Page 40 of A Necessary Wife

Desire flooded him when she clenched his shirt front and her breath sped up. This was his life now, living with a woman he could enjoy without expecting foolish emotional games to be played. He respected Amelia, and desired her, too. And he wanted her underneath him again.

He gulped at how much he wanted that right now, in fact. But the children were not far away.

He lowered his lips toward her ear and whispered, “Lady Chatham, could you bear intimacy with your husband tonight?”

Her breath caught. “I could very easily. I want to bear your child very much.”

He wet his lips. “I wasn’t sure if you would welcome me so soon after my recent behavior.”

“It is difficult to know what to do or say to you. I want things that a woman in love might expect from her husband, even though…”

He understood exactly what she meant. “Shall we make a pact—that if we have needs unfulfilled, then we can have each other and discuss desire openly. Unless it is an inconvenient time of the month, of course.”

She exhaled quickly. “I would like that. So, you’ll come to our bed tonight and…?”

“Yes.” His first wife hadn’t liked him to stay in her bed for long and had demanded her own chamber. But this was Amelia, and she was different in the best ways, and they shared a bedchamber. A place where they could undress and then…

He tugged at his cravat.

He did not want to wait until tonight to see her shatter in his arms again. “I have a better idea. How about we leave our children in the care of the servants for what remains of the day and retire to our room now?”

She drew back, eyes wide with shock. “Now?”

Milo nodded slowly as he brought his hand back around and gripped her hip tighter. Amelia shuddered. She was warm, and her breath came so fast. The rush of desire was evident in the heightening color of her cheeks and the parting of her lips.

He smiled slowly, glad to know he wasn’t the only one affected when they were near each other. The other difficulties they faced didn’t seem important anymore. “We can have each other any time of the day or night,” he assured her. “It is expected that newlyweds disappear at odd times.”

“Papa, what are you doing to her?” Lucy called.

Milo removed his hand from Amelia’s body slowly, chastened because he had been caught seducing his own wife by his children.

Their children.

Yet he did not want to distance himself from Amelia because of their presence or Lucy’s disapproval. He was doing nothing wrong other than forgetting they had an impressionable audience.

He took hold of Amelia’s hand and wrapped it around his arm. But it was all he could do not to run away with her to somewhere private there and then, where they could be alone—and be intimate once more.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Amelia shivered as the door to their bedchamber closed softly behind her back and was locked by her husband. The feeling of guilt about sending the children back to the nursery faded, replaced by anxiety over what might happen next.

It would be different today. Her husband wanted her in his bed. She faced him, determined to enjoy what should be perfectly normal in a marriage.

But there was such an intense gleam in his eyes that she trembled again.

She might be inexperienced but she understood that look. Chatham drew closer and cupped her face. She did not resist his touch as he turned her face slightly one way and then the other before his fingers caressed along her jaw. The touch was light but not impersonal.

Slowly, his fingers dragged down her throat.

Amelia closed her eyes and embraced the strangeness of marital relations. To have her emotions turn to desire in a matter of moments was startling. She had not expected their marriage to be this way.

His fingers slid along her collarbone next, and it was so decadent a touch that she shivered. “I did not expect this attraction between us,” he whispered.

“I didn’t either,” she confessed.

“I will teach you what is possible between a man and a woman. But it seems we are already well matched,” he murmured, and the brush of his lips at her collarbone was gentle, then he drew back when she moaned. “I want you to enjoy being married in every way possible. I want you to know satisfied desire.”

She opened her eyes and searched his face. The earnest expression brought a smile to her lips. “I would like that. I enjoy your kisses.”