A Second Chance With a Duke by Claudia Stone
Author:Claudia Stone [Stone, Claudia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-10-13T04:00:00+00:00
Chapter Eight
It was difficult enough to keep one's eyes open on a normal morning in the House of Lords, but on that particular morning, Michael had to force himself to stay awake.
His eyelids felt heavy as the speaker of the house droned on about budget-approval for another of Prinny's vanity projects.
"As if the existing monstrosity isn't enough for him," Jack grumbled beside him, referring, to the Royal Pavilion in Brighton. The seaside retreatâwhich the Regent had built for the purposes of enjoying liaisons with his mistress Mrs Fitzherbertâwas being extended yet again, at great expense to the crown coffers. "I'd like to vote against, just to annoy the gouty-prig."
"We did sincerely promise and swear to bear him true allegiance," Michael replied dryly, as a yawn escaped him. The Oath of Allegiance to the Crown, which every member of the House of Lords took, did not specify what one must do when faced with a Prince Regent who seemed determined to bankrupt the country in the name of beautiful architecture. There was much grumbling in the more liberal news-sheets about the excess of the upper classes, and if Parliament approved the budget for the entitled prince, Michael feared there might be riots.
After a few more minutes of dullness, the speaker dismissed the House, to mull over matters before the next day's vote, and Michael let out a loud sigh of relief. He was exhausted, having not slept one wink the night before.
"You're tired," Jack noted, with a devilish gleam in his eye.
"I am not," Michael retorted, though his words were somewhat hampered by a loud yawn. He did not wish to engage his friend in any ribald joshingâfor he knew well that was what Jack was leading up to. And why shouldn't he expect to poke fun at a new husband who was visibly exhausted after his wedding night?
Most men would assume that Michael's tiredness could be attributed to spending the night entwined with his new wife on their marriage bed, but they would have been very, very wrong.
Instead of spending the night indulging in pleasure with his new bride, Michael had spent countless hours staring at the hangings on his bed, willing sleep to come.
His insomnia could easily be attributed to two things; desire and guilt. He had knocked on Katherine's door last night, sincerely wishing to apologise. The vision of her, hair loose and dressed just in her night-railâthough thank heavens she had seen fit to don a shawl before he enteredâhad lit a flame of lust within him. His need for her had been so great, that he had been too afraid to even step inside her bedroom, lest the last of his restraint left him.
For despite the depth of his desire, which was endless, Michael was also painfully aware that he must not pressure Katherine to do anything that she did not wish to. Their conversation before the wedding had been illuminating, not because of anything particular that they had said, but because of how Katherine had reacted to his anger.
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