Page 23 of A Bride for the Rakish Duke

“Everything does, according to?—”

He added a bit more pressure to his touch. “Listen. Not a word until I am done, or I shall use my lips to silence you next time.”

She blinked furiously, holding her tongue.

“It will not cost you much,” he carried on, “just the adherence to three simple rules. One, you will not flirt with any gentleman other than myself when we are in public. That includes dancing, smiling, laughing, teasing—all the things you do so well. In private, waltz all you like, tease until you drive a man to madness, it matters not.”

I will drive youto a different sort of madness.

She fumed in silence. Who did he think he was, silencing her at all? And what on earth was wrong with her that she felt all hot and tingly at such an intrusive touch?

“Two, if you do desire to take a lover at some point, you must be discreet and cautious. Any children you bring into this world should be mine and mine alone,” he said, his thumb lightly brushing her jaw in a manner that seemed accidental.

She could not be quiet at that. Shewouldnot. She was appalled by the very suggestion.

“I do not know what your experience of marriage is, Will, but I would not sully myself with an affair! It is… reprehensible! Why make a commitment at all if you are simply going to look elsewhere?”

He smiled slyly. “Forever is a long time, Lydia. Do not be foolish. We will grow bored of one another and seek attention from others. I hate to disappoint you if you believe otherwise, but it is simply how it is. It is better to become friends and have an understanding about these things, devoid of petty concerns like jealousy.”

“You are merely saying this so thatyoumay have as many affairs as you please.” She could see straight through him. “Indeed, this rule is naught but a trick, for how could I even hope to find a lover if I am not permitted to dance or flirt with other men?”

Will shrugged and drew his fingertips away. “Howyou find a lover is none of my concern. My concern is with the discretion.”

“So much for romance,” Lydia scoffed, but he did not smile at that.

He sat back. “I never promised you romance. I told you, no expectations. If you thought me insincere in that regard, that is your fault. I was quite clear.”

“As clear as mud,” Lydia muttered, for his words and his actions were becoming a messy confusion in her mind.

In one moment, he told her to have no expectations, but in the next, he was waltzing her about the room as if no one was watching. He told her to take a lover but have no children that were not his, as if that was something she could control.

He said she would have freedom, yet he had barged into her room without permission, his knock on the door more of a vague courtesy. And how could freedom be true freedom if it came with provisos?

“And what is rule number three?” she asked coldly. “Let me guess, every morning I am to eat toast and marmalade, but I am not, under any circumstances, to swallow even a crumb of the bread. Or… I am to sleep but never rest. I am to write letters of appreciation without using a drop of ink. I am to take a walk in the fresh air every afternoon, but I must not leave the confines of the manor.”

He arched an eyebrow. “Are you finished?”

“Goodness, no. I can do this all night.”

“Three,” he said, ignoring her. “You are never, ever to listen to the Dowager Duchess.”

If shehadrattled off guesses all night, she would never have struck upon the correct answer.

“Because she embarrassed you?”

Lydia could not imagine her own mother behaving in the same fashion as Will’s mother, but nor could she imagine herself holding a grudge if her mother happened to imbibe a little too much.

Will’s eyes flashed. “Because it is my rule.”

“Eliza has been embarrassing Marina for years, but she would never forbid us from listening to her. Indeed, if several people I know didnotlisten to Eliza, they would not be happily married.” Lydia flashed a sarcastic smile. “Perhaps I should have spoken with her myself.”

Will slid his hand across the bed and caught hold of her wrist. “If you do not obey the rules, there will be consequences.”

“You will take away my freedom?” She laughed bitingly. “This is not freedom, Will. I should have trusted my sister’s judgment and run away, after all, because I will not sit here in your house,living my life as your puppet, following your ridiculous rules. I would rather be scorned.”

He moved closer, raising her hand. Turning his head, he pressed a kiss to her wrist before returning his powerful gaze to hers. “But you are different from your sister,” he whispered, his breath tickling her skin. “You enjoy being told what to do every now and then. You like being led. I know you do, kitten.”

“You do not know what you are—” A soft gasp severed her sentence as his other hand gripped her thigh above the coverlets.

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