The Duke Replaced His Brother at the Altar — And the Bride Said Yes to the Man She Secretly Loved

Chapter 10

The library of Ashfield House glowed with warm afternoon sunlight. Dust motes drifted lazily through the golden beams that slanted across the worn Persian rug. A fire crackled in the hearth, filling the room with the scent of burning oak.

I sat in a leather chair beside the fire, pretending to read a novel while my thoughts wandered. The past year had been the most extraordinary of my life — and yet, in some ways, the quietest. No scandals. No dramatic confrontations. No whispered gossip following me through ballrooms. Just the simple, daily miracle of waking up beside the man I loved.

We had married quietly three months after that day at St. Margaret’s. A small ceremony, just family. Julian had been the best man, as promised. He had toasted us at breakfast with such enthusiasm that my mother had to refill his coffee cup three times.

Soft footsteps approached behind me.

Then Sebastian’s arms wrapped around my shoulders. He smelled of paper and ink and the faint cedar of his study.

“Working again?” he teased.

I smiled, leaning into his touch. “Nothing that cannot wait for my husband.”

Even after a year, the words still felt miraculous. Husband. My husband. The Duke of Ashford. The man I had almost lost before I ever truly had him.

Sebastian moved around the chair and knelt before me, taking my hands in his. The firelight caught his face, softening the hard lines I had once thought were permanent.

“I have received a letter from Julian this morning,” he said.

“Where is he now?”

“Rome. He says he has fallen in love with an Italian countess named Maria.” Sebastian’s lips curved into a smile I had come to treasure. “He also says he will visit for Christmas. He wants to see the estate, and he insists on bringing Italian wine.”

I smiled warmly, imagining Julian’s cheerful face arriving at our doorstep. “He should be here. It has been too long since we have seen him.”

Sebastian raised an eyebrow. “Why? Planning to introduce him to someone?”

I took a breath. The moment had arrived. I placed his hand gently over my stomach.

“Because he should meet his nephew.”

Sebastian blinked. For a moment, he did not move. Then his eyes widened.

“Eleanor — ”

“Our son,” I whispered. “Or daughter. We will know soon enough.”

He stared at me. Then laughter burst from him — a sound so joyful and unguarded that it brought tears to my eyes. He lifted me from the chair and spun me in a circle, pressing his forehead to mine.

“We are going to have a child.”

“Yes.”

He kissed my forehead with reverent tenderness. Then my cheeks. Then my lips.

“I love you,” he said. “Always. Every day for the rest of my life.”

I rested my head against his, feeling the steady beat of his heart beneath my cheek. “And I love you. I loved you even when I was too afraid to admit it.”

The fire crackled softly beside us. Outside, the gardens stretched beneath golden sunlight, and I thought of the girl I had once been. The girl who had stood at an altar, ready to surrender her future to duty and expectation. The girl who had almost accepted a life without love because she thought she had no other choice.

But she had not surrendered. She had not settled for enough.

She had chosen something far braver.

She had chosen happiness.

And sometimes, that choice changed everything.

THE END