To Capture a Duke's Heart by Jennifer McNare

Author:Jennifer McNare [McNare, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-05-11T05:00:00+00:00

Penny had no idea how much time had passed before the unmistakable rattle of a key turning in the lock sounded within the tiny chamber; but laying there, her mind fraught with fear and apprehension, it had felt like an endless amount of time. Tensing, her eyes darted anxiously to the door as it swung open on its hinges and her husband stepped across the threshold and into the room. Breathlessly she watched, silent and unmoving beneath the covers, as he pushed the door closed behind him, reset the lock with a faint metal click and then turned, casting a cursory glance around the dimly lit space.

Ignoring the bed, and her, he focused upon the room’s solitary chair, moving toward it as he began to unbutton his jacket. Then, when the task was completed, he shrugged it from his shoulders and laid it across the top of the wooden, ladder-back chair, following it a few moments later with his waistcoat and silk neck scarf. Sitting then, he reached for the wooden boot jack that sat beside the chair and positioned it on the floor in front of him. Removing his boots, the heels emitted dull thumps as he dropped them one by one onto the hard, wooden floor and then nudged them aside.

Penny continued to watch him, unable to look away as he turned his attention to his shirt front and set about unfastening the row of pearl buttons. She swallowed hard, her mouth going dry as she wondered if he intended to remove his clothing entirely. The possibility immediately set her heart thumping wildly within her chest, for she’d never seen a naked man before, not once in all of her eighteen years. Should she look away? Close her eyes? She did neither, her gaze riveted upon the slowly widening expanse of skin above his sternum.

But having unfastened only the top three buttons, Gabriel rose suddenly from the chair and crossed the short distance to the bed, reaching to extinguish the lamp as he sat down upon the edge of the mattress, plunging the room into total darkness. Then, much to her surprise he laid down upon the bed still clothed in his shirt and trousers, not even bothering to push back the covers as he stretched out atop the patterned quilt; and for one inexplicable moment Penny wasn’t certain if she was relieved or disappointed.

They lay there in silence for a time, side by side, neither of them moving, until finally Gabriel sighed and said tonelessly, “Go to sleep, Madame. We have a long day ahead of us on the morrow.” And then turning onto his side, he presented her with his back.

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