Page 32 of His Enemy Duchess

He held his tongue, determined to maintain some semblance of the civilized gentleman he was meant to be.

“So, you do want me to sit in silence and be seen and not heard,” Sophia remarked bitingly, moving closer to square up to him. “I wish you would make up your mind.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

His head filled with the sound of her sighs and panting breaths, his shoulder still bearing the faint mark where she had bitten him to muffle her bliss.

Wasthatwhat she meant by being seen and not heard? Surely not.

“You made one demand of me, Thomas, and I heeded it,” she replied tersely, still unable to look him in the eyes. “I am doing the duty of a duchess. I don’t know what else to do but do myduty. Yet, now you say that isnotwhat you want, though I’m starting to think that is just your nature—mercurial to the point of infuriation.”

He stared at her, trying to find a hole in her argument. He couldn’t, the weft and weave of her words too meticulous.

“Nevertheless, you should have consulted me,” he replied. “I ought to punish you for acting so brazenly, paintingmahoganywithout at least suggesting it to me first.”

Her eyes flared, and her bosom began to heave as if she could not catch her breath, her cheeks turning a tempting shade of pink. He could not ignore the momentary flicker of her gaze to his lips nor the barely perceptible bob in her throat.

What sweet punishment it would be, Sophia. You do not know half of it.

“It needed a woman’s touch,” she said defiantly, a moment later. “I will not be sorry for it.”

Thomas folded his arms behind his back to prevent her from feeling a man’s touch again, though the thought of being touched by her was not an easy one to rid himself of. If he didn’t leave that room quickly, there was no telling whathemight suggest.

“It was fine as it was,” he grumbled. “But I suppose it looks brighter. I’ll assess the other rooms you have violated and givemy opinions. Do not expect them to be favorable, even though I won’t ask you to undo what you have done.”

He left her standing there, no longer able to trust that his years of discipline were strong enough to overcome the temptation that was his wife. Especially not with heady paint fumes in the air fogging up his already hazy mind.

“I found that statuette you wanted!” the maid, Penny Wright, declared excitedly, bursting into the drawing room with a miniature marble figure of Persephone and Hades entwined in her arms.

The cheer faded from her face as she met Sophia’s gloomy eyes, where she sat on the floor beneath the newly hung mirror.

“You might as well put it back where it came from,” Sophia said, hugging her knees to her chest. “Mr. High-and-Mighty finally came out of his cave. He hates everything I’ve done. Even if he liked it, I’m certain he would have said he hated it. The wretch just wants me to be bored and miserable, adding nothing to a house, a home, that ismeantto be mine too now.”

Penny walked over and joined her mistress on the floor, setting the statuette between them. “Is there a reason we’re on the floor, Your Grace?”

“To look at everything in all its glory before I am forced to change it back,” Sophia replied tightly. “He said he wouldn’t make me undo it, but who knows with him—tomorrow, he may insist upon it.”

Penny nodded slowly. “I was worried that might happen.”

“And you didn’t think to mention it?” Sophia sighed, not in the least bit angry with the maid but with herself, for thinking that what happened in the library might change anything between her and her absent husband.

Penny grimaced. “Ihopedhe wouldn’t mind, but he is… very particular about the manor and the estate. I hear he has always been this way, as was his father before him. The sort of gentleman who wants everything in its place and is wary of change of any kind.” She paused, tilting her head. “So, if he has said he won’t make you undo anything, then—if I may—I’d call that progress.”

“Ifhe means it,” Sophia reminded her.

“With respect, Your Grace, he wouldn’t say it if he didn’t mean it. He definitely isn’tthatsort of gentleman.”

Staring up at the lovely forest landscape, where weeping willows trailed delicate fingertips across a glimmering pool bursting with life—leaping fish, hungry frogs, jewel-hued dragonflies—Sophia felt a weird pull in her stomach. A similar sensation to the one that had seized her half a second before Thomas kissed her ‘properly.’

“It’s better than the portrait, isn’t it?” she whispered.

Penny hid a laugh behind her hand. “Undoubtedly.”

“And you really think he won’t make me change it?”

“Again, undoubtedly.” Penny smiled. “Considering that the rest of the family are due to arrive soon and he has not summoned a team to return the room to how it was already, I am certain he will leave it as it is.”

Sophia’s head whipped around to face the maid. “His family is due to arrive soon? Whatever do you mean?” Panic struck her like a javelin through the chest. “We are supposed to be on our honeymoon. A month without anyone disturbing us.”

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