Page 53 of Married to the Duke By Midnight

Perhaps it would have been better if he had found someone at the Thistleworth ball to take to bed as Thornston had suggested. A summer and autumn of plenty of shagging might have finally driven Lucretia from his mind and he would have been ready to find a wife next season.

But the thought felt exhausting. Both finding multiple women to sleep with over the next months and then a woman to court in this hypothetical future.

He looked at Jo’s sleeping face. She had finally fallen properly asleep against him and her face was at peace. She looked vulnerable with her eyes closed and her lips slightly parted.

Jo had been the right choice, he told himself as he looked away from her again. It was only that they needed to settle into the marriage. It was still new. It would take more time.

If Xavier or Thornston had married and complained that it was difficult after a fortnight of marriage to a stranger, he would have told them in a slightly mocking tone to give it time.

Yes, he needed to give it time. He and Jo wanted the same thing. Eventually they would settle into a comfortable routine of taking care of their different chores during the day and then coming together for amazing sex during the night.

His cock stirred at the thought, and he looked out the window again as he tried to force his mind away from the feel of Jo against him. He needed something to distract himself, Robert decided. His gaze landed on Jo’s discarded book on the opposite seat. He carefully reached for it while trying not to disturb Jo. Nevertheless, she stirred against him and he gently shushed her.

“I am just going to borrow your book,” he whispered.

He was surprised to learn she had been reading a novel called The Orphan’s Ordeal. It was not an author he knew and he started skimming without much thought and soon found himself gripped by the story of an orphaned young girl who had been reconciled with her distant relatives, only to be drawn into a game of loyalty and money.

Robert had read most of the book, only missing the ending and was taken aback and a little annoyed when the carriage jolted to a halt. They had arrived at the inn where they would stop for luncheon, he realized as he looked out the window.

Jo was slowly awakening beside him, and Robert absentmindedly rubbed her back as he finished the paragraph, then realized what he was doing and how it might be perceived and abruptly stopped the motion of his hand on her back. Only to think that it might come across as a bit cold… so he started rubbing her back again, but slower and slower until he could stop.

Fuck, he could not wait until he knew exactly how to treat her.

He memorized the page number, closed the book and turned to Jo as he moved his arm from around her shoulders. She was rumpled but beautiful in the bright light that shone through the carriage window, and Robert had the urge to lean forward and kiss her. Luckily, he was able to curve it, and they looked at each other for an awkward moment before the door was opened by their footman.

“Thank heavens that we are already here. I am famished,” Jo told him in a voice that was still hoarse from sleep.

His oversensitive and lustful body could not tell the difference though and Robert’s mind was once again flooded with images of drawing her into the carriage and lifting her skirts. Not caring that the whole inn heard her moans when he pounded into her.

Blast it, he was losing his mind.

They settled into a private room at the inn that Robert’s mother had booked in advance. She had also made certain that fresh horses waited for them, so that they would be able to make it to Brighton in one day.

He and Jo ate in silence for the first ten minutes or so, while Jo avoided his eyes. When Robert mentioned that he had borrowed her book and was almost finished, they discussed the first half since Jo had not read the second yet. Jo became more animated as their conversation progressed, and by the time they had finished the meal, both visited the outhouse and were back in the carriage, everything felt normal between them and Robert thought he might have imagined that something was the matter with her.

Jo immediately grabbed her book and settled in the seat opposite Robert. He picked up the newspaper, then the account books, trying to focus on either. He kept glancing at Jo who was reading. He desperately wanted to know how the book ended. He had not brought a book himself; he rarely had time to read for pleasure, and it seemed more efficient to catch up on current events and settle the accounts. But both were too dull to take his mind off all the things he wanted to do to Jo. At least the book had been exciting enough to do so.

He could not wait to know whether the young woman would end up marrying her uncle to secure the family fortune or elope with her friend who had been loyal to her as a child and now very conveniently come back exceedingly rich. He suspected the latter, but some books would have her marry the uncle just to make a moral point.

Robert’s mind was spinning out of control by having nothing but the thought of Jo’s naked body to occupy itself with. He had been abstinent for months before, when Lucretia and he had not been able to meet, and everything had been fine before he knew what her perfect breasts felt like when he buried his face between them and how Jo sounded when she climaxed.

Thornston would probably say that he needed to fuck it out of his system, but that was not an option now. Robert needed to wait. Another two weeks and then he could finally sleep with Jo. Perhaps sooner… it had not been part of her plan that they were giving each other orgasm after two weeks. He might be able to persuade her…

No, he needed to be patient, he told himself as he sighed heavily.

Jo looked up from her book with a questioning frown.

“Just the heat,” he mumbled and picked up the newspaper to give it another try.

It felt heaven-sent when the carriage halted for their second stop. They had a light meal in another private room. Jo had finished the book, and they discussed the second half, minus the ending, since Robert refused to let her tell him anything about it. He was relieved when he made her smile as he covered his ears when she started to tell too much; it felt like the friendship he had hoped would grow between them.

Jo handed him the novel when they were back in the carriage and Robert voraciously started reading, glad to finally have something to occupy his mind with. He thought he caught her looking at him from time to time, but whenever he briefly looked up, she was looking out the window or studying her hands.

On their third stop they encountered, Thornston who was alighting from his horse. Jo brightened when she saw him and greeted him warmly, which Robert felt an annoying prickle over that he then immediately tried to shove away. He was the one who had slept in Jo’s bed last night and given her three orgasms for Pete’s sake. Jo was only being amicable toward his friend.

Yet the thought that Thornston would definitely have been able to navigate this situation much better than Robert nagged him through the meal, as he watched Jo and Thornston discuss The Orphan’s Ordeal animatedly. Robert chimed in from time to time, but the two were so enthusiastic that he almost had to interrupt one of them to make a point. Which annoyed him further.

It was nothing he told himself. He was weary from the long day of travel and longed to reach their destination.