“What do you know about the house? And where exactly is it?”
Nicky eased me around so that my back was against the wall of the bathroom. I knew he thought he was being subtle, but I barely hid a grin. I was well aware of where his mind was.
“I don’t know much about the house, other than Grandpa says it’s been well-kept. The estate itself is in East Anglia, near Thetford.” With one sure hand, he stroked down my side to cup my ass.
“East Anglia.” I tried on the words for size, trying to dredge up my scant knowledge of British geography. “Okay. I assume that’s east of London.”
“It is.” Nicky’s clever fingers began to insinuate themselves between my legs, making me shiver. “Thetford is a fairly large town. It expanded after the war. But there’s a small village near the estate ... Grandpa said it’s a quiet place. The kind of location that would offer us some privacy.”
“Hmmm ... privacy.” I let my head fall back to rest against the wall as my eyes shuttered to half-mast. “I like that. What on earth would we do with all that privacy?”
“I’m thinking maybe something like this.” He bent his head and covered my lips with his open mouth. I melted against his body, relaxing and letting him take charge, closing my eyes and enjoying the feel of his hands roaming over me. He paused only briefly before sliding his fingers into the gap in my robe’s neckline.
“What do we have here?” His eyes widened in pretended surprise. “Unfettered breasts, just out here loose in the world?” He traced one finger lightly around the tip that was already hardened, anticipating his caress. “Whatever shall we do with them?”
“Seems to me you might have some good ideas.” I arched my back. “Just go with it. I have faith in your creativity.”
“Thanks for your confidence in me.” Nicky lowered his head, easing the cotton robe out of the way as his lips touched one throbbing nipple. “I’ll do my best to live up to your high standards.”
“You do that.” I shivered. “Um, not that I’m trying to micromanage your process here, but do you think maybe we should move this party to the nice, comfy bed over there?”
“No.” He sucked harder on me, and at the same time, his fingers pinched the other nipple. “Not tonight. Tonight, I’m taking you up against this wall. I’m going to pound into you until you’re screaming my name—just as a reminder about the importance of privacy.”
Before I could do more than moan out my assent—because really, who’s going to complain about her sexy husband wanting it hot and heavy against a wall?—Nicky had pulled the robe from my body and stripped off his own tee and boxers. I stretched one hand down to wrap my fingers around his jutting erection, but he batted me away.
“No. Tonight, you don’t touch. Tonight, you just ... enjoy.” His lips traced a path down my neck. “Just close your eyes and feel. I want you to come apart under my fingers.” He brushed his hand down to skim between my legs. “I want you to explode under my tongue.”
This time when his mouth took my breast, there was nothing tender or teasing. It was all heat and pressure, the scrape of his teeth over my sensitive skin and the relentless movement of his fingertips just slightly beyond where I needed him to touch me.
“Nicky.” I gasped his name, clutching his shoulders to stay upright. “You’re torturing me.”
“Then I’m doing it exactly right.” With a wicked grin, he dropped to his knees and coaxed my legs apart. “Open for me, my Ky. Let me see you. Let me love you.”
I could no more have denied him than I could have stopped the earth from spinning. I widened my stance, dying just a little when I saw the anticipatory gleam in his eye.
“Hold on tight, darling.”
I buried my fingers in his hair and canted my hips to give him better access, groaning as he proceeded to destroy me with his mouth and his hands. When I couldn’t take it another moment, when the pleasure had built to an untenable peak, it was my husband’s name I was chanting as my body wracked and shuddered.
And when he spun me around to face the wall and thrust himself into me, plunging over and over until I couldn’t form one coherent thought, it was my name he cried out as he reached the pinnacle.
When my body might have slid bonelessly to the bathroom floor, utterly exhausted from bliss, Nicky scooped me into his arms and took me to our bed, holding me next to him all through the night.
“THANK YOU FOR COMING TODAY, Your Royal Highness.” The woman standing just inside the doorway of the AfterCare Centre offered me a wide smile as she bobbed in a curtsy. “We’re so honored to have you.”
It was no longer odd to me, I realized. After a little over six months as a duchess, it still felt surreal that most people offered me a bow or curtsy, but it didn’t throw me the way it had in the beginning, when I’d wanted to giggle like a child each time I saw a woman bob in front of me.
And the words that came out of my mouth in response to the welcome were second nature, too.
“Oh, no, thank you for inviting me. I’m so grateful that I could be here.” Glancing behind me, I nodded to my sister-in-law. “Princess Alexandra speaks about your work with so much enthusiasm.”
“She’s amazing, isn’t she?” The lady beamed. “Such a huge, kind heart she has. And we’re all very excited about the new joint venture you and the princess have cooked up.” My greeter stepped back, sweeping one hand forward as though presenting something to me. “This is our first group of gardeners who will be showing you around today.”
“Excellent.” As always, I zeroed in on the little ones first, bending my knees until I was at the eye level of the smallest children waiting for me. “Hello, there! Aren’t you pretty? My name’s Kyra. What’s yours?”
For the next half hour, I moved slowly through the room, shaking hands, smiling and sharing snippets of conversation here and there. I was aware of Alex behind me, doing the same things but making it look so effortless. I wasn’t sure if it was her natural grace or something in her genes as a bonafide born-into-the-family royal, but she constantly awed me with how easily all of this came to her.
We spent another thirty minutes outside, where the tiny yard behind the Centre was in the midst of being transformed into a garden. AfterCare had been created to help families after the devastating loss of a loved one in military service. Alex had been the charity’s patron for several years, and it had been her idea to involve me by adding a plant and soil component to help children whose worlds had been destroyed by a parent’s death.
