Page 101 of Road Trip With a Rogue
“If you don’t want children, Daisy, then we won’t. It’s your choice. I didn’t marry you just to give me heirs.” He lifted his hand and stroked her jaw. “I honestly don’t care if Perry inherits. He can run the dukedom into the ground. Turn the great park at Carisbrooke Hall into a petting zoo.”
Daisy bit back a chuckle. That was precisely the kind of hairbrained thing Perrywoulddo. And Violet would probably convince him to dye all the sheep and swans on the estate pink, to match her outfits.
“That would be a shame. I have rather fond memories of Carisbrooke Hall. We should go back there soon. I want to sleep in your bed with you in it, this time.”
She went up on tiptoe and pressed a soft kiss against his mouth. “I’d like to have children with you Lucien.”
He made a soft growl of pleasure against her lips. “You would?”
She nodded. In truth, this wasn’t something they’d ever discussed. On their wedding night, after they’d said their vows in the tiny candle-lit chapel in the grounds of Kenwood House, Daisy had changed into the shirt, breeches, and jacket that Tess had miraculously produced. Justin had gallantly lent her his horse, and Daisy and Lucien had galloped together back across Hampstead Heath and come here, to Cranford House.
Daisy had seen barely a glimpse of the lavish interior before Lucien swept her up into his arms, carried her up the stairs and into his bedroom, and stripped them both of their clothes in a passionate blur of limbs.
His urgency had made Daisy’s heart sing with joy, and when he’d finally joined his body with hers, they’d both let out twin groans of relief. He’d taken her to the very peak of pleasure, but when he’d been about to withdraw to spend himself on the sheets, Daisy had vehemently protested.
She’d wrapped her arms and legs around him, stalling his movement.
“Don’t leave me,” she’d panted, half dazed with pleasure. “Inside. I want to feel you inside me. Finish it. Please, Lucien.”
For a moment he’d stilled, as if afraid he’d misheard, and then he’d kissed her with such passion that she’d lost her breath.
“God, Daisy. Yes.”
He’d pushed himself deep, finding his rhythm again, and the sound he made when his body released inside her had been music to her ears. She’d held him close through the aftershocks, loving the way his heart pounded against her chest, the way he whispered her name so reverently. She’d felt blissfully complete.
Daisy had assumed that Lucien would see her action for what it was: a willingness to risk becoming pregnant with his child. The thought of bearing him children was not something she viewed with dismay. Far from it. If it was meant to be, she would conceive, and be fiercely glad.
But he’d obviously thought she’d only allowed him to finish inside her because the timing meant she was unlikely to conceive. Plenty of women tried that methodof contraception, although it was rather unreliable, from what she’d heard.
Or perhaps he’d thought she’d taken measures to prevent a pregnancy from taking hold? Either way, the fact that he was asking her opinion, instead of merely assuming his “husbandly rights” and forcing her to bear him children, as Dalkeith had done to her mother, made her immensely glad.
Daisy gazed up at him. He still looked serious, worried, and her heart cracked open a little more. He might call himself selfish and overbearing, but in every way that mattered, he was an excellent human being.
“I’d like to have children with you Lucien,” she repeated softly. “I’d certainly like to try.”
His expression softened as he kissed the tip of her nose, then the freckle on her left cheek. “I’d like that too. And it doesn’t matter if none of them are boys. We could have a dozen girls, and I’d love them all, because they’d come from you.”
“And you,” she reminded him with a smile. “But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. There’s no guarantee it will even happen. It could take months of trying. Years, even.” She gave him a gentle bite on the earlobe and felt him twitch in response “In fact, I think we should start trying right now.”
Lucien sent her a mock-scandalized look. “We’re due for dinner with Tess and Justin in less than an hour.”
“I’m sure they won’t mind if we’re a few minutes late.”
He pressed a kiss to the corner of her mouth. “We’ll tell them we were held up by highwaymen.”
Daisy chuckled. “In Mayfair?”
He shrugged. “You never know. Stranger things have happened. The crime in this city is getting worse by the day.”
“Good news for King and Company. We’ll never be short of work.”
“I can’t believe you’re thinking about business at a time like this. I’m clearly losing my touch. Now stop talking, and kiss me.”
“Yes, Your Grace. With pleasure.”