Page 108 of Kathryn

Kathryn opened her mouth, hesitated, and then smiled and stood. “Well, I should go so you can return to your work.”

Gerrit tossed down his napkin. “I will ride back with you.”

“You do not need to do that. You said I was safe as long as I stayed on the estate.”

“You are safe, but I want to ride back with you,” he said, realizing as he said it that it was true. For some reason, he was not yet ready to end this pleasurable interlude.

Gerrit felt a pang at the way her face lit up; it took such a small thing—his company—to make her happy and yet he had brought her so little joy during their brief marriage.

He lifted her onto her mount, and they rode toward Briarly, Kathryn chattering about the dig, her excitement about tomorrow—her first day—causing a cascade of emotions that left Gerrit both terrified and hopeful. Terrified because he could not recall ever wanting to please a person this much, and he had very little idea how to do that.

And hopeful at the thought of a future that did not contain a bloodless marriage of convenience, but something fulfilling and meaningful.

The words she’d murmured two nights before in the library—I’m happy now—had come back to him several times over the intervening hours.

If Gerrit had made her happy once, surely he could do so again?

***

Gerrit stared at the blank wall opposite his bed, his thoughts in an unaccustomed jumble. Actually, the jumbled feeling was not so unaccustomed since his marriage.

Half his mind was on the delightful afternoon he had spent with Kathryn at the dig and the other half was still back in his wife’s bedchamber half an hour ago where he had, in a perfunctory fashion, carried out his nightly duty.

After their enjoyable day Gerrit had been tempted to disregard her demand for workmanlike coupling, but there had been nothing in her demeanor to suggest that she had changed her mind about his visits to her bed. She was an intelligent woman; if she had changed her mind, she would tell him.

He told himself that just because she had visited the dig today did not mean she wanted more from him. Fossils were fascinating; he could understand why she was interested in them. Gerrit, however, was the Duke of Dullness. He had never denied the validity of that nickname as little as he had liked it. She might have evinced an interest in fossils, but that did not mean she wanted more of him. After Christina, there was nothing more repulsive to him than the thought of foisting his company on another person.

Kathryn had asked for so little in their marriage that Gerrit could not bring himself to ignore her one request, no matter how much he yearned to return to the way things had been at the beginning of their marriage.

When he’d gone to her tonight, she had not said a word to him. Not when he’d been in her bed or when he’d slipped on his robe, thanked her, and left.

Opening the connecting door and leaving her room had been almost painful, which was odd because he had always left afterward, even when their couplings had been passionate and enjoyable.

The urge to share her bed grew stronger every night he went to her, regardless of how little pleasure their intercourse now brought him. For a moment earlier tonight Gerrit had wondered what Kathryn would do if he simply crawled back under the covers beside her and went to sleep. The yearning had been so powerful that it had actually frightened him.

Thankfully, he’d gained control of himself and suppressed the impulse, which would have been a horrific invasion of her privacy.

Gerrit had accidentally fallen asleep in her bed one night early in their marriage and had been ashamed by his lapse afterward, vowing never to encroach on her in such a way again.

It bothered him that he would even want to sleep with her. He’d never wanted such a thing before. What was happening to—

“Gerrit?”

He jolted and turned to find his wife lurking in the shadows near the connecting door. “Is something amiss, Kathryn?” He began to push back the blankets.

“No, nothing is wrong.” She hurried toward him, her green silk dressing gown fluttering around her. “Please, do not get up.” She swallowed, fidgeted, and then said, “May I get in with you?”

“In?” he repeated stupidly.

“In your bed.” Uncertainty began to rearrange her features.

Gerrit shifted over and wordlessly pulled back the bedding, his heart squeezing in his chest when a smile banished her uncertainty and she hurriedly mounted the steps and crawled in beside him.

“Mmm, nice and warm.” She scooted so close their hips and shoulders touched.

Thankfully, Gerrit had already steeled himself for her touch so he didn’t stiffen and jerk away, which even he knew would have been bad.

Instead, he steeled himself yet again and, as if in a trance, laid his arm around her shoulders, earning a satisfied humming sound as she wiggled closer.