Page 88 of Undercover Duke
He took her into his arms and began to kiss her.
She tore her lips from his, not quite ready to forgive him. “The servants are expecting us to eat dinner at the appointed time.”
“Are they?” he murmured and continued trying to kiss her.
“Sheridan! I just got dressed!”
“I’ll help you get dressed again,” he said in a husky voice. “But I desperately want to make love to my wife.”
To be honest, she desperately wanted the same thing. “All right,” she whispered against his lips.
With a laugh, he backed her toward her bed and she let him. She had no self-control at all when it came to Sheridan.
He still hadn’t said he loved her, but then she hadn’t said she loved him either.
Didshe love him? She very much feared that she did. He was the only man she’d ever really wanted, and it had taken her years to find him. He was the only one who stood up for her, who shared her love of books and understood her love of gardening. The only one who made her blood roar and her heart leap. But he’d already told her once he had no intention of being in love again, and she didn’t know how she’d bear it if he said those same words once she’d bared her heart to him.
She would just have to show him how she felt and hope that one day he would share her feelings.
Chapter Twenty
Two days later, Sheridan sat in his study in the London manor house, poring over the estate accounts in preparation for the dreaded meeting with Bonham that afternoon. He’d put it off longer than he should have.
Yesterday, the rest of his family had returned to London, including his mother, who would still be living with them for the time being. But she probably wouldn’t be around much. She planned on heading off to Carymont tomorrow to see how Beatrice and Grey were doing, since Beatrice still hadn’t had her baby. No doubt she’d be visiting the others frequently.
He didn’t mind that in the least. Having one’s mother around while one was adjusting to married life was very trying. But as soon as Mother left—and the meeting with Bonham was over, he could enjoy spending time with Vanessa. He might actually have a chance to do something with her other than swiving. Not that he minded the swiving. Leaning back in his chair, he smiled to himself.
“What are you smiling so secretively about, my darling?” Vanessa asked as she bustled into his study.
“I was merely thinking about last night. And the night before that. Oh, yes, and the night before that. And the—”
“I know what you’re trying to do, Sheridan Wolfe, and you will not seduce me into telling Bonham you’re indisposed or anything like that. When he comes this afternoon, you’ll need to be prepared.”
“Damn. Unbeknownst to me, I married a nagging woman,” he said in mock alarm. “Ah, well, I suppose I’m stuck with you now.”
“Very amusing.” With a lift of her impervious and very lovely eyebrow, she came around to his side of the desk to look out the window at the courtyard garden. “I can see why you said you liked your study. The garden behind you gives you a nice glimpse of the outdoors.”
“It does, indeed,” he said, turning in his chair to look out at it himself.
“That will be the first thing I tackle as lady of the house. Your little garden there could clearly use a bit of care, and I will enjoy getting it under good management.”
Sheridan pulled her closer. “I can think of other things you could get ‘under good management.’”
She laughed. “You are insatiable, sir. And this is neither the time nor the place for it.”
“I don’t know about that,” he said, smoothing one hand over her hip to her thighs.
Rolling her eyes at him, she turned to gaze down at his desk. “So these are the account books?”
That reminder ruined his mood. “They are, indeed.” He dropped his hand from her lovely body. “I realize everyone keeps their accounts differently, but I can’t make heads nor tails of Bonham’s system. Every time I think I’ve figured it out, something else comes up to tell me I have not.”
She picked one of the books up and looked at it. “Well, no wonder. It makes no sense.”
“Don’t tell me the numbers swim before your eyes, too.”
“No.” She eyed him oddly. “What do you mean?”
God rot it, he shouldn’t have said that. “It’s nothing.”
