Page 33 of Raising the Duke’s Unexpected Twins

But as she entered the dining room, he rose, pulling out a chair next to him, and looking just about as dashing as she had ever seen him. He grinned at her, a new sparkle in his eyes.

“Well, wife? Will you come and sit next to me for our first dinner as man and wife?”

Damn it.

CHAPTER 12

Nicholas was certain he could have looked at his new wife’s surprised expression for hours on end. She simply stood there, staring at him for a few seconds without saying anything.

“Well? Will you?”

She looked breathtaking in the new gown he had bought for her, one of many. He’d been provided with her measurements from her former dressmaker, and thus had requested a number of fresh new gowns befitting her new station. Her dark hair had been pinned up again, and she wore a pearl necklace. She was his duchess now, and he would take pride in bedecking her in whatever gowns and jewels she pleased. It would make the eventual removing of them all the better.

Slowly, she entered the room, opening and closing her mouth, staring at the food on the table as well as the many chairs.

“I thought it was customary for a husband and wife to sit at either end of the table.”

“Surely you know that I am not a man of custom. And I am always eager to have a beautiful woman sit next to me.”

He winked, and she blushed her usual shade of lovely pink, but she did as she was bid, coming to sit in the proffered chair, and he slid her into the table, being sure to brush his fingers along her neckline, however briefly. He grinned at her slight shiver. His gaze didn’t leave her face as he sat down, poured champagne for each of them and then passed her her glass. He wanted to laugh as she hurried to take a sip.

“You seem, nervous, my dear,” he told her, leaning closer to get that scent of rosebud in his nose again.

“I am not nervous,” she said stiffly, taking another gulp. “I am simply surprised. We are only pretending at man and wife, you know,” she told him. “You didn’t need to do all this.”

She waved a hand at the feast before them as well as the footmen standing nearby.

“I did need to do all this because you are a duchess now, and you have lived for too long without life’s comforts.” He’d spoken a little more harshly than he’d meant to, but thoughts of how shabby her home had looked when he’d first seen it infuriated him.

She will be better taken care of now.

He noted a softening in her face as she looked at him and quickly changed the subject, waving the footmen over to bring the first course. “Besides, the servants need to see that we are faring well as a couple. We have not taken a wedding trip after all, and we are here now for everyone to gaze upon us.”

There was a teasing tone to his voice, and he liked how it made Cordelia visibly relax.

“Very well.” She sipped from her glass. “You have been busy?”

“Yes, but I am always busy. A gambling den cannot run itself. I have an assistant who manages most matters, especially unruly customers, but I like to keep a hand in. I keep the books myself.”

She looked impressed, and he nodded at her. “You have been very busy too, I see. Running about after two wild things and also too busy to have dinner with your new husband.”

She blushed. “I’m getting used to being run ragged. I’ve been exhausted every night."

"They seem as though they would tire anyone out. Not avoiding me, are you?” He lifted a teasing brow. “I never knew Cordelia Debrett to shrink away.”

“And she is not now,” she replied, with a slight smile. “I’m here, am I not?”

You certainly are.

He had not really eaten with someone in his own home for so many years, and it was strangely…comforting. The fact that it was Cordelia made it somehow better.

“They ask for you, you know,” she said softly.

“The children? Well, they’re only human. Many people ask for me.” He tried to keep his tone light, but something about her telling him that made a heaviness sit in his stomach.

She frowned at him. “They want you to come and play. At first, I was seething with jealousy that they should wish to add you to our games, when I have been playing with them for years.” He noticed there was a spark of teasing in her eye. “But I relented at long last and said that I would ask you. Will you come?”

Nicholas was on uncertain ground. He loathed discussing softer matters. It only reminded him of when he was a child, weak and nervous and frightened at all times.