Page 19 of The Matchmaker Meets her Duke
If only she were a more simple creature. The questions she had asked, the way her fingers had brushed against the daffodil, so gently. What would those fingers feel like on his skin, trailing down his shoulders? A sudden flush of heat surprised him, and he realized he was still standing in the open doorway.
The next day after breakfast, he asked Pandora to go for a drive around the countryside with him. The request surprised her, he could tell that much, but after yet another sleepless night wondering about her, he had to know.
Sitting in the coach opposite her, he watched as she stared out the window. The hills rose and fell as the coach meandered down back roads at a slow pace. Sheep and cows stood in the fields that weren’t filled with new crops, and the smell of their manure competed with the fresh greenness of spring.
Pandora’s face was still and contemplative, and his frustration with himself grew. Where had this sudden obsession come from? A single kiss and a few stolen touches, and he found himself wanting to get to know her. As a person. That had never happened before.
So far, women had been useful or irritating, depending on their station. The courtesans plying their trade from the brothels of the West End? Useful for relieving tension. The cunning-eyed mothers trying to force their daughters upon him at every social event? Annoying, definitely annoying. And yet, Pandora was neither of those things. She was his wife. And he hadn’t quite decided what that meant yet.
“Something on your mind?” asked Pandora. Emmett started. He hadn’t noticed her look away from the window, he had been so lost in thought.
“Ah, many things. Taxes, the inevitability of death. You.”
“Am I to be lumped in with death and taxes, then?” said Pandora with a chuckle.
Emmett smiled in return. “You trouble me. Therefore, I categorize you with the things that also vex me.”
Pandora leaned her head back against the wall of the coach, revealing the creamy white length of her neck, just begging to be kissed and bitten. Emmett forced himself to look away. “And why do I vex you, Your Grace? I thought we had reached an understanding yesterday.”
“Indeed, which is why I asked you to call me Emmett.”
Pandora flushed, turning her pale cheeks pink. “My apologies, Emmett. But don’t avoid the question.”
Emmett turned to look out his own window. A manor of some distant acquaintance rolled past the window. Lord Willmington, no, Lord Worthington. That’s it. Emmett had attended a ball there when he was younger. They had the loveliest maids, ones who were equally glad to make his acquaintance.
Pandora cleared her throat. “Emmett?”
“I’m not avoiding the question, just trying to organize my thoughts.”
“I must really have you confused, then.”
Emmett smiled and turned his attention back to his wife. “Indeed. Now that I’ve got a wife, I hardly know what to do with her.”
“Bed her, get an heir out of her, and go back to your brothels. That’s the plan, is it not?”
“Yes–” said Emmett as he ran a hand through his brown hair and sighed. “I find myself wanting to take Grandmother’s advice to heart as well. We have a lifetime together, we should know each other better.”
Pandora shook her head, confusion painted on her pretty face. “Is that not what we are doing now?”
Emmett’s answering laugh betrayed his own confusion. “I suppose we are, at that.”
“Allow me to take the lead, then,” said Pandora. “What do you remember best about childhood? You mentioned spending a lot of time in the gardens.”
“Childhood… I remember my tutors being mightily displeased with me most of the time. It’s not that I was unintelligent, I just had no patience for sitting there reading old books when the sun was shining.”
Pandora smiled gently. “I can just picture it. So you’d escape out to the gardens?”
“Just so. Father… well, he’s a topic for another day, but he fired several gardeners, thinking that would discourage the staff from being overly friendly and indulgent with me.”
“But let me guess, you were as charming then as you are now.”
Emmett winked at her. “So you think me charming?”
Pandora sniffed. “Let us not get distracted.” The coach bumped over a rut in the road, and Pandora nearly spilled out of her seat. Emmett reached over to steady her, his touch lingering as she righted herself.
“Emmett–” said Pandora in a quiet voice.
“Yes?” said Emmett as he settled back in his own seat.
