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She stumbled slightly, not expecting for him to hear her comment. “To be polite. A smile goes a long way toward making someone feel more welcomed and relaxed, and it does not hurt to be pleasant.”
“If you are looking for someone to coddle your sensibilities you will be gravely disappointed,” he said, his tone extremely dry.
He crossed the gravel pathway with rapid strides, but Adel had no difficulty keeping pace.
They entered the inn, and it was evident from the several nods that he received from patrons in the common room that he was well known. The wretched man treated them with the same cold incivility. A room was ordered and immediately they were taken to the best the inn had to offer. Adel was surprised the room was so clean and pleasant, with an inviting fire place. She strolled over to the hearth, tugged off her gloves, and held her hands over the heat.
The duke’s imperious tone from behind her ordered a supper tray for their room and a bath.
She glanced over her shoulders to find him watching her with an inscrutable mien.
“You do want a bath, do you not?”
After traveling for several hours she did feel a bit travel worn, and she was painfully aware this was their wedding night. Unable to help herself, her eyes were drawn to the bed in the center of the room.
His dark brows drew together as he stared at her. “Is there something on the bed sheets?”
She felt the heat climbed her neck. Determined to remain unruffled, she pasted a smile on her lips. “Of course not, and a bath would be lovely.”
His gaze flickered briefly to her mouth, and her heart clamored. Then with a curt nod, he turned and marched from the room.
Good God, would the man ever unbend and smile? Worse…had that unfathomable look at her lips meant he wanted to kiss her or that she should prepare for a wedding night? She prayed not. She understood her duty to the duke, but the very idea of completing their union at an inn was exceptionally off-putting. She would certainly say so if he were to approach her. Though she doubted he would indeed even touch her. The man treated her with nothing but chilling incivility and the awareness of it had a terrible, hollow ache rising in her chest.
It was never more apparent to her, how much she was lacking. Not that she wanted to tempt him…even though she had no idea what she should be really tempting him to! Earlier as she’d peered at his powerful and uncompromising form seated on his horse, she had felt out of her depths. How could she have formed an attachment with a man who had no interest in her? If not for her folly…Adel was certain he would never have glanced in her direction.
With a soft sigh, she pushed Edmond from her mind, determined not to dampen her spirits further. She had months…years to understand the situation she was now in. If only acknowledging such a thought did not cramp her stomach with such acute discomfort.
…
An hour after he’d left the room, Edmond returned fully expecting Adeline to be sleeping. Instead, she was submerged in the bath still, singing softly. Her voice was warm and rich and…sultry. Something elusive stirred inside him. He closed the door with an audible click and she stiffened.
She darted a nervous glance at him, then her eyes jerked to the bed.
“You may relax, madam, I won’t pounce,” he drawled, almost amused.
“I…I am naked, sir.”
He didn’t even bother to point out that she was almost fully submerged in the bath water in the far corner…the only part of her on display was the elegant lines of her swan like neck, and that was because she had perched her mass of curls high atop her head. “You have nothing to tempt me with, madam, you are safe.”
Liar, the sensuous line of her neck, begged to be licked, nibbled…
Noting she still looked anxious, he sighed. “It will be as if I am not in the room.”
His tone may have been a trifle too bland for she looked dubiously at him. He made no further overture to make her comfortable. He rose and started to shrug from his coat. She flushed and turned away. He removed his overcoat and waistcoat, and untied the simple cravat he had worn. After shedding his boots, and arranging everything neatly on the sole chair in the room, he made his way to the bed, and lay down. The frame groaned under his weight, and he closed his eyes, completely ignoring her.
She muttered something under her breath about being rude and insufferable, and it actually pulled a smile to his lips. Closing his eyes, he allowed his mind to drift. He’d sent word to the estate that he was arriving home with his duchess. He could just imagine the uproar that would cause. But he was more concerned with how his daughters would react to Adeline. Sarah was almost three years old when Maryann died, and had no memory of her. Rosa was just shy of six, but she had whispered to him tearfully several months ago that she could not remember her mother and if that made her bad.
A rustle in the room jerked him from his thoughts. He swallowed. It seemed Adeline had emerged from her bath. He waited, listening to the soft sounds she made, slightly curious as to what she was feeling. A few seconds later the bed dipped.
Knowing she was so close to him sent frissons of heat through his body. He ruthlessly suppressed the urge, not allowing it to be born. Edmond glanced at her. She herself was so stiff on the far side of the bed she could have passed for a dead body. How she was to sleep through the night he had no idea. He’d already told her she was safe, and he would waste no time providing other reassurances.
“It is strange that tonight is our wedding night is it not?” she offered somewhat tentatively.
He turned his head, and the dark, hazel eyes met his. The lady had shifted her entire body towards him, but she still maintained the ridiculous distance that would no doubt see her spilling from the bed sometime through the night. “No.”
Her eyes widened when she realized he would say nothing further. “Are you always this curt?”
He swallowed the sigh. He’d spent most of the day in the saddle and was weary. “Yes.”
