Page 58 of Duke with a Deception
And while she knew she could never replace Emma’s mother in her heart, Verity hoped there would be enough room there for her as well.
“Do enjoy your cream ice, Miss Emma,” King was telling the girl. “And then mind your nursemaid for your lessons.”
“Yes, Your Grace,” Emma said and dipped into a quite respectable curtsy.
Verity watched, bemused, as the girl and her nursemaid took their leave. When they had disappeared up the winding staircase, she turned to her husband.
“All is well?” she asked hesitantly.
He smiled, tracing her cheek with a lone finger. “It is now that my beautiful wife is home where she belongs.”
She couldn’t contain her answering smile at his easy charm. “But Emma…was she a bother? I hadn’t thought there would be any need of me for a few hours. If I had known, I would have?—”
“Hush,” he interrupted gently, laying the same finger across her lips to stay her words. “You are entitled to pay calls as it pleases you, and I promise that the household shan’t fall apart in your absence.”
She kissed the pad of his forefinger and then moved her head so she could speak. “Still, I didn’t want to cause any trouble for you.”
“You didn’t do so.”
“But Emma…”
“The girl child was wailing loudly enough to be heard all the way in Wingfield Hall,” he said wryly.
“Oh dear.”
He offered her his arm, as polished and debonair as ever and looking somehow unaffected by the mayhem he described. “Walk with me.”
She tucked her hand into his arm and allowed him to guide her down the hall. “Where are we going?”
“To my study.”
“Why?”
“Do I need a reason to have my gorgeous duchess all to myself?”
That made her smile. “Of course not. But you ordinarily keep to yourself during the afternoon.”
They had established a comfortable routine. King was a busy man with an impressive number of business interests in addition to his other duties and obligations. She usually spent her afternoons with Emma.
“Here is a reason, then,” he said. “I want to be alone with you.”
Heat slid through her. “In your study?”
“What a wicked mind you have, angel,” he said,sotto voce.
Heat crept up her throat even as an answering pulse of desire awoke deep within her. “How do you know what I had in mind?”
“The naughty glint in your eye.”
“Perhaps it matches the one in yours,” she suggested boldly.
He chuckled, the sound decadent and masculine. “I have no doubt it does.”
They reached his study, and he gestured for her to precede him over the threshold. Verity swept inside and turned to watch him as he closed the door with the same deft ease he performedevery motion. She would never know how he made every action look so effortless and graceful.
His dark gaze smoldered, and he closed the distance between them in two steps, taking her in his arms. “I missed you.”
His declaration took her by surprise.
