Page 11 of Duke with a Deception
It had been a sudden decision, like much of his life. He preferred spontaneity to predictability, excitement toennui, the interesting to the boring, passion to indifference.
“Of course you are.” The adoring look she gave him was enough to make his cock twitch.
He released her hand, lest he be tempted to haul her into his lap and do unspeakable things to her—like consummate their marriage on the way home from their wedding breakfast. He had restraint. He was not a beast, he reminded himself.
At least, not entirely.
King cleared his throat. “Thank you, my dear.”
“When do you think we shall send for Emma?” she asked then, her mind traveling to the orphan girl she had been so determined to save the day of the fire that she’d nearly lost her own life.
Ah, the child.
Although he was not impervious to the plight suffered by the orphans, and Lady Verity herself had inspired him to donate quite generously to the Children’s Foundling Hospital, he didn’t savor the notion of bringing a girl into his household. He had never cared for children. Not since Daphne. He wasn’t entirely sure he could stomach the presence of one in his home, beneath the same roof.
His own childhood had been bloody wretched. What could he possibly offer a child?
“Do you not think she is happy where she is?” he suggested mildly. “The poor dear has already experienced so much upheaval. She seems contented at Riverdale’s town house.”
“But I promised her that she would come to us,” Verity protested, a dismayed expression crossing her features. “She iswell enough where she is, but that is not where she wishes to remain.”
“How soon shall the orphanage be rebuilt?”
Verity’s brows drew together. “Do you not wish for her to live with us?”
Caught.
He forced a smile. “Of course I do, angel. Your little poppet can join you whenever it pleases you.”
If the child stayed out from underfoot, he supposed he could endure her presence. They would hire a nurse for the girl. One who understood children were meant to be seen and not heard. One who would keep the child tucked away from him.
“When we return from our honeymoon,” she suggested. “I don’t want her to be alone in London whilst we are away.”
They were taking a week-long sojourn to Wingfield Hall in celebration of their nuptials. Not a true honeymoon, but it would have to do. Riverdale had been insistent that they refrain from traveling abroad since Verity was still recovering from her injuries. King had decided not to argue that particular point. He had what he wanted most—Verity. And he would take her to Wingfield Hall if it was the price to be paid for securing his prize.
Oh, how he could not wait to debauch her.
Slowly.
With great pleasure. It would be perhaps the greatest achievement of his life.
“King?” she prodded, reminding him that they had been speaking of the girl child again.
“I shall defer to your decision on the matter,” he said.
“Thank you, my love,” she told him, her heart in her eyes.
King didn’t know quite how to respond to such candid, unaffected emotion, so he looked away, directing his attention out the window instead. If his new wife took note, she showedno concern. They proceeded to the town house, Verity’s pleasant chatter filling the silence.
CHAPTER 2
Verity’s stomach was fluttering with excitement as she cast a surreptitious glance at her husband across the dinner table.
Husband.
Oh, how she adored that word, the world of change that accompanied it.
King’s dark head was bent, his attention directed to his plate as he methodically cut a piece of salmon. She liked watching his hands. They were large and masculine and capable. The hands that had saved her.
