A Marriage Most Inconvenient (Inconvenient Matches Book #1)

Chapter 18: Ben & Vera

He was going to leave tomorrow. Finally, he would be free of the madness that his Duchess reduced him to.

Why did the thought of leaving not bring the thrum of anticipation that it ought to?

It must have been because the physician had advised him against returning to London in order to not burden his lungs, which had led him to decide to go to Hertfordshire instead. He cast a lazy look about the dressing room as he ran a drying cloth through his wet hair and allowed himself a private smile as his eyes roamed over his wife's side of the room. Her dressing table was set immaculately, lined with perfumes and scented lotions, and other toiletries he did not recognize. For her professed discomfort with finery, his wife certainly enjoyed her private luxuries. And somehow, it seemed far more refined than the gauche way women in London paraded their jewels around balls and parties in a competition of who had more wealth. Strange how he had never noticed that before.

A knock sounded at the door, expecting his valet to enter with freshly pressed clothes, he called out. 'Enter.'

Except, it was not the door to his own chambers that opened.

'Benedict, there is a disaster of biblical- Dear Heavens, you are nude!'

He whipped his head towards the door that led to his wife's chambers only to find her looking at him in open-mouthed shock. Her eyes roamed a path from his head, down to his torso, and then further down, to the rest of him that was covered with a large drying cloth tied around his waist. He felt heat climb up his neck as he felt a little self-consciousness stir. He had not been getting the same amount of exercise as he used to in university, where he fenced and boxed regularly, as a result, his stomach had gone a little soft. He wanted her to find him attractive, he realized, much to his own bafflement. He was not the vain sort that required affirmation from others. He felt his body stir with arousal at her unabashed perusal.

When her gaze finally found his, he realized his worrying had been for naught. Her eyes blazed with desire, plain as day. And it was enough to spark his own blood into a frenzy.

He knew that he should leave well enough alone. Knew that moving forward was a mistake.

And yet....when did he ever have the upper hand on her? He would be a fool to give up his one shot at revenge after having been at her mercy for the entirety of his stay. She may have been adept at mischief, but he knew sex. How to tease, how to bring a lover to the edge of madness, whether to give or withhold pleasure. Didn't he deserve a bit of retribution? It was not like he would let anything happen, he was in full control of himself. He stalked closer to her, walking until she began to back away. A flush colored her face and neck, and he wondered how far down it really went. Her back hit the wall, her gaze darting between his mouth and his eyes. He looked for any sign that she was uncomfortable, that she did not want him to continue. She need only tell him to stop.

He settled his palm against the wall next to her head and leaned in until their noses were an inch apart, her breath fanned his lips.

'What is the matter, wife? Come to proposition me again?' He grinned as she tipped her face up in an unintentional invitation, her sapphire eyes dark with her arousal. He let his eyes take a slow, deliberate trip down to her berry pink lips, which obligingly parted at his attention. He looked lower still to see her nipples peaked into delightful buds against the muslin of her green day gown.

Oh, she wanted him alright.

'Proposition you? Again?!' She cried out in indignant outrage. 'If anything, sir! It is you who propositioned me at the orphanage!'

'Then why do you blush, Duchess?'

'Oh, you!' She huffed in adorable frustration. 'It is only because you are rather...ahem, naked. And,' She brought up her hands to pat the width of his shoulders. 'rather large.'