foundling home. My father insisted on it, but I did not want to send him there. He is my child, my flesh and blood. I realize it is a lot to ask, but do you think… could you… accept him?”

He didn’t hesitate. “He is part of you. Of course I could.”

Her jaw dropped in shock. Although Andreas was already showing an inordinate amount of compassion in her situation, she wasn’t entirely sure that would hold true to the living, breathing result of the horrible attack that had robbed her of everything.

She could hardly believe it.

“Oh… Dray,” she breathed, feeling overwhelmed. “Is it true?”

“All of it.”

“It seems like a dream.”

“It is no dream,” he said. “May I prove it?”

She was nodding, but her eyes were filling with tears again as he took a couple of steps and ended up standing right next to her. Their proximity to one another was intoxicating – painful and frightening and exhilarating.

“The last time a man was this close to me,” she murmured tightly, “terrible things happened. I am afraid, but I do not want to be afraid of you. When I asked you to prove your words, mayhap I was also asking the same thing of myself. I must prove to myself that a man’s touch – that your touch – is nothing to fear.”

He could feel her fear, fear she was trying so hard to push aside. It hurt his heart to see her so afraid, but it also filled him with the rage of the devil.

“You did not shy away from me in the tavern,” he said softly. “I was able to get quite close.”

She nodded, trembling because he was so close to her. “It is true,” she said. “But that happened so quickly. I did not have time to be afraid.”

“But now you do.”

“A little.”

“Then let me show you how to be fearless,” he muttered. “Try to put aside what you’ve experienced in the past. Let me show you what it is meant to be like. What it will always be like with me. I swear that I will only, and always, be gentle with you. Do you trust me?”

“I do.”

Their breaths hung in foggy puffs in the air between them as he gazed into her eyes before reaching out and pulling her against him. She didn’t resist; she was fluid, boneless, a warm mass of fabric and hair, heart and flesh, and his mouth slanted over hers hungrily.

Prove it, she’d said.

He did.

He had to prove it to them both.

Andreas had never kissed a woman like that in his entire life. A man who kept his emotions at bay, it was as if they