Page 66 of The Duke's Second Bride
Both Ava and Christian tried unsuccessfully to hold back chuckles. They looked at each other, and Ava felt a spark in her chest at the sight of Christian smiling. It was such a rare sight, and yet the expression suited him so well that she could not imagine him looking any other way.
“What is it?” Luke asked, looking back and forth between the two. “What is so f-f-funny?”
Ava calmed herself back down and smiled at the child.
“I was just looking for Pudding too,” she said by way of explanation. “Come along. You and I can go looking for him together. How does that sound?”
Luke nodded eagerly. “What about F-father?” he asked, looking up at Christian as he took Ava’s outstretched hand.
Ava looked at Christian. “Your father is swamped with business today, so he will have to stay in his office for a while longer,” she said.
Christian nodded. Ava and Luke began to walk towards the door. Just as they reached the door, though, Christian called out behind them, “I will be joining the two of you for dinner, of course.”
They looked back. Ava felt the smile on Luke’s face matched by a glow in her own heart.
Sure enough, Christian joined them for dinner that night. It was the first time he had done so since their arrival at the country house. Ava felt almost nervous, as though it was her first time dining with him.
In a way, it was, she supposed. After all, before they had been dining as near-enemies. This felt like the first time she was truly dining with herhusband.
In an instant, she pictured what it would be like to go to bed with him after dinner, and heat flooded her cheeks.
“H-h-how has your w-work been, Father?” Luke asked while cutting the meat on his plate.
He also seemed slightly nervous, based on the seeming return of his stammer.
Things had seemed much improved between him and Christian as of late, Ava noticed, but he still spoke more alone with her than he ever did around anyone else.
“It is all much the same,” Christian said. “What I would really like to know is how your studies are going. Your tutors tell me you are exemplary in every subject they teach you.”
Luke beamed at the unexpected compliment. “They do?”
Christian nodded. “And I have seen myself how hard you have been working. I am proud of you, son.”
Ava felt warmth spread through her—different than her usual lust for Christian. Affection. She didn’t just desire her husband; she liked him. She thought he was a good man.
And if he struggled sometimes to show his affection for his son, at least he was still trying.
“Ava has been working hard too!” Luke cried.
Christian’s gaze slid over to his wife. Ava was continually surprised by how even just eye contact with him was charged with an almost magnetic pull.
“She has been, hasn’t she?” he said, his voice so low that it filled her with renewed desire.
“Yes,” Luke said cheerfully. “We brought seeds from the garden at the country house! She said we can start a new one here.”
“Yes,” Ava agreed, blinking and breaking eye contact with Christian for a few moments to collect her thoughts. But when she looked back at him, she saw he had not looked away from her for one moment. “Yes, that is true.”
“Well, I shall be pleased to see it,” Christian said. “And perhaps to even assist myself.”
Ava arched a brow. “Oh, really?” she asked.
He nodded. “Indeed,” he said. “I met with my business partner this morning, and I finished all the necessary paperwork this afternoon. I suppose I shall be in need of a new project. Particularly if you are going to be assisting me in looking over our finances in the future, Ava.”
She smiled, pleased. “I would be happy to,” she said. “And we would be glad for your help with the garden, wouldn’t we, Luke?”
Luke and Christian both smiled. It was clear, in that moment, how much father and son resembled each other.
For perhaps the first time, Ava felt truly as though she were at home in the London house.
