Page 117 of A Night of Desire with a Duke
"Are fine with my mother and Agatha. The estate is managed by very capable stewards. Parliament is in recess. For once in our married life, we have absolutely nothing we need to do except be together."
"That sounds..."
"Irresponsible?"
"Perfect."
He smiled, that rare, genuine smile that transformed his face from handsome to devastating. "Come here."
She went willingly into his arms, letting him pull her onto his lap. This too was different from that first night; then she'd been hesitant, unsure of what was allowed. Now she knew exactly what he liked, how to touch him, where to kiss to make him groan.
"I have a confession," she said against his neck.
"Mmm?"
"I think about that night all the time."
"Do you?"
"When you're in Parliament, being all ducal and proper, I remember you desperate and wanting. When you're playing with the children, being the perfect father, I remember you teaching me things that would make society matrons faint."
"Catherine..."
"When we're at formal dinners, making small talk with boring people, I think about how you looked at me that night. Like I was everything."
"You are everything."
"Still? Even after five years? Even after seeing me exhausted from children, irritable from lack of sleep, completely unromantic?"
"Especially then." He tilted her chin up to look at him. "You want to know what I think about?"
"Tell me."
"I think about how brave you were. An innocent, choosing to give yourself to a stranger. I think about how you trusted me, even when you didn't know my name. I think about how you responded to me, so openly, so honestly."
"I couldn't help it. You made me feel things I didn't know were possible."
"You still respond the same way. After five years, three children, hundreds of nights together, you still come alive at my touch."
"That's your fault for being so good at touching."
"Practice."
"Natural talent."
"Devoted study of one particular subject."
"Me?"
"Always you. Only you."
They kissed then, deep and slow, the kind of kiss they rarely had time for anymore with three young children and ducal responsibilities. The fire crackled beside them, the storm raged outside, and for a moment it really was like that first night...just them, no world beyond these walls.
"Bed?" James suggested when they paused for air.
"Which one?"
"Does it matter?"
