Page 62 of Tamed By her Duke

In an instant, the roaring was back. Apparently, he hadmanypeople to bludgeon back in London, if Grace was this surprised that someone might defend her. Caleb was not the first to have been duty-bound to do so, but it seemed that he was the first to make good on that duty.

“Aye,” he said shortly.

She worried her lip between her teeth. “But—you must understand; anyone behind such a convoluted scheme would have to be very well-connected, very powerful—very rich.”

“And what of it?” Caleb scoffed. “I’ll admit I’m nae terribly well-connected, but I’ve power and money,leannan. I’ll see it done.”

“But—”

“Did I not just tell ye to stop arguing?” he said crossly. “Ye’re my duchess—ye’re my wife. I will protect ye, Grace, whether ye like it or not. Do ye hear me?”

Caleb hoped that his words would be enough to put any such arguments to rest. He was not necessarilyconfidentin this hope; his little wife was far more argumentative than was good for her. But certainly not even she, the quarrelsome little minx, would have to see that he was not just presenting her with the right option—it was theonlyoption. This threat could not be permitted to remain.

But Grace was Grace, so he was steeling himself for argument. This meant, however, that he was prepared for a verbal parry, not a physical one.

Which meant, in turn, that he was knocked soundly back in his chair when his wife launched herself into his lap, threw her arms exuberantly around his neck, and began kissing him soundly.

In the frozen beat after Grace had tossed herself bodily upon her husband, she decided that if he tried to dump her off him again, after saying all those lovely things, she was going to knee him in his sensitive parts.

She’d seen the aftereffects of such a blow that time when Noel Packard had been butted between the legs by a particularly vicious goat. Noel had whined about the pain for days. It had been one of the best forms of entertainment Grace had experienced in all her years at the mill.

Fortunately, after a breath—which Grace determined was permissible, given the surprise of it—Caleb’s lips opened beneath hers as he kissed her back.

Good, she thought smugly. And then, as he drew up a hand to cup her beneath her bottom, using the leverage to pull her tighter against him,Very good.

“For feck’s sake, woman,” he grumbled against her mouth, “can ye never do as I expect ye to do?”

Grace responded with more kissing. She knew her husband’s complaints by now and recognized that this one was halfhearted at best.

She was gearing up to properly commit to the kissing—it really wasso nice; no wonder her friends always looked like such saps when they looked at their husbands—when something occurred to her.

“Wait,” she said, sitting bolt upright. Caleb’s grunt objected to this. “You saidyou’regoing to London.”

His scowl was profound.

“I also said I’mnaegoing to argue about it, Grace?—”

“No, no, not that,” she said dismissively. His fingers clenched against her bum, which she enjoyed quite a bit. “I meant—I want to come with you.”

His eyes narrowed and he got a stubborn look about him, so she kissed the look away and then—though it was a challenge—forced herself to pull back before she got carried away again.

“I’m coming with you,” she said sharply.

“Oh, aye,fine,” Caleb said. He sounded exasperated and seemed very much a man who was giving in merely to humor her, so that they could return to more enjoyable activities.

Grace didn’t care. Being humored was just another way of getting what she wanted, as far as she was concerned.

And besides—she wanted to get back to the enjoyable bits, too.

She did, it was true, get abittwitchy with nerves when she felt Caleb grow hard beneath her.

“I…” she said, not sure what she wanted to say from there. She didn’t exactly want to remove herself from his lap but remaining felt rather dangerous, though that danger was laced with excitement, not fear.

Caleb’s arms around her tightened, taking the decision out of her hands.

“Hush,” he told her, voice gently chiding. “There’s naught to say, aye?”

“Yes, all right,” she breathed, letting herself relax against him as he kissed her way down the column of her throat. He was fully dressed while she was only in her dressing gown; when he tugged at the tie that held the garment closed, cool air rushed in, and her nipples pebbled against the fine material of her nightgown.

---