Son of a Duke (36 page)

Nathan stared at him for a long moment while Nora's heart thundered so loudly in her chest that it hurt her ears.
 
What was Nathan thinking?
 
What was Samuel thinking?
 
Oh God, the silence was killing her.
 

But then Nathan carefully gathered Samuel close, and when he shut his eyes, tears fell down his cheeks.
 

~

The carriage was well sprung, but the road was horrendous.
 
Nathan bounced into his sleeping wife again and cursed at himself.
 
She was exhausted, which was mostly his fault, and she needed the rest, but he could not hold onto her with the carriage rocking this way and that.
 
The carriage finally settled again, but Nora was awake.
 
Nathan felt her stretching along his side.
 
Which in turn felt really good to him.
 

He set his booted feet back up on the opposite bench in an attempt to stretch out himself and most of all, relax.
 
Being in such close proximity to his wife and not being able to do anything was killing him.
     

"Are we still on the road?" Nora asked, somewhere around his shoulder.
 

"I hope so."
 

"Mmm." This was said against his neck, and a shiver spiraled through him.
 

The carriage rocked along the road.
 
Nathan watched the trees pass by outside the window.
 
The forest was dense, and there was really nothing else to look at.
 
He would have liked to just look at his wife, but she was already far too fetching without looking at her, and he knew he would not be responsible for his actions if he did look at her.
 
So instead, he looked at a bunch of dumb trees.
 

And thought about what Samuel had said.
 
Samuel was lucky to call him Father?
 
Nathan had thought he had been given everything in the world when Nora had said she loved him, but it turned out there was still something missing.
 
Something very important.
 
He had wanted to be as good of a father as his own father had been.
 
It seemed that Samuel had just told him it was so.
   

"Do you want to be a farmer?" Nora asked after some time, still nuzzling his neck.
 

"I don't know.
 
I've never thought about it."
 

Her hand touched his face, and he looked down at her.
 
He sucked in his breath.
 
When they had gotten into the carriage, she had taken off her bonnet and pulled all the pins from her hair.
 
She had promptly curled up against him and fallen asleep.
 
Now her hair was loose around her shoulders, and the gray bruises that had been so prominent under her eyes were gone.
 
Her eyes were warmer, livelier.
 
Hopeful.
 

"I'm excited," she said.
 

He smiled down at her.
 
"I can tell."
 

She sat up, her hair swishing at her shoulders.
 
"You can?"
 

He nodded.
 
"You look happy.
 
Really happy, not that secretive I-know-something-you-don't kind of happy you were when we first met."

She scrunched her face, which almost made him laugh since she had never done that before.
 

"I was what kind of happy?"
 

"You always kind of smiled but never really smiled.
 
Like you had a secret, and it drove me nuts.
 
I wanted to know your secret, but I also wanted you to be really happy.
 
Not just conditionally happy."
 

She narrowed her eyes.
 
"Why did you want to know my secret?"
 

"I wanted to know what made you happy, so I could make you really happy."
 

"You make me happy," she said plainly, and his heart did a little jig in his chest.
 

"You make me happy," he said.
       

"So does this mean we can be farmers?"
 

"Certainly."
 
He pulled her back against him because he could.
 
Her head fell to his shoulder, and she nuzzled his neck again.
 
He was beginning to realize she liked doing that.
 
And then her hand crept over his stomach and. . . lower.
 

"How long before we stop for the night?" she asked.
 

Nathan felt the temperature of his blood rise.
 

"A few hours.
 
Why?"
 

She touched him through his breeches, not making a verbal response but making her intentions clear.
 

He grabbed her wrist.
 

"Here?
 
Now?"
 

She sat up again and smiled.
 
"Why not?"
 

She kissed him, forcing his lips apart so his tongue somehow made its way inside her mouth.
 
The damn woman was seducing him again.
 
He reeled and clutched the bench cushion to keep from falling off the seat.
 
Nora ran her hands under his greatcoat, pushing the material from his shoulders.
 
He felt the cool air stab at his skin through his thin shirt, but the heat of her hands quickly replaced the cold, and he was suddenly burning with a fire so hot he thought he might incinerate right there in the carriage.
 

The buttons of his shirt came undone, and Nora's wicked hands were on his bare flesh.
 
Her lips broke from his to follow the path of her hands down his chest.
 
He knew where she was going and stopped her.
 

"You had all the fun last time.
 
Now it's my turn."
 

He threw her on the opposite bench, her skirts flying up around her waist.
 
He came down between her knees, running his hands up the satin stockings on her calves.
 
There was something incredibly sexy about her covered legs just then.
 
He knew she watched him as he undid the double-knotted bows holding the stockings up.
 
And he watched her watch him as he drew the stockings down and off, slowly and one at a time.
 

He reached for the ribbon drawstring of her pants.
 
He played with it and watched Nora's eyes glaze over.
 
Finally, he untied it and ran his finger along the waistband, pulling at the ribbon and loosening the fabric around her waist.
 
His hands dove below the waistband at her back, cupping her buttocks and drawing her against him.
 
He brought his hands down and around, pulling her pants with them.
 
He heard her suck in her breath when the cool air hit her throbbing flesh, and he felt his own response as his breeches became uncomfortably snug.
 

He parted her delicate folds with a single fingertip, watched the way she quivered at the slightest touch.
 
He slipped that one fingertip inside of her, just a little ways in, felt her muscles straining against the intrusion.
 
And then he gripped her thighs, replacing his hand with his mouth.
 

Nora exploded, her body coming undone at the seams and falling, infinitely falling, down a tunnel of light with no end.
 
She thought she was still holding onto the bench, but she did not know any more.
 
All of her senses were scattered except where Nathan continued to touch her.
 
There, they hammered and vibrated in a delirious confusion of touch, taste, sight and smell.
 
So many feelings at once that none could be defined.
 

Nathan finally backed away, and she whimpered at the loss of his heat.
 
She heard fabric rustling, and Nathan returned to that throbbing place between her legs.
 
Her eyes were closed, and she did not have the strength to open them, but Nathan's voice was softly asking her to look at him, to watch him.
 
Her eyelids responded without effort from her.
 
Nathan leaned over her.
 

"I want to watch you when I come into you," he said.
 

Nora thought she nodded, but again, she could not be sure.
 
She felt him pushing at her.
 
There was no resistance, and he came fully inside of her, deep, so very deep, touching the core of her body.
 
She unconsciously slid further down the bench to see if he would fit any further inside of her.
 
Nathan groaned and gripped her hips.
 
He began to move, hard and fast.
 
She threw her head back as the sensation erupted from her in a choked scream.
 
She felt the tide rising again, felt her body fighting the coming climax while urging it on.
 
It came, silently, stealthily, and she shattered before she knew what was happening to her.
 
And all of her senses imploded, leaving her in a mindless void.
 

Nathan laid half on Nora and half on the bench.
 
The carriage rolled along as if nothing at all had occurred inside of it.
 
Nora panted in Nathan's ear, and a stocking tickled his cheek.
 
He pushed himself up, his legs holding him upright even though they felt remarkably like marmalade.
 
Nora's eyes were closed and her head was twisted in an awkward angle between the bench and the back of the carriage.
 
She could not be comfortable, but she also did not appear to want to move.
 

Nathan fastened his breeches and found Nora's pants on the floor of the carriage.
 
He carefully put them back on her but did not bother with her stockings.
 
Through the whole laborious process, Nora never stirred.
 
Nathan was beginning to worry, but when he sat on the bench to pull her on his lap, she snuggled against him, rubbing her nose against his neck.
 

"I love you," he whispered, simply because he felt like saying it.
 

Nora mumbled against his neck, and he smiled.
 

The carriage rolled on, and Nathan slept with his wife in his lap.
 

Sometime later, Nora placed her palm over Nathan's heartbeat, let it beat against her hand as his chest rose and fell in the steady rhythm of sleep.
 
She felt his breath ruffle her hair and watched the trees pass by the window.
 
The carriage hit a rut, and she gripped Nathan tighter to hold on.
 

And she thought she could be a farmer.
 
How hard could it be to stick things in the earth and watch them grow?
 
Probably ridiculously hard, but she and Nathan could do it.
 
They would do it.
 
Together.
 

The parchment in the pocket of Nathan's greatcoat crinkled under Nora's cheek.
 
She wondered where the holdings were in Kent.
 
Not that it made a difference to her since she had never been in Kent.
 
But she wondered if there was a stream on the property, if there were great green fields that rolled on and on or if there were massive forests of daunting old trees that cocooned the farm in safety.
 
Mere days ago she would never have imagined a world beyond her little room with the worn chair and the small fireplace.
 
And now there were holdings.
 
Entire fields ready for her to work with, to watch things grow and prosper.
   

Her hand drifted down to her stomach.
 
Would she walk with her baby through those fields?
 
She knew Samuel would probably walk her through the fields, but she wanted a new, young life to teach and to watch grow.
 
She wanted to see Nathan holding their child, simply holding the life that they created.
 
She wanted Samuel to have a little brother or sister to protect and cherish.
 
Nora briefly thought again of a ratty chair and a tiny stove, and a smile suddenly pulled at her lips.
 
The air whooshed out of her as she realized she was ready to smile about it all.
 
Three full days had not passed, and already she was smiling about the dismal life she had been leading until then.

She leaned her head back to look at Nathan.
 
His face was relaxed in sleep, the bruises along his jaw nearly faded away.
 
She slipped off his lap and retrieved her stockings and shoes.
 
How he had gotten her shoes off without her knowing was beyond her.
 
When she was once more fully presentable, she snuggled up to Nathan's side, dropped her head on his shoulder, and let the safety in his nearness lull her to sleep.

~

The carriage had stopped moving.
 

Nathan came awake slowly, his breath never faltering from a steady rhythm, his muscles never tightening from their relaxed sleep state.
 
Nora was pressed against his side.
 
She had one hand on his thigh and her head resting on his shoulder.
 
His arm was pinned beneath her.
 
After hearing nothing except his wife's inhalations and exhalations, Nathan opened a single eye just enough to see out the window.
 
There was nothing there except the dense woods that had been chasing them for the entire journey since London.