Claiming His Wife Read Online Free PDF

revealed
there before she looked away.  On their honeymoon she'd told
him that watching him undress was fascinating, she'd been entranced
by the differences in their bodies.  It heartened him to know
that she was still affected, even though she now had others to
compare him to.  Somehow that didn't wane his attraction to
her, it only made him want to prove to her that he was better.
 Letting his shirt drop to the floor, he started walking
towards her, noticing the tension that gripped her - and he was
fairly certain it wasn't just anger or fear which was causing her
cheeks to turn pink.  He put his fingers under her chin,
tilted her head back to look at him.  Leaning forward, he saw
her pupils flare as the blush in her cheeks deepened.  Male
smugness wove its way around his bones; no matter what else lay
between them, she was still attracted to him.  "You are my
wife, for better or worse, and we are going to be together. But
when I make love to you again, Grace, it will be because you beg me to."
    The moment hung between
them, tension humming in the air, before she jerked away, slapping
at his hand. The look she gave him made it clear that she’d rather
die first.  Alex straightened and turned away, heading for the
bed so that he could remove his boots.  He also needed a
moment to compose himself, because his erection was throbbing, and
he was already tempted to show Grace just how easily it would be
for her to become willing.  But it wasn't the right time
yet. 
    "Why?"
    The question cut through the air
before he'd made it halfway to the bed.  Alex looked over his
shoulder to see her standing there, an air of desperation hanging
around her that he hadn't sensed before.  He'd been about to
reply flippantly, but something in her eyes made him stop.
 The question wasn't rhetorical, it seemed to mean something
to her.  
    "Why what?"
    "Why me?  I need to know Alex.
 Why not just divorce me and find a new wife?"
    "There'd be a scandal..." he said
slowly.  "Where would you go?  What would you do?
 London Society would never welcome you back into its fold,
not with the way that you've behaved over the years.  My name
has been all that's kept them from throwing you out."
    "That's my  problem, not
yours," she said, scowling furiously.  "I'm a bigger scandal
than a divorce would be.  Can you imagine what they'll say
when they find out that we've reconciled?  I've been
cuckolding you for years. "
    Alex shrugged as he sat
down on the bed and began tugging off his boots.  He'd become
inured to the ton 's opinion over those years.  If they thought him a fool
for taking back his wife, he didn't care, although he thought that
there would be just as many who approved of him taking her in hand.
 What he didn't understand was why Grace seemed so concerned
with what they thought of him, when it was her fault they were in
this situation in the first place.
    He'd attempted to approach Grace,
several times before.  At least once a year for the past three
years, actually.  Every time, she'd tensed and fled, and he'd
backed away, both hurt and frustrated by her response.
 Whenever he showed up in the same area as her, she was gone
just as quickly.  But he'd never shown up in London during the
Season before, he'd always attempted to broach her in private.
 So this year he'd upped the ante in more ways than
one.
    "I don’t want another wife, I want
you," he said simply.  It was the unvarnished truth as he saw
it. 
    His wife gaped at him, apparently
rendered speechless by his answer.  The astonishment and shock
clearly written across her face was even greater than this
morning's when he'd told her that he wanted to reconcile.
 Which he found confusing.  Hadn't he always shown Grace
how much he wanted her?  Well, besides when he'd been foolish
enough to let her go without a fight.  
    Cursing himself again for his idiotic
pride, for allowing her to slip away from him so easily, Alex knew
that he would have to work