“If not for them,” Wolfe whispered back just as quietly, “I feel certain the vicar would still be praying over us even though he promised anabbreviatedservice.”
Grace held her breath to keep from giggling as they stepped into the library and approached the desk bearing the oversized parish register book. She touched the cross at her throat and sent up a silent prayer of thanks. She had indeed found the perfect man to marry.
Chapter Sixteen
Braemer, Wolfe’s valet,paused in collecting his master’s things and glanced at the door connecting the duke’s bedchamber and suite of private rooms to the duchess’s chambers. “Should I send the new housekeeper to Her Grace to inquire if anything is amiss? That last thud seemed quite loud.”
“No, Braemer. I am sure everything is fine.” Wolfe resettled his stance, trying not to fidget as the valet assisted him in changing into his usual state of undress when lounging: a worn pair of buckskins and a shirt open at the throat. He never wore a banyan, considering them too pretentious. Gads alive, he and his new wife had just arrived home for the first time in their wedded bliss, and the servants behaved as if it were just another ordinary day. He shooed the man away. “That will do, thank you.”
“Yes, Your Grace.” The man tipped a formal nod, gathered Wolfe’s discarded clothing, and disappeared from the room with the silence of a shadow.
“At last.” Wolfe went to the connecting door and knocked.
A deafening chorus of barks and howls filled the air as Grace swung it open and shyly waved him in to her side of their private rooms. “Please forgive me. Pete, Moses, and Ferdinand aren’t quite settled yet, and I didn’t have the heart to put them out in the stable. As you can see, Gastric has made himself quite at home. I’ve left the hallway door open a little so they can go exploring if they get too fidgety. They’ve already introducedthemselves to the kitchen and found their way to Connor and Sissy’s rooms.”
All four dogs were on the bed, with Gastric commandeering the choicest spot on the pillows against the upholstered headboard.
Wolfe made a show of stroking his chin as he meandered back and forth in front of the four-poster bed with its ivory cloth hangings neatly tied back with gold cording. “There appears to be no room in your bed for you, my lady.” Which was quite perfect, in his opinion, since she belonged in his.
She ducked her head, but not before he noted the lovely, rosy blush highlighting her cheeks. “I’m sure I could wiggle in among them. They often slept with me back home.”
“This is your home now, my love,” he said ever so softly while drawing her into his arms.
She slid her hands up his chest and tenderly tapped his chin with the tip of her finger. “Youare my home, Wolfe. Wherever you are, that is where I shall be.”
He cupped her face and sampled the sweetness of her mouth. “My wife—my home.”
A soft whine came from the bed, making Grace gently pull away and turn to the dogs. “I will be in the next room. Be good lads and behave.” She picked up an armload of what appeared to be old clothes and placed them on the bed. “Here you are. Familiar smells, see? All is well.”
The dogs nosed through the garments, each of them circling through them three times before settling down and seeming to relax.
She caught hold of Wolfe’s hand, led him back into his bedchamber, and closed the door behind them. “Thank you for your patience. I’d be so uneasy if they weren’t settled in.” She twitched a cringing shrug. “Please don’t be jealous. This”—shemade a sweeping gesture that encompassed the room—“all this takes some getting used to for them…and me.”
He went to her, determined to put her at ease. “I will not lie and say I’m not jealous.” Ever so gently, he slid his fingers along her jawline, then up into her hair, smiling as he loosened and flicked away the hairpins holding her upswept curls in place. Her tresses fell down her back in a golden waterfall. “Your caring when it comes to your animals and for my brother and sister is one of the many things that warmed my cold, cynical heart and brought it to life once more. I never thought myself capable of love—until you captured me and pulled the blinders from my heart and mind.” He needed her to know how much he adored her. Not just for her beauty. Or her wit. But for her unique, unconventional spirit that made her so wonderfully her.
“I love you, Gracie,” he whispered, then sealed the declaration with a more passionate kiss.
She molded herself against him, holding him as if determined to never let him go. When he lifted his head, she slowed him with a gentle touch of his cheek. “Nellie said she would help me into my fresh chemise. All I need do is call her to aid me.”
“I am unwilling to let you go even for that short amount of time.” He ran a fingertip along the neckline of her dress, smiling as she shivered. “I propose we be as unconventional as ever. Are you willing?”
With a coy tip of her head, she fiddled with the open folds of his collar, smoothing them as if they needed ironing. “I agree to nothing, Your Grace, until I know the terms in full.”
“Your rooms,” he said while brushing kisses from her temple to her earlobe, “are for your dressing, whatever necessary personal time you desire, and, of course, your beloved animals. But I shall see to your undressing.” He ran the tip of his tongue along the salty sweetness of her throat. “And the bed in thisroom, our bed, will be shared every night. I want to sleep with you draped across me after we’ve loved ourselves into oblivion, then wake with you in my arms every morning so we may love each other even more.”
Gracing him with a suitably impressed look, she nodded. “Those terms sound most acceptable. Therefore, I shall agree to them fully. The only time my parents didn’t share their bed was when Mama was giving birth—and at the end, when she was ill.” She untucked his shirt and slid her hands underneath it. “Oh my, you are so…”
He waited for her to finish. When she didn’t, he laughed. “I am so…what?”
“Your body ripples with hardened muscle, yet your skin is smooth and supple like velvet.” She wet her lips, bringing him to an almost painful hardness. “You’re as powerful and sleek as a prize stallion.”
Ever so gently, he swept her hair out of the way and rained kisses along her neck, then down across her shoulder, baring it even more with a tug on her dress as he turned her and deftly unfastened the buttons in the back. “You took my breath away when you joined me in the garden for our vows.”
“You did the same for me,” she said as her gown fell into a puddle around her feet. “In fact, you made it impossible for me to move, I was so taken by you.”
Still nibbling along her shoulder, he untied her stays and allowed them to join the dress on the floor. “I must say, you did give my poor old heart a bit of yank when you halted. I thought surely you were about to flee.”
She turned in his arms and gathered his shirt up to his shoulders. “Off with this, Your Grace, and tell me—if I ran, would you catch me?”
