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“With his money and his affection.”

“Eat,” his wife said, holding his marmalade toast to his mouth. Then she leaned in and dropped a sticky kiss on his lips. “Why wouldn’t I have liked him?”

“He would have been so rude to you.”

Her eyelashes flickered. “Because I can’t read?”

“He wouldn’t have needed that excuse. He hated women in general, but particularly pretty ones who might distract a man from his purpose.” Dominic heard his father’s harsh voice in his ear, his raucous laugh. “Ladies with opinions and charm.” Even thinking of his father’s probable reaction to his marriage made his fists curl.

Torie was silent for a moment.

“Opinions and charm,” she said, finally. “Is that why you chose Leonora? She does make a point of presenting herself as a lady without opinions. Though I think she has charm.”

“Not like yours,” Dominic replied. “Your allure is natural, whereas your sister’s every word is deliberate. Leonora’s disinclination to speak more than a few words an evening cannot be described as charming.”

He couldn’t abide falsehoods, and the way Torie’s sister presented herself to the world was manifestly false. His wife, on the other hand, was open with everyone, no matter how much they disparaged her.

“Since I can’t read, I would presumably confirm your father’s worst ideas about my sex,” Torie said, her train of thought accidentally following his. “Misogynists generally celebrate my addled brain.”

“You don’t have an addled brain!” Dominic said. “I don’t know why you can’t read, but it’s not a matter of that.”

Torie shrugged. “I’m talking about perception. Would the late viscount have believed that an illiterate wife posed no threat to your equanimity? Was that one reason why you chose to marry me after my sister?” She eyed him, smiling over her toast. “I’m not saying that to pick a fight. I do know that whatever rational reason you had to marry me other than the twins was swamped by my enchanting—ahem—bosom.”

Dominic snorted. “The late viscount would have loathed you—which, by the way, I consider a badge of honor. He would have had an apoplexy if he could see me throw myself in a carriage to come home to you, the fact we sleep together for pleasure rather than creating an heir.”

“One of my favorite parts of our marriage,” Torie said.

The grin on her lips sent a most peculiar lurch through him, as if the world was shifting under his feet. His father’s caustic opinions had continued to burn long after his death, but now he felt an odd lightness.

As if this bedchamber, this woman, might dispel the memory of his father’s edicts.

“The gown you were wearing yesterday would have brought on another fit, since he abhorred spending money,” Dominic said, deciding to share all his father’s worst traits. “He would have concluded that you were a spendthrift, who would obviously be unfaithful, which meant you would ruin my life.”

Torie frowned. “I begin to understand Lady Dorney.”

“We all seek revenge in our own ways,” Dominic said, putting his empty plate to the side. “My sister chose to flaunt all his worst opinions of women. She was very proud of the fact that he died of a heart attack the morning after she danced three times at a ball with the married host and then disappeared with him for a considerable time.”

“My goodness,” Torie exclaimed.

“He always told me that my temper was our family legacy, though he certainly tried to beat it out of me.”

“Oh, Dom.” She put her teacup down with a clatter and snuggled herself against his side, wrapping an arm across his chest. “I wish I could have protected you.”

“I didn’t mean to sound so dramatic,” Dominic said, startled. “True, my father firmly believed the adage ‘spare the rod and spoil the child,’ but I was never badly injured.’” He kissed her head. “And I did eventually learn to control my tantrums.”

“Yet you lose your temper regularly in the House of Lords.”

“I need to catch their attention.”

She raised her head and kissed his chin. “If we’re trading in adages, I’d suggest that ‘catching more flies with honey’ has some truth.”

Dominic had heard as much before, but she wasn’t at Lords, facing all those idiots and their waffling opinions.

Torie sat up and swung a leg over his body, sitting down. These days he woke with one part of his body standing ready, waiting for the moment when his wife would finish her tea, and he could seduce her. His tool thumped enthusiastically underneath her soft body.

“Mmmm,” Torie said, wiggling.

He swallowed hard.