The Marquess’s Stolen Bride by Moxie Bella

Author:Moxie, Bella
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Historical, Romance
Publisher: Dragonblade Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2022-09-30T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

William observed his wife as she stared out the carriage window.

Staring at his wife seemed to have become his new favorite pastime. She was beautiful, there was that. So gorgeous, and more so with each new day that she ate and slept well. But it was more than that. It was seeing the emotions play out across her face. The way her eyes lit with pleasure each time she saw something new.

And it seemed like every hour she came upon something new. A stroll around the neighborhood, a visit to a tea shop. Each seemingly ordinary outing had been a burst of new sensations for his bride.

And seeing the world like that through her eyes—everything new and sweet and wonderful…

Well, it made him feel like a new man.

Truly, he’d never known such happiness as he had since marrying. His days were filled with showing Madeline all she’d been missing, or conversing over meals, or helping her learn the duties that would be expected of her.

And their nights…

A smile tugged at his lips as he memorized her profile. Their nights were sublime. He’d never known it could be like this. So overwhelming. The connection so intimate.

But there were moments… Moments like this one when he felt that connection sever. When he was certain they were living two different lives and he did not know her at all. She’d been distant for hours now. She’d gone from being so entranced by the opera to seemingly distracted.

Was she hiding something from him?

He shook his head. That was his sordid history at work, making him suspicious. It was not reality. She was too guileless and sweet to be untrustworthy. But even so…

He shifted uneasily. She still wouldn’t bare herself in front of him, not even in bed. She welcomed him into her bed and was an enthusiastic lover. But there were limits. She would not be naked in front of him, and there were things he did that made her quake with fear.

He’d stop whenever she grew frightened, of course. And he’d tried time and again to get her to talk to him about what it was that scared her so. He hoped that, in time, she’d explain.

She would, he told himself as the carriage stopped in front of his home. He just had to be patient, that was all.

He offered her a hand out. “Are you certain you’re well?”

She blinked up at him as if surprised to see him there. Then she flashed a brilliant smile. “Yes. Yes, of course.”

“Of course,” he muttered. A muscle in his jaw tensed. He did not want to push, but he was nearly certain she’d just lied to him.

And lying he could not abide.

“Actually…” She cleared her throat, pausing to smile graciously at the butler and housekeeper who came to greet them. “I’m not feeling well,” she said to him with a little wince of regret.

A surge of guilt reared up, for doubting her and for tiring her out so. He’d been pushing her too hard and too fast this week.

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