Page 96 of The Scarred Duke's Bride
He focused on her neck, looking for all the knots and doing his best to loosen them. He reveled in touching her skin, so smooth and goose-down soft beneath his fingers. He loved how she yielded to him, letting him mold her body to his heart’s delight, and encouraging him with moans of pleasure.
“I have a question,” she said.
“Please,” he breathed, “go ahead and ask.”
She took a deep breath. “I hope you don’t take this askance, but I feel that we should discuss it.”
“I am at your service, Your Grace.”
“You said to me that you were ready to separate from me because you did not feel worthy to be with me because of your scar. I know we spoke of it, but I have to admit to having a fear in my heart that something else might happen, and you will decide that because of your scar, you need to leave me again. And now, we have a child, or we will, God willing, and I need some peace of mind. I know it’s not fair to ask for a guarantee, but I suppose I need to know your thoughts on this matter.”
Eric stopped kneading her back and sat back on his haunches. “Well, well, well, when you decide to ask a question, you do not hold back.”
She laughed nervously. “Do you mind? Is it too much?”
He resumed massaging her back. “Of course not. And that is a fair question. I am the cause of your insecurity, so I’m glad you asked me.”
“Well then, would you please answer?”
He laughed, softly shaking his head. “So impatient. In any case, I want you to realize something. Even as I walked out of the room after I had told you that we would separate, I regretted it right away. But I was too much of a coward to turn around and tell you that I had changed my mind. Instead, I went and buried myself in a bottle. I didn’t even realize that you had left until my brother came to tell me that you had been hurt.” He stopped massaging with a sigh, putting his hands on his knees. “I had ample time sitting by your bed waiting for you to wake up to replay my actions over and over again with deep and unending regret. I realized that my own insecurities had almost caused me to lose you. And at that point, it was touch and go — I truly did not know if you would live or die.”
Freya reached back searching for his hand, so she could squeeze it. He got hold of her fingers and laced his own with them, holding on tight.
“It made me see the error of my ways. What is this thing on my face? Just the spoil of war. People look at it because it’s unusual; they don’t know what to make of it or me. But that has nothing to do withme. I realize that now. I realized that there are more important things than a beautiful body.”
“Youhavea beautiful body and a lovely spirit,” Freya insisted.
Eric smiled. “As long asyouthink so, that is all that matters to me.” He inclined his head to the side. “Do you have any further questions for me?”
Freya turned her head to smile sheepishly at him. “Actually, I do. I hope you don’t mind.”
Eric stopped straddling her so as to be able to turn her over. He pushed her up on the bed a little so that her head was at a steeper incline than before, before picking up her foot and beginning to massage it. “Ask your questions, my dear.”
She spent some time expressing her pleasure at his technique before getting down to business. “I know you’re worried that I shall have a girl child and thus lose Stark Manor. I feel strongly that you are ready to take that as a personal failure.”
Eric quirked an eyebrow. “Is there a question somewhere in there?”
She huffed. “I know that I have expressed my attachment to the rose garden, and that it would be a personal loss for me should we be forced to live elsewhere. No one blamed me for being worried, but I just wanted to bring up the fact that we are having a family of our own. My attachment to the rose garden stemmed from a deep loneliness and the feeling that it was an embodiment of my mother’s love. But having gone through the prospect of being without you and then discovering that what I felt for you, and you felt for me too, cemented in this child that we are having together, I realized that love is more than some roses. Whether we lived at Stark Manor or not, my mother loved me. Besides, we can always uproot the roses and take them with us.”
Eric put down one foot and picked up the other. “That’s a relief to hear, to be honest. You’re right, ithasbeen weighing on my mind, and I just so want this for you. I hate that your father imposed these conditions. I cannot imagine doing such a thing to my own children. But you’re right— the garden can be uprooted, and your mother’s love is in your heart. I will still continue to try and do everything possible to make sure you can keep Stark Manor, but I promise you that it won’t be at the expense of this new family that we are building.”
He ran his hands up and down her legs, pressing down hard to get the muscles to smoothen it out before cupping her thighs in his hands, rubbing gentle circles up and down as she widened her legs for him, breathing hard, her eyes going dark with desire.
“Are you just going to rub my flesh, or do you plan to do more?” she asked breathlessly.
He smirked. “Is this your next question, or have you been sidetracked?”
She inclined her head thoughtfully to the side. “Hmm, I’m not sure. Perhaps you should answer it while I think about it.”
“I told you…” he lifted her foot and nipped her toe, “at the beginning of this session,” he kissed her heel, “that I would leave you completely relaxed and satisfied.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Oh… so many promises.”
“Have I failed you yet?”
She pursed her lips, mock thinking about it. “No, not yet. Continue.”
He licked her heel and then licked a stripe up her inner leg to her knee. He whirled his tongue in circles against that sensitive flesh, making her cry out and moan.
