The Sherbrooke Bride (Sherbrooke Brides 1)

“My only problem is that I’m not certain how to go about doing it.”

“That’s twaddle.”

“Perhaps if you could help me just a little bit, I could figure it out.”

“Let me make something clear to you, something it’s obvious you haven’t considered in this plan of yours. I can still have this farce of a marriage annulled even if I take your virginity. Do you understand me? Who would know, after all? Would you or anyone in your family announce to the world that you were damaged goods?”

“You make me sound as if I would be a mangled parcel. Surely that is absurd.”

“Oh no, a virgin who has lost her maidenhead is much worse off than a mangled parcel. Imagine your father’s reaction. He would be appalled but would remain silent, for he would know that if he opened his mouth and announced what I had done, you would be utterly ruined and he would be a laughingstock. As for me, why, no one in our great land would regard me with one less whit of consideration.”

“But why? That seems absurd. It seems hardly fair.”

“Fair rarely has a meaningful place in anything. The fact is that men of our class aren’t anxious to afflict themselves with wives who don’t arrive in the marriage bed pure and untouched. Thus, if a female slips, it is kept quiet so the poor fool who does marry her is well and truly trapped. So, you see, no one would know what I did or didn’t do to you. If I chose, I imagine I can take you with impunity for as long as I wished to.”

“I cannot believe that gentlemen are so callous, so uncaring about the women they love.”

“Ah, yes, there is the question of love, isn’t there? But that doesn’t come into this marriage, does it? You are a stranger, nothing more, just a stranger and—”

“In addition to seducing you, I must keep it up until I am with child. Then you couldn’t annul me. But, you see, that is my problem.”

Douglas’s attention was fairly caught now. He’d used up most of his words, and he’d spoken truthfully to her but with no visible effect. Still, he couldn’t believe the chit was standing beside him, dressed only in her virginal nightgown, her feet bare, her toes curled from cold, looking like some sort of pathetic sacrifice. But she was here and she appeared quite resolute. She wasn’t a coward, he’d give her that. The question was, what was she? Would she do anything for her father, then? “Who told you to keep it up?”

“Ryder.”

“Ah, my dear doting brother. Curse him to hell, but he must always meddle, it’s his nature.”

“But he didn’t have time to tell me how to go about it, this seduction business, I mean. I am your wife, my lord. I am willing to become your wife and sleep in that bed. I am willing to sleep in that bed until I am with child. Do you not want an heir? Isn’t that your primary reason for wishing to wed?”

“It was, but you are the wrong wife, as you well know, as I am tired of saying because repetition is beyond boring.”

“I will give you your heir. I am young and healthy and I will give you a half-dozen heirs.”

“I have never in my male adult life heard a woman offer to become a man’s brood mare. Why, Alexandra? Another agreement with your villain of a father? Hell and damnation, just go to bed. You’re a little girl, a virgin, and I haven’t the inclination to show you anything or take your virginity or hear you whimper. I am tired. Go away.”

Alex bent down, clutched the hem of her gown, and lifted it over her head. She tossed the gown to the floor. She stood there, arms at her sides, stark naked. She raised her head and looked directly at her husband.

Douglas froze. He opened his mouth. He closed it. He stared at his wife. He hadn’t had any idea that she was built so very nicely. Her breasts . . . good Lord, he hadn’t imagined, hadn’t realized that . . .

“You bind your breasts. Why?”

“My nanny said they were too big. She said that the boys were staring at me and saying things that weren’t nice. Because I had big breasts they assumed that I wasn’t a proper young lady. My nanny taught me how to bind them.”

“Your nanny was a stupid old prig. Your breasts are an asset, a fine one at that. Don’t bind them any more. Now that I know what you’ve got, I want to see them.”

“You are.”

“This morning, when we were riding, I couldn’t tell that you were so finely endowed.”

“No.”

Douglas fell silent. He was still staring at her breasts. They were high and very full, as white as her belly. They would fill his hands to overflowing. His fingers itched, his palms were hot.

She hadn’t known how Douglas would react, but this conversation about her breasts, as bland as discussions about the weather, was unnerving. She saw him raise his hand, then lower it. He was still looking at her, oh yes, he was looking and his gaze was intent and, of all things, his eyes looked even darker. She forced herself to keep perfectly still.

“Pink goes nicely with red. I can see a pink nipple showing through your red hair.”

Alex wanted to quite simply fold her body into a very small ball and roll away. But she didn’t move. Her entire future was in this room, contained in this very minute. This man was her husband; she belonged to him more than she’d ever belonged to anyone else in her life.