“And here we are, Your Grace. Your humble quarters.”
She approached the doorway carefully, glancing inside to see a luxurious bedroom that was beyond anything she had ever stayed in. Well kept. A fire was already lit in the hearth. And a large four-poster bed that looked a little too inviting.
“Hmm…” She nodded. “This will do nicely.”
He laughed. “I am glad it meets your standards.”
“Where is your room?” she asked, her eyes then widening when she realized how that sounds. “I did not mean –”
“Your Grace!” he gasped and leaned back. “I do not know what you think to do with this information, but I must warn you, I am a married man.”
She looked at him flatly. “I was merely asking, in case I am taken with the urge to smother you with a pillow tonight.”
“As you say,” he laughed. “I am one door down…” He leaned back and pointed toward another door down the hall. “So, if you need anything…” He winked. “Do not hesitate.”
A silence then took them. Margot lingered by the doorway. The duke, standing back a few paces, grinning wickedly as he watched her, and how awkwardly she was behaving. It was their wedding night, was this a regular marriage…but it is not that. He has said as much, and I should be glad for it. I am!
And still, Margot felt her heart beating inside her chest. She felt the pull of expectation as she remembered what had happened only a few moments ago. Oh, he said he only wished for a marriage of convenience, but she knew it would take little effort to sway him. But did she want to? On the surface, she did not. Deep down… There was a tingling in her loins she could not ignore, and where she hated to think about what that meant, she was not such a fool to ignore it entirely.
“If there is nothing else…” he began.
“There is not!” she said a little too loudly. A deep breath, and she straightened. “Thank you, Your Grace. That will be all.”
He smirked as he studied her. His blue eyes looked her over. He licked his lips, and she caught her breath, wanting him to leave her… hoping that he would stay. “Good night,” he said finally. “And if you need anything at all…” He walked backwards, winking before turning. “You know where to find me.”
She stayed where she was, watching him until he stepped into his room. The door closed, she heard it lock, and she breathed out as if it was the first breath taken in hours.
That was entirely too close!Her body was shaking as she rushed into her room and closed the door behind her. And her mind raced with confusion, not that there was anything to be confused by. She knew well enough why her body was acting this way. She simply did not want to admit it to herself yet.I do not like my husband. I should not want him! But then why does he do this to me? And why can I not control it?
Margot decided then that it was simply the circumstance that was doing it. Being a new bride, finding herself in a new home. What she needed was a good night of rest and to reset herself. Alas, as she looked about the room, readying to go to sleep, she realized something that saw her stomach drop and a lump appear in her throat.
Her clothes were still packed in the carriage. The room she was in was bare. This meant that she had no clothes to sleep in. Which meant…should I enquire as to where my clothes are? Or should I leave it for tomorrow?To seek the duke out once more or leave it be? A simple enough equation, but possibly the hardest decision she’d ever had to make.
Eight
That was too close!
As Sebastian stormed back and forth across his room, throwing off his jacket, kicking away his boots, and untucking his shirt, he ran over in his mind all that had just happened, deciding quickly that he’d made a damn fool of himself. Worse than that, he’d very nearly done something that he promised himself he would not.
I had not meant to!He cursed himself as he continued to pace, his body flushed with warmth, his limbs shaking at the memories of what he had nearly done.It was a knee-jerk reaction. Old habits, found in comfort. Finding myself face to face with a pretty woman, I have fallen back into old rhythms that were familiar and easy. A mode of behavior that I cannot allow to happen again!
Sebastian had known this marriage would be challenging the second he’d seen his wife appear at the end of the aisle. She wasdressed in a soft yellow gown that was modest but tight enough that it presented her curves in a way that was hard to ignore. Her golden-brown hair had caught the light, making her glow. Her full lips, so kissable, her tight waist so grabbable. He had gaped at first, then forced himself to look ahead and ignore her. And all the while, his heart had raced.
And when it came time to kiss her… the self-control taken to simply squeeze her hands and smile. I should be lauded for the effort!
It was little wonder that once he found himself alone with his wife, Sebastian had begun to act in ways that he was accustomed to. It was all he’d ever been good at. Using humor and jest to lure women to his side, coaxing them into dropping their guard, pushing them away as he pulled them close.And how close she had been…
He was being honest with Margot when he told her he wished only for a marriage of convenience. Sebastian had never wished to marry because, in his mind, love was a lie, a trick, a tale told to the foolish and the weak because they had nothing else to live for. He did not want it. And to see what it had done to his friends – Lord Ravencourt, being the perfect example. No… love was not his game. Nor would it ever be.
It made sense then that he needed this marriage to be a stale thing. And where he had always known that one day he would wed, he had planned on it being to a woman he had zero attraction to, thus avoiding any chance that he might one day succumb to her as he feared.
Sebastian walked to the end of his bed and sat on it, his elbows going to his knees, his head going to his hands. His body was still shaking, and he took a series of deep breaths to cool himself.I need to do better. No more flirting. No more coy remarks and suggestive comments. From now on, I will treat her as a friend… a companion… a tavern wench with missing teeth and boils on her nose.
It would be hard to do. Dammit, it would go against everything Sebastian knew about himself. But he would do it! Really, he had no choice. It was that or… or the worst might happen.
He hoped to have a night to prepare, certain he would not see or hear from his wife until the morrow. Alas, no sooner had he come to this decision than there was a knock at the door.
Sebastian stiffened when he heard it.
