A Most Unsuitable Earl (Regency Collection Book 3) Page 9

  Catherine giggled and hugged her father. “You have nothing to worry about.”

  “That’s very brave of you to say,” he said when the hug ended. “You have your mother’s courage. She was able to put on a smile no matter how dour the situation.”

  Ethan’s mother passed by him in the hall and hurried over to Catherine and her father. “Why, Your Grace, how thoughtful of you to come over, even if the hour is early for visits.”

  “I couldn’t rest,” he replied, standing close to his daughter. “I had to make sure my daughter is all right.” He turned his concerned gaze in her direction as if he didn’t believe her smile was genuine.

  “We’re glad to have you here, aren’t we, Ethan?” his mother asked, turning to face him.

  Catherine and her father finally looked at him. Since he wasn’t particularly happy that her father was there, he settled for a slight shrug.

  “He’s delighted,” his mother told the duke who frowned at him. “We’re just about to have breakfast. The buffet is ready. All you have to do is pick what you want.”

  Though Ethan prayed the duke would say no and leave, the duke offered a nod, indicating his agreement to stay, at least for breakfast. As his mother cheered, Ethan’s gaze went skyward, and he wondered why God seemed to be so reluctant to answer any of his prayers.

  “Will you escort me to breakfast?” Catherine asked.

  At first, Ethan thought she was talking to her father, but when everyone directed their attention to him, he realized she had asked him the question. “Pardon?” he dumbly replied, wondering why she didn’t want her father to escort her instead.

  Catherine walked over to him and stood beside him. “I’m ready when you are.”

  His mother clapped her hands in excitement while the duke’s scowl deepened.

  “Perhaps you’d like to escort Ethan’s mother?” Catherine suggested with an expectant look on her face as she stared at her father.

  The duke forced a smile and extended his arm toward Ethan’s mother. “If I may have the honor?”

  “I’d be delighted, Your Grace,” Ethan’s mother replied and accepted his arm.

  Ethan waited until the two passed him before he led Catherine to breakfast. This was going to be one very awkward, and long, meal.

  And as it turned out, he was right. During the meal, the only person who spoke was his mother. Everyone else remained quiet. Across from him, the duke never once took his eyes off of him. His mother either didn’t notice or pretended not to notice.

  Next to him, Catherine sat a little too close to him, but he didn’t dare move away from her in case her father assumed he was repulsed by her. However, nothing could be farther from the truth. He was seeing her in a new light this morning. After everything that transpired last night, she’d told her father she was doing well, and he appreciated it, especially since she hadn’t known he was within hearing distance.

  “Wouldn’t it be lovely if Ethan took Catherine on a carriage ride?” his mother droned on. “Maybe they could take a walk through Hyde Park. It’s so lovely this time of year! I remember when Ethan’s father took me there shortly after we married. He was terribly shy and…”

  Ethan’s mind wandered off. He’d heard this story enough already. It was the day he bought her some flowers and when the wind blew them out of her hands, he chased after them. Unfortunately, he wasn’t an astute observer to what was going on around him and ended up running into a horse and getting injured for a couple of weeks. She was so touched because he went to all that trouble to retrieve her flowers that she fell in love with him. Ethan supposed, to a lady, it was a romantic tale, but he often thought his father was foolish to go chasing some flowers when he could have just bought another bouquet. It wasn’t like he didn’t have the money to do so.

  A hand touched his leg, and Ethan almost dropped his fork. He looked at Catherine who continued eating her eggs as if she hadn’t reached under the table to rest her hand on his thigh.

  “When you’ve been loved the way I have, you appreciate how special marriage can be,” Ethan’s mother continued. “Your Grace, did you love your wife?”

  For the first time since they started eating, the duke took his eyes off of Ethan. “Yes, I did.”

  “Then aren’t we fortunate? So few find a love match,” his mother replied, seeming pleased that the duke had something in common with her.

  He turned his attention to his plate and ate a strawberry.

  Undisturbed by his lack of response, she rambled on about the virtues of love. Ethan noticed the duke’s grimace, but then Catherine distracted him by squeezing his thigh. He resisted the urge to look at her again in case he caught her father’s attention.

  “One thing I’ve learned,” his mother went on, “is that you must make the most of every day we’re given because you don’t know when the day is going to be your last. There’s no use in dwelling on how things might have been. Enjoy what you have while you have it.” She grinned at Ethan and Catherine. “You two will do well together. I just know it.”

  He ventured a glance at Catherine then and was surprised when she offered his mother a smile in return. She had a lovely smile. He’d much rather see her smile than cry. When she smiled because she was happy, her face lit up in a way that made her look radiant. One could only guess why she was happy this morning. It wasn’t anything he did. Perhaps it was his mother. Granted, his mother had a tendency to mind others’ businesses and manipulate things to her advantage, but she had a good heart and only wanted the best for those she loved. Maybe his mother had found a way to befriend her.

  Across the table, Catherine’s father wiped his mouth and placed the napkin neatly on the table next to his plate. He leaned forward and made eye contact with Ethan. “Before you and my daughter spend any more time together, I want to speak to her in private.”

  Catherine rubbed Ethan’s thigh. “I told you I’m fine. Besides, shouldn’t I spend the day with my husband as my mother-in-law suggested?”

  “I’ve been your father longer than he’s been your husband,” he told her.

  Ethan forced down the last of his tea, trying not to notice that her hand was steadily moving up his thigh. For the life of him, he didn’t understand her at all. Weren’t virgins supposed to be timid? Everything he’d ever heard assured him of this fact, and yet she insisted on being overly familiar with him—and in a public setting of all places.

  And worse, his body responded to her. He recalled how wonderful she’d felt when he entered her, and even as her father’s eyebrows furrowed in disapproval, he had this ridiculous urge to pick her up and haul her off to his bedchamber. Maybe this time, it wouldn’t be painful for her.

  “Father,” Catherine began, “I don’t know what else we can say to each other that hasn’t already been said. Why don’t I pay you a visit later this week?”

  When the duke opened his mouth to speak, Ethan’s mother chimed in. “I’m sure it’d put your father’s mind at ease if you’d talk to him,” she gently told Catherine.

  Catherine turned her gaze to Ethan, and he wondered if she had any idea that he was fully erect? Probably not, though he had no doubt she was aiming for that very thing. “Maybe you should go to your gentleman’s club.”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” her father protested.

  “There’s no reason for him to stay here, unless you want him to stay in his library and be bored,” she replied.

  The duke grunted under his breath. “There are worst things he could do with his time than spend it reading a book.”

  Ethan’s mother looked heavenward but didn’t say anything, thankfully. He knew what she was thinking. She assumed he would spend his morning reading something inappropriate.

  Catherine groaned. “Truly, Father, everything will be all right.” She directed her gaze to Ethan. “I trust you.”

  Ethan’s heart warmed at her admission.

  But before he could respond, her father crossed his arms and shook his he
ad. “I have sheltered you a little too well. All right. If this is what you wish, then let him go to the gentleman’s club.” His eyes met Ethan’s and he added, “I trust you’ll find a game of chess or political talk to your liking.”

  Hardly. But Ethan wouldn’t admit that. Because he was expected to, he indicated his agreement with a slight nod.

  “Then it’s settled.” Catherine removed her hand from his thigh—an action which disappointed him, though at least now he would be able to stand up without an erection—and quickly finished the last of her fruit. “We’ll go anywhere you want to go later on today,” she told Ethan.

  “Anywhere respectable,” the duke muttered, glaring at Ethan.

  Ethan fought the urge to reply. Even if he wasn’t the rake everyone believed him to be, he wouldn’t dare take Catherine somewhere that wasn’t appropriate for a lady. True, she wasn’t acting much like he expected a lady to act, but she still had delicate sensibilities…or at least, he assumed she did.

  As they rose from the table, she told her father, “I have something I must tell Ethan before he leaves. I won’t be long.”

  “Can’t it wait?” Ethan asked when he noticed the displeasure on the duke’s face.

  “No, it’s rather urgent.”

  She took his hand and led him out of the room before anyone could protest. She practically dragged him down the hall and for a minute, he thought she was going to lug him up to the bedchamber, and he’d be lying if he said the prospect didn’t thrill him. But she took him to the library and shut the door. He wanted to ask her what was so important that she had to talk to him right now, but she brought her arms around his neck and kissed him.

  The action startled him, so he didn’t respond right away. Undaunted by his reaction, she continued kissing him. Her body pressed against his, and he fell back against the door. She felt as wonderful today as she had last night. He embraced her and deepened the kiss, recalling how beautiful she was when she was naked. Sure, she was pleasing to the eye when she wore clothes, but she was much more so without them on.

  She parted her lips, and his tongue brushed hers. Letting out a soft moan, she rubbed herself seductively against him. By now, his erection was demanding to be freed from the confines of his clothing. Still kissing him, she pulled away from him enough so that she could run one of her hands along the length of his arousal. He groaned his appreciation and cupped her breasts in his hands.

  “Are you in any kind of pain?” he whispered in her ear, delighting in the way she stroked him.

  “No,” she softly replied, her breathing as shallow as his. “I feel good down there, Ethan. I want you inside me.”

  To emphasize her point, she unbuttoned his breeches and slid her hand into the opening to better fondle him. By now it was evident she wasn’t the timid young bride he expected her to be, and quite frankly, he was exceedingly glad for his good fortune. What gentleman, after all, wanted a frigid wife?

  He wanted nothing more than to strip her of her clothes and plunge deep inside her, and this time, he wouldn’t stop until he released his seed into her. He entertained the idea in his mind but knew he couldn’t actually do it now, not with her father somewhere in the house waiting for her.

  He groaned, and this time it was in agony as she kissed his neck. “We can’t. Not now. Not with your father here.”

  “I know.” She brought her mouth to his ear and traced it with her tongue, sending a thrill of pleasure straight to his groin. “I just wanted a prelude to tonight,” she whispered. Then she pulled away from him and buttoned his breeches back up. “I also wanted to feel your penis.”

  That part of his body was straining hard to get back into her hands, not at all happy that it was, once again, confined inside his clothes. He swallowed hard and watched as she adjusted her morning dress. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes twinkling with excitement, and her heavy breathing made her breasts more prominent than they’d ever been.

  “My goodness, you’re beautiful,” he murmured, taking in the full sight of her.

  She shot him a delighted smile. “You really think so?”

  She could stand there, knowing full well how hard he was, and ask him that? “Of course.”

  “Ethan, I am so sorry for all those years I misjudged you.” She leaned forward and gave him a chaste kiss. “I can’t keep my father waiting. Knowing how determined he is to talk to me, he’ll probably break down the door if I don’t scurry out of here. But I want to assure you that I meant what I said last night. I won’t tell anyone that you’ve never been in bed with a lady until last night. I’ll also assure him that I haven’t been traumatized after our wedding night.”

  “Traumatized?” Her father told her he thought being with her husband would traumatize her? Even if the duke thought he was a rake, this was ridiculous!

  “As you can see, I’m doing fine. And tonight when we finish what we started, I’ll be even better.” She winked at him and gently pushed him aside so she could open the door. Lowering her voice, she added, “I am aching down there, but it’s because I need you in me, not because I’m in any kind of pain.”

  She slipped out of the room and shut the door softly behind her. He stood there for a long moment, his heartbeat still fast, his body still hard with need, and his breathing still ragged. How was it possible she had this affect on him? He knew being with a lady this way would arouse him, but he had no idea he could get this excited. He leaned against the door and looked at his erection.

  “You’ll have to wait until tonight,” he told it.

  It ached in protest.

  “Don’t blame me. You’re the one who couldn’t stay hard last night.”

  What was he doing? Talking to his penis? That was it. He was going to be locked away in an asylum if he didn’t get a handle on being married to Catherine. She had him acting irrationally. Gentlemen didn’t go around talking to parts of their bodies. He closed his eyes and took a couple deep breaths to calm himself—and the impatient part of his body—down. After a few minutes, he finally relaxed, and he could safely venture outside the room without bringing attention to how eager he was to be in bed with his wife. Deciding a trip to White’s wasn’t such a bad idea since it would help take his mind off of her, he hurried out of the townhouse.

  Chapter Eleven

  Catherine poured tea into her father’s cup as Ethan left the townhouse. The area between her legs ached to continue what she’d started in the library and her nipples hardened at the reminder of how his hands felt on her breasts. She hoped her plan to finish consummating the marriage tonight was successful. She wanted to explore the pleasures waiting for her in bed with Ethan.

  “Catherine?” her father asked, breaking her out of her thoughts.

  Blushing, she forced her attention back to him. “What is it, Father?”

  Though he accepted the cup she offered him, he didn’t drink anything. He leaned back in his chair and studied her. “I blame myself for this.”

  “For what?” She poured tea into her own cup.

  “The marriage. I should have protested more that night of the ball.”

  She sipped her tea, ever thankful he hadn’t fought harder. Sure, she was devastated at the time. Yesterday morning, she believed her life was over. But after learning that Ethan hadn’t known a lady intimately, she was thrilled. She liked knowing he’d only touched and kissed her in places that made her body feel more wonderful than she thought possible. She now understood he hadn’t come to her bed because he was shy. It wasn’t because he’d rather been with a lady who knew how to pleasure him. Since they were both new to the bedroom, they could learn what they liked together. It gave them something in common.

  And besides, he’d called her beautiful. He’d touched and kissed her, leaving her breathless. There was no mistaking the desire in his eyes when he’d looked at her in the library. He wanted her. Wanted her in a way she never imagined any gentleman would. Better yet, he worried that he might hurt her, and she liked that most of all. Ev
en if they hardly knew each other, she understood he had a tender heart.

  “Catherine?”

  Blinking, she turned back to her father. “What?”

  “I hope you don’t hate me.”

  She laughed and placed her cup on the tray. “I don’t hate you. You’re my father.”

  “But am I good one?”

  “Of course, you are. You always have been.”

  “I don’t feel like I am. I could barely eat anything yesterday. I kept seeing you crying as you went off with…with…him.”

  “He has a name.”

  He let out a weary sigh. “You don’t have to pretend, Catherine. I know you’re trying to make me feel better about forcing you into this marriage. You were very much the lady at breakfast, being polite with him and his mother.”

  “Ethan and his mother have been kind to me.”

  “You don’t have to lie to make me feel better.”

  Surprised, she chuckled. “I’m not lying. It’s the truth.”

  By the way he rubbed his forehead, she realized he wouldn’t believe her, no matter what she said. Well, she tried. If he refused to believe her, there wasn’t anything she could do about it. She sipped her tea and smiled at him. Bless his heart all the same. He loved her and wanted to do everything he could to protect her.

  “I don’t hate you,” she assured him. “You’re a good father.”

  “That’s very sweet of you to say, but I wasn’t diligent at the ball. If I was, he wouldn’t have been able to get near you.”

  She took another sip of her tea. “Is there anything I can do to help you feel better?”

  He wryly grinned at her. “I should be asking you that question.”

  In the past, whenever he worried that he had disappointed her, he liked to buy her gifts to ease his conscience. Thinking that might work in this situation, she set the cup down and rose to her feet. “I wouldn’t mind a stroll through the Pantheon Bazaar.”

  To her relief, his eyes lit up as he quickly placed his full cup on the tray then stood up. “I’ll get you anything your heart desires.”