Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 129951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
I knew it wasn’t the time, but just to note, I would never get tired of my hot guy unintentionally modeling his never-ending supply of pajama bottoms.
“I hesitate to say this,” I began carefully, “but, love of my life, you need to chill.”
He jerked to a halt two feet in front of me.
And his head slanted sharply to the side.
“Love of your life?” he asked.
“Well…yeah,” I answered.
“Love of your life.” It was a statement this time.
“Um, I love you,” I said. “I love you very much. I love you more each day. I’ll probably love you more every day for, like, eternity. I hope we have a boy and a girl we can name Noble and Fury. So, since I believe that’s the definition of the love of someone’s life, you’re mine.”
He moved then, lifting me off the bed, pulling me into his arms and kissing me hard.
I had arms with bandaged hands wrapped around his neck when he was done.
“You chill?” I asked.
“I’m pissed as fuck,” he answered, then his lips twitched. “But the thought of that bitch being taken to the station in the middle of the night, needing to phone for a solicitor, which means needing to phone her father, and then being questioned because she was caught, helps a bit.”
I smiled. “Helps me too.”
He got serious. “And you’re all right.”
“I am,” I confirmed.
“And you’re probably exhausted.”
I was still coasting on four cups of exceptional earl grey tea.
I didn’t say that.
I said, “I could use some sleep.”
Of course, Battle didn’t mess about in making that happen.
It was dark, the cats had joined us, and I was in Battle’s arms when I said, “Thanks for driving from London in the middle of the night for me.”
His response.
A hefty arm squeeze and “Darling.”
That was it.
Then again, that was all he needed to say.
CHAPTER 27
THE RING
I swam out of sleep to see the day was bright and the cats had had breakfast, because they were all in bed with me, snoozing.
I could also see my hot duke striding toward the bed with hair wet from a shower, in jeans and a button-down.
I pushed up to an elbow. “Hey.”
He said nothing until he sat on the side of the bed and curled a hand around the side of my neck.
Then he said, “Hey.”
I looked to the smart screen and saw it was twelve after ten.
“Holy crap, it’s late,” I said, pushing up further, then wincing as I tweaked my knee.
“Still,” Battle ordered and took my wrist.
He carefully peeled back the bandage a tad and peered at my wounds.
“That doesn’t seem too bad,” he murmured, pressing the bandage back down.
“The hands aren’t. Just gouges and some scrapes. But I did a number on my knee.”
He looked that way even if he couldn’t see anything through the duvet.
“It’s fine,” I assured. “Just a deep cut. Not so deep it needs stitches, though. Patsy pushed it together with some plasters and bandaged it. It just aches a little, and since it’s on the bend, it gets irritated easily. I tweaked it pushing up.”
Battle, being Battle, didn’t take my word for it and shoved the covers down (seriously pissing off Gingerface, I really needed to work on his habit of blithely disturbing the animals) so he could peer under the bandage at my knee.
“Fuck, that looks bad,” he murmured.
“It’s okay. I’m okay. But I need a toothbrush and then I need caffeine.”
He pulled the covers back over me. “I’ll have some coffee sent up.”
“No, I need more to make sure Prue and Chassie are okay.”
“Prue is in the breakfast room. Because of the late night, Cook adjusted the schedule and set out a brunch.”
I started to get out of bed. “All right. Let me do my biz and we can head down.”
“Darling.” I stopped moving and looked at him. “They are dear to us, but we still pay them, and we pay them well, to serve.”
He was just so sweet.
“I need to move,” I replied. “I feel achy and still revved. I don’t think I can lie in bed, baby.”
At that, it was Battle who pulled me from under the duvet.
“I’ll meet you down there,” he said.
I gave him a peck on the lips, nabbed the lounge pants I took off to go to sleep last night, hit the bathroom, did my thing, including taking off the bandages on my hands (they really weren’t that bad, and I didn’t want to have to deal with them whilst using cutlery). I put my pants back on and walked (okay, kind of limped) out.
The cats were still snoozing on the bed.
Last night, they’d tried to warn me too, my lovely furry babies.
I’d ask Patsy if we had any tuna.
On that thought, I headed down to the breakfast room.
I’d hoped Chassie would also be there by the time I made it there, but it was only Battle and Prue.