Page 79 of Married to the Duke By Midnight

“I… I would rather that you read it,” she mumbled and looked away as he accepted the paper.

“Out loud?” Robert asked as he was unfolding the paper.

“Yes?” Jo muttered and knew it sounded like a question.

She had double-checked that she had taken the right list. The one to present him with if he wanted to commit to her, rather than have a marriage of convenience. But she had never expected him to tell her that he loved her. It somehow made her more nervous, despite the fact that it should give her at least a modicum of calm in presenting him with the list.

“Week One,” Robert began in an assured, matter-of-fact tone: “Consummate the marriage.”

He looked almost dumbfounded at her, his mouth open and his eyes wide.

“Continue,” Jo breathed, not wanting to know yet why he looked so stunned.

“Consummate the marriage. Often and repeatedly in as many places as possible. Though not in a public setting where we could be caught,” Robert gulped as he read the first part. “The duke will take charge of the matter, since he is the one with the most experience, but also because the duchess enjoys it.”

Jo’s cheeks were flaming and she could not look at him. She could sense Robert was looking at her but could not bring herself to turn and meet his eyes.

“Week Two: Tear nightgown into pieces. Experiment with different positions including… Oh my, you are almost making me blush at having to read this out loud,” he chuckled, but she could hear it was not at her expense.

“Jo,” he said softly and moved closer to her, bringing his arm around her and pulling her into his side. Jo was relieved that he did not try to make her look at him.

“Week Three: Upon reaching Riddlesmarsh Hall…”

“I thought we could spend a couple of weeks here. Just the two of us,” Jo interrupted him.

“I should like that very much,” Robert said and pressed a kiss to her temple, drawing her even closer to him. “Upon reaching Riddlesmarsh Hall, the couple will be intimate in as many rooms as possible, including…”

“This is just a general list of ideas since I haven’t been.”

“I will help you with a complete list,” Robert assured her and she could hear the smirk in his voice.

“Week Four: Be intimate once a day… Just once?” He kissed a place behind her ear that made Jo arch into him.

“Well, I didn’t know what the norm was. But I thought it might mark a good transition from our honeymoon to…” she gasped as Robert kissed her neck, “…married life,” she breathed.

“Jo, you can have no doubt that I would sign this list in a heartbeat,” Robert told her, leaning forward and grabbing the pen from the table. This time he only signed with his first name, before handing the pen to her.

“You… you are not scandalized?” Jo breathed as she focused on writing her own name, simply writing the two letters that people who cared for her called her.

“I am delighted,” Robert told her and hauled her into his arms again. “And now please, show me where your bedroom is. Even though I love your enthusiasm in experimenting with different settings, I would like our first time to be in a bed.”

36

“Oh, wow,” Robert said in a low voice as they entered the bedroom, clearly in awe of the view from her window.

The sea below them did look almost magical in the sunlight, but for once, Jo did not give a thought for the view. Instead, she made quick work of untying the drawstrings at the back of her neck and around her waist. By the time Robert turned, she was already sliding the dress down her arms.

“Jo,” he breathed and rushed to her. “I wanted to do that.”

He immediately helped her pull the dress all the way down her body, making it pool around her feet.

“Heavens, you are so beautiful,” he breathed as his mouth landed on hers.

They hurriedly divested the rest of their clothes. Jo liked how she already knew how to undress him and that she was not nervous about this part.

She faltered a little as they landed naked on the bed side by side, still kissing each other. They had never discussed how this would happen. She knew the technicalities of it and trusted Robert completely but was still afraid of the pain she had heard of and how they would go about handling this uncharted territory.

As if he could sense her mind whirring, Robert said against the skin of her breast: