Page 110 of The Duke's Indecent Match

“I am not.”

He took a few minutes to clean himself up with the water from her basin before returning to her with a wet cloth to clean the evidence of their lovemaking from between her legs.She shuddered as he ran the cool, damp cloth over her puffy, sensitive lips, her back arching in a manner that made his cock twitch.

By the time he climbed into bed beside her, pulling her back into his arms, she was already asleep.Worn out from his attentions.Grinning, Nathanial closed his eyes and followed her down.

It was the first time he spent the full night in his wife’s bed.

Waking up beside her was a revelation.She was nestled sweetly in his arms, her breathing even and deep.Long black lashes brushed the top of her high cheekbones.The silky tresses of her hair were strewn across the pillow, midnight black against white in a stunning contrast.

She was soft and warm, and he did not want to let her go.

Why had he not stayed in her bed before?

You know why.

But that time had passed.He knew his feelings, even if he had not spoken them aloud.Admitting them to her felt far too vulnerable, especially considering how their marriage had come about.He had no idea how she felt about him.

He considered attempting to sneak away from her side now, before she woke, before she realized he’d spent the night at her side.Did doing so reveal too much of his emotions?

It might, but he still resisted the idea.Nathanial wanted to be here.Besides, it was his right as her husband to stay in her bed if he so wished.

Another benefit to being in her bed in the morning was that he could now wake her up in a far more enjoyable manner than he usually awoke.

Bending his head down, he brushed his lips against her neck.

“Kalina,” he murmured, whispering her name so his breath wafted across her skin.

She did not stir, and he moved his lips over her collarbone.

“Kalina.”A little louder this time as his mouth began to make a trail down to her breast.He kissed the top slope.

Nothing.No reaction from his wife.Nathanial frowned, a suspicion beginning to take root in his mind.

Moving his mouth over her breast, he watched her face as he took one pert nipple between his lips and sucked.Hard.

She let out a little moan with her breath, her expression changing only very slightly.Nathanial released her nipple and sat up.Watched her.Her face smoothed out immediately, and she turned her head to the side, her deep, even breathing resuming.He stared down at her.

She was still asleep.

A heavy sleeper.

But she had never been when he’d come to her bed.She’d always woken up immediately.Everyone had said… but he’d seen the proof otherwise.Until now.

Unless she was fakingthis?

“Kalina.”He said her name loudly.Forthrightly.A demand.It was like a sharp clap in the air.There should besomereaction if she was awake, even if it was a minute change to her expression or breathing.

Nothing.

Nothing changed.

His wife was nearly impossible to awaken.

Events reordered themselves in his mind.The resentment he’d felt was now replaced by guilt and… and a new kind of anger.Why had she not told him?Why had she not said anything after that first day?

Why had she let him spank her when she’d done nothing wrong?

And now he wanted to spank her again for insisting he spank her in the first place, which made no sense, yet it did.