For Love of the Duke by Christi Caldwell

Author:Christi Caldwell
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Christi Caldwell Publications
Published: 2014-10-08T22:00:00+00:00

~17~

Katherine yawned, and placed her hands along the base of her back. She arched the cramped muscles, knowing Mother would be scandalized should she see her bold display of discomfort, and stared at the sign dusted in snow, that hung alongside the inn’s door.

Fire and Brimstone

She scrunched up her nose. Well, really, what a rather horrid name for an establishment, and not at all the place a young lady envisioned spending her first day as a married woman.

Jasper touched a hand to her lower back and she jumped.

“Are you all right, wife?”

Wife.

That one word, spoken in a silky, mellifluous baritone warmed her more than a blazing fire on a winter’s day.

Katherine reminded herself that her husband was surely accustomed to more sophisticated, less moon-eyed young ladies, and tossed her curls. “Quite, fine.”

He started forward, and Katherine stared after him.

It appeared to take him a moment to register that she did not follow, and he glanced back, a question in those green eyes that made her yearn for the spring.

“I lied,” she confessed. She pointed at the sign. “Fire and Brimstone, Jasper? It is a horrendous name for an inn. Why, why…one might as well call it, Hell and Damnation.”

Did his lips twitch? With amusement? Oh the lout. “As a learned woman, I would gather you do not judge a volume by its title alone.”

Hmph. Very well. So he was correct, in this regard. She quickened her step, and then looped her arm through his.

The tightly coiled muscles cased within his coat bunched under her touch. A smile played about her lips. Her stoic husband might maintain a cool disinterest where she was concerned, but every so often his body would betray him, and reveal that he was not as indifferent as he appeared.

They entered the inn. Katherine shook out her skirts, and all at once, registered the absolute stillness of the dimly lit establishment.

She froze and glanced up to find a quite full inn…and all sets of eyes were trained upon her and Jasper.

A smallish, older gentleman with a bald pate rushed over. “May I help you….?”

“The Duke and Duchess of Bainbridge. We require rooms.”

Those quietly spoken words still managed to thunder through the still room.

The innkeeper’s eyes widened, and he bowed low at the waist. “Your Grace, it is an honor. How many rooms may I—”

“Two,” Jasper interrupted.

The innkeeper nodded. “I have two rooms available, a fare of roasted beef and potatoes. And a tankard of ale.” He motioned to the lone empty table in the corner of the inn.

Two rooms?

Two.

As in, more than one.

She shook her head. Her husband was merely doing the polite gentlemanly thing in procuring two rooms, so that she might prepare…prepare…

Katherine fanned her cheeks and looked around the crowded taproom floor. Her eyes collided with a buxom serving girl with a pitcher of ale and an empty tankard in her hand. The lush creature trained her eyes on Jasper.

Katherine fisted her hands at her side.

Jasper looked at Katherine. “Are you all right, Katherine?”

Her mouth tightened.

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