He had too much pride for that, but he also loved Nell far too much for that. He wanted, more than anything, her happiness. If it was not with him, the choice would be hers and hers alone. He was doing everything in his power to change her mind.
“That is…gentlemanly of you,” she said haltingly.
He wished he could read her countenance. Her face, ordinarily so expressive and easy for him to translate, was carefully blank.
“You sound surprised,” he observed, his tone as grim and bleak as he felt within. “I have told you before, I am not the beast you think me, Nellie. I love you. I loved you three years ago, and I love you today. That has not changed, nor will it ever. But I will not hold you to this marriage if you cannot love me back.”
“I do not know if I can, Jack.”
Her soft confession took him aback. It was a greater concession than he had expected from her, given the manner in which she continued to push him away.
“Your uncertainty gives me hope.” He could not resist touching her, reaching out to caress her silken cheek before trailing his touch down to settle over her wildly beating heart. “Perhaps you may find room here for me yet.”
Her lips pursed, and then she rolled away from him, presenting him with her back. “You should go, Jack. I suspect we are quite tardy for breakfast by now, and I will be needing to perform some ablutions and ring for my lady’s maid.”
She was dismissing him.
He stared in disbelief as she rose, presenting him with a mouthwatering view of her curved derriere. Her long, golden curls swung as her hips swayed. As irritated as he was with her for her subsequent withdrawal once more, he could not help but to admire her as she bent to retrieve something from the floor.
“Let me stay,” he said. “Let me at least tend to you.”
He felt suddenly guilty for his display of possession. What had she reduced him to? Was he a barbarian?
Clearly, the answer to that question was a resoundingyes, because the thought of his seed, warm and sticky between her thighs—the knowledge she must feel him there still—pleased him. It also made his cock twitch back to life.
She rose and turned, tossing a pile of garments at him. Trousers, shirt, waistcoat, smalls, etcetera. It landed on his erection in rather symbolic fashion.
“I have told you many times, Jack, I will take care of myself,” she said, her voice tart. “Now please, leave me so I can ready myself for the day.”
“Fair enough,” he grumbled, feeling as if he had just been caught cuckolding another man’s wife and he must now flee before the irate fellow caught him. But that was the devil of it, was it not? She was still his own bloody wife. “No more megrims, however. No more excuses. I mean to spend the next ten days wooing the hell out of you, woman.”
With that warning, he slid from her bed, clutching his discarded clothes.
Chapter Eighteen
WHENJACK WASat his charming best, the effect was devastating.
And in the wake of their fervent lovemaking two days ago, he had put his most charming self to shame. He teased her until he made her laugh in spite of herself. He sang to her while she played the piano. He read her poetry in the library. He accompanied her for walks in the garden and picked her flowers.
Just yesterday morning, there had been a coronet of forget-me-nots awaiting her beside her plate when she descended to breakfast.
“To replace the one I inadvertently ruined,” he explained, giving her that half grin, which never failed to make her melt inside.
What had she done? She had carefully carried the coronet to her chamber at the conclusion of breakfast, and she had laid it out on her writing desk where it could dry. Because she wanted to preserve it. Because she was clearly a candidate for the lunatic asylum.
But she was not alone.
The servants were all in excellent spirits. Even Reeves, who had always, she secretly believed, disapproved of her, hadsmiledat her recently. On no less than two occasions. The housekeeper, Mrs. Barnes, could not seem to stop humming. Suddenly, Cook was preparing all her favorite desserts daily. Even the footmen and chamber maids seemed happier. Jack had raised everyone’s annual wages, she later discovered.
Then, there were the ducks, those little quacking traitors.
They had taken to him. One so much that it followed him about. The duck was a female,naturally.
Which was why it was no surprise when she set out at dawn for her customary feeding of the ducks and found Jack and that dratted duck of his already awaiting her on the gravel path.
He had his own basket of corn hanging from his arm, and he was dressed once more in summery linens that showed off his broad shoulders and long legs. The duck stood at his feet as if it were where she belonged, and offered Nell an admonishing quack when she rounded the bend, as if to sayyou are late.
She had slept later than was customary this morning, it was true. But his onslaught was wearing her down in more ways than one.
