Bound to You

Chapter 68: Being Stronger

Thursday Evening

Sierra had her laptop on the diner table, set before her, a cup of cappuccino beside her and she was furiously circling newspaper ads with a red marker. She heard the punching noises upstairs and she paused, wondering when Jace would stop. 

He'd really wear himself out if he continued like that. She had suggested him taking a break but he had only said no. She had asked him if he wanted to eat now and he had just replied later. She failed to understand what was troubling him and she guessed only James might be able to talk to him.

She absently scrolled down the recruitment website, not really paying as much attention as she should. Yesterday evening, she went to have dinner with Arnold, Henry and Florence in a restaurant. She couldn't just end her contract without saying a proper goodbye to them.

Now that she was free, it was silly to keep the fact that she was getting married to James from them...and that she was a duchess. The looks of disbelief... They might have accepted that she really was going to be living with James but the duchess part...she sighed, recalling it all. 

They thought she was joking and just brushed her off to ask more about her and James. She smiled a bit. Eventually they would know she wasn't lying. Her father would make an official international announcement about her wedding on Saturday.

Going back a year from now, she'd never have thought she'd actually be able to fall in love, leave the Isle del Salvadora and live her life as she wanted. 

Her eyes softened as she looked at the scar on her palm. Things turned out unexpectedly. Now that she had all of this, she would never regret running away. She still was a duchess though and right now, she didn't want to think of the responsibilities awaiting her back on the island.

She already dreaded that future day. She couldn't imagine how it would throw her life upside down again. To leave him, again. And maybe...her kids. 

She felt two hands on her shoulders and she jerked, her heart pounding in her chest. James chuckled, feeling half guilty for scaring her, "What are you up to? You sure look busy." He glanced at the circles around ads in the newspaper and the website on the laptop before noticing the worry in her eyes. 

He felt instantly tense, "What's wrong?" 

She didn't want to leave him ever. "Just...job hunting. I didn't hear you coming." Relieved that she was just anxious to find a job, he began kneading her shoulders, recalling the duke's words, "Your father told me that by working you'll be downgrading your rank." 

She held her breath, narrowed her eyes as she looked up at him, not liking what he just said. She knew she wasn't allowed to work but that was on the island. So why? Why the hell was her father imposing rules on her even though he wasn't here?! She thought she was free. 

"And you'll stop me from doing what I love? Just because my father said so? Just because I'm a duchess?" 

He laughed, wondering where she went to fetch that ridiculous idea. "Well...you being the royal duchess of isle del Salvadora says it all. His highness entrusted me with you, you know?" 

She was even more exasperated now as she watched him get his laptop from his bag and a minute later, he was sitting at the same table, swiftly typing on his keyboard. "Come here, my love." 

She saw the amused gleam in his eyes as he glanced at her briefly and returned his attention to his laptop. Was he teasing her?

She pursed her lips, standing up to reach to where he was seated, "I warn you, James. Whether you like it or not, I'm going to continue my teaching career...I studied a lot about that and it's not going to waste."