Page 34 of Raising the Duke’s Unexpected Twins

“I shall have to consider the invitation,” he said, and she beamed.

“Oh, they’ll be delighted.”

Hurriedly, he rushed to change the subject, to go back to where he was comfortable.

He gave her a smooth, practiced grin. “Another reason for my request that you join me at dinner. For how else am I going to tempt you, love, if I never see you?”

“Tempt me? To do what?” she asked, not looking at him, lifting her spoon to dip into the first course of soup.

Nicholas nodded at the footmen to leave the room, which they did, shutting the door softly behind them.

“What are they--?” Cordelia asked, but then she stopped, her lovely brown eyes catching in his.

He had moved his chair closer, and he leaned forward, turning towards her cheek so that he could whisper in her ear.

“My dear wife, do not pretend to be ignorant of what temptation I speak of,” he said, his lips just brushing against the lovely soft skin of her ear. She shivered again, and she did not move, only fluttering her eyes closed and parting her lips.

She breathed in sharply, and he pressed a kiss next to her ear, pulling back to sit where he originally had been, lifting his spoon to dip into his soup. He watched her carefully as her eyes opened again, and she took a few moments to settle before she started to eat. He smiled but did not say anything. He had only meant to tease her, but now his own blood was high, and he wanted nothing more than to bed a woman, to drive this need from him and out of him, and he could only imagine the sweet softness of Cordelia’s thighs around his waist as he sank deep into her.

He had not expected to kiss her as he had, and now, the memory of her soft skin against his lips only stirred his desire into further heights. He wanted her to come to him; he needed her to, for he only wanted a willing woman. He would have to take care of himself yet again that evening, as he had been doing since their time in the library. But nothing could lessen his need. No woman had ever driven him to such madness, and she was trying to pretend as though there was no heat between them.

Whatever she thinks of me personally, she cannot forever deny that a desire lingers.

“You mean to frighten me, I think,” she said after a few seconds and after a mouthful of soup. “But I shall not be frightened.”

“Excellent,” he quipped. “I don’t want you to be afraid.”

“Good then. I’m not.”

He chuckled. “Yes, we’ve established this. Do you think me afraid?”

She narrowed her eyes at him and pursed her lovely lips. “I don’t know what to think of you, Nicholas. I never have.”

“I thought I was a rake through and through.”

“That is true.” She nodded. “But⁠—”

He tensed, not eager to return to any discussions of honor or to return to the discussion they’d had in the nursery.

“It is true,” he said with his usual smile. “I am a rake, thoroughly untamable.” He finished his champagne and poured more into each of their glasses. “And I shall inform you that after dinner, I will be going to my club.”

“Your club -- again…?” Her eyes widened.

“Yes, back to the very club you so disapprove of.” He ate another spoonful.

“But I thought that you might not return so soon.”

“Why would you think that?”

When there was a knock on the dining room door, he allowed the footmen entry to bring the next course.

“Well, we are still very newly wed,” she said softly. “Everyone will think me a fool, for not getting her husband to stay with her the first few nights at least.”

“In fact, I think everyone will find you incredibly strong. That you were able to resist me, the handsomest man in London, and keep me from your bedroom.”

He chuckled, but he saw the hurt in her eyes. “Cordelia, you are able to remedy this at any time. Ask me to stay and stay with you. If not, I will be going to my club. I have business to attend to.”

He waited a few beats, his breath held in his chest as he waited for her answer, but when she opened her mouth, she said, “Very well. Attend to your business.”