Page 60 of The Duke's Inconvenient Bride
“A gift?” George sounded excited. “Can I open it?”
Mrs. Taylor checked with Emma, who readily agreed.
“Go ahead,” Mrs. Taylor said.
George took the basket and looked inside. “There are biscuits!”
“Make sure to save some for your brother and father,” Mrs. Taylor warned.
George dug one out and then noticed the small wooden carriage with turning wheels.
He grabbed it with a cry of glee and held it up for his mother to see. “Look, it’s a carriage.”
“That’s very kind.” Mrs. Taylor took the basket from him now that he was apparently uninterested in whatever remained inside. “What do you say, George?”
“Thank you!” He took a bite of the biscuit and knelt on the ground, running the carriage back and forth over the packed earth.
“Let me get you that tea,” Mrs. Taylor said, guiding them inside.
Several hours later, they’d visited all of the tenant farmers, and Vaughan had a whole new appreciation for his wife. She’d charmed every person she’d met. Some of them too much. He hadn’t liked the way the older Taylor boy had looked at her when he’d returned from the fields.
Emma might not be as vivacious as her sister, but she was genuinely kind, and people sensed that and responded to it.
Nothing had prepared him for how it would feel to see her holding the Wolseley’s baby girl, her expression soft as she clasped the baby against her. His chest had tightened, and he’dbeen seized by the longing to see her cradling their child. He could already tell she would be a loving mother. Nurturing.
She’d give their children the love and affection he’d never received from his own.
It was growing more difficult to remember that he wasn’t supposed to desire her or to be filled with satisfaction at the knowledge that she was his. Arthur Taylor could look all he wanted, but the duchess would never be for him.
He gritted his teeth. That was precisely why he needed to put distance between them as soon as she was pregnant. He’d visit occasionally—mostly to spend time with his child—but that was it. He could not afford to be enamored with his wife. No matter how pretty her eyes or how serene she’d looked holding a baby.
Vaughan paced around his room. Dinner had come and gone, and he needed to go to Emma in her chamber, but he feared that his infatuation with her wouldn’t let him maintain the emotional disconnection required for his peace of mind.
He loosened his cravat and tossed it on the bed, then unbuttoned his shirt down to his navel. However uneasy he was, he couldn’t stay away from her. She drew him like a magnet, and even if he’d been strong enough to resist, he needed an heir. One did not obtain an heir without engaging in sexual intercourse.
Therefore, he had to go to her. His duty mandated it.
His lips curled. Ah yes, duty was the sole reason he wished to strip Emma Stanhope naked.
Groaning, he marched over to the connecting door between their rooms and knocked.
CHAPTER 15
Emma openedthe door almost immediately, as if she’d been waiting on the other side. She tilted her face toward his, her cheeks pinkening.
Dear God, did she have to be so damn gorgeous?
“Your Grace,” she murmured.
“Vaughan,” he said, unable to tear his gaze from her. She’d once again dressed in a barely there nightgown that had been designed to drive a man crazy. The nearly translucent fabric skimmed her curves and stopped at her knees, displaying shapely calves. But it was her nipples that most captivated him as they puckered and peaked.
“Vaughan,” she repeated. The word shot straight to his cock. “Won’t you come in?”
He ground his back teeth together. Damn, she had no idea what he wanted to do with her when she said things like that so innocently.
He stepped inside and cupped her face in his hands. She went languid in his arms, melting into his embrace. The silk of her nightgown slid over his exposed chest, and he shuddered from the exquisite sensation.
She gazed up at him, her eyes dark pools of blue, her lips parted so temptingly. What a pretty picture she painted. He could tell she wanted him, even if she herself didn’t understand it.
