He mustered a teasing smile, but she didn’t return it. Instead, her frown deepened, as if he’d said everything in a foreign language.
“Are you aware that you are a complete idiot?” she asked bluntly. “Do you realize that this should have beenmydecision, and not yours?”
A laugh bubbled up the back of his throat, and he tipped his head in a small nod. “I know I’m a fool, love, but I hope to remedy that.” He brought her hand to his face, brushing his thumb over her cheek. “Ye see, I’ve come to realize that I can’t keep doing it anymore. I don’t want to push ye away anymore; I want ye as close as I can get ye.”
“Isthisclose enough?” she said, her tone a little softer.
He dipped his head until his brow rested against hers. “Not quite. Love, I know I don’t deserve ye, but I want ye, more than ye could possibly know.” He smiled. “But, be warned, I’ll become very selfish if ye let me love ye, and ye love me in return. I’ll want ye at me side, in me bedchambers, in me arms, as often as I can. And Idefinitelywon’t want to share ye with society and all their dull events.”
She smoothed her palms up his chest and over his shoulders, rising up on tiptoe as her arms looped around his neck. “Do not tell me that love will make a monster out of you?”
“Not a monster,” he murmured. “A beast, perhaps.”
“Oh, then, perhaps we should not pursue this,” she said, a glimmer of mischief in those beautiful hazel eyes, her voice warm and sultry. “I should hate to be accused of not beingable to tame a Scotsman, making him suitable for stuffy English society.”
He tilted her chin up. “I’ll never be tame as long as ye’re around, love. I can’t help it; ye bring the wild out of me. If that means I’ll never be a refined English duke, that’s a burden I’m willing to bear.”
She chuckled quietly, the music of it soothing his heart, letting him hope that maybe, just maybe, they would be all right.
CHAPTER 34
Anoise disturbed their quiet moment, Jeremy’s attention briefly flitting to the stairwell. Outside, he heard the shouts of constables and the flustered explanation of the driver. The jingle of keys made Jeremy momentarily uneasy, fearing that Mr. Miller might flee as soon as the door was opened, but the girlish scream of indignation, a few moments later, soon quietened his fears again.
“You can’t do this to me!” he wailed. “I am innocent!”
“His Grace wants this man locked up for poisoning him,” Katherine’s voice interjected, shaky but firm. “You should take him away at once.”
“I should have strangled you in your cot when we were children!” Paul snarled in reply, his shouts soon muffled… and then gone entirely, as the constables took charge of him.
“WhereisHis Grace?” a constable’s low voice asked.
“Inside. He is tending to his wife. Please, allow them some time,” Katherine replied.
And in the relative peace that followed, Jeremy smiled and dipped his head, pressing a kiss to his wife’s brow. They didn’t have long, but he would savor every second.
“Do you think Mr. Miller is still a threat?” Anna asked, her hand sliding into Jeremy’s hair.
Jeremy shook his head. “Nay, but never say that name to me again. For what he tried to do, he’s lucky to still be breathing.” He brushed his thumb over her lower lip. “Ye’re safe now. And… Anna, I love ye. I love ye, and I’m sorry I didn’t tell ye sooner. I was a fool, but ye knew that already.”
“Then, you aremyfool. My wild, ill-mannered, unrefined fool,” she told him with a sly smile. “And I love you, too. Iwouldhave told you earlier, but I could not say it until I knew it was returned.”
“It is, love,” he assured. “Never doubt that.”
As she brought her mouth closer to his, she whispered, “I shall try not to, though… I may need some proof now and then.”
“Whenever ye need it,” he agreed with a smirk, as he caught her mouth with his.
She met his kiss with a sigh that shivered through her, pressing her smile to his lips as she drew him closer. They hadn’t been apart for even a day, yet this reunion felt as if they had been separated for weeks, filled with the relief of the trouble they had avoided.
He kissed her slowly and sensually, his tongue gliding along hers as he wondered how he could have been so foolish to almost lose her. From the moment he met her, she had been stuck in his mind, filling his waking and dreaming thoughts. He should have known she would find her way into his heart, where he no longer wanted to be rid of her.
The household will wonder where their duke and duchess have gone, when we don’t emerge from our bedchamber for a week…
His desire flared at the thought of picking up their wedding night where they had been so rudely interrupted by his almost dying.
Caressing his hand over the swell of her backside, he pressed her harder against him, so she could feel the immediate effect she had on him. Her smile against his mouth grew wider, her laugh tickling his lips, before she grabbed his face and kissed him more fiercely.
He walked her backward until her shoulders bumped against the nearest wall, her fingernails raking lightly across his back. His hands traced the contours of her perfect hourglass figure, gripping her hips as he kissed her back with equal fervor, entirely forgetting that they weren’t at Stonebridge.
