Page 76 of The Governess and the Brooding Duke
Her throat went tight, and again she felt a shameless and shameful warmth between her legs.
Why should him offering food make her feel this way?
She had never been cared for.
And he did so. With authority.
It was very much the strangest thing.
And the most wonderful. The most lovely.
‘Your Grace, I greatly appreciate that you see to my comfort.’
‘I have told you. I care for what is mine.’
Mine. Mine.
The word that had echoed through her soul for all these years was lost.
Mine.
This was new.
This idea that someone might wish to keep her.
That she could belong to him.
He just means as a member of his household. Or perhaps even as a woman he wants to bed. And it is not something that you should take to heart.
No. But she ached. To be held by him.
To know all the other ways in which he might care for her.
She had been strong and independent and alone for so very long.
And even when she had been weak, surrounded by people, she had been alone. And suddenly, with him, she did not feel alone. She felt seen. Cared for.
She felt...
What a terrifying thing. To realise that she could want this.
She wasn’t supposed to. She was supposed to be cured of it. She was supposed to be free. She was supposed to be happy. She was strong. She didn’t need anyone.
But he was so enticing.
She remembered the way his hand had felt on her lip.
His strong hands. Hands that had held her when she was trembling.
She had never even allowed herself to tremble.
After she had risen from the bed when she had given birth to her son, she had never allowed herself to be weak again.
She was tired. She was so very tired. And the scones here were delicious. And somehow that made everything just a bit worse. Just a bit harder.
‘You do not have to stay with me,’ she said.
‘I like to watch you eat. I like to watch you when you’re being cared for.’
