Page 36 of A Virgin for the Ton's Wolf

He waved them off and swore he could hear a sigh—or more—of relief when they were all dismissed.

“Where are they going?”

Hudson regarded the source of that plaintive complaint with a raised eyebrow.

“It is late,” he growled at her. “Even servants need to sleep.”

She pouted petulantly, and need coiled low in his gut. “I just wanted some warm milk. Maybe a bit of honey.”

“Is that all?”

She nodded. “Yes, but you have already sent the servants away?—”

He bit back a smile as she stopped in the middle of her complaint. Her eyes had gone wide as he started a fire and set a small pot over it. “You were saying, My Lady?”

“You… know how to cook?” she asked in surprise.

“Not enough for company, but a cup of warm milk should not be so hard.”

Her smooth brow wrinkled as she peered up at him, her blue eyes drinking him in. Hudson could drown in those eyes forever and he would not even complain. Hell, he might not even notice it himself.

“Are you… joking?” She blinked at him. “Youarejoking.”

Yes, he was, and it was an abomination. If Ethan heard of it, he would have declared the world about to end.

“I am not,” Hudson clarified. “I was merely stating a fact.”

“No, you were not,” she replied in a sing-song voice. “The Duke of Wolverton is joking while making me a cup of warm milk in the middle of the night. Miracles do happen!”

It would have been so easy to let himself be drawn into her smile. To let his guard down around her and enjoy the simple pleasure of her company.

“We had few servants during the war,” he explained softly. “And the poor sods were stretched far too thin to concern themselves with something like a cup of milk.”

She sat down on a low stool, still regarding him with bright-eyed curiosity. “So, you fought in the war?”

“You did not hear it in some sordid ballroom gossip?” Hudson looked at her with an arched eyebrow.

She let out a little sigh. “Sadly, no. They were much more interested in discussing your amorous pursuits.”

“You sound disappointed.”

“That is because nobody needs to hear the list of women you have ruined ad nauseam.” She rolled her eyes at him. “War exploits would have been far more interesting.”

Except there was nothing interesting about the war. Nothing that would suit the tastes of a gently bred young lady like herself, anyway.

The truth of the matter was that Hudson had not been like his peers, who enjoyed the privileges of a higher rank because of their families. While the entitled sons wasted their time drinking and carousing in their tents, he had been in the range of fire. Sometimes, when he closed his eyes, he could still hear the roar of cannons and the moans of the dying as they lay in the mud.

“Was that what Mrs. Hudgens and the others were talking about?” she asked him softly. “Your time at the war?”

Hudson pursed his lips. “Among other things.”

“What other things?”

Bloody hell, but she was a persistent little thing, and if he gave her the smallest opportunity, she would have him spilling his darkest, most gruesome secrets.

Maybe he should. Maybe that was all it would take to finally drive her away from him.

But Hudson did not want that. What he wanted was the sound of her laughter rousing him from his slumber. What he wanted was the feel of her naked legs over his.

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