Her respiratory rate accelerated as unbidden moisture gathered along her lower lashes before escaping in glistening rivulets down the planes of her cheeks. ? f?ndnovel.net
The dam of composure she had maintained throughout the endless evening suddenly fractured, releasing a torrent of suppressed emotion. “Must you persist in this reckless disregard for your well-being?” she demanded, her voice breaking beneath the weight of her concern.
“Hadley! Please forgive me— the responsibility lies entirely with me!” Eric exclaimed, contrition saturating every syllable.
Galvanized into action, Eric’s arm encircled her shoulders, drawing her against his chest while his palm curved protectively around the delicate contours of her skull.
Beneath his ribs, his heart thundered with such ferocity he wondered if she could feel its percussion through his chest wall.
Words tumbled from his lips in halting fragments. “I recognize the impropriety of this confession… but witnessing your tears shed on my behalf… fills me with an inexplicable joy.”
“What?” Bewilderment replaced Hadley’s anger as she struggled to comprehend the bizarre trajectory of his thoughts during such a moment. “Hadley?”
Eric’s palm gently cradled her jaw, tilting her face upward until her tear-glazed eyes met his—a peculiar mixture of anticipation and trepidation swirling in their depths.
“Perhaps your aversion isn’t as profound as you’ve convinced yourself. Perhaps, beneath layers of resistance, genuine concern for my well-being exists within you, doesn’t it?”
Hadley found herself trapped in the intensity of his searching gaze, her cognitive processes momentarily suspended. “You remain Joy’s father, regardless of other circumstances,” she murmured, the words barely audible.
Despite falling short of his unspoken desires, her acknowledgment nevertheless kindled a spreading warmth throughout Eric’s chest.
With exquisite tenderness, his fingertips traced the dampened curve of her cheek, collecting teardrops that—no matter her rationalization—had fallen exclusively for him.
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“Dispel your anxieties, Hadley. For both you and Joy, I pledge to safeguard my existence and attend to my health with utmost vigilance.”
“Your promise is now witnessed!” Hadley’s voice constricted around the words, her emotional equilibrium precarious at best. “Inscribe it upon your consciousness! Not for my sake, but for Joy’s… this vow must remain inviolate! Should you…”
Had death claimed him, forgiveness would have remained forever beyond her capacity to grant.
Yet the verbalization of this truth withered on her tongue, as though giving voice to such thoughts might summon the very fate she dreaded. The sentence required no completion; Eric comprehended its unspoken conclusion perfectly. Hadley possessed a tenderness of spirit that her fierce exterior only partially concealed.
Eric bent his head until his cheek brushed against her hair, his arms tightening protectively around the precious burden they contained. “Banish all concern from your thoughts,” he whispered. “I wouldn’t dream of such transgression… I wouldn’t dare risk losing this.”
Phillips entered with a bodyguard and saw Eric and Hadley embracing. He and the guard quickly averted their eyes.
They exchanged a glance, nodded in unspoken agreement, and started to leave.
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