The Duke and the Accidental Bride (Duchesses of Convenience #5)

Chapter 26

Chapter Twenty-Six

I t had taken them a few weeks. There were many low points. A few high points. And others that Duncan chose not to think about. There were fights. There were long silences. There were awkward moments and plenty of regret. A marriage that was anything but simple and easy and one that on many occasions, Duncan had assumed to be doomed because how could he and Isabella ever work together?

Finally, he was pleased to say, this marriage was beginning to resemble one that he could be proud of. Why, it was one that he was even enjoying. As unexpected as that might have been to admit.

“Plans today?” Duncan asked Isabella as she swept into the dining room, there to break her fast with her husband as they did together every morning now.

“Good morning to you too.” She even gave him a kiss on the cheek before sitting herself down.

"Yes,” he chuckled with amusement. “How very rude of me. How did you sleep?”

“Not well,” she pretended to look upset. “But you know that already, don’t you.” Followed by a sharp smile and a wink.

“A small part of me almost wants to apologize. Alas, I will not waste the words for I know deep down that I’ll be doing the exact same thing tonight.” He sighed as if with regret. “Such is my way.”

“And tomorrow morning?” she asked hopefully.

He flashed his eyes wickedly. “If today was any indication.”

“I suppose I will just have to get used to surviving on little sleep for now on, won’t I?”

He shrugged. “Either that or you are free to sleep in a separate room. If you think you have the self-control.”

She gasped and touched her chest as if mortally offended. “Excuse you. You’re the one I would worry after. All alone. Nobody to tuck you in. I might even be inclined to feel sorry for you.”

“How kind of you.”

“Plus, knowing you, you would end up sneaking into my room anyway. So, moving to my own would serve no purpose.”

He exhaled and shook his head. “And for that, I do apologize. But only a little...” He winked and she began to fidget. “From where I am sitting, you have only yourself to blame.”

“Me?” she gasped a second time.

Duncan’s eyes flicked hungrily over his wife. She was dressed simply, half dress for it was still early in the day and they were not entertaining guests. Just a plain white chemise with a spencer jacket worn over the top, buttoned at the front, long sleeved and nothing overly scandalous. But that did not stop Duncan from salivating.

The jacket was a little too tight, struggling to contain her bosoms in a way that made it look as if the jacket might pop open at any moment. And where the jacket ended on her waist, Isabella’s thick curves could be seen beneath as if she wanted him to take notice.

He stared at her without care, mind flashing back to earlier this morning when he was on his back as she straddled him. Hands around her breasts. Her fingers digging into his chest. Her body thrusting and heaving and shuddering as she screamed so loudly that the house shook.

“Careful now,” Isabella said, noticing where his focus was. “None of that.”

“None of what...” He tore his eyes free from her body, looking vaguely at her as if he had just come out of a dream.

“To answer your question earlier, I am busy today.” She looked at him flatly. “Far too busy to become distracted this morning.”

“Distracted again, you mean?”

She rolled her eyes. “I will be home later this evening and if you are home also...” She shrugged and then, ever so casually, ran a finger down her chest as if tracing an invisible line to her cleavage. “Maybe you and I can spend some time together.”

Duncan could feel himself turning hard at the thought and all he wanted to do was jump to his feet, storm around the table, take his wife by the hand and lead her back upstairs so they could pick up where they had left off only a few hours earlier.

If this had been a few weeks ago, he just might have done that.

Why, if this had been a few weeks ago, he and Isabella would already be in the throes of a new argument, looking for any reason to avoid having to talk to one another normally, knowing exactly where that argument was heading.

There was no need for that anymore.

Yes, Duncan wanted his wife. And yes, she wanted him. But they realized now that they didn’t need to fight and berate one another to elicit their arousal. And because of that, they were no longer fighting at every waking hour, and because of that for the first time in this marriage Duncan and Isabella were getting to know one another in a real way.

And surprisingly, although he supposed it probably shouldn’t have been, Duncan was starting to see Isabella in a whole new light. One that he was more than a little taken by.

“Tonight then.” Duncan tore his eyes free, and then to busy himself, he looked about for a servant to pour him a glass of juice. He caught one’s eye and clicked his fingers, needing the beverage as a means of distraction. “I’ll be here.”

She laughed. “Waiting eagerly, I am sure.”

The servant poured his juice and Duncan took a long, deep sip as he held his wife’s eyes across the table. “Don’t be late,” he said as he put the glass down. “Lest I am forced to start without you.”

“I do not mind the sound of that.”

He laughed. “Test me then. See what happens.”

“And miss out on all the fun? Not on your life.”

It had been five days since the Clementine Ball and those five days had been the best of this marriage so far.

Somehow, Duncan was enjoying himself even more than he had when Isabella and he had been enjoying their roleplay.

It had started on the balcony, when Duncan had taken a chance and asked Isabella to kiss him. It had felt like a gamble at the time, as if there might have been a chance that a kiss from this woman who he was clearly attracted to might not do anything to excite him.

How wrong he had been.

That kiss changed everything. What they had done on the balcony right after, had changed everything. The realization that the attraction they felt was very real, that they no longer had to fight at every turn, and what this might mean for the future of their marriage,

“So,” Duncan sighed. “Are you going to tell me where it is that you are going?”

She shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not.”

He snorted. “Careful now, you might make me upset.”

“Lucky that I know how to calm you...” She licked her lips as she looked at him, and Duncan groaned as if she had a hand wrapped around his member and was squeezing it.

“Isabella...”

“I am seeing my sister,” she pivoted quickly, enjoying how effortless it was to tease him. “I have not heard from her in days – nor has she replied to my letters. So, I think it is time I pay her a visit.”

“Oh. Is everything fine? Nothing to be alarmed about?”

“Likely,” Isabella sighed. “My sister, although I love her, can be a little... what is the word?” she considered. “Dramatic. And moody.”

“Coming from you?”

Isabella looked warningly at him. “Hopefully, it is nothing. But I will know once I see her later.”

Duncan nodded. “I suppose I will have to find ways to entertain myself today then, won’t I?”

“I almost feel bad for you. Whatever will you do without me?”

“You like to pretend that you have all the power here but let us be honest...” He shrugged. “You would be lost without me here to sate your appetite.”

“Is that what you think?”

“It is what I know.”

She grinned. “Keep waiting then. See what happens.”

He wanted her. He wanted her as much as he ever had. It was indescribable to Duncan, a type of attraction that he had never felt before. He had always found this sort of romance boring in the past, and safer because of it. It would keep him from becoming obsessed because how could he possibly with such a mediocre relationship?

What was happening between him and Isabella was something that Duncan didn’t understand but was more than happy to go along with.

They broke their fast together that morning. Their conversation pleasant and not boring. Now that they were past their bickering and no longer nervous or unsure of how to treat the other, there was no tension or strain when they spoke, and this allowed them to speak naturally for the first time. To have conversations that meant something. Slowly, day by day, Duncan was getting to know his wife properly for the first time.

When Isabella left to see her sister afterwards, Duncan gave her a kiss on the lips which she returned in kind – no sense of surprise from her that he had done such a thing. That alone lit a fire in his belly.

“Someone is in a good mood today,” Isabella giggled.

“You have no idea,” Duncan said.

As to where they went from here, that was still a question without an answer. A little too soon to tell , Duncan told himself as he watched the carriage pull out. Perhaps in a week or two, if things keep going this well.

For now, it was enough that they were able to enjoy each other’s company and the animosity that used to exist between them in droves was a thing of the past.

A smile worked its way up the side of Duncan’s face as he turned and walked back inside his manor. It came with thought of Isabella, Duncan already picturing seeing her tonight and what they were sure to do together.

But he also pictured afterwards, lying in bed as they spoke and laughed and joked as they now so often did. Her soft, naked skin nuzzled into his body for warmth. The smell of her hair. The way she played with his fingers as she spoke.

The fact that such thoughts could bring a smile to Duncan’s face was more telling than anything else. How far he had come.

The idea came to Duncan shortly before midday.

He was thinking about Isabella and this evening and what they were most likely going to do – nothing good. But he was also just thinking about her and seeing her and spending time with her. Dammit, he missed his wife.

What was more, he wanted to show her how much he did. To give her a gift, one that meant something for a change, and see that smile of hers as her eyes lit up.

Look at me, taking pleasure at the notion of making my wife happy. Who have I become?

He spent the day thinking about what to get her. More hours than he would have thought needed, or cared for, but he wanted to get her the perfect gift.

And then it came to him. He was pacing the library, deep in thought, and it appeared to him as if a candle was being lit in his mind.

Isabella had lamented how, as a woman, she was not allowed to study as a man might be. No university would accept her, and no tutor would take her. Most men did not see the point in their wife or partner wasting time with higher learning. Most men were not Duncan.

Excitement took him as he rushed to his study where he fully intended to spend the rest of the day calling in favors so that he might be able to surprise Isabella as soon as was possible. He smiled to picture the elation on her face when he told her. She is going to be thrilled!

Duncan hurried into his study and sat down, was about to reach for a piece of parchment and a quill but paused when he saw a folded letter sitting at the center of his table.

Frowning, he looked about as if expecting one of his butlers to pop up and explain where it had come from. There were no-one, so Duncan scooped up the letter himself, saw who it was from, and groaned deeply because he had wondered what might come along to ruin this blissful state of ease he had found himself in and here it was.

The letter was from Juliet, and if he knew the woman half as well as he thought he did, its contents were sure to be ruinous.