Page 30 of The Duke's Improper Bride
“I like that n-name best.”
“Do you?”
“Yes, I do.” She wrapped her arms around his neck. Even close, the doubt still crept in. They were still strangers, even if they had shared a marriage bed. When did one get to know one’s husband? Was that even possible? Nora doubted her mother knew much about her father. They barely spoke, unless shouting was involved. They excelled in fighting.
Isaac cradled her face with his warm palm. She could lose herself in those green eyes of his. Endless, reminding her forever and always of Scotland.
“What’s this crease for?” He tapped the line between her eyes.
She laughed softly, tugging at the nape of his neck. “It’s rude to point out your w-wife’s flaws.”
“You’re worried.”
“Aren’t you?”
“What is there to worry about?”
With a small sigh, she fell into his embrace. She craved this feeling now that it was a common occurrence. This is what it was like to be loved, and to love another. And yet she hadn’t uttered those words to Isaac.
“Everything is perfect. And this house, you…”
He tipped her chin up and forward, slowly nipping at her lips until her worries seemed to lift like the fog on the highlands.
Isaac Barnes was the sun, letting her live in the warmth of bright light. Nora had smiled and laughed more in the past few weeks than she had most of her life.
“I’ll show you perfect,” he said, his voice husky. He traced the lines of her face, his lips following. They stumbled backward a few steps, coming to rest against the paneled wall. His hands expertly opened the front of her dress, before he traced the curves of her breasts, her heart hammering against her chest.
“These are perfect,” he whispered. His fingers dipped below her corset to rub against her nipples, her body to growing warm and anxious. “And here,” he said, removing his hand to trace down her waist to rest between her legs. Even through her skirts, it was shocking. Deliciously shocking.
Nora bucked her hips, her fingers playing with his hair, when he sank to his knees and lifted her skirts.
“Isaac?”
He ran his hands up her thighs, parting her drawers, and placed his mouth on her.
This had become her favorite shock of all.
She rested her head against the wall and closed her eyes.
His tongue worked her, his hands tight on her hips. Pleasure built within her, pulling tighter and tighter at her core. Then his thumb pressed against her, igniting that fire she had been so surprised to know was not dormant within her body.
Nora came against his mouth, her body shaking before the warmth faded to comfort. Isaac dropped her skirts, licking her off his lips. The sight of it was the single most erotic thing Nora had ever seen. And she was hungry for more, for him.
That had surprised her too.
“What we have,” he said, “is perfect, Nora.”
She knelt, pushing Isaac gently back against the floor, first undoing the falls of his trousers, then reaching in and stroking his cock. She loved the sight of him, the way he watched her touching him. It excited her.
She crawled over him, positioning herself until he was seated deep inside her. Nora bent down, raising her hips in a slow draw. “Yes,” she whispered against his lips, “perfect, husband mine.”
* * *
A weekinto their life as husband and wife in London, a month into their marriage, and things were anything but perfect.
Isaac sat as Nora paced the floor of his study, tossing a small bocce ball between her hands.
“You can’t go looking for Daniel yourself.”
