Chapter Seventeen

Julia soaked in the tub for nearly an hour, desperate to get warmth into her bones. She lounged against the porcelain back, her eyes gently shutting as she breathed in the jasmine bath oil that perfumed the water. Gregory, after learning of Julia’s wretched past, had allowed her privacy and time. When Julia finally climbed out of her bath, the sun was already on its way toward the horizon.

One of the housemaids assisted her dressing. Julia wore another of Mrs. Maxwell’s splendid creations, a gown of rich blue satin. She had the girl dress her hair especially nice, tightening the curls so that they framed her face. Julia finished with a spray of lilac scent and wore her teardrop diamond earbobs. She wanted to appear as lovely as possible when she spoke with Gregory—as a way of maintaining her own dignity, of course.

She hated that she’d appeared so helpless to him this afternoon. To think she’d been sprawled out in the rain with a bruised ankle, telling him the story of Lucas Campbell. What a wretch she must have appeared.

Yet he’d kissed her. I’m satisfied with our arrangement.

When Julia was prepared, she went next door to find Gregory’s chamber empty. She rang for a servant, who told her the duke had ridden out soon after the rain stopped. To where? No one knew.

Julia might have explored the rest of the house, but standing in the doorway of Gregory’s chamber once again, she could think of nowhere else she wanted to be. She touched the dark blue of his silken bedspread, and then sat upon it. The mattress was comfortable; imagine spending the entire evening here.

With her husband.

Julia knew that it was a violation of privacy, but she wanted to know this man as he truly was. A person’s possessions told the truth in a way the person himself rarely could. Julia studied the wardrobe filled with clothes of the finest cuts, all with Gregory’s own particular scent of cleanliness and something undeniably masculine clinging to them.

The clothes were handsome and expensive; the soaps and tonics in his washroom were the same. His taste was not as excessive as Julia would have imagined. While everything was luxurious and comfortable, there was no ostentatious design. Nothing too voluptuous. Nothing that a famous seducer of women might typically wish for.

She hesitated at his desk, holding several pieces of his correspondence in her hands. Julia finally decided that she was being far too invasive and shoved the letters back into place. However, one letter floated out of her grasp and lay half open upon the desk. It was in Spanish, a language she could not read, but she noticed that the woman who had written to Gregory signed herself Señora Guzmán. Julia’s stomach clenched; perhaps this woman was the reason Gregory had picked Spain as his first “honeymoon” destination. Given his reputation, a Spanish mistress was not an unreasonable conclusion to draw.

But having spent time with him now, and particularly after their moment together in the rain, Julia felt it was far too simple an explanation.

As night approached, she found she didn’t want dinner. Julia was growing impatient for her husband’s presence. She sat upon Gregory’s bed and finally lay down, her arms spread out to her sides.

Julia’s hand passed beneath a pillow, and her fingers made contact with what felt like a book. She sat up, taking the volume out from its resting, or rather, hiding place. The cover was well worn, and the pages were yellowing. A few of them were dog-eared; the book had clearly been well-loved, read and reread.

The Complete Sonnets of William Shakespeare was embossed in fading gold leaf on the cover. Julia gaped in surprise as she turned the pages. She knew that Gregory was well educated, but most men did not keep volumes of poetry close by as they slept.

Julia instantly flipped to sonnet 116, her very favorite. It was one of the pages Gregory had marked as special.

Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments.

Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove.

To Julia’s surprise, she discovered Gregory had underlined certain words and sentences. In fact, he’d written some musings in the margins of the work. Of the line It is the star to every wand’ring bark/ Whose worth’s unknown although his height be taken Gregory had written “What if you know your own worth? Or lack of it? What then?”

Julia imagined his voice saying those words, the soothing tones laced with bitterness. For the first time, she felt she’d gotten an uninhibited glimpse of the man behind the handsome facade, the grand estates, the witticisms. Gregory wrote his truths in the margins of sonnets, unable to speak them aloud to another living soul.

A lack of worth? Was that truly how Gregory thought of himself?

“What the devil are you doing?” he snapped.

Julia shut the book as the duke glared at her from the doorway. She placed the sonnets aside.

“I wanted to find you, and I happened upon this.” Julia felt strangely shy in his presence now, as if she’d seen him exposed. “Is…is sonnet 116 your favorite? It’s mine.”

“Yes.” He was curt as he snatched the book from her and placed it in a drawer. “You should go down to dinner. You had a fall this afternoon, and you need your strength.”

“Why are you cross with me?”

“I’m not.” He punctuated the sentence with the sharp closing of a drawer. “I merely don’t appreciate you skulking around my personal effects.”

Julia wondered if she ought to discuss Señora Guzmán; he’d probably like that even less.

“You’re welcome to search my chambers if you like.” Julia moved behind him. “I’ve nothing to hide. Not anymore.”

“Yes, now the tale of the deplorable Mr. Campbell has been revealed.” Gregory did not turn, but she could feel the tension radiating from the straight line of his back. “I said this afternoon that we should take our time with intimacy. I meant that, for your sake. Time is necessary.”

“‘Love’s not time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks within his bending sickle’s compass come,’” Julia murmured, speaking a line from the sonnet.

“Ha. It shouldn’t shock me that one’s your favorite.” Gregory finally faced her, though he kept rigid and out of her reach. The man was a surly wall, impossible to tear down. He would not bend to Julia. “The most idiotically romantic of them all.”

“Yet it’s also your favorite,” she said.

Gregory’s jaw tightened, and the line of his elegant mouth grew firmer still. “I appreciate the irony. In my experience, love is the opposite of immovable in the face of destruction. The lightest rift in a marriage causes many a wife to flee into the arms of distraction.”

“Then it’s not love,” Julia said firmly.

“What do you know about it?” Gregory shut his eyes. “Forgive me, I’m being blunt again.”

“It’s true that I don’t know what it is to be a distracted wife. Not like the women you’ve known in London.” Julia felt a bit ill but ventured ahead anyway. “Or in Spain. Señora Guzmán, for instance?”

Gregory appeared incredulous. “You’ve been poking about my correspondence?”

“I realized I was being silly and put the letters away. But I couldn’t help seeing her name. I couldn’t read the letter, of course.” Julia took a deep breath. Her heart was going much too fast. “Is she the reason you’re headed to Spain?”

“Yes,” Gregory snapped. “She is.”

“Very well. Thank you for your honesty.” Julia wouldn’t let him see her wince with the pain of that revelation.

“Señora Guzmán oversees a home for orphaned children in Madrid,” he said. “She and her husband do good work but are in constant need of funds.”

Julia’s spirits lifted. She could scarce contain her delight.

“You’re happy to supply those funds?” she whispered.

“If you must know, overseeing the development of decent housing for destitute children has taken up the bulk of my energy while I’ve been abroad.” Gregory didn’t sound proud; he looked rather irritated, in fact. It was like he hated having to tell her of his good qualities. “Even rakes get tired of raking after a while. Doing something worthwhile with my fortune provided a nice change of pace.” Gregory huffed, all impatience as he ran a hand through his dark hair. “Don’t look at me like that. This changes nothing.”

“You’re wrong.” She fought against tears of relief. “This changes a great deal, Gregory. You’re not the man I thought. You’re the opposite, in many ways.”

“You know nothing about me, or any of it. You’re an innocent.” Gregory sounded cross as he shouldered past her, headed for the door.

“You’re right. I am.” Julia shut her eyes. “And I’m tired of that innocence.” She could feel his hesitation on the threshold of his escape. Gregory watched her like a wary hawk as she came up beside him and shut the door. Julia pressed her back to the solid wood, and her eyes sought his. She wet her lips, both nervous and burning with excitement. “I want you. Even if it’s for just the one night, I want you.”

She couldn’t force him to stay with her, but she couldn’t deny herself the overwhelming need to be his for a second longer. If the price of making love to him was to lose him forever, so be it.

“Julia.” He sounded shocked, but not horrified. Gregory did not instantly kiss her back when her mouth found his, but Julia melted against him nonetheless. She tasted his lips as he slowly responded, both of them sharing each other’s breath as they embraced. Julia sighed as her mouth opened and her husband’s tongue touched lightly against hers. “I won’t force this. If you’re unsure—”

“For the first time in my life, I am gloriously certain.” She kissed the side of his neck, brushed her lips along the hard line of his jaw. The duke gripped her, pressed her to his body so that she could feel his growing arousal. Every kiss left her more famished than the one before. “I want this. Gregory, please.”

“You want all of this?” he growled, kissing hungrily down her neck. Julia reclined in his arms, gasping with joy at the feel of his lips on the swell of her breasts. She turned, begging him to undo her gown. Gregory moved swiftly, his motions assured.

When her gown pooled at her feet, Julia leaned back in her husband’s embrace. She groaned softly as his hands roamed across her body. He cupped her breasts through the thin silk of her chemise, squeezed them until she saw pinpricks of light dancing about the room. Her body ached with want; Julia could feel how sore she was between her legs. She made short work of her stays, and then turned back into Gregory’s embrace. He growled as he removed her chemise, until Julia was standing before him entirely bare save her stockings.

She kept a hand pressed to his clothed chest, feeling the wild pummel of his heart. She quivered as his hands touched her once again, touched all of her. He worshipped her with his fingers and palms, rolling a thumb around and around a nipple until it hardened into a sensitive bud. When Gregory slipped one hand between her thighs, Julia clenched tightly around him. She shivered, but not from cold or fear.

“You like this, then?” He groaned to feel her beneath his hand, and then around his finger as it slipped inside of her. Julia felt how engorged and sensitive her wet flesh was.

She was not afraid now. He had seen her, and she had seen him. She knew how good he was, even if he was also deliciously wicked. Even if this was their one and only night, they understood each other.

“Take me now.” The sultry voice was not hers; the confidence could not be hers. But Julia wasn’t herself any longer. She was his. She let him carry her to the bed, where he unrolled her stockings and spread her out before him. Gregory wore the expression of a great predator enjoying his moment before the kill.

“Lie still, Your Grace.” His breath was a hot kiss on her inner thigh. “I’ll hear your screams yet.”

Julia shrieked in surprise when she felt Gregory’s tongue between her legs. When she jerked, his hands held her firm. Gradually, she allowed herself to close her eyes and accepted the immediate strangeness of his mouth upon her sex. But it was strange for a mere moment; soon after, the way his tongue flicked across her sensitive, swollen bud caused her to writhe and to moan.

How could anyone experience this much pleasure? Julia once again felt herself lifting off the earth and into heaven as he kissed and sucked at the most exquisitely sensitive spot on her body. She began to chant his name again and again, as if she were praying to him. When Gregory lavished attention on the very center of her bud, Julia erupted. The world became light and heat around her, and she wailed out in ecstatic triumph as she shuddered in her climax.

“Beautiful,” Gregory rasped. Julia watched through her half-lidded gaze as the duke undressed himself. Layer upon layer fell away, until he knelt above her on the bed in all his chiseled and masculine glory.

And finally, she became acquainted with the full, throbbing length of his masculinity.

“Oh my God.” Julia’s voice was high and breathless. She sat up, her eyes running along his member. Soon, unable to stop herself, she played her fingers down his cock. She gasped at the warm, velvet feel of it as she cupped him in her hands.

“That’s good,” Gregory whispered as Julia trailed her fingertips along the length of him. When she touched the swollen crown of his member, he tilted his head back and groaned to the ceiling. “Fuck, this has been worth every blasted second of waiting.”

Julia shivered as she realized this was how they’d be joined, but she wanted it more than she feared it.

Gently, she lay back upon the bed and allowed Gregory to cover her with his body. They kissed, and he lavished his attention upon her breasts for a few heart-stopping minutes. “I want you to be ready for me,” he rasped, the tip of his tongue circling her nipple before he bit down upon it.

The sensation of his mouth on her breasts nearly sped Julia to another climax. She begged him for release. For all of him.

Julia tasted herself upon his lips as Gregory kissed her and once again aligned their bodies. She felt his immense girth nudging at the opening between her legs.

“I’ll go slow,” her husband promised.

She clung to his shoulders as he began. Julia winced as he opened her, his cock so damnably large that she worried it would split her apart. But whenever she moaned in pain, he slowed as he’d promised. Finally, when Julia was stretched as far as she believed she could go, Gregory gave one fast thrust of his hips and slid all the way inside of her.

There was a moment of sharp pain, but it wasn’t as horrible as she’d been expecting. She buried her face against his neck and let out a few wrenching gasps.

“Are you all right?” he whispered in her ear.

“Yes.” She clenched around him once, delighted when he groaned in satisfaction. “Please, Gregory.”

Julia wrapped her legs around the duke’s waist on instinct as he began to thrust. At first the movements were gentle and fluid, giving her time to grow accustomed to the strangeness of having him inside of her. God, he was extraordinary. Julia panted as Gregory began to ride her harder, his hips jerking at a greater pace than before.

“Push against me. That’s it,” he moaned as Julia’s body united with his own. Julia gripped a fistful of his hair as she leaned her forehead against his shoulder, amazed at the extraordinary feeling of the man inside of her. Already she could sense the climax approaching again, but she wanted to enjoy this union as much as possible first.

She slid one hand down Gregory’s back, her fingertips playing upon the dimples at the base of his spine. She relished the feel of his body moving in and out of hers, claiming her. Making them as one.

“Julia.” His voice was tight now, almost wild with abandon. “You’re perfect. Fuck, this is so good.”

“Gregory.” His name was the only word she could remember as they rode each other toward their end. Her body tensed beneath and around his as her heart raced faster with pleasure. “Oh God.”

“Come with my name on your lips.” He claimed her mouth in one last fierce, almost painful kiss. “Julia. Come for me.”

She did, the exquisite feeling shattering and remaking her from one instant to the next. As she finally lay spent beneath him, Gregory snarled as he pulled out of her body and, with one quick stroke of his hand, came upon her stomach. Julia lay there and felt the warm patter of his seed, and then shut her eyes in post-coital bliss as her husband stretched out beside her, his heavy breathing a delight to listen to. She gazed at his flushed face, the sheen of sweat upon his body, the curls of his hair damp with the exertion.

When they’d both caught their breath, Gregory wet a cloth and helped to clean her. Julia lay back in bed, pleasantly sore between her legs.

“It seems our union has been well and truly consummated,” Gregory murmured as he lay back down beside her.

“Indeed.” Julia grinned. “I’ve decided to give you excellent marks for effort.”

“Oh? Effort, but not technique? You intolerable minx.”

He kissed her as if still ravenous for her touch. Julia was pleased to discover her husband’s whole body became more and more excited as they embraced.

“I can only appreciate your technique with more experience,” she whispered.

“Then there’s only one thing to do,” he replied. Gregory laid himself back atop her. “You must be worked hard, my lady. You said it yourself today. Our union was bought at great expense, and I’m a man who gets his money’s worth.”

Julia believed in paying her debts in full.