The Arrogant Duke

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Edward ran frantically through the halls of his home looking to see if Grace had not yet left. He glanced in every room checking, but she was no where to be seen.

Edward passed the sitting room where Jessamine, Howard and their children were giggling over a game of chess, where Jessamine was clearly dominating Howard's skills. Even Edward had a hard time defeating his sister over a game when they were younger. They would play it for an afternoon straight, as Edward liked the challenge.

He was still very fond of the game, and would gladly play it with any other person besides Jess.

The staff could not help but glance at Edward. They have never seen him unpolished, he was always well groomed, but today seemed to have been an exception. His shirt was untucked, and his chest was almost exposed with a few buttons left undone. Edward had not even bothered with his shoes, he went barefoot as he roamed around.

Glancing at the large window that had a view of his front garden, he saw Grace running away.

"Grace!" Edward called as he ran after her. "Grace, for the love of God, stop running and talk to me!"

"What else is there to talk about?" Grace asked with a hoarse voice. "You seem to have forgotten to mention that you keep mistresses with you."

"She is not my mistress!" Edward yelled irritably.

"Then, what?" Grace asked in between violent sobs, it had obviously hurt her to know that he was capable of such things. "Do not tell me she is your wife, Edward. Or I swear that ..."

"Is this how it is?" Edward stopped when Grace stopped as well. "You run and I try to catch you and make everything better whenever we fight? Am I supposed to be expecting this in the future as often as I am thinking?"

"All I asked was for you to be honest." Grace said. "You told me that you were not keeping anything from me."

"Marcela is my betroth." Edward admitted calmly.

"What?" Grace asked, but what right had she herself? She was not his betroth, nor were they in a formal courtship. She had been his mistress. "Edward, this is out of the line."

"What is?" Edward asked back, as he began walking towards Grace slowly, not to frighten her away.

"I am your mistress?" Grace asked, staring at Edward with her eyes red blood for crying.

"I never loved Marcela." Edward confessed, trying to hopefully put Grace at ease. How he hated seeing her hurt and crying, especially because of him. "She was merely a distraction when you left me."

Grace had been left speechless. Of course, why did she not expect this? Everything rooted directly to the time that she ran away.

"Let's talk, shall we?" Edward asked gently. "You and I, alone."

"I am not going back in there." Grace said. "I feel filthy, thinking that you were promised to another and I have been intruding."

"No," Edward shook his head. "You belong in there as the queen of my kingdom. Marcela came by surprise just last night. I swear on my life that I have been planning on ending what she and I had earlier on.

I love you, Grace. And that is the only thing that matters for me, and so should be it for you as well because what we have and share will get us through this, I promise."

"Will you promise to tell me the truth from now on?"

"I promise." Edward smiled, he gently kissed Grace on the forehead and hugged her tight in his arms.

"This feels nice," Grace said quietly, keeping herself wrapped around Edward's firm body. "I wish we could stay like this forever."

"We will."