“Love? Captain.” The duke clucked his tongue. “Mia is nowhere close to settling down and when she does, it won’t be with an American.”
He gritted his teeth, but the duke wasn’t done.
“A Yankee who was raised in squalor on a pig farm, changed his name from shame of his own family, and has made his way in life by becoming the best at fighting and killing.”
Zeke was so rigid his entire body hurt. He felt vulnerable and like he was standing here naked—no, tied to the whipping post and naked. He was a powerless child. “You dug into my past.”
“Of course I did.”
But he wasn’t powerless. Not now. And even as a child, he’d learned to grow stronger and stronger. He tilted his chin, looking down on the duke. “Mia doesn’t care about any of that.”
“She might not now, but soon she’ll see the difference in your stations in life. You can’t run from who you are, Captain. And you come from nowhere. I give you full marks for your service, expertise, bravery, and execution in the military, but my girl is an innocent, flighty angel, and she would never fit with a trained killer who wouldn’t know how to treat a lady because of his abusive childhood or his time spent learning to inflict pain and death on others.” The duke looked into Zeke’s eyes and saw every one of Zeke’s faults and insecurities. “Answer me this, Captain … do you think you are worthy of Mia?”
Zeke’s heart hammered against his chest. His body was colder than if he’d jumped in the Deltas’ lake. He felt disjointed as if he was a child and his dad had squeezed his chest for so long he was almost passing out from the pain and lack of oxygen.
How could he lie to her father and claim he thought he was worthy of her? He knew he wasn’t. They both knew he wasn’t.
For the first time, he broke eye contact. He looked at the duke’s polished shoes on the polished wood floor and he heard himself admit, “No.”
The duke didn’t laugh or mock him. He simply said, “Do what’s right for Mia. That’s all I ask.”
Zeke lifted his gaze again. He couldn’t claim he was worthy of her. He could never claim that.
The duke actually looked like he felt pity for him. Zeke hated pity. But he didn’t react. His heart was breaking inside. Was he giving Mia up? Because her dad had seen his past and his faults and Zeke had to admit he wasn’t worthy of her?
Could he be the bigger man and give up the woman he loved? Let her go on to find a man who was worthy of her? Was there a man worthy of Mia? Not in his eyes.
“Goodnight,” the duke said softly. He started to shut the door.
Zeke prayed for strength. He drew from all those times he’d been strong against his parents, even if it was only not crying out, or not saying or doing exactly what they wanted. He’d learned strength and he’d improved his strength and right now his strength was trusting in Mia and her love. He could see her brown-sugar eyes sparkling at him, feel her hands on him, remember the rightness of her in his arms, but most importantly the genuine love she had for him.
Was he worthy of her?
Heck no.
Would he spend his life loving her and trying to be worthy of her?
Definitely.
And then he slammed his hand against the door. It popped out of the duke’s hands and back open.
The duke shot him a narrow glare. “Don’t make this harder than it is, Captain.”
“Sir. You asked if I was worthy of Mia. I’m not, but honestly, can you answer a question for me?”
The duke rolled his eyes and looked at his watch, obviously done with this conversation. “What is that?”
“Do you know of any man worthy of Mia?”
The duke focused on him. He studied him for a long moment, then finally looked past him to the fountain display and said quietly, “No, I don’t.”
Zeke pulled in a breath and prayed for God to approve of him and Mia. For some reason, it seemed her dad had to approve of him too. That was terrifying, because he obviously didn’t. Zeke’s own father had never approved of him. Why did he think he could convince Mia’s billionaire duke father to look past all his faults and his awful past and think he was worthy of his daughter?
“Sir. I don’t know that I’ll ever be worthy of Mia, though she claims I am. She sees past my faults and she loves me with a pure, Christlike love that I’ve never seen or felt in my life.”
The duke blinked, and at last Zeke had his attention.
“I love her with every fiber of my being.” It was a little overdone and dramatic, especially for Zeke, but it was true. “And I will spend the rest of my life trying to be worthy of Mia, treating her like the angel she is, and loving her as much as she loves me. I don’t need your permission to date your daughter, sir, but I don’t want you as an enemy. I pray you’ll understand how deeply I love her and how deeply I feel her love returned.” He looked into the duke’s eyes and felt compelled to ask a nervy question. “Sir, has anyone loved you that deeply?”