Page 20 of Duke with a Deception
King guided her hands to the buttons of his perfectly tailored coat. “Begin here.”
Her fingers moved against the fine fabric, plucking the buttons from their moorings. He was still dressed as he had been for dinner, in an elegant black evening suit and white shirt, his neckcloth perfectly tied, his waistcoat a shimmery silver with matching buttons bisecting the front.
Slowly, trying not to allow his proximity and smoldering gaze to affect her, she worked the jacket over his broad shoulders and down his long, well-muscled arms. Heat radiated from his shirtsleeves, and she could feel for the first time the corded muscles hiding beneath his elegant dress. When the coat was removed, she held it up, noting it still bore his body heat and subtle scent.
“Where shall I put it?” Verity asked.
“Hang it over the back of the chair. Hutchens shall see to it in the morning.”
She did as he suggested, carefully laying the garment over the back of a chair flanking the hearth, smoothing the wrinkles from it.
“Now my pocket watch.”
She turned back to him, abandoning the jacket, heart pounding faster again. He wore a timepiece on a gold chain tucked into the pocket on his waistcoat, the watch engraved with his coat of arms. She had seen it before, when he had checked the time, but removing it for him felt so very intimate.
With trembling fingers, she unhooked the watch and chain, taking it off before placing the timepiece upon a nearby table. When she was once more before him, he reached for her, startling her by catching the locket at her throat in his fingers.
“May I take this off?”
His request took her aback. She never took off her necklace. Surely he knew that by now, for he had given it to her.
“I don’t remove it.”
But he was already reaching for the clasp at her nape. “For me?”
Well. Since it was a gift from him and he was the one making the request…
“Very well.” Something nagged at her, some indistinct concern.
She couldn’t shake the feeling that she had been wearing the locket for many years, that it was of devastating import and that removing it felt inherently wrong. But that was foolish. Likely more of her confusion after the blow to her head.
One deft motion and King had removed it, placing it on the table beside his pocket watch with great care. Her neck felt strangely bereft, but then he reached for her hands again, placing them on the buttons of his waistcoat, and she wasdistracted by the way he felt, so strong and lean. How delicious it was to touch him thus and to know he was her husband now.
The buttons slid free until she divested him of the garment and draped it atop his discarded dinner jacket. He still looked formal and perfectly dressed as he toed off his polished shoes, standing before her in stockinged feet, towering over her. She took a moment to drink in the sight of him, to savor this moment.
“Am I being a good valet?” she asked.
“A good valet would also remove my neckcloth.”
“Ah, yes.” She reached for the knot, employing fumbling efforts to loosen it.
A grin kicked up the corner of his sensual lips. “I trust you have never dealt with a stubborn necktie before.”
“I don’t make a habit of it, no.”
“Take your time, angel,” he advised, standing still, arms at his sides.
“But I am so very impatient.”
His grin bloomed into a full smile. “How gratified I am to know it.”
“Are you not?”
He was exercising remarkable restraint and poise, whilst she was a trembling, impatient mess.
“I’ve never been so deliciously undressed by a lover before. I find the anticipation nothing short of mesmerizing.”
She didn’t like to think of the other lovers he must have had, but it did please Verity immensely to know that no other woman had taken care of him so intimately. That she had been the first he had asked to play valet for him. That she would be the only and last.
