Page 19 of A Virgin for the Duke of Scars
“No.” She rolled her eyes at him. “I was about to sayexciting. And I really do not have any earrings on, so I guess they would only be disappointed in me.”
He looked at her as if she had lost her wits. “Do you, perchance, have any inclinations toward petty crime?”
She shook her head in response.
“Why the hell would you find theft exciting?”
Theresa laughed at the incredulity on his face. “Because I believe it would take a great deal of skill to achieve such a feat! Think of how nimble their fingers have to be! Although…” She sobered up. “Sister Mary would think that I am truly depraved to think that way. Do you think I am depraved, Your Grace?”
“Not exactly,” he admitted. “Although I do not discount the very real possibility that you might not be in full possession of your faculties at the present moment.”
“The better to keep you on your toes, my dear,” she retorted blithely with a wide smile.
When he fixed her with a cold glare, she just laughed and withdrew back into the carriage, the curtain falling shut after her.
The poor man… He had lived all his life without the boundaries that the nunnery used to impose on her. He would never understand how glorious the world was, now that she could see it in the sun. He was such an ornery man that he could not see the beauty of life past his own misery.
Still, who would have thought it would be so fun to tease her husband like this?
Theresa smiled as she sat back in her plush velvet seat. Perhaps getting married at the drop of a hat was not as bad as she thought it was.
The woman was a bloody study in contrasts.
At times alluring, at times innocent… and all the time exasperating. Aaron had never met a more confounding creature, and he had met a great many liars, actresses, and swindlers in his time. All of them could turn into entirely different people at the drop of a hat.
Theresa was…different.
In a good way.
In a very good way, another part of him—the one that should not be given any control over his consciousness—chimed in.
Truly, if he had given his cock free rein, someone else would be handling Midnight back to his residence, and he…
Well, he would be buried balls deep in his delectable wife. In the carriage. On the way back to Blackwell Manor.
Out here in broad daylight? You would be fortunate if she did not scream bloody murder, a snide voice taunted at the back of his head.
He pressed his lips into a grim line. Not only was it very possible that she would scream, but she might even react as every other woman he’d attempted to bed since his return from the battlefield—with horror, disgust, and copious quantities of vomit.
Not exactly a good way to start their marriage.
Not to mention that he was pretty certain that the new carriage the Marquess of Wyndham had provided for his daughter’s comfort was not exactly built for the lewd scenarios he was entertaining. Nor did it come with a bucket where she might empty the contents of her stomach with as much dignity as she could muster.
He gripped the reins hard in his hands. That was not the only thing that was hard about him right now.
Fortunately, they were able to make their way back to Blackwell Manor in relative safety. No one’s earrings were snatched. No one was deflowered in the bloody carriage.
But for the first time, Aaron found riding Midnight to be very, very uncomfortable. Excruciatingly so.
All thanks to Theresa Ellison-Lennox. The not-quite-a-nun who was nowhiswife.
Something ancient and primal called from within him. Desire burned in his veins, pooling in his loins. The need to possess, to devour, was like a fevered song in his blood.
Mine, it called out.All mine.
The carriage came to a stop just behind him, and he dismounted, taking great care that the small crowd that had gathered at his front door did not see his raging erection. It would be extremely hard to explain it to his sister. Even worse, his grandmother would never let him live it down.
He walked toward the carriage when the door suddenly burst open. He watched in dismay as his new wife spilled out of the carriage, heaved a huge sigh of relief, and began dusting her skirts. She gave him a huge smile and walked up to him.
