Page 91

“I fail to see the humor,” he huffed.

“You should see your face, Leo. You looked disgusted, as if you were asked to muck out the stables. But I strongly believe that in the year to come, you will be madly in love and loving it, just like I did,” Arabella said between fits of laughter.

“I think that is very unlikely to happen,” Leonard claimed.

“I will make sure to remind you of your statement when it happens,” Arabella answered, giving him an amused look.

Lenord gave her a bland smile and looked out the window. While he never admitted it to his sisters, he sometimes felt the weight of his solitary existence too keenly. He sometimes envied the easy camaraderie between his married sisters and their spouses, but the women he had met so far were capricious creatures—his sisters excluded, of course.

He had not really met a lady that made him willing to leave bachelorhood, and deep in his heart, he knew he could never really settle for a typical marriage of the ton. He had seen how most of them carry on, and he had acknowledged to himself that he preferred a deeper connection. He did not expect love, as he understood that it was rare, and his sisters were the few exceptions, but he at least hoped to like his spouse and have a budding friendship with her.

He wondered what stupidity had possessed him to think that he would have been happy if Arabella had ended up with an indifferent husband. He was just grateful that fate played out the way it did to grant her marital bliss.

Arabella, seeing he was deep in thought, stood up and touched his shoulder affectionately on her way out the door. She wandered through the house and then stopped at Edward’s study when she noticed that the door was slightly ajar.

She poked her head around the door, seeing him sitting behind his sturdy oak desk and calculating the books, going by the way he kept pushing his glasses up his nose.

Edward was always handsome, but there was something about him wearing glasses that took his allure to a whole new level

“If you stare any harder, you are going to bore a hole in my face,” he said without raising his head. “Like what you see?” he asked, raising his head and giving her a seductive wink, a saucy smile on his lips.

With that single expression, he turned from attractive to irresistible. Her mouth went dry in response.

“How did you know I was here?” she asked, walking towards him after closing the door behind her

“That is one thing about you, love. I am attuned to you at an elemental level. My body just recognizes you whenever you are within a mile radius. I don’t know if that makes sense?” he murmured, pulling her into his lap.

“It does, because I feel the same way,” she whispered.

His lips were just a breath away from hers, and it just made sense to kiss him. Their kiss deepened quickly, and soon they were panting for breath.

“How did your visit with your siblings go?” Edward asked.

“It went very well. I can’t express how grateful I am to you for inviting them over. I love you.”

“I love you too, and it was purely selfish on my part. I like seeing you happy.”

“I haven’t given you anything since we got married. I feel guilty being the only one receiving.” Arabella winced.

“You make me happy just by existing, my love. Soon you are going to give me the greatest gift of all. You are making me a father,” Edward said with so much tenderness in his eyes

“What do you think we will name our son?”

“How do you know we’ll have a son? I fancy having a little princess who looks just like you before having a son.”

“I just have a feeling we would have a son first. Besides, I think you need an heir first to preserve the duchy.”

“Who cares what the duchy wants? I want a daughter,” he stated mulishly.

It was so adorable and uncharacteristic of the powerful Duke that she burst into laughter and pressed a kiss to his lips.

She gave him a seductive smile. “You could always make love to me instead of wasting time arguing. Let’s put our time to good use.”

Edward didn’t have to be asked twice. He was all too happy to oblige her, putting the sturdy oak desk to good use.

Afterward, while he recovered, he contemplated that several months earlier, he would have never imagined that such heights of happiness existed, and he was ever grateful to fate for handing him this boon.

The End?