Page 43 of The Duke and the Temporary Bride

He looked at her flatly. “I assure you it is business only…” A grin spread up the non-scarred side of his face. “Unless they lie to me, in which case I may have to savage them as I am known to do.”

“Let us hope it does not come to that.” She giggled as she tore a piece of the scone and popped it in her mouth.

“After that, it is all work, I am afraid. If you do not see me, that’s because I’ll be locked away in my study, filling out paperwork until my eyeballs begin to bleed.”

She swallowed. “Sounds painful.”

“For my hand.” He laughed. “But it must be done. I hope you will be fine on your own. I know how bored you tend to get when there is nobody about to entertain you.”

“You would think so, but I have become rather accustomed to entertaining myself. You see, I have a husband who is constantly at pains to avoid me, so it is a state of being I am used to.”

“Naturally.”

“So do not worry about me, dear husband,” she continued pleasantly. “I am perfectly capable of filling out my day.”

“Thank God, for I would have surely worried.”

“So typical of you.” She tore another chunk of her scone and popped it in her mouth, her eyes flashing wickedly as she swallowed.

He chuckled deeply. “Tomorrow, however—I do not want to excite you or get your hopes up, but my schedule will be empty. Which means…” he trailed off and looked at her expectantly. She motioned for him to continue. “We might spend the day together.”

“Oh my. How did I get so lucky!”

“It will likely be boring,” he added. “And by the end, I know you will yearn for your own company once more. But if you humor me, I would greatly appreciate it.”

She pretended to consider, again picking at her scone. “I suppose it will not be too much of an inconvenience. And tonight? Will I be eating on my own?”

“I would not dream of it.”

“So, a day spent by myself, and then I must put up with you for supper.” She popped the final piece of scone in her mouth, chewed for a moment, and then swallowed. “I suppose that will not be nearly so bad. Bearable, is my meaning.”

He laughed. “So very gracious of you.”

“Unlike you, dear husband, I am a delight.”

“Unlike me, lovely wife, who is a terror.”

Their banter, for how effortless and jovial it seemed, had not come naturally but had been worked on over the past three days.

It started with that first supper, a means to test the other out and prove that they could converse without descending into argument.

They spent the following day together, going for a walk across the estate, spending the afternoon reading in the garden, and then having supper together, by which point they had begun to figure out each other’s personalities.

Since then, Selina and Benedict had fallen into a pattern that, to the untrained eye, might suggest a happy marriage between two souls who had been together for an age and were now the best of friends while still very much in love. Obviously, nothing could be further from the truth.

We are good friends, and that is all we are.

It was a friendship that had caught Selina by surprise but was not at all unwelcome. Friends only… which, it seemed, Benedict was happy with. For if not, surely he would have said something? Or rather,donesomething…

“Well, I am off. I will see you this evening?”

Benedict rose from the table and stretched his arms above his head. As he did, Selina could not help but sneak a glance at his waist… and further south, at his belt, which led her to stare at the noticeable bulge in his pants. Her mind flashed to when that bulge was in her hand and she was stroking it ever so gently…

Selina tore her eyes away and gave her head a shake. They were just friends, and friends did not stare at one another like that. Nor did they imagine the noises that the other made when their hand was wrapped firmly around what was a rather impressive girth?—

“Right here,” Selina said a little too loudly as she pointed down the table, forcing her mind back to the conversation at hand. “And you, right there.” She pointed at the head of the table.

Benedict laughed and shook his head. But before he turned to leave, he came for her as if it was automatic. Selina frowned as he leaned toward her, and before he could stop himself, or she could say anything, he kissed her on the forehead.

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