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“How promising!” She moved her pelvis to provoke his engorged member.
He groaned. “It’s the proof that I am your only man, you’re mine!” His naughty hand sneaked downwards.
“A very possessive man, indeed!” She sighed when he found her ready womanhood.
“I forgot to tell you that before the wedding.” He mocked regret. “Now you’re hooked.
Her both legs surrounded him, making them join their bodies lusciously. “Who’s hooked?” She breathed in between moans.
He chuckled at her daring. “We shall say you’re ahead for the time being.” She moved her pelvis taking more of him, causing him to groan. “God, Selene! Let me enjoy it a little first!”
“Very well, Your Grace!” Their bodies moved in pursuit of pleasure. “But you said my body is hotter.” They moved more. “I do feel…quicker.” The first ripples of contraction assailed her.
“You are!” A helpless expression came to his face as he felt her squeezing him. “Oh, damn!”
No more time for conversation as they came into a frenzy of quivering ecstasy.
London came to be abuzz with the news of their wedding. Some expressed indignation, others surprise, others couldn’t disguise their bafflement. They didn’t remember the last time a widow married her husband’s relation. Probably in the Middle Ages or thereabouts. Besides, it’d become obvious that they’d been…paramours before. They’d been caught kissing in a ball. She stood in half mourning, she had been his step-aunt. Those frivolous people couldn’t see beyond the appearances. For them, the Duke and Duchess of Crompton defied any decency. The Duchess didn’t even need to change her name or title, she’d be twice a duchess now, when women at dozens had dreamed of the title, from the nephew, well understood! Nobody knew if they’d ever be accepted in polite society again.
Philip read the gossip in the papers and tried to spare Selene of them. She’d been worried, and with reason, he thought. He didn’t want her upset. And the hypocri
tes didn’t even know that he’d directed his solicitor to keep the settlement his uncle had made for her, so that she’d be kept safe in any eventuality. He’d made a settlement for her himself as well. This would be a source of more scandal. His own solicitor had thought it strange and begun to advise against a woman with independence of means. He wanted to hear none of that.
He considered wise his decision to live in the country until the baby came. This would give them time. He didn’t want her to take the heaviest reprobation. He’d made her pregnant; he’d insisted on marriage. They’d have to weather the storm. He’d have to go for Parliament sessions, too. He couldn’t just leave it at that. People would talk even more.
“I’ve been reading the papers.” She tried to make her soup remain in her stomach at dinner. “Even though you told the servants to keep them from me.”
Philip lifted his eyes from his spoon and froze. “They disobeyed me!”
They sat at the long table in the dining room, he at the end and she by his side, on the right. The footmen having been dismissed, they sat alone in the vast room.
“No they didn’t.” She said firmly. “I instructed Nell to pick any paper she came across.” She dabbed her lush lips. “The servants never gave any directly to me.” She looked him in the eye.
“You’re a hell of a stubborn woman!” He said with near admiration.
“I have to know what’s going on, Philip!” Her hands crossed on the table. “Otherwise, I cannot defend myself.”
“You don’t need to. I’ll do it!” He placed the spoon on his plate.
“I can fight my own battles.” She eyed him seriously. She felt safe with him, as he wanted to protect her; it warmed her heart. But she could not put her entire life in his hands, she had to live it, as well.
“I want to spare you, in your condition.”
She nodded, looking at him from under her long lashes. “I know. Thank you for that.” She placed a hand on his arm. “I cannot be kept in the dark. The shock of the discovery would be too strong.”
He stared her for long seconds; put his hand over hers. “I see.” He yielded. “I’ll not keep it from you anymore. Is that fine with you?”
She smiled sweetly. “Yes, of course it is.”
“Good!” He said with finality and they continued their dinner.
That night in bed, they held each other tightly. They’d been sleeping in his huge master bed together every night. Philip wanted her with him. He wanted to touch her and detect the changes in her body. The doctor had told him that he wouldn’t be able to…touch her when she went into confinement. The hell he wouldn’t, he’d thought hotly. Unless he’d harm her. He’d requested Thomas to ask Nell about that, as servants had no such sensibilities of the noblemen. Thomas had come back with the information that peasants had little regard for confinement, as all of them went about their lives as normally as it got. Good news, he thought to himself. There’d be no doctor ruling his life where Selene was concerned.
“I’ll have to travel to London for the final sessions of Parliament.” He said in her ear.
“Is that so?” A little disappointed, he realised.
“Yes.” He held her closer. “Unfortunately. I’ve made some bills and have to be there for the vote.”
