“Is that so?” she asked, her eyebrows raised.

“I would rather you sit close to me.” He patted his lap as he gave her a suggestive look.

Ava shook her head, amused. “When you say I must sit close to you, you cannot perhaps mean that I must sit on your lap, do you?” she gasped.

“It is only so I can properly instruct you on what to write,” he insisted.

He watched as she tapped a finger against her luscious lips, as though she were deep in thought, and he felt his cock harden. He could not help it; simply watching his wife aroused him.

“Fine!” She rose to her feet. “However, I must warn you. If you do anything inappropriate or untoward, I will have no choice but to leave.”

Edwin lifted his hands in surrender. “I promise you, I will not do anything unless it is necessary for you to help me write.”

“Hmm!” she grunted as she approached him, holding his gaze.

Edwin swiftly pushed his chair back to create space for her. She finally stopped in front of him and turned around so that her back was facing him. A wave of heat rushed through his body.

When she finally sat on his lap, he took a sharp breath, and a groan escaped his lips. The heat radiating from his chest seeped into her, and she felt a hard length probe her buttocks.

“Why is it so uncomfortable?” she muttered as she rose to her feet.

It took everything in him not to pull her right back into his lap.

She braced her hands on his thighs as she sat again. This time, as she lowered herself onto him, his member nestled perfectly between her buttocks.

“Now, this is quite better,” she muttered, squirming a little to make herself comfortable.

“Uh…” he grunted.

“Is anything the matter?” she asked, peering curiously over her shoulder at him.

Edwin simply shook his head; his voice would betray him if he spoke.

“Good!” She turned back and sifted through the papers on his desk. “Now, what document do you need my help with?”

Edwin gestured to a stack of papers on his left, and she pulled them towards herself.

“Now, what is this?” she hummed, peering at the first paper in the pile. “It is a letter from the steward.”

“Indeed.” Edwin nodded. “He wanted to know if he must review the rent for some of the tenants.”

“What do you say then?” she asked.

Edwin sighed as he considered.

Ava trembled slightly in his lap. It was quite subtle, but he caught it in the same way he caught the goosebumps that rose over her skin when his breath fanned it.

He smiled wickedly to himself.

“Tell the steward that I do not wish to raise the rent. Let us give the tenants another season,” he replied.

“That is quite kind of you, I must say.” She dipped her quill into the inkwell, then leaned over the paper and started scribbling a response.

“You may not believe me, but I am far from the monster the ton has painted me as,” Edwin murmured.

“I am not quite certain, husband. After all, I have seen you transform into a hideous monster and set out in the dead of night to kidnap children.”

That coaxed a laugh out of him. “I suppose you are right.”