She raised her chin and regarded him like he’d crawled out from under a rock. In a sewer. “I’m not ready.”
“It’s like falling off a horse. You need to get straight back on.” He was deliberately crass to provoke a reaction. She’d been a blank slate all day.
“I’m not your horse,” she said cuttingly.
Briefly she disappeared from view as he tugged his shirt over his head and tossed it near the crumpled blue waistcoat. “If we wait too long, you’ll convince yourself that the experience was so awful that you never want to repeat it.”
She arched an eyebrow, although he didn’t miss how her eyes focused on his bare chest. Last night he’d found grounds for hope in the way she’d looked at him. His nakedness had intrigued rather than disgusted her.
“Too long is more than a day?”
“Yes.”
She backed until she bumped into the high bed. “I don’t think so.”
Briefly he considered undoing his trousers, but a glance at her outraged expression told him that might be a step too far. “I do.”
“Hurrah for you,” she said sourly, clasping her hands before her. She breathed unevenly.
Cam suspected that despite her nervousness, she was interested, however reluctantly. But he’d learned to be careful with assumptions about Penelope. “Yesterday you promised to obey me.”
Rebellion darkened her eyes. “Yesterday you said you wanted more than mere duty.”
He was grateful to see a spark of spirit. “I’ve changed my mind. If mere duty is all you’re offering, I’ll take it.”
“You’ll regret this.” She sidled along the bed.
He stepped closer, deliberately crowding her without touching her. “I doubt it.”
If Lady Marianne had given him mere duty, he’d have accepted it. From Pen? Never. Before he’d blasted everything to hell, he’d tasted her passion. He meant to do more than taste her tonight.
“Cam, I don’t want to do this,” she said shakily, still twisting her hands together.
He cupped her jaw. Self-disgust flooded him when she jumped. She’d enjoyed his touch on the yacht. Until he’d been an idiot. She’d enjoyed his touch last night. Until he’d been an idiot.
The lesson for tonight was not to be an idiot.
Cam sucked in a breath, striving to calm his racing heart. He had time. He had patience. He had the skills. And tonight she wouldn’t take him by surprise. The new Duchess of Sedgemoor didn’t know it, but her world was about to change. Forever.
In a subtle caress, he moved his hand against her face. “Courage, Pen.”
She broke the contact. “I’m not feeling brave.”
He reminded himself that coaxing his wife to pleasure wouldn’t be quick or easy. But the reward was worth it. He didn’t do this only for himself. He did it for Pen. Such a sensual woman shouldn’t fear a man’s touch. She should revel in it. He’d make her forget that he’d ever hurt her. “Tonight I’m going to show you paradise.”
That remark elicited a derisive snort, but at least she stopped edging away. He was close enough to see her trembling. “I wasn’t anywhere near paradise last time.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Really? Even before I spoiled everything?”
He was gratified to see her color rise. She avoided his searching regard. Damn it, why hadn’t he had the brains to understand that her shyness signified more than coyness?
“Pen?”
With a flash of temper that pleased him even more than her blush, she jerked her head up. “I’ve forgotten.”
He laughed appreciatively. “Little liar.”
“Stop trying to inveigle your way into my bed.”