Page 50 of A Bride for the Cruel Duke

“Is that right?” she cocked an eyebrow at him, daring him.

“I have been kind to you thus far, but I can quickly change that. If anything, I might prefer to.”

“Ah, yes,” she responded with a coy smile. “The big, bad duke. I had almost forgotten that was who I married.”

“No, not that…” He leaned over and moved one of his pawns forward. “Just that I was going easy on you. Alas, I admit it was a ploy to lure you into a false sense of comfort so you would feel good about yourself. Now that you’re acting so…” He considered. “So bold, I might have to start trying.

“Do not hold back on my account.” She moved a pawn to match his move and shot up a challenging eyebrow.

“Be careful what you wish for.”

“Wish for? If history is anything to go by, I have never once gotten what I wish. Somehow, I doubt you suddenly learning how to play chess falls within the realm of my all my dreams coming true.”

“Is that what you think?” He moved another pawn.

“It is.” She matched the move immediately.

Their second evening together—and it wasn’t going at all how Caroline had suspected. In hindsight, she supposed she hadn’t known what to expect exactly. Something romantic, perhaps? Something bold? Something personal? The type of night together that she might expect couples who were in the midst of courtship to engage in?

What she’d gotten instead was a quaint evening that was so effortlessly simple that it took her halfway through the evening before she even realized what Anthony was doing.He wished to prove how companionable and comfortable our marriage could be? This is perfect proof of that.

They had dined together, a simple supper that saw the two chat simply, no longer awkward or stilted, as they were way beyond that now. Caroline’s guard was dropped. Anthony was no longer unsure or closed off. The days of them testing one another had passed, allowing for free flowing conversation and effortless times.

Once they had finished eating, he suggested that they retire to the drawing room where they might play a game of chess. Again, such a small thing, but that was the entire point.

As a young girl, and through her teen years, she had played chess often with Daniel and Violet, finding that she had a knack for it. The duke, it seemed, was nowhere near as good as he had made out, which had her getting carried away; both in her thumping of him, and the wagging of her tongue.

“How about we make things more interesting?” the duke said simply as he moved his rook.

“Oh?” she moved another pawn, setting it to block his rook from taking her knight, as she suspected he was trying to do.

“With how confident you are, it ought not to be a problem.”

“That depends on what you mean by interesting?”

To that, Anthony grinned and the light from the fireplace caught his dark eyes, making them shine so she could see the mischief behind his gaze. They were sitting on the floor before the hearth, on a thick fur rug, perhaps a more romantic setting than she had initially given credit to, now screaming at her to understand her mistake. All this time, she had tittered to herself at the ease that she was beating him, how effortlessly he was walking into her traps.Little did I realize that it was me walking headfirst into his.

“If you are as good as you claim, it shouldn’t bother you at all,” Anthony said casually. “But I propose a bet.”

“The terms?”

He looked at her across the chess board, the trap he had lain about to be unleashed. “My terms are this. For every piece of yours that I remove from the board, you remove an article of clothing.”

Caroline gasped before she could stop herself, and her cheeks turned bright pink which had nothing to do with the fire. Heart beating quicker now, she forced herself to look at her husband in what she hoped to be a derisive fashion. “That is… very bold of you.”

“It should not be,” he said. “And perhaps I just have that much faith in your ability to beat me?”

She rolled her eyes. “I hardly think so.”

“Is that a no? I will understand if you are too scared.”

“What happened to trying to get to know one another better?” she shot back.

He shrugged. “As husband and wife, you mean. And what could be more husbandly than trying to seduce one’s own wife?”

Despite her best efforts, Caroline felt excitement at the thought of what her husband was proposing. She was dressed modestly enough, and a quick calculation told her she could lose five pieces before having to take off her chemise, which would see her be completely naked. If tonight’s game so far was any indication, things would not get that far. And yet… there was that part of her which hoped they might.

Oh, how she hated that she wanted it. That the thought of her husband seeing her naked body had her thighs tingling with desire. Why was she so weak? She had worried that she might not be able to hold out against Anthony across these five ‘chances’ that she had given him. That she would give in to her pesky desires. And if she said yes to this…even I am only so strong.

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