Page 100 of The Scottish Duke
“Nonsense,” she said in a normal tone. “He has to learn to sleep through anything. Either that or the first time there’s a storm he’ll be terrified.”
“How did you get to be so wise?”
She laughed, charmed by the question. He began to undo the belt of his robe and she deliberately glanced away.
“I’m not wise,” she said. “I do have uncommon common sense, at least that’s what my father said. Nan thinks otherwise, however.”
“Here we are, brought down by the staff.”
She turned to see him sliding into bed, bare-chested. The last time she’d seen him naked he’d been draped in shadows. Now the lamp on the bedside table revealed his muscled arms and the light dusting of black hair on his chest.
She wished she hadn’t averted her eyes. She should have seen him completely naked.
“Is this your way of thanking me for the box?” he asked, reaching over to extinguish the lamp.
“No, Alex, it’s not a way to thank you for the box.”
“Why do you sound so annoyed?”
“Not everything has a price.”
“I didn’t mean it that way,” he said.
“I’ll move to another room in the morning. I think that would be best.”
She slid down beneath the covers, rearranged her pillow, and tried to think of anything other than the fact he was so close.
“Did you and Ruth sleep together?” she asked.
“No, but this marriage is nothing like that one. Stop trying to find similarities between them.”
Well, that certainly put her in her place, didn’t it?
“Because I was a maid and she was the daughter of an earl?”
She turned again, facing away from him. He placed his hand on her waist, drawing her back.
“I never wanted to sleep with her,” he said. “I never wanted to sleep with anyone else,” he added, sounding chagrined at the admission. “Not until now.”
She wished she knew what to say to that. Finally, long moments later, she said, “I’ve never slept with anyone. I didn’t have brothers or sisters.”
“I did,” he said.
“I know,” she said, placing her hand on his where it rested on her waist. “Do you miss them?”
“Every day,” he said. “Especially Moira. She and I were only thirteen months apart. We fought a great deal. You remind me of her a little.”
“I do? Why, because we fight?”
“No, because you have the same spirit as Moira. She was brave and daring, just like you.”
“I’m not brave and daring.”
“Oh, but you are. Who else would have come to a fancy dress ball?”
There was that.
“You went off to live in Wittan by yourself, braving the censure of society.”
