Page 23 of How To Seduce A Wife

With a deep satisfied groan, Nicholas collapsed over her, his breathing as erratic as her own, his heartbeat slowing and finally returning to normal.

“Nicholas?”

“Hmm...?”

“Whenever I dreamed about the pirate captain, he always had your face. I always hoped...”

He rolled off her and lay beside her, his blue gaze fixed on hers. “Hoped what?”

“That you’d be my hero. In bed or out of it.”

His mouth curved in his generous smile. “I’m glad to have been of service, my lady.” He brushed the corner of her mouth with his fingertip. “And I’m also glad that you told me about that blasted book.”

She wanted to blush but had neither the energy nor the necessary shame left to try. “There is another book that I love almost as well as this one.”

He came up on one elbow and looked down at her. “There’s another one?”

She smiled into his eyes, finally confident that if he was willing to go this far to please her, he would be willing to continue entertaining her deepest fantasies. “Well, there is this knight who returns from the Crusade. . .”

He placed his finger over her lips. “Perhaps you could tell Madame Helene about it. I’m sure she’d love to help you.”

Louisa sat up, wincing as her body protested. “You asked Madame Helene to help you organize all this?”

Nicholas shrugged. “That is her business, to provide opportunities for her guests to enjoy their most erotic fantasies.”

“Did you come here earlier this week, then?”

“I did.”

Louisa smiled at him. “That explains why April was so concerned about me the other day. She must have heard the rumors that you were out on the prowl again.”

His brows drew together as he glared down at her. “And you assumed I would do that?”

“I was told that every man eventually takes a mistress, and that I should be grateful you intended to spare me the worst of your bestial nature.”

“April never said that load of ridiculous drivel, did she?”

“No, that was my mother. April just assured me that it was not my fault, and that when I had provided you with an heir or two, I should take a lover of my own.”

Louisa gasped as Nicholas brought her back down onto the bed and loomed over her. “You will not take a lover.”

“If you will not take a mistress.”

“I have no intention of taking a mistress. I saw what havoc and humiliation that caused my mother and sister. I have no desire to do that to my own wife!”

His biting words no longer scared her. She wrapped a hand around his neck and kissed his nose. “I’m glad to hear it.”

He kissed her and his voice sounded gruff. “Then you believe me?”

A warm sensation coalesced in the region of her heart. “Why would I not? You’ve stooped to reading and acting out a gothic novel in a sexual pleasure house just to show me how happy you intend to keep me in bed. What else could a man do to show that he cares?”

“What indeed?” He moved away from her and handed her the remnants of her shift. “You might want to cover yourself before you move away from the bed.”

She studied the ruined garment. “Why is that?”

He grinned as he stood up stark-naked and bowed toward the other end of the room. “Did I forget to mention that these rooms are sometimes opened to the other guests? I wonder if they enjoyed it as much as we did?”

Louisa stared at him open mouthed. Was he telling her the truth? She grabbed the sheet from the bed and hastily wrapped it around her. Nicholas offered her his hand to help her crawl off the bed, and Louisa buried her face in Nicholas’s chest.

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