Page 95 of Seven Nights with the Wicked Duke

"Darling, I haven't even been in one since the last time I nearly got stabbed." Theo chuckled.

She arched a brow. "Which, as I recall, you described as 'invigorating'."

"It was. Terribly so."

Cecilia smacked his arm. "I'm being serious. I don't want to wake up one morning to a note saying you've gone off to duel a butcher named Clive in a barn."

"Clive was an excellent fighter, I'll have you know." He shrugged with another lazy smile.

"I don't care if he's the bloody Prince of Wales. You're not allowed."

He paused, staring at her with a faint smile tugging at his lips. "You do realize how ravishing you are when you're commanding?"

She gave him a look.

"I mean it. Positively terrifying. It's arousing." He raised a hand to pat her hair.

"Theo."

"I'm serious." He stepped closer, cupping her cheek. "You want me to stop? I'll stop. No more bruises. No more Clives."

"You swear?" Her brows furrowed slightly.

"On my life. On your smile. On that ridiculous list of yours that led to me being hopelessly besotted."

She leaned into his touch. "Good. Because I plan on keeping you in one piece for a long, long time."

"Selfish," he murmured, brushing a kiss against her lips. "You just want me in one piece so I can worship you properly."

"That, and I have plans for our future. Plans that require your face to remain symmetrical."

He laughed, full and warm. "What would you have me do instead?"

She smiled against his mouth. "Tend the garden. Help the staff. Write poetry."

"The garden," he said with horror. "Surely you jest."

"No. I want you to grow something. Feel the earth in your hands."

"Darling, the only thing I've ever successfully cultivated is scandal."

"And yet, I married you."

"God help us both."

She kissed him again, and the world spun a little. Like it always did when their mouth touched. Not from fear. Not from loss. But from the dizzying delight of having everything she had ever wanted—and knowing it had wanted her back.

The house was quiet now, calmed into stillness by nightfall and the gentle hush of distant waves breaking on the shore beyond the garden walls.

"It's so beautiful." Cecilia pulled from the kiss and walked barefoot through the marble corridors, her silk robe waving with every step.

She had changed from her wedding gown and jewelry some hours ago. She felt lighter without them. She didn't feel like a bride now, but a wife.

Theo kept his eyes on her from behind, watching her every move.

"Abandoning me?" he asked from the distance, his voice a low vibration across the balcony.

She raised a brow before turning around to look at him, "By your lawful wife? Perish the thought."