Page 51 of In Scandal with the Duke

James held her firmly, walked over to the bed, placed her in the center and then climbed beside her. Her face flushed a delicate, rosy hue, and her eyes searched his face, a question he did not understand in her gaze.

“Let me see your shoulder.”

She gave him her back, and he tugged at the nightgown, baring her creamy shoulders. There was a red bruise. “Does it still hurt?”

“No.”

“Are you certain?”

“I am.”

He brushed his mouth over her nape, and she jerked away, giggling.

“You are ticklish.”

“Frightfully so!” Elizabeth rolled toward him, nestling close and throwing her arm over his chest. “I missed you these last few days.”

He lowered his head and tenderly brushed a kiss across her mouth.I missed you too, James silently admitted, refusing to say the words aloud lest they opened a door he could not step back from.

“Let me hold you,” he said.

“Your heart is pounding so, James,” she said softly, resting her cheek on his chest. “I can hear it.”

“You could have been hurt or killed,” he said gruffly.

“It was not such a serious accident,” she murmured, tenderly brushing her finger over his brow. “You worry for naught. The pain in my shoulder has eased.”

Relief washed through him. “What happened?”

“A carriage pulled by a team of four seemed to have lost control. It careened into aunt’s carriage. Luckily, I was the only one who visited Hatchard’s. No one else was harmed.”

“Good.”

“Your heart is still pounding.”

“You are reposing atop me in a very provocative manner.”

She giggled, and her sweet laugh sunk deep inside his bones, filling him with a warmth that banished the chill of the night.

“What books did you get?”

“OthelloandRichard IIIandThe Castle of Otranto.”

“Ah, all excellent.”

“You read them all?”

“Hmm.”

“What else do you like other than tupping, chess, the pianoforte and reading?”

“You,” he said, shifting to deeply kiss her. She moaned, parting her lips to sinuously glide her tongue against his. The beat of her heart against his chest was felt in every part of James’s body.

He broke their kiss, and she smiled, resting her chin on his chest.

“You also like kissing,” she drawled. “Do you wonder about me?”

“Every hour of the day.”