Chapter 40
Nathanial
“Why did you want us to talk alone?” Christian asked, once they were ensconced in Nathanial’s study, with his pocket square stuffed in the keyhole—just in case.
The little bit of pink fabric looked out of place against the hard wooden door, but hopefully, it would assist with any would-be eavesdroppers.
Kalina had admitted it had been difficult to hear everything through the door—Julianna had had a far easier time of it.
“Well, we can hardly speak of things like the Tramp’s Den with the ladies present,” Drake said, making a face at him as he turned one of Nathanial’s wingback chairs to face the others and sat down in it.
He looked at Matthew, who was doing the same with the other chair.
The rest of them stood about, leaning or resting against various pieces of furniture.
Nathanial leaned against the doorjamb, keeping one ear open for the ladies. “Do you want backup this weekend?”
“It could not hurt to have some others there.” Matthew looked around at all of them with a frown. “Not Nathanial, of course. Even if it were not your father he had invited to the hunting lodge, your presence at a gambling hell would draw far too much attention.”
“The same with Sebastian and Gregory, especially since Gregory has barely left his wife’s side since their marriage,” Drake pointed out. “I can come. No one will look askance at my presence there.”
“I cannot. I have to escort Lady Annabelle around this weekend,” Zachary said, looking miserable about the prospect. He reached up to stroke Monkey Sinclair’s back, and the little creature chittered in response, putting his tiny paw on Zachary’s ear as if trying to console him.
“Are you really going to marry her just to make your mother happy?” Christian asked him dubiously. The idea of doing something to make a parent happy was the antithesis of how Christian had lived his life.
“It’s more complicated than that,” Zachary replied, looking away.
“Well, I can go as well,” Christian said, shaking his head as he turned his attention back to the rest of them. “I’ve been to the Tramp’s Den before.”
“I think no more than three of us should attend.” Sebastian glanced around to see if anyone disagreed with him. “Any more and someone might start to wonder what so many of us are doing there. I agree that the three of you will cause the least comment.”
“It will be a welcome break from the marriage mart.” Christian grinned at Sebastian. “Are you ready to be the only eligible duke available to the mamas?”
The jab struck Sebastian, who clearly had not thought through that fact. Gregory and Nathanial were married, Zachary would be with the debutante the ton now expected him to propose to, so without Matthew and Christian attending the balls…
“Bloody hell,” Sebastian muttered, reaching up to scrub his hand over his face. “Well, nothing for it. It makes sense, and this needs to be the priority.”
“Do not worry,” Gregory said, clapping his hand on Sebastian’s shoulder. His wide, amused grin declared that he was thoroughly enjoying Sebastian’s discomfort. “We will not let you be too overrun. You can hide behind Tiffany’s skirts if need be.”
Chuckling, Nathanial leaned his head back against the wall. It truly was nice being on the other side of marriage and not having to worry about such things now. He had his wife.
The conversation quickly veered around to other matters.
Gregory wanted to know if Monkey Sinclair was warming up to Lady Annabelle—he was not, despite her best efforts.
Zachary griped over the fact that the little creature’s sole exception to misogyny was Delilah.
Some men might have taken such an occurrence as a sign, but Zachary did not.
Christian, Matthew, and Drake had their heads bent together, discussing how they might best be able to question Cornwall without rousing his suspicions.
Sebastian appeared to be lost in thought, probably trying to decide how he was going to ward off the matchmaking mamas with so many of his fellow dukes absent from the weekend’s activities.
Finding a bride had not been the cakewalk he’d expected at the beginning of the Season.
It had not for any of them. Both Gregory's and Nathanial’s marriages had been predicated by scandalous circumstances that required them to act honorably. He could not see Sebastian landing himself in such a situation.
One never knew, he supposed.
Eventually, everyone left to prepare themselves for their evening’s events.
He and Kalina attended Lady Greywood’s ball before returning home, where he had a good excuse to spank her for listening to his meeting with Carmathen.
Once her bottom was good and hot, he turned her on her back and used his mouth on her, his fingers sliding between her heated cheeks to stretch the tiny hole there.
His cock pulsed as she writhed for him, crying out with pleasure from his tongue in her pussy and his fingers in her arse.
Only once she was limp and satiated from pleasure did he mount her, wallowing between her thighs, listening to her whimper, feeling her shudders as he stimulated her oversensitive flesh.
Nathanial loved wringing every last drop of pleasure from her body, his own ecstasy exploding through him as he emptied himself into her.
Panting, he nestled his face into her neck, enjoying the closeness, the way her hands trailed up and down his back. Felt her yawn. Lifting his head, he brushed his lips over hers in a kiss.
“Don’t go,” she whispered when he pulled away.
“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 faking this?
“Kalina.” He said her name loudly. Forthrightly. A demand. It was like a sharp clap in the air. There should be some reaction 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.
“Kalina,” he growled, giving her a shake. She sighed, turning her head back and forth, then letting it flop back down again. Still not awake. She was every bit as difficult to wake up as had been reported.
The times he’d come into her bedroom… maybe she was less difficult when she first went to sleep?
Or maybe she had not been asleep at all.
Well.
He would see if she could sleep through this.
Kalina
Pleasure slid through her dream, making her senses tingle. It was a dream, she knew that, a memory of how Nathanial enjoyed burying his face between her legs. A dream… yet the pleasure felt so real.
She moaned.
But not just in the dream.
Kalina heard her moan, from a distance, as though her real self was miles away.
Why was she moaning?
The pleasure surged, a direct hit to the little nubbin between her thighs, and she gasped as the sensations drew her up out of the dream. Floundering, confused, her hands moved toward her pussy, only to meet the top of her husband’s head.
Nathanial was between her thighs, again, his mouth suckling at her tender bits, waking her with pleasure.
“Oh!” She shuddered as she finally came fully awake, surprised and pleased to find her husband still in her bed and shocked at his actions.
Rather than taking her to completion, Nathanial lifted his head, his hazel eyes glittering at her as he stared down at her.
“Kalina.” His voice was even. Neutral. And it sent a shiver up her spine. “You are very difficult to wake up.”
“I… you knew that.”
He raised an eyebrow at her.
“Did I? You have woken quite easily every time I have come to your bed in the evenings.”
“I have not been asleep,” she explained.
Her body was aching, her needy pussy pulsing.
As if he could read her mind, his fingers slipped between her thighs, sliding between the slick folds, stroking her and making it hard for her to think as she answered him.
“There have been a few times I was close to, but once I realized you would be coming regularly, I could not fall asleep until after you had.”
His finger slipped inside her, making her moan as her hips lifted, her body clenching around him.
“So, the night at the house party. You truly did not awaken when your father put me in your bed.”
Kalina shook her head back and forth, reaching up to grasp the pillow beneath it, gasping as he crooked his finger inside her, stroking an exquisitely sensitive spot.
“Kalina.”
“What?” He was teasing her. Tormenting her. Her body was buzzing from the sensual assault, and he wanted to ask her questions? How was she supposed to focus on what he was saying under these circumstances?
“The night at the house party. When your father put me in your bed. You truly did not wake until the morning.”
“I did not.” She shook her head again, mewling as the base of his hand pressed against her clitoris, hard enough that her hips lifted into the air… then the pressure was gone. His fingers were gone.
The world turned upside down and righted itself as he flipped her onto her stomach.
Kalina barely had time to take in a surprised breath before his hand came crashing down onto her bottom, still sensitive from the spanking he’d given her last night.
She shrieked in response as the hot sting jolted through her.