Page 3 of How To Seduce A Wife

“I thought, Ihoped,that when we were alone together we would become closer and more intimate.”

“You wish me to spend more time with you?” She nodded. “I can do that. I assumed that like most ladies of my acquaintance you wouldn’t want me around interfering with your social life.”

“It’s not just that.” She wrapped her arms around her drawn-up knees and leaned back against the headboard, her long braid hung over her right shoulder. She smoothed the sheets with one hand, her slight northern accent more apparent than usual. “After the way you kissed me during our courtship I thought that being bedded by you would be wonderful.”

For a second he struggled to find words. He was a renowned lover! Women fought over the right to share his bed or to be seen in his company. He opened his mouth and then shut it again, and finally forced out: “I beg your pardon?”

Louisa sighed. “I knew you wouldn’t want to hear that. My mother was right. Men are definitely more fragile than women.”

“What exactly were you expecting to happen in our marital bed, my lady?”

“I expected pleasure.” She raised her head and met his heated gaze. “Was I wrong to expect that?”

“And how am I supposed to give you pleasure when all your attention is fixed on that damned book?”

“That is hardly fair. I only started reading the book tonight. I hoped it would help ready me for your appearance.”

“So that you could imagine the pirate hero in my place?”

“Perhaps.”

He held her gaze, his own frosty. “Am I so inadequate as a lover, then, ma’am?”

She regarded him seriously. “I don’t know. Are you?”

He got off the bed and retrieved his dressing gown, took his time putting it on and tying the sash. “Perhaps I was trying to be considerate, ma’am. Perhaps I assumed that as a young untried lady you would appreciate myrestraint.”

She swallowed hard and then lifted her chin at him. “If you are suggesting it is my fault, I accept that. I do not have the experience you do, that is true. I do not know how to please a man.”

He stared at her and then bowed. “Good night, ma’am. I’ll leave you to your pirate.”

She nodded back at him, her back as straight as the queen’s and her expression just as serene. “I knew you’d react like this. My mother was right.”

He headed for the door. “And how nice for you that your mother is always right. It must be such a great comfort.”

“No.” He turned around and saw her hastily wiping away a tear “It isn’t. Good night, my lord.”

Nicholas placed his palm on the dressing room door and stared at the ornately carved panel. He was acting like a fool, running away like a cockerel that had lost a fight. Louisa was his wife. He owed it to both of them to try to resolve this issue. With a soft curse he turned back, only to see his wife resettle herself in bed with the damned book.

He wrenched open the door and allowed it to slam shut behind him. He hoped it made her jump and lose her place.

* * *

Louisa wincedas the door shut with a definite bang. She should never have started that conversation. Apparently, her mother was right about men being fragile little flowers where matters of their sexual prowess were concerned. Nicholas was furious with her. But at least he’d shown her some emotion other than his usual smiling politeness. Although she’d been slightly afraid, she’d almost enjoyed the experience. She’d half-hoped that he would take her back into his arms and make love to her with all the dash and daring of the pirate hero.

But it was not to be. Louisa put her book down and pulled up the sheets. Between her thighs she was both sore and wet from Nicholas’s five-minute possession of her body. She curled up into a ball. Before their marriage she’d heard so many erotic rumors about him that the prospect of being his wife had half-terrified her. She hadn’t expected to be reduced to reading gothic romance novels simply to endure his regular weekly appearances in her bed.

There had to be something more... Louisa blinked away a few tears and stared up at the silver and blue canopy above her bed. Would he stay away from her now for good, or would he display the good sense she knew he had and think about what she’d said and how to resolve it? One never knew with a man, particularly a husband. They were peculiar creatures, but she’d hoped for so much more with Nicholas.

When she’d met him, he’d seemed like the embodiment of all her dreams and longings, and he’d liked her back. Or so she had thought until they were married and he treated her with all the warm politeness of a distant acquaintance. She knew he’d married her for her money, she wasn’t that naive, but she’d also thought there had been something between them...

Maybe Nicholas was right and she was too inexperienced to know what she wanted after all.

With a determined sigh, Louisa closed her eyes. At least she’d told him what was wrong. How he reacted to her comments was now up to him. If he chose to ignore her pleas, what would he do next? Send her away to the countryside and set up a mistress in Town?

Louisa clutched at the sheets and whispered a prayer. Surely he wouldn’t go that far. He had always treated her with the greatest of respect both in public and in private. She swallowed down a sudden urge to cry. Perhaps she was naive but she didn’t want to be respected in bed. She wanted to be loved...

CHAPTER TWO

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