Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 82982 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82982 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Aside from the occasional brush of his finger along my cheek or the press of his lips to my head or high on my cheek, he had not touched me. Yet every time he was close, every time our eyes met and he stared at me, I felt his desire. Last night was the closest I had ever been to another person. Wrapped in his embrace, his voice murmuring my favorite passages in my ear, I felt nothing but peace. Affection. Adoration perhaps.
And I wanted more.
The very sight of him caused flutters within my stomach. Watching him laugh made me want to smile. When he threw back his head, the corded muscles of his neck made me swallow, my own throat dry. I had never seen a man with such wide shoulders and long legs. Recalling how the heavy muscles felt under my touch when he had injured his foot made me wonder how all his muscles would feel. I yearned to touch him.
His hands fascinated me. Strong and capable with long, thick fingers, elegant, yet not only used to pen correspondence. He worked his own land. Tilled the soil and hammered in posts for fencing and even fed the animals.
There was nothing he could not do.
My favorite moments were when he would look at me. Speak to me in his low, modulated voice. Offer me his arm as we were walking. Tuck a stray curl behind my ear. Tease me. It made me feel giddy. The touch of his hand made me want more. I found myself staring at his mouth when he spoke, wondering how it would feel if he kissed me.
I had thought I would know this morning, but he had been a perfect gentleman.
He was right to decide we should be patient. Despite all the wonderful things I knew about him, at times, I was still frightened. I recalled hearing whispers of women who visited my father’s estate years prior, of how men acted one way to some people and mistreated their wives, believing them to be their property and theirs to do with as they pleased. I knew from experience how my father mistreated me, although he chose not to hide it.
I prayed Alexander was not that type of man. That the gentle soul I was beginning to know was the only side to him.
I could only wait to find out.
ALEXANDER
I walked into the study, tugging on my cravat. It had been a vexing morning, and I was tired of dealing with difficult servants, all the issues of the farms, and the vast amount of correspondence that kept flowing across my desk. All of it kept me from enjoying my new wife and getting to know her more. I was finding it quite frustrating only seeing her at dinner the past two nights. I headed toward the corner, intent on a tumbler of scotch, some peace and quiet, and a good luncheon. I poured the scotch and took a large mouthful, enjoying the taste of the rich amber liquid. The Scots could certainly brew a fine liquor.
A noise startled me, and I turned, seeing Madeleine, hovering beside the mantel. I frowned at her unexpected appearance.
“Madeleine?”
She bobbed an awkward curtsy, and I had to resist rolling my eyes at her unneeded gesture. She was my wife, not my servant.
“Forgive me, my lord, for the intrusion.”
“What are you doing in my study?”
Her eyes widened and terror laced her voice. “I was not doing anything dishonest, my lord. I was trying to bring a little sunshine into the room.” She indicated the vase of flowers on the mantel.
I stared at them, blinking. No one had ever brought flowers into my study. Under my strict instructions, unless it was to clean the room under Edward’s watchful eyes, no one ventured in here.
“Who let you in?”
Her hands fluttered. “The door was unlocked.”
I scowled in frustration. Had I not locked it?
Her hands moved to her throat. “I have angered you. Displeased you, my lord?”
I looked at the mantel, unsure how to answer. Her offering was sweet, and I wasn’t used to gestures of that sort.
With a grimace, I turned back to the liquor, picking up my glass and downing the remaining contents. I supposed, as my wife, she would be allowed to go anywhere in the house, without question. I needed to remember that. A smile tugged on my lips.
I wasn’t used to having a wife either. I had just been bemoaning the fact that I hadn’t seen enough of her and there she was, and I was acting like an arse.
I spun around to assure her all was well, but she had disappeared. No doubt hurried away, upset by my silence. Thinking I was displeased, as she put it.
The flowers looked…nice on the mantel, the bright colors standing out in the otherwise masculine room.