“Have to keep you on your toes, now that you are to be myobedientwife,” he’d teased. “No more midnight escapades attempting to lure dangerous criminals.” His voice had lowered a notch. “Unless, of course it is in bed.”
Which would explain why her color had been unnaturally high as they entered Archer’s splendid ducal coach, enough to provoke a barrage of questions from her mama asking whether she was about to have a spell.
That night Archer had made love to her with a new exquisite tenderness. Only when he had brought her to the heights of pleasure for a third time had he allowed himself release. He had worshipped her with his body, letting her know then and forever that she would always—and only—be his. Brynn trembled at the memory, her body melting as it did when thoughts of him invaded her mind.
Their days were shared with laughter and intelligent, provoking debates, and their nights with passionate lovemaking. He showed her all the ways a man could please a woman and had taken exceptional satisfaction, she was certain, in showing her all the ways a woman could please a man. Some nights he made love to her swiftly and others he took his time, drawing out each blissful second.
A faint blush colored her cheeks as she recalled earlier that morning when she had woken him from slumber, rolling astride him and coaxing his body to life. He loved it when she took charge, and she enjoyed watching him lose himself beneath her. It was a part of him only she would ever know. That underneath his self-possessed and standoffish exterior, there lay a passionate and deeply caring man. When Archer was with her, he had no need for masks or pretenses. He washim. And she loved him with an intensity that she could hardly put into words. She couldn’t seem to get enough of him, nor he of her.
Which would explain why her monthly flux was late.
Brynn wrapped her hands around her middle and smiled again. Her fingers spread across the flat expanse of her stomach at the thought of the tiny life blooming there. She and Archer had not yet discussed children, though she wanted them desperately. A part of her worried that his own difficult upbringing and his father’s innumerable by-blows would have made him resistant to the idea. She didn’t want to ask because, in truth, she feared the answer.
She waved as Lord Thorndale’s coach ambled past, and then caught the eye of her husband. He strode in her direction, his long legs crossing the distance in a few swift strides. He looked tantalizing in his trousers and linen shirt, his fingers undoing the topmost buttons of his collar now that company had departed. He caught her to him and took her lips in a breathless kiss.
“My lord,” she gasped against them even as her body responded the way it always did when he touched her. “The servants!”
“Have been well paid to turn a blind eye to my wife’s public displays of wantonness.”
“You shameless rogue!” she said, blushing, though relishing the feel of his strong arms about her. “I do no such thing.”
He nuzzled her ear, breathing in the scent of her. “Then, my dear duchess, you should stop looking so desirable. The sight of you can incite a man to madness.” He glanced up at the clear blue sky and smiled down at her before placing a chaste kiss to her cheek, one that was completely undermined by the leering look in his eye. “Do you fancy a ride before dinner?”
“Not today.”
“Is something amiss?” he asked with a frown. “You never say no to taking Apollo out. Is it your health?”
He had taken up Gray’s vexing habit of worrying over her breathing once she’d moved to Worthington Abbey, though she found she could better endure it coming from Archer. She didn’t enjoy that he worried, but the crease between his eyes whenever he did felt like a small reminder of how much she meant to him. Brynn was quite certain she’d never tire of seeing or hearing how much he loved her.
“No, everything is fine. I…feel like a stroll instead. Walk with me?”
With a concerned look, Archer did as she asked. They ambled through the gardens, the light scent of the flowers rising with the afternoon breeze. He stopped her at a bench out of sight of the house. “Something is in the wind. What is it? Was it the meeting this morning? I am sorry it went so long, but the plans for the hospitals are taking longer than we expected—”
“No, it’s not that,” she said, drawing him down to sit on the bench with her. She drew a deep calming breath, fighting the rapid cadence of her heart. “I held a baby some days ago at the orphanage, and… I was wondering…if you…wanted children,” she finished lamely. A shadow flickered over his eyes as he regarded her in somber silence. “Someday, I mean,” she added when his attention lowered to her hand, still splayed across her middle.
“Is there something you wish to tell me?” he asked, gently nudging her chin up to face him.
“I am…past my time.”
“You are with child.” She nodded, even though his soft words hadn’t been a question. Brynn nearly melted at the tender, awestruck look in his eyes. “Mychild,” he whispered in reverent wonder. She heard the joy in his hushed tone, saw the cresting light of another dawn in his eyes as they gazed at her stomach again. In that moment, all of Brynn’s fears drained away.
“If it’s a boy,” she said teary-eyed and smiling, “we’ll have to make sure he doesn’t follow in his marauding father’s footsteps.”
Archer took her into his arms, his fingers intertwining with hers lying against her stomach. “But if it’s a girl, I fear we will have much more to worry about, especially if she is anything like her mother.”
“And how is that?” Brynn asked.
“To be beautiful, fearless, and incomparable is to invite great distress upon her father. He will surely have to lock her in a tower and post three guards at all times.”
Her breath hitched at the love on his face, and she slid a palm up to his cheek. “And what if she wears her brother’s breeches and rides without a saddle and says what she thinks?”
“Then I shall count myself the luckiest father in the world.”
Brynn opened her mouth to retort, but her husband leaned down and smothered her words with his lips. And then she forgot everything but him.
