Page 81 of Stolen By the Duke of Stone

“Unconventional.” He spread his arms. “What do you think?”

“Far too regal to be a mere shepherd boy.” She stepped closer, into his arms. They closed around her. “Who is Goliath?”

“What, rather.” He pulled away her mask to kiss the very tip of her nose. “Fatherhood is my Goliath. I volunteered to fight, and I will defeat it.”

She laughed. “Fatherhood is not something to defeat.”

“Every obstacle in life is something one might defeat,” he said. “I’m not trying to say I’m waging war against William.”

“Well, if fatherhood looks like this on you, then I say all is well.” Jessamine pressed a kiss to his throat, feeling his pulse increase.

Desire swirled in the air between them. For all the times that they wanted one another, they had thus far done little to assuage that need.

“Are you looking forward to tonight?” she asked.

“I’m looking forward to seeing you slay the gossips of London.”

“You’re still stuck in Rome,” she teased. “This is no gladiator battle. There will be a disappointing lack of slaying involved.”

“You are the goddess of death,” he pointed out.

“And I have power over it. That is the point.”

His face softened. Like always, he seemed able to see through her bravado to the very heart of her fears. She had not been able to save Percy, and she had not been able to save Rebecca, but she would ensure that no harm came to William.

“He’s safe,” Andrew murmured, sliding his arms down to her waist and locking his hands at the small of her back. She loved it when he held her against him like this, as though nothing could ever harm her. “Everyone is safe. They are healthy, and no harm will come to them.”

“I know. I know that. I just…” She took a deep breath. “I know it’s foolish, but being like this—dressing up like this—feels as though it gives me some small semblance of power and control over it. If something happened to him, I don’t know how I could ever live with myself.”

He stroked her cheek. “Then allow me to protect him.”

That was always how it was supposed to be. She would give William love, and Andrew would give William protection and safety.

Except, somehow, over the course of the last few weeks, something had changed. They both now offered protection and safety, and they both offered William love. Jessamine had seen it multiple times as Andrew held the tiny baby, cradling him close to his chest.

Still, the offer touched her, and she smiled, leaning up to kiss him lightly on the mouth. As always, he responded with perfect politeness, his body tensing with coiled energy, with need that she knew he felt for her.

Just let go, she wanted to beg. Show me what you want. Take what you want. Stop holding back.

Then she chided herself for wanting more when he had given her so much.

She would be happy. This was more than she could ever have asked for. This was enough, and in time, even if she didn’t have access to his love, she would have access to that other side of him.

The need.

Yes, she would take that.

“Well then,” she said, leaning back and aching at the expression of ravenous hunger on his face before he blinked and it smoothed into that impassive mask he so often adopted. “Shall we greet our guests?”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Andrew did his best to take his eyes from Jessamine as she glided about the room, but he found it almost impossible. In a room filled with ladies dressed to impress—some as nymphs, some as fairies, some as queens—he found nothing more compelling than the sight of his very own wife.

His Jessamine.

There was something so graceful about the way she moved, as though she drifted through life instead of putting her feet on the ground like any other mortal. The severe black of her dress made her skin glow in comparison, and the feathering lace made him think of negligees and all the things he desperately—desperately—wanted to touch.

He didn’t deserve her. That fact stood solid and immovable between them. She dreamed of stability and certainty, and he brought nothing but uncertainty into his life. Almost every night, he woke beside her in a sweat, needing to escape to be in the cool air and finally to breathe.