Page 63 of The Matchmaker Meets her Duke
A moment passed. Pandora cleared her throat and looked up at him. She hesitated only a moment before asking softly, "And Edward?"
She felt her husband's chest heave as he huffed a breath. "You heard him. He's withdrawn his proposal."
"I heard him."
"I can't imagine he'll want anything to do with her, not after what she's done." A decided pause. "And I couldn't blame him."
"Neither could I."
Emmett jerked up all of a sudden and mounted himself above her. "But I wanteverythingto do with you." He yanked at her nightdress until it slipped below her arms. He planted soft kisses down her neckline.
Pandora moaned, and said coyly, "Your Grace, I assure you I have no idea what you speak of."
"Oh, I think you do." He looked up, squinting dramatically at her. "I think you have an idea how every bone that lives in my body yearns for you."
Pandora melted at his words. "Every bone?" she repeated, her tone teasing.
"Every single bone," he assured her and planted a small, open-mouthed kiss on her forehead. It was a small, simple gesture, but it was enough to make Pandora feel as if she had burst out of her body and was walking on air.
"Every single bone," he repeated, trailing his mouth down her cleavage. "Every single day," he said, as he took the puckered tip of her breast in his mouth. "Always," he said, and wrapped his wet mouth around her, and sucked. Pandora cried out.
Always,she thought as she wrapped her hands tight around him. The word clung to her lips with a life of its own.
Epilogue
Pandora closed her eyes. She felt dizzy from the lights and the chatter. All around her, servants hummed and bustled, polishing already gleaming surfaces, lighting a thousand candles in the low-hanging chandelier. She touched the back of her palm lightly to her forehead. Her hand burned.
Beside her, Rose was staring at her intently.
"I feel dizzy," she confessed.
"Is that normal?" said Rose. "Good dizzy, or bad dizzy? Should we call Doctor Emerson?"
"Heavens, he might run mad if we made him rush to us for the third time this month."
"This is your first, Pandora. You are allowed to lose your mind over the slightest inconvenience," said Rose, and Pandora laughed at her.
"Maybe so," she allowed. "But I think Doctor Emerson has suffered enough dramatic scares for one pregnancy."
"Do you want to put your feet up?” Pandora nearly jumped at the idea. But she quite literally lacked the ability to do so, because she was round and heavy, her belly swollen with child.
"I couldn't," said Pandora half-heartedly, hoping that her sister-in-law would insist. This was her first matchmaking party of the new season, and she didn't want to be absent from her own party. But on the other hand, she quite very,verymuch relished the idea of putting her feet up for a little bit.
"Yes, you could."
A pause. "Well, I suppose ten minutes of rest has never done a pregnant woman any harm–"
"There we go," said Rose, looping her arm gently around Pandora's waist as she guided her up the stairs.
Pandora clamped her mouth shut, stifling the mild moans that threatened to escape her throat with each painstaking step. Her feet felt terrible, awful sore as if she had been walking on hot stones all day. At the sight of the door giving away to her chamber, all those lovely pillows poised and proper on the expanse of that lovely bed, Pandora's chest heaved with a dramatic sigh. Every soft, large surface looked lovely and promising to her ever since she became heavy with child.
Rose arranged her on the bed and propped an army of pillows behind her. "There we go," she said.
"Thank you, Rose," said Pandora, her words already dragging with drowsiness.
"Don't mention it." Rose turned away from her, casting her gaze on the floors. "It's the least I could do.” But it wasn't the least she had done. Over the last eight months, Rose had done so much more.
All those months ago, she had taken Pandora's hands in hers and sworn remorse. "I was so certain that you had an ulterior motive, Pandora," she'd said. "I was protective of my brother but it was blind protection. Because if I wasn't blind I would have seen you for who you are. I would have seen from the beginning that you're a good woman who's only ever wanted the best for your union. And it shouldn't have taken me this long to see it, and I don't deserve your forgiveness. But I'm sorry. I truly am.'' But she had done more than offering moving words of apology. She promised to make it up to Pandora, and she did.
