Chapter 18

CHAPTER 18

B y the time Louise arrived home, she was shivering violently. The carriage had offered little protection from the cold, and she kept the kitten close to her breast as she walked into the house.

Fenwick was standing by as she passed her hat and gloves to a footman, but she struggled with the cat in her hands.

“Fenwick, would you assist me, please?” she asked.

The butler stepped forward and held out his hand for her gloves, his face contorting in consternation when he was handed a small ball of wet fur. He stared at the cat and then at Louise. It almost looked as though he were hiding a smile.

“I found her in the rain on the steps of the club. I could not just leave her behind. Could you tell my maid to draw me a bath, please? I am chilled to the bone.”

Louise felt a sharp pang of guilt for giving such an order at a late hour, but she was so cold she did not think even her bed would warm her. The butler, however, did not look in the least bit annoyed by the request, nodding to a maid who scurried away.

“I shall have a bowl brought to your bedchamber, Your Grace,” he said, his fingers gently stroking the kitten. It was mewing unhappily again, and as Louise took it back from him, she frowned.

“A bowl, Fenwick? What do you mean?”

“I believe the kitten may need a bath too, Your Grace. It is rather cold.”

Louise smiled at him. The butler’s eyes twinkled as he watched the cat. It was clear from his expression that he had no objection to the new addition to the household.

“Very good, Fenwick, thank you.”

“Shall I have some fish sent up? I believe there is still some from supper.”

Louise’s smile grew. “Do you like cats, Fenwick?”

“Very much, Your Grace. My mother had cats all her life. This one looks very small. It cannot be more than a few months old.”

“Some fish would do very well, thank you.”

Louise ran up the stairs, and she felt sharp claws dig into her arm as the kitten looked around it with interest. Although it had been asleep in the carriage, it was now wriggling violently, trying to explore. She put it on the floor after she entered her room and watched its tiny legs move across the floorboards, its claws clicking against the wood.

“I hope you like your new home,” she said fondly as she removed her sodden dress, goosebumps rising on her skin.

The kitten wondered about the room, sniffing everything in its path. A few maids eventually entered with buckets of steaming hot water and began to fill the tub. Then, one of them placed a small bowl on Louise’s dressing table.

“You are not going to enjoy this very much,” she said to the cat as she picked it up and brought it over to the dressing table. “But it is better than the rain, I assure you, and you will at least be warm.”

Without further ado, she sank the kitten up to its neck in the water, which was gently steaming, but it quickly darkened with grime. With a flannel cloth, she began to clean the mud and filth of London from the kitten’s body, slowly revealing a tabby cat with beautiful markings down its back.

The kitten mewed pitifully, but Louise was determined to ensure that it was entirely clean. As she wiped the crusty gunk from the creature’s eyes, it started to look less like a goblin and more like an animal. Louise smiled as the kitten stopped shivering and relaxed in the water.

“Your bath is ready, Your Grace,” her maid called.

Louise nodded and stepped back so they could undress her. She watched the kitten play with the cloth she was now wrapped in.

Once she was submerged in the water, Louise closed her eyes, letting her head rest against the tub’s edge. She opened them to find the kitten tucking into a little plate of white fish, looking much livelier.

“I’ll have to give you a name,” she mused as her maid returned with the soap and proceeded to wash her.

As she relaxed in the water, the cloth moving gently over her back, she couldn’t stop thinking about Christian.

He had shown a great lack of restraint in the club, given how close he had come to breaking his promise. Louise was ashamed that she had longed for him to take her right then and there, the consequences be damned.

The magnetic pull she felt toward him was ever-present. Even when she had seen him in a wolf mask, he had fascinated her—before she even knew who he was. The way he had pinned her wrists above her head, making her utterly helpless, had shocked her.

For such a ruthless man, he can certainly be seductive. Whenever he touches me, I cannot help but melt into him. It is infuriating!

Eventually, the hot water warmed her muscles, and she was not as chilled as she had been. As she stepped out of the tub, her maid draped her robe around her, and she pulled it tighter around herself before walking over to a chair at the side of the room.

Pulling her shawl off the back, she tied it in a loop and placed it on the floor. She beckoned to the kitten, who immediately came over and settled on the soft fabric. It was so tired its eyes closed immediately, and she watched it drift off to sleep, happy that she had done something good that night.

As the maid approached with a towel to dry her hair, the door swung open and Christian walked in.

“Thank you, I will take it from here,” he said sharply.

The maid glanced at Louise and then at him hesitantly. Christian held out his hand for the towel, which she dutifully gave him, and waited for her to leave. He then closed the door behind her and turned to Louise, raising his eyebrows.

“It is still alive, I see,” he remarked, glancing down at the kitten with some disdain.

“You will be appalled to learn that your butler loves cats and has sent up some fish for it to eat,” Louise said primly.

Christian furrowed his brow as he approached them. He seemed enormous compared to the tiny animal, but the kitten was content to nestle in its new warm bed.

Louise started as Christian began to dry her hair with the towel, taking the full length of it and squeezing the water out of the long strands.

She remained perfectly still, watching the look of concentration on his face as he saw to the task.

With a gentle touch to her shoulder, he turned her around so her back was facing him. She drew in a shallow breath as he gently pulled her robe down and proceeded to dry her neck and shoulders.

“Did you wish to speak to me?” she asked, her voice a little hoarse.

The movements of the towel paused briefly and then resumed. “I did. I met a man tonight in my club who I wish to introduce you to. He is a botanist and was most intrigued by your encyclopedia.”

Louise’s excitement grew as she imagined Christian seeking out an academic for her to speak to.

“Did you know he was a botanist when you introduced yourself?”

“I may have,” he answered playfully. “He is an odd sort of fellow. But people who enjoy plants generally are.”

Louise could not help laughing at that. “People who enjoy plants are far cleverer than those who enjoy people. Plants are beautiful companions.”

“Until they die,” Christian said wryly, “or poison you.”

“How strange your mind is,” she mused. “I wonder how you get anything done with suspicions like that.”

There was a brief silence as he continued to dry her shoulders, and then, as her heart began to beat wildly in her chest, he turned her again so that she was looking up into his stoic expression.

“When can I meet him?” she whispered.

“That is not important right now,” he said, the back of his hand trailing over the line of her collarbone, making her shudder.

His lips curled into a knowing smile as he brushed his fingers over her skin. Louise was convinced that he could hear her heart. Her skin felt so hot she could barely draw in a full breath.

His hand moved to the damp hair hanging down her back, and he brushed it over her shoulder, running his fingers through it reverently.

“Why is it not important, Your Grace?” she asked without thinking.

His fingers instantly tightened around her hair, his lips thinning in displeasure. “Call me that again, Your Grace , and see what happens.”

“It is hardly my fault. It is a force of habit,” she protested.

But as he stepped closer to her, the words died in her throat.

“My name,” he said, his voice softening as his fingers came up to the hem of her robe, “is Christian, and I would have you say my name tonight… I would have you scream it.”

Louise’s mouth fell open in shock as he began to peel the robe off her body.

Prevent this. Stop him!

But she did not—could not. The feel of his fingers as they brushed against her flesh was maddeningly addictive, and with the kiss earlier that night, she could not resist him any longer. Her mind was consumed with what his body did to her, as, even now, she felt the familiar pulse of need deep in her core.

Slowly, he pulled her robe aside, baring her body to him inch by inch. Louise was trembling now, wondering if his arrogant gaze would soften at the sight of her nakedness.

Christian could barely believe she was allowing this, but as he slowly moved the fabric aside, she did not attempt to stop him.

His wife was exquisite, her voluptuous figure stunning in its perfection as he ran his eye over her tight waist and pert breasts. His mind was running wild with everything he wanted to do to her, but he also knew he had made her a promise.

He allowed his eyes to admire her for a little while longer, breathless at the shape of her waist and the roundness of her hips. Then, having looked his fill, he pulled the robe back over her shoulders.

“You are glorious,” he murmured as the worry in her eyes slowly faded. “I am honored to be able to behold such a beauty.”

“And which do you prefer, this or the Ice Queen?”

He chuckled. “You will not speak of yourself in that matter, my Duchess. You cannot be an Ice Queen when you are made of such fire.”

His hand cupped her jaw, and he leaned forward, placing a tender kiss on her lips before pulling back.

“Earlier, I told you there were many things that a man and a woman could do without the risk of producing an heir,” he said as his eyes twinkled in the firelight. “Will you allow me to show you some of them? I will not break my promise and take you tonight, but I cannot be parted from you for a moment longer.”

Louise was panting as he stepped closer, and she trembled against him as he ran his hands over her waist.

“One word from you, and I will leave you be,” he said, kissing down her neck as her fingers gripped his shoulders. A low moan escaped her throat as he pulled her hips against his. “One word and I will leave you to your bed.”

There was a pause, as though Louise were debating what she would allow him to do. But as his fingers curled into the fabric of her robe, she spoke two words that almost undid him completely.

“Show me.”

Christian did not need to be asked twice. With a growl of desperate desire, he lifted her off her feet and spun her around, before lowering her onto the bed. She stared up at him in wonder.

“You are beautiful, Louise,” he said as he tugged his coat off his shoulders. “I cannot believe that I resisted your charms for so long.”

She let out a cry of surprise as he leaned over the bed, gripping the sides of her robe and pulling it open to bare her body to him once again. He lowered himself over her, running his nose over her neck.

“You smell like lavender,” he murmured. “It is intoxicating.”

Then, he took her lips in a searing kiss. His hand ran over her side as his fingers caressed her slowly, giving her time to get used to his attention.

She gasped, and he thrust his tongue into her mouth, their lips colliding and connecting in an endless dance as his hand slowly trailed down her body.

He pulled back, trying to see if there was any hesitation in her expression.

“Are you sure?” he asked, stilling above her.

She nodded, her eyes glassy.

Christian lowered his hand, running it down her stomach and her mound until his fingers slid into the juncture of her thighs.

Louise’s hands were clenched in the covers, her breasts rising and falling rhythmically as she panted beneath him.

“I shall show you how I can give you pleasure without breaking my word, Louise, and it will be my pleasure to watch you come undone at my hand.”

Slowly, he began to move his finger against her wet heat, circling the sensitive nub with minimal pressure at first. Louise closed her eyes and let out a quiet moan, her legs falling open as the tip of his finger prodded her entrance.

Her eyes opened as she looked down at him.

“All right?”

“Yes,” she said quietly. “Keep going.”

She moaned as he slid his finger into her, and he felt her walls clench around him. She swallowed, her hands gripping the covers harder as her back arched off the bed, her breasts rising into the air—a perfect image that he knew he would never forget.

He withdrew his finger and slid it back into her, curling the tip as her body quivered with pleasure. Moans escaped her lips as he began to thrust into her, gently at first and then faster as her body came alive for him.

Unable to resist any longer, Christian lowered himself between her legs, withdrawing his finger and lapping at her entrance instead.

Louise covered her face with her hands, her legs opening further as he pushed his tongue against her repeatedly until she was screaming in ecstasy.

Christian continued to pleasure her, watching as she reached her peak with a stuttering, jerky movement that he wished to see again and again.

He collapsed to the floor, staring at the marvel that was his wife. She had come alive for him, her body writhing and singing beneath him just as he had imagined it.

I never knew taming the Iron Harridan would elicit such exquisite pleasure.