Sarani dragged a fingernail down her husband’s damp chest. “So about those thoughts you were interested in…”

His eyes narrowed. “Do I still need to pay a pound?”

“It’s worth it, I promise.”

“Very well, you drive a hard bargain.”

She stuck out her tongue. “You didn’t even haggle, Your Grace. Haven’t I taught you anything? Haggling is ninety percent of the fun.”

Rhystan grinned and rolled them over so that he was braced above her. She gasped at the deliciously hard pressure between her thighs. Her blood went molten. She was wrung out and sore from his attentions overnight and again that morning, and suddenly, she wanted more.

With a wicked grin, he tilted his hips, making her whimper. “Three pounds, then.”

“I think you’re missing the point of haggling, my lord duke,” she said and wrapped her legs around him, pinning his hardness to her softness. Two could play at his game.

He groaned. “Five pounds!”

Sarani laughed as she tugged his head down to hers, slanting her mouth across his and nibbling on his full lower lip. “You are absurd.”

“Absurdly in love with you,” he said. “Now, tell me these thoughts of yours before I’m forced to increase my offer.”

“I’m with child.”

Rhystan stilled, his glowing eyes capturing hers. So many colors swam in them—blue, green, gray—much like the ocean lit by the sun with a storm in the distance. He didn’t say a word, but his mouth trembled slightly. Sarani pinned her lips, uncertainty suddenly blanketing her.

They’d talked about children, but with his work in Parliament and the scandal broth surrounding their unconventional, highly publicized marriage, they’d decided to wait. Rhystan had been careful and she’d timed her courses, but a handful of times a couple of months ago, they’d been so consumed by passion that no precautionary measures had been taken.

“Rhystan?”

“We’re going to have a baby?” he whispered.

“I know we didn’t plan on it, but does the thought please you?”

“Does it please me?” Her duke’s smile was slow and lit his eyes with love and joy as he slid down her body to place a kiss on her bare abdomen. He peered up at her, steel-blue gaze shining. “You undo me, Your Grace. I am delighted.” He kissed her skin again. “And you, little one, I cannot wait to meet you.”

Sarani felt a tear slip down her cheek, watching this powerful man place tender kisses on her belly, cherishing the tiny being they had created. Rhystan rubbed his cheek against her and then crept back up her body to gather her into his arms.

“I hope our child has your eyes,” she whispered. “And your huge heart.”

“If it’s a boy, he better get my huge heart!”

She chucked him in the shoulder, giggling at his awful innuendo. “You are a ridiculous man.”