Page 17 of The Duke and the Temporary Bride

Did he want to share a room with her? Was he pleased that she had implied as much? And if so, why is he still turned away from her? If he wanted her as his wife, surely he should turn around and take her?

“I suppose that it might be best if we do,” she added eventually. “At least at first, so that if we have visitors?—”

“You are not going to stop talking, are you?”

She chuckled softly. “I am having trouble sleeping.”

“As am I.”

“Sorry about that,” she murmured. “But I have a habit of talking when nervous, and I do not do well with long silences. Which I suppose paints quite the picture for—oh!”

The Duke shifted suddenly. His lumbering frame lifted itself, turned, and before she knew it, he was facing her. What was more, he had moved closer, half a foot away at most. It was still too dark to make out his face clearly, but through the shadows, she could see his eyes sparkling as he watched her.

She inhaled sharply, suppressing the desire to shift closer. Really, she assumed that he had turned to silence her, doing as he had done before and bearing down on her in a demonstration of raw aggression and power.

“You are not going to stop talking, are you?” he growled.

“I—would that be such a bad thing?” she asked warily, hopefully, trying to meet his eyes through the darkness.

“I am trying to sleep. As should you be.”

“I am doing my best.”

“Do better.”

Her heart rate spiked. That deep, commanding growl struck her right in the chest, and she braced herself, certain that the monster was going to roar. After everything she had seen and heard of her husband, the fact that he had taken this long was what surprised her the most.

Only… nothing.

She narrowed her eyes as she tried to see him through the darkness, her stomach sinking when she realized that his eyes were closed. He was sleeping! At least he was trying to.

Selina thought to speak again, a final attempt to provoke his anger, but a voice in the back of her head curbed that notion. She listened carefully, hearing him snoring softly, and despite her deepest, darkest desires, she did not want to anger him. Only annoy him, as if that was the key to unlocking his lust. And her own, for that matter.

She frowned as she gently shifted, trying again to get comfortable. Confusion reigned, for she knew that being bedded by the Duke was the last thing she should want, while also unable to heed that notion because dammit if she wasn’t feeling things that she never had before.

Her husband… he was not who she had thought him to be. Nor was she, for that matter. One day in and already this marriage was proving revealing in ways previously thought unimaginable.

What might tomorrow bring? That was as terrifying as it was exciting.

Chapter Five

Benedict woke up in a state of comfort that he did not think possible. The kind that he never wanted to be pulled from. Eyes closed, the sun gently warming his face, it took him a moment to understand why it was that he felt so at peace with the world…

His eyes shot open when he realized that his arm was wrapped around Selina as she slept. Frozen in shock, he was careful not to move for fear of waking her.

He could feel the rise and fall of her chest as she slept soundly. Her hair was in his face, and its scent was intoxicating. She wore a thin nightgown, and through it, he could feel the soft curves of her body pressed against his own. She wiggled her hips slightly as she slept, her buttocks rubbing against his crotch, and his manhood stiffened.

It would be so easy to take her. Right here. Right now. What is more, I know that she wants it…

Oh, how he wanted it too.

He clenched his jaw as he resisted the urge to turn her over and climb on top. He squeezed his eyes shut and slowed his breathing, knowing that no good could come from it.

She did not want him.How could she?He was a burned beast, an animal, and to her mind, he had kidnapped her and forced her into this marriage.

It was wrong to even consider taking her right here and now, and if he tried, he would just prove her right—that he was an animal with no control, that did not care one bit about her…

Somehow, he pulled back, and the moment he did, she stifled a yawn and stirred.

---