Page 66 of Sincerely, the Duke
She hadn’t wanted to hurt or anger him or ignore his rights to know everything about her. Most of all, she didn’t want to cause him any more pain. As she looked into his eyes, she wanted him to be happy with her. She wanted him to desire her with the same intensity he had when they kissed before the ball, and with the same desire she wanted him. That might not ever be possible.
“No matter what happens between us, I want you to know how much it meant to me for you, your mother, and friends to stand up for me tonight. I will always cherish that.”
He lowered his head, taking his nose to where it nearly touched hers. “You don’t understand yet, do you?” His gaze held tightly on hers and he kept his voice low. “It doesn’t matter if you were born of one, two, three,or ten. You are mine. That’s not going to change. You are normal. That’s not going to change. You are the most desirable woman I have ever met.” He kissed her softly, briefly, and then added huskily, “And that’s not going to change.”
The warm, moist, and fleeting brush of his lips against hers caused a hiccup of breath to stall in her chest. His words were balm to her soul and thrilling to her body. He would never know how desperately she needed to hear them and feel the touch of his lips against hers. Her heart swelled with tenderness. Without effort or fear, she leaned into him and his arms tightened in response.
A seductive aura swirled about them. “You are still angry with me,” she whispered.
His gaze stayed unwaveringly on hers, his lips close to hers. “I’ll get over it.”
“Tonight?” she asked, knowing she didn’t want to go to bed with animosity between them.
“Probably.”
Hope gathered in her chest once more, making her breath short and deep.
His shoulder twitched. So did his lips as his gaze softly caressed her face.
“Yes. I will,” he offered.
She smiled softly.
“I already have.”
Relief shuddered through her. After their fierce argument, he was wooing her a little at a time with his charm and she was drinking every drop of it.
He let go of her and moved his hands to the upper part of her bare arms, where he caressed and warmed her chilled skin as if he held a luxuriant velvet.
“I like your nightwear. It’s the kind I was expecting you to be in on our wedding night.” He reached aroundto her back and pulled her braid over her shoulders, laying it gently on her chest.
Her breathing increased. “What are you doing?”
“Releasing your hair from the binding.”
Taking his time, he untied the bow and let the ribbon flutter to the floor. The movement of his hands delving into the strands of her plait were slow, deliberate, and utterly intimate. She felt the weight of her hair on her shoulders and down her back as he separated the lengths.
“You are beautiful, Edwina, and I want you. Never let anything I might say make you think otherwise. I am not always careful with my words or how I say them. I learned early in life that a duke is often expected to be eccentric in some way. With me, that sometimes translates into impatience, intolerance, or offense.”
His simple honesty endeared him to her heart and love for him opened and blossomed inside her.
“I am not perfect,” she answered shyly. “Far from it.”
A wrinkle formed between his brows briefly. “You are, for me.” He spread the last of her hair over her shoulders.
“I have unattractive traits and other things I need to overcome.”
Like conquering her fear of the marriage bed and being in the family way. She wanted to do that tonight.
“Why did you unbraid my hair?”
“I want to tangle my fingers in it while I make love to you. Tonight. You need to know that from this day forward you are mine, Edwina.”
“Yes,” she whispered. “I do need to know that.”
Rick pulled his shirt from the waistband of his trousers, yanked it over his head, and tossed it away. From the glow of light shining from his room into hers, she sawhim clearly. Her breath quickened and her body trembled. Edwina had never seen a man’s bare chest, other than in paintings or statues. He looked every bit as muscular, strong, and beautiful as men chiseled out of stone.
He started unfastening his trousers. Edwina tensed. “Henrietta said we should always turn out all the lights,” she said hurriedly, lowering her eyes to the floor, thinking she was going to see something she shouldn’t see, married or not.
