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“Your Grace, perhaps some things should be reserved for the privacy of your bedchambers,” he reminded the groom.

Phoebe felt her face heat up with mortification.

Never had she ever imagined that her groom would be reprimanded on their wedding day for his, ah…excessive ardor.

Nor did she expect tolikeit.

Good heavens, what has come over me?

Their guests erupted in applause, and Phoebe found herself leaning into Ethan, her knees still embarrassingly weak after that powerful kiss he had just given her.

One that she had just eagerly participated in.

“The good father was right.”

She looked at him so swiftly that she could swear she heard her neckcrack.

Ethan grinned at her and then whispered in her ear, “Some things do require privacy, my sweet bride, but not necessarily in a bedchamber.”

He was oh so wicked, and when he smiled at her like that, it made her look forward to those promises.

Inside and outside their bedchambers.

It was so incredibly indecent.

And yet, why did she want nothing more than for him to show her the full extent of his wickedness?

Dear God in heaven, had she actually been infected with his depravity when she married him?

A kiss.

It was supposed to be a simple kiss, and nothing more.

A brief prelude to the delights he would show her.

Certainly, he could trust himself with one simple kiss?

But how did that one kiss get so wildly, horribly out of control?

Kissing Phoebe was like kissing ice and fire at the same time, and Ethan found himself thoroughly, inexplicably in a turmoil of want and longing.

And then, she looked at him over her shoulder and coolly told him, “We must go to the wedding breakfast and tend to our guests, dear husband.”

Ethan had never felt more aroused, and it was only the morning, dammit. They had wedding guests to attend to, as she so calmly told him.

Surely, they would not say anything if he stole his bride away for a quick moment?

A sudden tap on his shoulder pulled him from his thoughts, and he scowled at Daniel. “What are you smiling so happily about?” he muttered. “It’s not your wedding.”

Instead, his friend merely regarded him with raised eyebrows and a knowing smile that only grew.

“So… you actually like your new bride,” Daniel murmured.

“No more than any other young lady of the ton, I assure you,” Ethan replied easily.

Daniel looked at him pointedly. “Right.”

The man looked thoroughly unconvinced, but that was Daniel for you. He dealt in secrets and rumors, and he knew people more than they knew themselves.