Second Son of a Duke Read Online Free PDF

shyly off her own body and onto his. Teddy stared out his window intently, and her pulse bounced erratically at his handsome profile.
    She seemed to have misplaced her instinctual disgust.
    Juliette felt a strange heaviness between her thighs when she thought of the way it felt to be trapped between his heavy body and the breakfast sideboard. His mouth on hers, his lips seeking for something from her—heat flooded her face even now as she remembered how she’d ached to give it to him, whatever it was.
    “Are you all right, Juliette?”
    The timber of his voice shook her back to awareness. Embarrassed, she turned away, though the damage had been done. She’d been staring at him. And he caught her. “I’m fine,” she managed, though a bit croaky.
    They finally arrived at her brother’s hunting box. She’d sent ahead supplies and a servant to lay a fire and air the cabin with explicit instructions to be gone when they arrived.
    The silence had bloomed from uncomfortable to awkward. While Teddy stoked the fire, Juliette set out the luncheon. While her stomach rebelled at the thought of food, the wine held her apt attention. With his back to her, she swilled down half a glass, refilling it before he was any wiser.
    He joined her at the little table. They broke the crushing silence with inane bursts of chatter followed by more oppressing quiet. When she could stand it no more, she pushed away from the table briskly. “Excuse me,” she muttered and was half across the room when he managed to grab her.
    “Juliette, what is wrong?”
    “Nothing.” She pushed a frustrated tear from her eye. “Everything.” He wouldn’t let her pass, so she folded her arms and stared at the floor. “I’m sorry I made you come here, Teddy. I thought…I don’t know what I thought.”
    “You thought we should spend some time together alone and here we are. You were right. We need to get to know each other.” He brushed his finger across the trail where another traitorous tear had fallen. “Why are you crying?”
    “I don’t know,” she said helplessly. “I thought…I don’t know what I thought.”
    Teddy chuckled. “You already said that.”
    “Things have been easier between us, Teddy. I had hoped that the camaraderie would carry over, but it doesn’t seem to have.”
    He led her to the settee in front of the fire. “It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have kissed you this morning.”
    Her eyes shot to his face and her lungs clutched for air. “Do you mean that?”
    “Most marriages begin with a courting stage. You deserve to be wooed. Instead, I stole your virginity and then ravished you in a dining room. I’ve been unthinkably callous.” His warm hand covered hers. “And instead of apologizing or trying to make you feel more comfortable, I brooded the entire journey here. You’ve obviously gone to a lot of trouble, and instead of thanking you, I—”
    “I brought you here to seduce you,” she interrupted.
    His eyebrows raised in surprise. “Seduce me?” Teddy realized he’d done it again. “Sorry.”
    “Yes, seduce you,” she answered. “Except I have no understanding of how, and it seems a little premature now that you’ve said you wished you hadn’t kissed me.”
    “I never said I didn’t wish to. I implied that I wrestled with the timing of it. I rather enjoyed kissing you.”
    Finally her lungs let go a little and she was able to exhale. “Really?”
    “I’ve certainly bungled this whole operation if you couldn’t tell how much I enjoyed kissing you this morning.”
    Juliette let a soft laugh escape. “Then seducing you wouldn’t be unwelcomed?”
    “Not unwelcomed. Merely unexpected.”
    “Would you be averse to telling me how to go about it then?”

    * * *

    Teddy inhaled sharply and choked on an answer. His wife was ever a surprise. She thwacked him sharply between the shoulder blades until he stopped coughing. “Juliette, you needn’t do a thing to seduce me,” he finally ground