Page 107 of Claimed By Her Forbidden Duke
“It is,” Edmund confirmed. “He is nice enough.”
Penelope caught his eye and smirked. “You do not like him.”
“I like him,” Edmund protested. “I had my reservations about him at first, but he makes Arabellahappy. That is all a brother could ever wish for.”
His expression faltered, but Penelope, even though her own heart lurched, only smiled and waved it off. She had been working with Edmund through the aftermath of Finley’s assault and how it had left her feeling.
Some nights she slept and woke up imagining hands pinning her wrists in a way that she had not asked for, and she would beg Edmund to replace that touch with something safe—something that she could trust and wanted. Other nights she cried, for she had felt rather invalid.
“After all, he did not get to… did not get to…”she would stutter.
“He got far enough,”Edmund would growl, and then kiss away the furrow between her eyebrows and the worry on her tongue.
And then he would remind her that washisand his alone, and she would try not to think about what could have happened that day had he not stormed into her room.
“Regardless,” Edmund said. “Lord Graham makes her happy, and I have no objections. I promised her that no matter what, I would take into consideration the man who makes her happy. He has expressed his intention to propose, and I have approved it.”
Penelope gasped, leaning in close to him as if they shared a secret. “When will he ask her, do you think?”
“Soon.” He smiled. “He said that he did not want to overshadow our engagement and wedding. Itold him it was an insult to suggest that we could be overshadowed by him. He all but fled in apology.”
“You will tease him for the rest of his life.” Penelope laughed.
Edmund tilted her chin up and caught her gaze once more.
“I shall teaseyoufor the rest of our life together,” he corrected. “And we will have every moment to ourselves for as long as we wish, and if anybody dares to interrupt?—”
“Penelope.”
The drawl came from Cecilia as their guests began to mingle and plates were cleared away. Soon, Penelope would be whisked to the dance floor by Edmund for their first dance as husband and wife.
“You two look positively in love, and… well, I do not wish to steal any thunder, of course, but Ididhave a hand in predicting such a union, no?”
Penelope grinned. “Indeed, Cecilia.”
“Our Penelope, a bride broken free from her prison—fleeing the suffocating vines andflowers that most think are beautiful but upon closer inspection realize are poison—finally wed to her dark husband of the shadows. It is poetic, and I adore it. I adore you both. Heavens, just do not have children too soon. A woman should continue enjoying her body alongside her husband before she starts birthing children.”
Edmund surprised Penelope with a loud laugh. “Cecilia, you are rather fascinating. I wish my mother had met you, for she would have dropped to the floor in a dead faint—the very proper lady she was.”
“Oh, nonsense. Daphne claims to be a proper lady, butoh, the things she has recently spilledto me about herself and Harry! Penelope, I must catch you up on everything. We shall gather before the dancing begins, but do not forget that we will all join you in Blackstone Hall after your honeymoon.”
Excitement shot through Penelope at the thought of retreating to Edmund’s countryside estate with them for a secluded time. She agreed with Cecilia and watched as her friend went to introduce herself to several other guests.
Edmund leaned in. “They might wish to gossip before our first dance, but I wish to make your legs weak before it.”
His lips brushed the top of her neck almost too indecently, given their company, but the hand he had laced with hers already pulled her out of her chair, tugging them through a door and into another room.
“Edmund, it is our wedding?—”
He pressed his lips to hers, swallowing her protests, as he hoisted her up and carried her to a mirrored wall adjacent to the dining hall. Her legs locked around his waist, and he kissed his way to the corners of her mouth, her cheeks, the bridge of her nose.
His teeth tugged on her earlobe as he murmured, “If you are good and quiet for me, then our guests will barely notice we are gone and will suspect nothing. Let me take you right here, against these mirrors. I cannot go another second looking at you in your wedding gown without taking full advantage of your new status, and I get to bed you anywhere I please. No more secrecy.”
She made a pleased, soft noise at that as his hands pushed up her skirt. “Hmm, and you aremy husband,” she purred. He shuddered at the use of his new title. “And I believe a husband has a most important duty to make his wife satisfied in every way.”
“I intend to do that,” he promised in a low voice, his fingers brushing her heat.
They had coupled the night before, languishing in their own time without having to race against the dawn.
