Page 11 of How To Seduce A Wife

His gaze followed his fingers, slid to her shoulder and to the swell of her breasts below. She tensed as his fingertips disappeared below the water and followed the curve of her generous bosom.

“It occurred to me today that I’ve never seen you naked.”

“Are you sure?”

“Oh, I’m quite sure.” His whole hand vanished beneath the clouded water and he weighed her breast in his palm. “I’m sure I’d remember your breasts.”

“My breasts?” Goodness, it was hard for her to even say the word. Her mother would be horrified. She hunched her shoulders forward. “I’ve probably tried to keep them hidden. My mother always said they were vulgar.”

“Vulgar?” She watched in fascination as he leaned closer and kissed the upper part of her breast. “How absurd.” He whispered the words against her skin, the faint brush of his unshaven jaw making her tremble. His thumb moved upward and stroked over her already tight nipple, and she jumped. He did it again and then brought her whole breast higher in the water and settled his mouth over her nipple.

“Oh!” Louisa gasped and grabbed frantically at the back of his head, her fingers tangling into his thick brown hair and clinging on. “Oh, my goodness.”

She forgot to say anything else as he cupped her other breast in his hand and played with that nipple, too. When he transferred his mouth from one breast to the other, she moaned his name and hung on to him even tighter. Heat gathered low in her belly, and she pressed her thighs together to assuage the unaccustomed ache. She wanted more, she wanted something... but what exactly was it, and how on earth was she supposed to ask for it?

When he finally raised his head, his eyes were narrowed, his breathing as erratic as hers. He kissed her mouth then, his tongue delving deep, demanding a response, which she willingly offered him. The rattle of a coal scuttle made him pause and glance behind him. He kissed the top of her head.

“My valet will be looking for me. I have to go. I’ll see you at dinner.”

“Yes.” That was all she could manage before he smiled and walked away from her, leaving her in a state of anticipation—for what? For more of his kisses? She touched her breasts and shuddered at her sensitive nipples. He’d kissed her there and made her feel beautiful. She got out of the bath and wrapped herself in a big drying cloth. Apparently her mother was wrong about something else as well. It seemed some men did like large breasts after all.

CHAPTER FOUR

Nicholas watched Louisa through the candelabra placed on the table between them. Her skin was flushed, her color high, and there was a dreamy look in her eyes that made him confident that his foray into the dressing room hadn’t shocked her too badly after all. His cock swelled at the thought of her nipples in his mouth, how she’d gasped for him, how much he’d wanted to slide his mouth and fingers lower and taste her core. Were her nipples still hard from his mouth, and was she wet for him? He wanted to pull her onto his lap and find out.

“Did you have a good day, my lord?”

Her hesitant question made him blink, and he hastily refocused his attention on her face. “Yes, my dear, I had an excellent day. How about you?”

She made a face. “I saw my mother, of course, and your sister.”

“And how were they? Both as charming as ever?”

She sighed. “Well your sister was charming. My mother was... her usual self.”

“Perhaps you shouldn’t visit her quite so frequently.” He said it gently. The last thing he wanted was to find himself at odds with her over her blasted mother. “She depends on you rather too much I fear.”

“You’re right, but what am I to do?”

“Tell her you’re busy.”

“She’s my mother, my lord.”

He reached across the table and took her hand. “And I’m your husband, and I want you at home more. Tell your mother that. She won’t argue.”

Louisa’s smile was hopeful. “She’d certainly understand if you started issuing commands to me like my father does—and she’d tell me to obey you.”

“Exactly.” He squeezed her fingers and stood up. “Now come to bed.”

Louisa glanced over her shoulder at the lone footman stationed by the door. Her attitude to the servants still surprised him. Having grown up in large, sometimes well-staffed houses, he tended not to give his servants much thought. Louisa still struggled to forget that they were constantly surrounded by people and thus rarely alone.

He tugged at her hand. “Come on. It’s our house, we can go to bed whenever we like, and I think it’s time to begin your seduction, don’t you? We’ve wasted quite enough of our marriage already.”

He led her upstairs, and rather than bidding her his usual punctilious good night at her door, followed her in. She glanced back at him, her brown eyes wide, and a wary question in their depths. Nicholas nodded at Polly, who had risen from her seat by the fire and dropped her piece of mending.

“Good evening, Polly.”

Polly curtsied and awkwardly scooped up the lace-edged petticoat that had fluttered to the floor. “Good evening, my lord. Shall I come back later, my lady?”

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