Chapter 24
“So that is where we are at,” Evelyn said, sitting with her hands in her lap and waiting for Verity to respond.
“Oh, Evelyn,” she said, a dreamy smile on her face. “You are falling in love with one another.”
“No!” Evelyn insisted. “Verity. I said nothing about Asher. This is about the diamond. And the committee. And Lord Norwood. Were you not listening to anything I said?”
“Oh, I was listening but if that is what you want to focus on, then so be it,” Verity said, but the glint in her eye remained. “But we will be returning to your husband.”
Evelyn rolled her eyes. “Do you think Lord Eastclere will help us if you ask him?” she asked, trying to turn the conversation.
“You said he didn’t seem particularly pleased the first time you spoke to him, so I doubt he will be more forthcoming with me,” Verity said with a frown. “But I can try.”
“Thank you,” Evelyn said with some relief. “Asher said he would look into Lord Norwood, but I am worried.”
“Why?”
“Well, it just might be that he has killed two other members of my husband’s family.”
Verity was silent for a moment, staring at her with concern. “I don’t like where this is going, Evelyn. It seems no matter what happens, you get pulled deeper and deeper into something much darker than we anticipated.”
“At least I’m not alone,” she said, surprised when she realized that she meant that, with every part of her.
She had Asher, and that made her feel better than she could ever have expected.
He might not want a true marriage, but he had promised to be her partner and to protect her. She would have to be content with that.
“There’s something else,” Evelyn said, leaning in.
“What is it?”
“Apparently, my father and Asher’s mother have been becoming close.”
“What?” Verity gasped in shock. “You cannot be serious.”
“I am very serious. My father came to visit when he thought I was out, and the dowager duchess has disappeared without telling us her location a few times.”
“My goodness, that is interesting news,” Verity said. “How do you feel about that?”
“I cannot say I understand it, but if anything comes of it, then perhaps it will be good for my father to no longer be alone.”
They chatted for a few more minutes before Verity made her promise to return with answers as soon as she could and left to make good on them.
Asher tossed and turned the next night, staring at the ceiling. The day hadn’t revealed anything particularly illuminating.
He had gone to his clubs, asked around, tried to find Lord Norwood, but had come up empty.
He hoped it wouldn’t reach the earl that Asher was asking questions, but what was he going to do?
As much as he and Evelyn had played around with ideas, he couldn’t see Lord Norwood actually being behind his father’s and brother’s deaths.
The idea seemed too far-fetched, and he had no true fears about him.
All he was concerned with now was that if Lord Norwood heard he was asking questions, he would hide any activity that might provide a clue.
All that running through his head made it difficult for him to sleep.
But, mostly, he was awake because he was thinking about Evelyn.
He wanted so badly not to want her as he did. He was beginning to feel dependent on her, to need her in his life, to want to see her at every moment of the day.
She was everywhere. In his thoughts, in his library — and he wanted her in his bed.
He sat up, noting light coming through the dressing room that connected their bedrooms. She wasn’t still awake, was she?
He should go check. Make sure that nothing was amiss.
He had promised to protect her, and by going to her room now, it was only to do that, and not because he had any particular feelings toward her or actually needed to see her.
At least, that was what he was telling himself.
He stood, shivering as he slept undressed, and pulled his wrapper around him before following the light to the door.
He let himself into the dressing room, ready to knock on her door, but found it was already open to him.
Was she waiting for him? As much as he had wanted to spend the night with her again after their previous encounter, he hadn’t wanted to give her the wrong idea of what their marriage would be.
For if they spent every night together, it was more than likely she would develop feelings for him and — even worse — he might develop them for her.
He peeked around the doorway, surprised to find that not only was she awake, but she was still dressed in her own wrapper, papers spread around her, a quill pen and its ink near the side of her bed, making him shudder at its precarious position.
One shift and that black ink would stain the counterpane.
He forced himself not to say anything, but he walked over and picked it up before making his presence known.
“Evelyn?”
“Eep!” she cried out before flying backward on the bed, picking up a pillow and holding it out in front of her as though she would use it as a shield.
He leaned over and gently took it from her hands.
“Asher!” She placed her hand on her heart. “You scared me.”
“I’m sorry, I was trying not to,” he said. “What are you doing still awake?”
“I couldn’t sleep,” she admitted. “Too much on my mind.”
“The diamond mystery?”
“Yes,” she said, hesitating, “and life, I suppose. Everything has changed in a very short time.”
She stared down at something in front of her, not meeting his eye, and he took a seat beside her on the bed, reaching out and lifting her chin so that she would look at him.
“I don’t think I’ve given you enough grace for that,” he said, realizing how absorbed he had been in how much his marriage had affected him that he hadn’t thought enough about all of the change that had occurred for her.
“If there is anything you need, please let me know. But for what it’s worth, I think you are doing remarkably well adjusting.
You even changed my mother’s mind about you. ”
She chuckled humorlessly. “She really did hate me. I think she still might, just slightly less so.”
“She doesn’t hate you,” Asher said. “We just didn’t follow the plan she had so carefully laid out, and she is having her own problems adjusting.”
“Were she and your father in love?” Evelyn asked suddenly, surprising him.
“In their own way,” he said. “I wouldn’t say they were a love match, but they formed a partnership in which they each understood their roles and relied on one another. She missed him when he was gone, that is for certain.”
“Is that…” she paused for a moment before meeting his eye, “Is that the kind of marriage you want?”
He opened his mouth to tell her yes, that was exactly what he wanted, but he found that the words wouldn’t come.
“I— I don’t entirely know what I want anymore, if I am being honest with you.”
He could get lost in those hazel eyes staring up at him. They were full of hope right now, which both gladdened him and terrified him in equal measure.
His body seemed to act of its own accord as he reached out, running his fingers down her cheek, his hands tangling in her hair, which was loose around her shoulders. They really were the silkiest strands. He rubbed a few between his fingers.
“Asher,” she said with a sigh, her lips parting ever so slightly.
Just one kiss. That wouldn’t hurt, would it?
Keeping their eyes locked, he leaned down, cupping her face between his hands, and kissed her. Her hands slid around his neck, locking behind the back of it.
Oh, this felt good. He should stop, he reasoned, but that reason was slowly slipping as he left his head and focused instead on his body, on how well she fit into his arms, how soft and plush her lips were, how eager her response was, how soft her curves felt against him.
He knew from experience now what it was like for the two of them to come together, and he was already working toward it, whether he wanted it or not.
She was his wife. She seemed to want this as much as he did.
Fuck it.
Reaching an arm out behind her, he swept all of the papers she was working on off the bed to create room.
The fact that she didn’t seem to care told him all he needed to know about her desire.
He laid her down gently on the bed, opening her wrapper to find her dressed in only a chemise. He grinned at his find.
“Were you ready for something?” he asked, quirking a brow at her, enjoying the flush that filled her cheeks.
“No,” she obviously lied. “I was just trying to be comfortable.”
“Mm hmm.”
She lifted her nose in defiance. “You’re here, aren’t you?”
“I was only checking on you to ensure all was well.”
“All is well,” she challenged, and he couldn’t help his slight chuckle. He loved her spirit, loved how she didn’t back down from him, how she seemed to be the one woman in the world who did not care that he was a duke and bowed to his every whim, instead meeting him as an equal more than anything.
Many men wouldn’t like that. Perhaps if he had been raised as his brother had been, to be the duke and take on all of this responsibility, he would have thought the same.
But he had been allowed freedoms his entire life, leaving him well prepared to take what was offered to him now.
“Evelyn,” he said in a singsong voice as he leaned down and surprised her with a kiss on the nose, “are you trying to talk us out of this?”
Her eyes widened and she let out a choked, “No.”
“Good. Then perhaps we should stop talking, shall we?”
“I think that’s a very good idea,” she said, her voice just above a whisper.
Here, now, was the only place she submitted herself to him, giving up the control he knew she enjoyed holding onto.
And he would take it.
He placed short, soft kisses down her neck, loving the moan that emerged from her in response. He adored her exuberance, in this and everything else she did in life. She didn’t back down from anything.
Hell, he had told her he thought his father might have been murdered, and she had taken that as a challenge to solve instead of running as far away as possible, as most women would have done.
He kissed her again, tilting her head back for better access. Her legs widened of their own accord to provide him room to fit between them as he leaned her back on the bed.
He wanted her. So badly. More than he had ever admitted to himself. Which made the fact that she was his and available to him every day, every night, even worse.
His hands skimmed over her waist, lifting the chemise as high as he could. He tried to lift it over her arms, but it became caught between them, and eventually he became so frustrated with it that he took the delicate lace between two hands and ripped the entire thing in half.
Evelyn stared at him, mouth open in shock. “I liked that one,” she said, and he grunted in return.
“I’ll buy you another one,” he said. “Hell, I’ll buy you as many as you want.”
Her hands attacked him in equal frenzy, pushing his wrapper off his shoulders, pausing for a moment when she realized he wore nothing beneath.
“And you said I was the one waiting for this,” she accused.
“I sleep like this,” he defended himself, shrugging.
“You do not.”
“I do.”
“What if someone needs you in the middle of the night?”
“I put my wrapper on.”
“But—”
“Evelyn,” he said, pushing his hair back in exasperation. “Does this really matter right now?”
“No,” she said, before looking up at him with that stubborn glint in her eye. “But we’ll discuss it later.”
“Of course we will,” he said, before leaning down and kissing her again.
She nipped his lip slightly, his cock becoming so hard it hurt.
He leaned into her, rubbing against the apex of her legs, and she rocked up against him, causing him to ease back slightly as he took a moment to get himself under control.
She was already better than he had even remembered — maybe more confident, now that she had done this before — and it was going to make it even harder for him to help her find her pleasure before his own.
He lifted his hands to her breasts, which fit perfectly in his palms, playing with her nipples as he slid his tongue over hers, again and again. He had never been this aroused before, and when she slid her hand up his thigh to his cock, stroking him, he had to slip out of her grip.
“You have to slow down,” he practically begged, and she smiled at him in satisfaction.
“Who’s in charge now?” she taunted, and his nostrils flared as he knew she was right. He would do anything for her right now.
Of course, she did the opposite of what he said, keeping her hand on him, stroking him up and down, exciting both of them.
There was only one way to stop her. He slid down her legs, splaying them apart as his tongue found her, dancing over her, as she gasped and arched against him, her fingers locking into his hair.
“Say my name,” he demanded, not knowing why he did, but needing her to recognize who she belonged to in that moment.
“Asher,” she gasped, and he rewarded her by sliding his fingers inside her and arching them up toward the front of her. She nearly immediately unraveled beneath him, calling his name out again and again, which only made him want her all the more.
When she finally came down, she smiled shyly at him and he already couldn’t wait until he could do that again.
He greedily climbed up the bed toward her, his hardness pressing against her, and he ran his cock over her wetness, up and down, before pushing inside with a groan as he kept his eyes locked on her again.
He moved his hips slowly again at first, knowing she likely still might be getting used to this, but she began to arch up toward him, taking all of his length as she whimpered.
“Don’t hold back,” she said. “Give me everything.”
“Are you sure?” he asked as a bead of sweat broke out on his forehead from trying to hold onto control.
“Absolutely.”
Hoping she wouldn’t regret her request, his hands wrapped around her hips, his fingers digging in as he thrust harder, deeper, still watching her to make sure she was fine with what he was doing.
She didn’t falter, didn’t show him any sign that she wanted to stop, but instead met him, giving back everything he gave to her.
He felt her tightening around him, knew she was close again, thank goodness, for there wasn’t much more he could take.
She came around him with a cry, and he responded, groaning as he pulsed inside of her, emptying himself into her.
As he collapsed on top of her, just holding his weight off of her, he realized that he could very well have gotten her with child by now, a thought which was terrifying and yet…. he also couldn’t help but enjoy the thought of her carrying his child. One they made together.
He was in trouble, that was for certain.
He just couldn’t decide if he wanted to get out of it anymore.