Free The Next Best Bride by Kelly McClymer Page B

do so." He leaned wearily against the bedpost, staring into the shadows where she sat watching him. Where had she learned that manner, when she had yet to be a wife for a full day?
    "We must start out early to get full use of the day," she argued.
    In his eagerness for the advantage of a wife in his bed, he had forgotten the disadvantage. She must be placated before he could rest. "Only if we insist on taxing ourselves."
    "Surely we do not want to be on the road longer than we need be."
    He had not moved from the foot of the bed as they spoke. The shadows in the room made him feel as if he might be talking to a ghost his imagination had conjured up. But she was no ghost. She was his wife. He wondered if she felt the same uneasy fluttering in her stomach at that fact as he did. "There is no true hurry. We will travel slowly. There are inns aplenty along the road. We will find a good one to shelter us each night." A wicked thought chased away the weariness for a moment, as he reflected that he was not married to a ghost, but a flesh-and-blood woman. "And, as I promised, a new lesson each day."
    She stirred restlessly at that statement. Did she remember too well the feel of his hands gliding over her ankle, her leg? What would she do if he joined her in bed and —
    She interrupted his thoughts with a very curt, "I need no lessons from you, my lord."
    "I must say you have mastered the skills of harpy wife well," he replied. "But I wish a wife who responds to my kisses with more pleasure and less shame."
    "I am indisposed," she said hastily, as if she believed he would leap on her then and there. The thought was surprisingly tempting. "I supposed that was why you saw no reason to retire early."
    "I have not forgotten, Helena." He had, however, considered showing her there were still pleasures to be found in the marriage bed. But it had suited his purpose better not to come to bed before dawn. "Just as I have not forgotten the promise I made to you earlier. I always keep my promises."
    She said quickly, "I had heard otherwise."
    He pretended her words had no impact on him. No matter that he heard the fear behind them, and knew that she would hear worse things about him in the future. "Liars all. I simply make very few promises." Turning away, he carelessly discarded his waistcoat.
    She moved, as if she would leave the bed, and then hesitated. Crawling back safely under the covers, she asked, "Should I ring for your valet?"
    He shook his head sharply and then groaned at the resulting pain. "No. Leave Griggson to his bed. Poor man does hate to travel so. He could use a few hours more rest. I can manage —" He broke off. He could manage by himself. In fact, he had done so many times before. But he need not do so today. "This would make an excellent lesson for the day, would it not?" he asked, anticipating one of the advantages of a wife in one's bed.
    "What?" Helena slid down further into the bedclothes. "Watching you undress?"
    "No." He hesitated. Perhaps that would be a more sensible lesson for an exhausted man with a reluctant bride in his bed to manage. But hadn't he proven definitively today that he was not a sensible man? "No," he repeated more firmly, sending Helena deeper into the bedclothes. "I don't mean watching your husband undress, although that is a lesson for the future, my imaginative wife."
    He pushed away from the bedpost against which he had been leaning. "The lesson for today is learning to undress your husband."
    "You must be joking." Her voice did not convey conviction and he smiled, thinking she was beginning to know him already.
    "Not at all."
    "But I have had my lesson for today," she objected. "And we weren't even properly wed at the time." As if she might shame him into giving up on his notion. Never.
    He crossed the room and parted the curtains a few inches. The early light fell upon her face and she buried herself in the covers with a faint squeal. Though she was no longer watching him, he bowed deeply