Page 29 of The Scarred Duke's Bride
“You may not sit with me!” she called. “Find your own way back.”
He laughed, shaking his head, and opened the door. He leaped up into the carriage and sat opposite her. “I will forgive your unreasonableness because you’re clearly jug bitten, but behave yourself, or else, I shall have to put you over my knee.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “You like to spank me too much.”
He quirked an eyebrow. “I beg your pardon?”
“Yes! You do it a lot. You are always threatening me with a beating…”
“Alwaysthreatening?” he asked in disbelief. “I have never threatened you before in my life.”
“Humph.” She crossed her arms and stared out of the window, determined not to look at him again for the entire length of the journey. She heard him chuckle but did not deign to look at him. Even as she sulked in her corner, she could not help but be impressed by how strong he was and how effortlessly he had carried her.
ChapterFourteen
Freya slept like the dead after all the wine she’d imbibed, but Eric found it a lot harder to get to sleep. For one thing, her lady’s maid had dressed her in a lacy bit of lingerie, clearly intended to tempt her husband into bed, and then combed her long auburn mane, so it lay around her like a sparkling halo.
The chambers were warm enough that she’d kicked off her covers in her sleep, her bottom sticking out as she slept on her stomach. He lay next to her, his body aroused, his hand itching to curl along the soft curves of her buttocks. At last, it got too much to resist, and he grabbed his own erection, his eyes on her figure, and began to pump it desperately, needing to obtain some relief.
He put his fist in his mouth so as not to make a noise as he pumped up and down, groaning deep in his throat. It didn’t take long to achieve completion, and once he was done, he slid out of bed to get the washcloth from the table and clean himself up, staring at Freya the entire time.
He threw the washcloth on a pile of his dirty clothes with a sigh and got back into bed.
What am I doing?he asked himself plaintively. Unfortunately, he had no answers to give.
* * *
Freya woke up with a pounding skull and a cottony feel in her mouth. She groaned, sitting up and clutching her head. She looked around and then down at her body, wondering what happened. Her eyes widened in horror.
“What am I wearing?” she whispered.
A low laugh had her turning to the side, to see Eric settled back on the pillow beside her, watching her. She frowned at him. “What did you do to me?” she accused loudly.
Eric sat up and rolled out of bed and walked over to the table where the sink stood. “Oh no, no, you cannot blame this on me. I did not tell you to drink all that wine.” He poured water on his face.
Freya blinked and then squinted, glaring at the open curtains that let the sun in to burn her eyes. “Would you kindly close the curtains please?”
Eric laughed softly, but he did as she asked. She began to shuffle out of bed but then realized that her night gown was rather revealing. Instead, she grabbed the sheet and pulled it up to her chest glancing suspiciously at Eric.
“Too late,” he said, wiping his hands on a towel. “I’ve already seen all of you.”
She huffed quietly, hesitating before she pulled off her sheet, got out of bed, and dived for her dressing gown. Tying it as tight as possible, she retreated behind the screen to perform her ablutions.
There was a knock on the door, and she tensed, listening as Eric went to answer it.
“I have brought your breakfast, my lord…my lady.” Silver’s voice sounded low yet authoritative. “And a tisane of willow bark tea for Lady Freya.”
“Mmm, that will come in handy judging by how desperately she was clutching her head this morning,” Eric said, making Freya frown.
“Very good my lord. Will you be requiring anything else this morning?”
“No, I think we shall just rest, so kindly don’t plan anything for us.”
“It is noted, my lord.”
The door shut, and Freya had to assume that Silver was gone. She washed up and then emerged from behind the screen to find Eric arranging their breakfast on the table by the bed.
She took a deep breath. “I heard that there’s some tea for me?”
