Page 632 of From Rakes to Riches

“A duchess can do what she damn well pleases.”

“And what pleases her husband?” she asked, playfully stroking light fingers along his thigh, giving his cock ideas.

Though distraction pulled at him—he could take her here and now…again—he wouldn’t give in…yet.

“Gemma…”

Her hand stopped, but didn’t move from his thigh.The minx.

“It’s just that September is so very far away,” she began, breezily, “and by then I might be a bit wobbly in the saddle.”

Rake shook his head, certain. “That’s impossible. No one—neither man nor woman, not even Liam—sits a saddle as well as you.”

She threw her head back and gave in to the laughter that had been shining in her eyes. “Oh, husband.”

Husband.

Warmth stole through Rake every time his wife spoke that word. He was husband to her.

Of all his titles, this one was his favorite.

She took his hand in hers—oh, that it lifted from his thigh—and she set it low on her stomach. Within her eyes, he saw a smile both secret and telling. “Thisis why.”

Only now, Rake noticed the soft, subtle rounding of her stomach. “Gemma…”

Sudden emotion flooded him, choking the words in his throat.

Her eyes brimmed bright with unshed tears. “I know.”

He reached out with his other hand, his fingers finding the nape of her neck, weaving through loose curls, tugging her forward. In the instant before his mouth touched hers, he said, “You’ve made me the not unhappiest man on Earth.”

As he pulled her into his embrace, he suspected a few unshed tears might be shining in his eyes too.

Julian had once called him intelligent for choosing those he loved.

But this life with Gemma wasn’t one of mere choice. It had naught to do with anything as flimsy or shallow as a mind’s choosing, but rather necessity of the heart.

The necessity that made a life worth its years on Earth.

Love.

Without love, a life could be no better than notunhappy.

And this life with Gemma was utterly, joyously, unabashedlyhappy.

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