Page 25 of Duke with a Deception
She bit her lip. “I only wanted to let you rest. You look so peaceful in sleep. One would never know you have a razor-blade wit and a dagger for a tongue when you’re lost in slumber.”
He barked out a laugh at her description of him, for it was rather apt, he had to admit; he had never been known for his kindness. “You should know there is nothing peaceful about me, angel.”
Nor was there anything good about him. But he didn’t want to warn her about that now and ruin the easy camaraderie between them. She would eventually learn as much on her own.
“You know what I mean.” She tilted her head, considering him through the shadows. “Do you want me to stay? I had nonotion of when your valet arrives in the morning, and I was worried it would be improper for me to be here with you should he come to perform his morning duties.”
She sounded worried. His angelic Verity. She cared for everyone far too much. For the orphans, which had nearly managed to see her killed. For her brother, who was a muleheaded bear. For her mother, who didn’t deserve it. For her departed betrothed, who hadn’t been alive these last ten years to appreciate it. And now for King himself, who certainly deserved her concern the least.
Something was clearly quite wrong with him, because her goodness only made him want to fuck her more. He was a depraved bastard.
“Hutchens will come when I ring for him,” he told her. “You need not worry about any of the servants. They are not paid to judge us. Besides, you are my duchess now, and you may do as you please.”
“Entirely as I please?”
She seemed to like the notion of that. He wondered what she could possibly want that had been denied her. A wild notion came to him then, of showering her in jewels and gowns and flowers and books and shoes and whatever else she longed for. He could spoil her. The idea gave him more pleasure than he had believed possible.
“Yes, entirely,” he said. “Only tell me what you want, and it shall be yours.”
He meant it. By God, he would allow this woman to drain him utterly dry, and he wouldn’t regret it for a second. The power she held over him was astonishing. He must never tell her.
“You are very generous, husband.”
If only she knew how generous he wanted to be, how much he longed to give her. Verity was a dangerous woman indeed.
“I can be more generous,” he said in his most cajoling tone. “Come back to bed and let me show you.”
She hesitated. “But the servants…”
“Have no business poking their noses into our privacy as husband and wife,” he finished for her. “If anyone dares to open either of these doors without my permission, I’ll have their head on a pike.”
She moved nearer to him. “Bloodthirsty of you.”
“Mmm, I am positively Machiavellian in the morning.” He patted the bed at his side, still warm from when she’d lain there.
“I don’t think such a thing is done these days—heads on pikes, that is.” She stopped at the edge of the mattress, her voice gently teasing.
And he knew that he had won this particular battle.
He grinned. “A trifling concern. I shall give them all the sack instead.”
“And then you shall be obliged to wait upon me all day,” she countered, shrugging out of her dressing gown. “I don’t know if you should like to be my lady’s maid.”
“I can think of nothing I would like better.”
She pursed her lips. “Are you proficient at lacing a corset?”
“I fear I may be far more skilled at removing one,” he drawled.
“I suppose you would be.”
He wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or an insult. Either way, his past was where it belonged. He had no notion of what the future held for either of them, but he did know that he hungered for her in a way he had never wanted another.
“I am a beastly man, my love, but I am yours now.”
“Would you truly sack everyone if I wished it?”
“Perhaps not Hutchens. He is quite adroit with a razor, and he presses my coats and shirts to perfection.”
