Her Favorite Duke (The 1797 Club #2)(64)

Her eyes went wide. “You arranged for a bath for me?”

He nodded. “I didn’t expect we’d take a dunk in the lake together, but I thought it might be nice after a day out and about in the woods.”

She eased up closer, staring up at him with those dark eyes he was forever lost in. “And will you be joining me, Your Grace?”

He swallowed hard. “There is nothing I’d like more, but I have a few things to prepare.”

She held her gaze on him a long moment and he could see her mind turning. She was judging him, analyzing his every move. He couldn’t help but wonder what decisions she was coming to.

“Very well,” she said at last, then lifted to her tiptoes to kiss him and slipped into the bedroom.

When the door was closed, he took a long breath. Just being near Meg set him on his head. Made him dizzy. She always had. It seemed she always would. And today had repaired some of the damage he’d caused between them. They had been friends today, as well as lovers. When they talked it wasn’t just about their marriage or their past, it had been easy and comfortable.

All that gave him hope, but not enough. There was more work to do to prove that he wouldn’t fall back into old habits, that he wouldn’t push her away out of some sense of fear or honor or self-punishment.

He moved about the room, lighting candles and lamps, stoking the fire, and then he carefully prepared their food for the night. When it was all finished, he moved to the bedroom door and knocked gently.

“Come in,” she called out.

He stepped inside and caught his breath. The fire burned bright in this room too and Meg had lit the candles, as well. The big tub was pulled right in front of the fire and the light spilled over her. She had pulled her damp hair up into a loose bun on top of her head, and her long neck and high cheekbones were accentuated beautifully.

The water was cloudy from soap, but he still caught glimpses of pink flesh that drove him mad. “You do tempt a man,” he murmured as he sank down on his knees beside the tub, resting his arms on the edge.

She smiled, but there was fire in her eyes. That fire he’d always been drawn to like a moth. “Tempt you enough to join me?” she whispered, leaning forward. The tops of her breasts bobbed out of the water, giving him a peekaboo glimpse of hard nipples, and he groaned.

“Next time,” he promised. “Next time I will join you.”

She smiled and leaned up, dampening his shirt as she kissed him. “If you say so.” She sighed and leaned back. “This was wonderful, thank you.”

“You deserved it,” he said softly, rolling up his sleeves as he spoke. “You deserve so much more than I’ve given.”

Her expression softened, even as he dipped his hand beneath the water and stroked his fingers back and forth over her knee.

“Simon, you judge yourself so harshly. Have there been mistakes made? Yes. But that is being human. To expect you’d go through life without ever making the wrong move is to hold yourself to a high standard that is unattainable.”

He met her stare, stilling his fingers in their movement. “But I’ve hurt you.”

She nodded. “You have. But I’ve never thought you did it with malice or intent or forethought.”

“It doesn’t matter,” he said, his heart hurting.

“Yes, it does,” she whispered. “If I thought you’d meant to hurt me or taken pleasure in that act, I would have asked you to leave instead of joined you today. I grew up with a man who enjoyed hurting those around him, who did things on purpose to break us down. Whatever you’ve done, I know you are not that man.”

His eyes fluttered shut and he let out a long breath as pain overwhelmed him. “You overcame just as much as I did from your childhood, but you are so much better, Meg. So much stronger.”

She moved forward again, cupping his cheeks gently. “I had James as my support,” she reminded him. “You were alone until you met Graham and James when you were, what, thirteen? And even then, it wasn’t as if you always had them at your side. You are exactly who you are, Simon. I wouldn’t want any other man, any other way.”

He met her eyes, he saw the truth in her words, and the love he felt for her washed over him. He leaned in and kissed her, drawing her almost out of the tub as he crushed her against him and reveled in her warmth and her acceptance, things he had shied away from since their marriage because, in truth, he hadn’t believed he deserved them. Or that they were real. Or that they could last.

Now he was beginning to believe. To see the future she had described so many times. The one he had nearly destroyed out of fear and distrust that love could be true.

He drew away, shaking from the power of his emotions. “I’m sorry.”

She laughed as she stood up, a goddess clad only in rivulets of streaming water. “Never apologize for kissing your wife thoroughly, Simon.”

He grabbed for one of the thick towels the servants had brought to the cottage earlier in the day. She wrapped herself in it, drying off slowly as she smiled at him, well-aware of the show she was performing. And every part of his body was on high alert as she did so.

Somehow, though, he resisted her temptations and took the robe that lay across the bed. “Your Grace.”

She shrugged into it, and followed him into the main room of the cottage. He offered her a seat at the table and she stared down at the place he’d set for her. When she smiled, he tilted his head. “What?”