Page 94 of The Captive
“I have not been a shrew.”
“No, dearest.” He kissed her again, trying not to smile. “Of course you haven’t.”
She turned her face to his shoulder. “I am not your dearest.”
“That is rather for me to say. Are you uncomfortable?”
“You are incorrigible.”
“Also very understanding of female complaints.” He picked her up and headed for the door. “Will you need anything in particular? A tot of the poppy?”
“I refuse to answer such questions.” Her face was flaming, but she should have known he’d be like this: forthright, concerned for her, cheerfully willing to demolish anything between them as inconsequential as her privacy or her dignity.
She’d developed the habit of looking forward to her courses because it meant a week free of her husband’s company. He’d called it a filthy female tendency, a noisome blight resulting from a woman’s failure to conceive and submit to her God-given duty.
How she had treasured the filthy, noisome blight for eight years.
“Seriously, love.” Christian bumped his bedroom door closed with his hip. “You must tell me if you’re uncomfortable.” He set her on the bed and crossed the room to lock the door, disappearing momentarily to lock the sitting-room door as well. He came back and set his hands on his hips, studying her.
“Are you concerned you’ll be untidy on the ducal sheets?”
“Mustyou?”
“My father warned me about this,” he said, advancing on her. “He said women need special understanding at such a time, for they fall prey to odd notions.”
“Womenget odd notions? You steal me from my bed every night, provoke me to nightmares, and you say women get odd notions?”
“I return you to where you belong,” he said, prowling up to the bed. “To where you want to be, and yes, women get odd notions. You fret that you’re unlovely now.”
She had to look away. Some misguided female had admitted such a thing to him; he had no other way of gaining such an insight, though Helene would not have had the courage to express such a vulnerable sentiment.
“You resent the untidiness and wish you were coping with a pregnancy instead,” he went on, sympathy in every syllable. “Carrying a child, for all it leaves you ungainly and puts your life in danger, seems to agree with you ladies. Many of my comrades in arms remarked such a thing.”
“You talked about childbearing as you waged war?”
He wasn’t to be diverted. He untied the bows of her dressing gown.
“Scoot over to your side of the bed,” he said, peeling her out of her robe. “When you are indisposed, comforting you is my privilege.”
He tossed his dressing gown to the foot of the bed, and, of course, he would comfort her while he wore not one stitch, the way he usually slept. That he would trust her so easily with the sight of his nudity still moved her to ferocious tenderness, and to envy of his confidence.
“Over.” He waited while she crawled to the middle of the bed, then climbed in after her and spooned himself around her. He propped his chin on her shoulder. “Shall I fetch you a hot-water bottle?”
He’d soon have her in tears. “And inform the kitchen staff what you’re about?” But he’d do it, and not many men would.
“You don’t want me to leave you here alone in this bed,” he said. “Not until the covers are all toasty.” His hand settled low on her stomach, resting there until the warmth of it eased Gilly’s ache.
“Helene said you were a considerate husband. You can move your hand lower.” She showed him.
“Helene said I was considerate?”
“She said for all you were a great strapping brute with too good an opinion of yourself, you were considerate in the ways a husband ought to be. Still, she worried about conceiving.”
“Because our children would be great strapping brutes?” His kissed her nape, the same as he always did. “Helene was not petite—and we won’t speak of her now if it bothers you.”
Perhaps it bothered him? Gilly laced her fingers with his, because Helene should have been the one to let him know his considerations had been appreciated.
“Because her mother had very difficult lying-ins, Christian, and did not recover from the birth of Helene’s youngest brother.”
