Page 12 of How To Seduce A Wife

Nicholas answered her. “That won’t be necessary. You can retire for the night.”

He watched her leave and then turned back to his wife who was staring at him, one hand gripping the chair by her dressing table. What did she think he was going to do? Ravish her? Well he was, but not quite yet...

“Don’t worry, I’ll help you out of your gown.” Nicholas smiled encouragingly at his silent wife. “I’m quite competent.”

“I’m sure you are.”

Her quiet words made him want to kick himself. Alluding to his expertise at coaxing other women out of their clothes was hardly going to endear him to his wife. “Imeantthat when I was younger I used to help April dress.”

“You did?”

He shrugged. “Sometimes my father forgot to pay the bills, and we were left without many servants. We learned to make do for ourselves.”

Louisa sat down on the small couch at the bottom of her bed; her expression arrested and fixed on his face. “I never thought of you as being without every comfort a man could dream of.”

“Having a title doesn’t necessarily mean a family has wealth. My father preferred to piss away his inheritance on gambling, horses, and women.” He took the seat beside her. “As long as he could keep up appearances, he didn’t care if we were penniless or as near to it as possible. It was a good thing that he died when he did, or else we would’ve really been in the suds.”

“Which is one of the reasons why you agreed to marry me.”

Nicholas held her gaze. “That’s true. I’m glad we can speak openly of it. I would hate to think I had deceived you in any way.”

“Oh, I was not deceived.” Louisa stood up and walked across to her dressing table. She pretended to fiddle with the clasp of her bracelet. “Not at all. I knew exactly what you wanted from me.”

She jumped as he appeared in the mirror behind her and took her hand. He leaned in close to finagle the bracelet clasp open. He lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed the inside of her wrist and then the center of her palm. “Is that one of the reasons why you don’t ask me for anything?”

“I don’t understand.”

He kissed her throat and wrapped his arm around her waist, drawing her back against his chest and torso. She found herself looking at herself in the mirror, his dark head close to hers, his blue eyes intent. “You don’t ask me to buy you things; you don’t ask for jewelry, or lap dogs, or a larger dress allowance.”

She frowned at his reflection. “I have everything I need.”

His smile was full of sweetness. “I don’t believe I’ve ever heard a woman say that before. I obviously married a saint.”

“I’m not a saint, I was just brought up differently.”

“And thank God for that.” His teeth grazed her ear and settled over her earlobe, then slowly bit down. She shivered and realized she could feel the hard pulse of his arousal through the thin silk of her gown. “But what can I give you, if you want for nothing?”

“Your company?” she whispered. “Your interest?”

His mouth left her ear, and he kissed his way down her neck to her shoulder. He trailed his index finger along the edge of her bodice. “Oh, you have my interest. In truth, at dinner I wondered whether your nipples were still hard for me.” Louisa gasped as his fingertip delved beneath the silk of her bodice and past the stiff barrier of her corset. “Ah yes, they still are.”

Before she could reply, he turned her away from the mirror and sat her on the couch. He came down beside her, trapping her into the corner between his hands and his body. “I wanted to touch you, to have you sit on my lap and let me fondle you.”

“In the dining room?”

“Yes, in front of the servants. Luckily, I restrained myself and decided to bring you up here instead.”

Louisa struggled with the desire to simply lie back and let him touch her, but unfortunately, her passion for honesty wouldn’t allow it. “Why are you being like this, with me?”

“Don’t you like it?”

“That’s not the point.”

He regarded her seriously for a long moment. “Because a very good friend of mine pointed out to me today that you aren’t just my wife, but a woman.”

“I’ve always been a woman.”

“I know that, but...” he hesitated. “I fear I labeled you as ‘wife.’”

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