Chapter 2 #3
He had dreamed of it so many times over the years.
“Oh, that sounds marvelous, Phoebe.”
“Marvelous,” he echoed.
“Mr. Forrester, you will have to help her complete her list. I’m afraid I won’t be able to do much with this child making me as big as a castle.”
He couldn’t take his eyes off Phoebe. “It would be my pleasure.”
“You are not that big, Iseabail,” Phoebe insisted.
You cannot hide from me anymore, Phoebe. “You have one more item on your list,” he interjected.
“You do have six!” the duchess exclaimed with so much glee—one would think it was her list of sexual endeavors.
“‘Go for a carriage ride,’” Joshua read and stopped there.
To read further would display the worst of decorum.
His lips, however, devoured the words as he silently absorbed the full implications of her sixth resolution—a yearning he could not stop painted the erotic fantasies in his mind. This was torture.
“What is it?” the duchess asked.
Startled, he glanced up. “What?”
“Number six on her list. Go for a carriage ride and what?”
“I…I… Nothing. It stops at a carriage ride,” he lied as he did everything in his power to keep his body from betraying just exactly what Phoebe wanted to accomplish.
“But I saw your lips moving as if you were reading it to yourself,” Her Grace pressed.
She truly was learning the stubborn insistent manner of the ton.
As if it were God’s decree they be dogmatic.
It would drive the duke mad if he were here, yet Joshua couldn’t deny her persistence was the perfect demeanor for a duchess.
He stared at the list, unable to think of a lie.
Phoebe grabbed it from his hand, the edge of the paper tearing slightly. He hadn’t even realized she’d risen from her seat and approached him, he’d been too lost in her list.
She flashed the piece of foolscap in the direction of the duchess. “It was my doodling at the bottom of the paper that distracted him. See?” She quickly folded it in half and then in half once more before tucking it into the ribbon under her ample breasts.
Breasts he wanted to get lost in… His gaze shot to hers but she immediately turned to look out the window, avoiding him as she bit her lip in the most seductive manner. Did she know what she was doing to him?
“Well, that’s rather anticlimactic.”
She had no idea. His body throbbed with the need to spend.
The duchess sighed, then clapped her hands together, causing him and Phoebe to jump as one. Her Grace grinned. “I insist you start on the list immediately so that Phoebe can finish her childhood resolutions before the new year.”
That was the best idea he’d ever heard.
Phoebe’s eyes nearly popped out of her head as she backed away from him. “Don’t be silly. Mr. Forrester didn’t travel all this way to go out and play in the snow.”
He cleared his throat. “On the contrary, there’s nothing I would rather do than to cross off the items on your list…with you.” Every last lewd and lascivious desire you imagined and put on your list for me to complete.
Her face heated. “It’s not necessary.”
“On the contrary, it’s essential,” he said.
“I agree. I may not be able to enjoy the winter season in my current condition, but I can certainly ensure you take your pleasure,” the duchess declared.
Over and over and over again.
The duchess struggled to her feet and tugged on the servant’s bell pull.
When the butler entered the room, Phoebe’s objections died.
“Paddington, Lady Drake and Mr. Forrester will need their coats as well as mittens and mufflers. They will need a sled and have the sleigh brought around from the stables.”
“Your Grace, it’s really not necessary. It was a fantastical list, not a real one.” There was a sparkle in Phoebe’s eyes as if, despite her protestations, she wanted to complete her list as much as he did.
He swore to make a reality. “I vow that we will complete every last item on your list.”
The duchess beamed.“Oh, this is so exciting,” she said as she traced small circles across her protruding stomach. Her new habit was fascinating, yet somewhat disconcerting. “Phoebe, you can try that new bonnet you’ve been working on for winter country attire to keep a lady’s head warm.”
He should stop this endeavor. He’d come here with a specific purpose in mind, but not only was the duchess excited for her best friend, Phoebe was beginning to light up with the possibility of playing in the snow.
And more.
It was as if she had been denied the simple pleasures that should be natural for a child, and for an adult.
He suspected her list had initially contained activities she had wished to experience in her youth, but then she’d added a second part to each wish—the romantic hopes of a young woman entering marriage.
Those fantasies were just as tragically unaccomplished as the dreams of her adolescence.
It was this sudden realization that made him decide to delay the grievous business with the Countess of Astley for one more day.
It was time he satisfied a New Year’s resolution of his own.