Page 75 of Unraveled By the Duke
“Much could be done with money.”
She looked at the sliver of a view she had. She saw his knee and part of his thigh rising out of the water. Then, as they went back under, she caught a glimpse of his stomach and navel that made her heart race.
“You speak as though that is not something you have,” she noted.
“You speak as though you wish to make a discovery.”
“I do, but only to know more about you.”
“Is it necessary? We are to spend a week together, enjoying each other’s company and showing the world how happy we are. What need is there for knowing more about each other?”
Celia turned away. “Perhaps none. Do you feel up for the Gallery today? Or should you rest your ankle, do you think?”
“The swelling is coming down. The bandages Samuels applied are helping. We will leave later this afternoon.”
Celia could not leave the room. She could not stand with her back to those teasing noises of water lapping at a naked body. The noises that invited her to think of that naked form. A body she had kissed and caressed. Tasted and joined with. A body that had used her and which she had used.
She looked back at the same moment Alexander sat forward in the bath, his eyes coming level with the gap through which she peeped.
He swiped the screen aside violently. It clattered to the floor, one hinge breaking as it struck a bedpost.
“If you wish to look, then look,” he grunted, levering himself up with his hands on the edge of the tub.
Celia raised her eyes to his face as his body emerged from the water, gleaming and slick. Hard and finely wrought. It was like the work of a master blacksmith.
“Linen, if you please?” he demanded.
A large, folded piece of linen sat on a chair beside the bath. Celia almost went to it, but then stopped herself.
“Am I a servant?” she asked.
“No, but you are more ambulatory than I am,” Alexander pointed out. “You may remember that I’m in this condition because of you.”
“I did not ask you to ride after me.”
“I did what honor dictated.”
“Ah, it was not your desire at all, simply what others have prescribed for that situation.”
She was aware of his body. His manhood. She knew it intimately now. Even liked it, though the notion shocked her to her marrow.
A woman should not come to like such… appendages. It is not decent. But then, what we have done together can hardly be deemed decent. Just because we are married, does not excuse…
She knew she was blushing and stood boldly, not trying to cover it. Just as Alexander was not trying to cover himself.
“I cannot hover here all day on one foot, woman!” he barked.
Celia smiled. “Then ask, rather than demand.”
His eyes blazed, but she recognized the quirk at the corner of his mouth. What would be a laugh for most men.
I am learning to read him. Can he read me as easily?
“Why does every conversation between us become a contest?” he asked.
“Because you are stubborn.”
“As are you. Would you please hand me the linen?”
