Page 56 of The Duke and the Unwanted Bride

He grimaced. “Good point. But tomorrow, I am going to instruct Miss Temperton to take her out or distract her until at least noon. Because…” He shuffled forward, wrapped his arm around her, and pulled her back to him as he began to kiss down her shoulder. “Once a morning is simply not enough.”

“And in the evening,” Hannah pointed out as goosebumps erupted wherever he placed a kiss.

“Still not enough,” he growled.

The two fell back into bed together, and Hannah laughed. “I could not agree more.”

He was saying all the right things. Dammit, he was doing all the right things. This past week had been nothing short of amazing, and if their marriage continued this way, then Hannah was certain that a lifetime of happiness was what awaited her. And yet…

He refused to finish inside her. The only reason she could think of was that he did not wish to have children. And while Hannah had not really considered such a thing before now, the more she had thought about it lately, the more she came to realize that if she wanted a happy marriage, if she wished to spend the rest ofher life with a man she was falling for, why should they not have children together? Was that not the entire point of marriage in the first place? And if Frederick did not want such a thing, did that mean he didn’t see this relationship as she saw it?

Troubling thoughts. Hannah knew that soon, she would need to mention them. Only how she would do so without ruining what they had… that was an answer she had yet to find.

“Amelia!” Frederick called after his daughter. “Don’t go too far! Amelia!”

“Oh, let her run.” Hannah laughed. “She will be fine.”

“It is not Amelia whom I worry for…” Frederick’s lips were pressed together, the concern evident on his visage. “It is everyone else who concerns me.”

“What could possibly happen?” Hannah sighed.

“That is a question I would rather not find the answer to—Amelia!” Frederick grimaced as he watched his daughter disappear in the crowd. “I do not wish to point fingers, but ever since you came along, she has become more and more unruly.”

“Oh, you do not wish to point fingers?” Hannah snorted.

“I am just saying…”

“I know what you are saying.” Hannah pulled her hand back and crossed her arms as she looked away, as if upset. “I am a bad influence.”

“Are you not?” He chuckled.

She fixed him with a warning glare. “I would watch what you say next, husband.”

He grinned. “Until you came along, I will remind you that my daughter was nothing but obedient and proper and exactly the type of young lady that any father would be proud to call his own.”

“And now?”

“She is already starting to take after you… the bad influence that you are.”

“I am not a bad influence!”

He took her hand and pulled her to him, wrapping his big arms around her as she feigned trying to pull away. “And I have not even gotten to the terrible influence you have had on me,” he growled in her ear, an act that had her shivering in only the best of ways. “That is a conversation for another time.”

She rolled her eyes, letting him squeeze her tighter. “And what about me? And the terrible influence you have had on me. Before we met, I was?—”

“Amelia!” Frederick called out suddenly, for his eyes had drifted over her shoulder, again landing on his daughter. “What did I—come back here!”

Hannah sighed. “Go after her, then.”

He grimaced. “You will be alright on your own for a moment?”

She laughed. “I am sure I will manage. Now, go…” She slipped from his arms and shooed him away. “I am already getting sick of you.”

He leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. “I will be back in a moment.”

A loving look was shared between them, that sense that he had no desire whatsoever to part ways. But then he looked over her shoulder again, his face dropped, and he was quick to hurry after his daughter.

Hannah laughed as she watched him go, finding the whole thing terribly amusing. As strong and brave as Frederick was, when it came to his daughter, he was worse than an overbearing mother who thought the world might end if her daughter so much as scraped her knees.

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