Chapter 199

Chapter 199:

🍙 🍙 🍙 🍙 🍙

His jaw tightened, each word clipped and cold. “I’ve never even had a wife before you. You’re the one with a divorce in your past. You don’t get to look down on me.”

Cathryn bit down hard, swallowing the pain burning in her chest. She couldn’t let herself falter now. She didn’t look down on him—she felt she was marked by disgrace, unworthy of him.

More than that, she believed she had dragged him down. He had nearly lost his life because of her. He’d been pulled headlong into her mess with the Moores and the Watsons. He was just an illegitimate son; he didn’t have the strength to fight both families for her sake.

With a trembling hand, Cathryn pushed him away and yanked the blanket up over her shoulders. “I’m exhausted. Please just leave.”

Andrew stood motionless, watching the fragile outline curled beneath the covers, a thousand thoughts flickering in his eyes. No other woman had ever meant this much to him. He wanted more than a marriage bound by a one-year agreement—he wanted a life with her at his side forever, even in death.