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instinct here however said she spoke the truth.
    The coachman knocked on the door. “Sir?”
    “Thank you, Brown,” Adam called to his coachman, but to Fee, he warned, “Be aware that my gift to you will be a generous one to myself, as well. It is most improper to take advantage of a woman.”
    “I am not just any woman. I am your wife, and I wish a mutual pleasure for us, Adam.”
    She could not have spoken more persuasive words. He grasped her hand and kissed it. The two of them straightened their clothes quickly. Once repaired, he rapped on the door for Brown to open it. He descended and held out his hand for Felice. “You may brush down the horses and retire for the evening, Brown.”
    The man flashed him an astonished look.
    Adam, for all his lust and haste to get Fee into his bed, understood his man’s sudden reluctance to proceed. “This is Mrs. Stanhope, Brown. She will be spending the evening.”
    His servant checked Fee’s expression. She summoned the ability to smile politely at the man and acknowledge him suitably as the lady of the household should, despite the rather odd circumstances of their introduction. Turning with a regal demeanor, she gathered up her skirts and preceded Adam to his front door.
    He grinned at her social graces.
    In the morning, I shall worry about what we have done. But for now, Adam flung open the door to his townhouse, whisked Fee up in his arms and told the butler to go to bed. The servant nodded and shut the door as Adam bounded up the stairs to his bedroom with his precious burden.
    Damn the curse, for one night. He’d take a bit of bliss for himself and make more for his wife, as well, as he educated her in the finer arts of making love.

Chapter Five
    Felice hung on to Adam with feral hunger. She’d meant to be his good and obedient wife, in bed and out. She’d imagined he might care for her, like her as a bed partner beyond the pleasantries of their friendship. But this wildness in him thrilled her.
    As he let her slide down his torso while he opened his bedroom door, she leaned against him and went eagerly with him as he led her inside. But she came to a halt, surveying his sanctuary. A Stanhope bedroom. A legendary den of private pleasures. The master suite of a Stanhope was reputed to be the one place on earth a woman could indulge in the most mindless intimacies she could imagine. If some women rued the day they entered one and fell in love with a Stanhope, far too many regaled others with the tales of decadence. True, those women had been paramours. Not wives of Stanhopes. Never wives.
    Adam cupped her face. “Felice, do you now have second thoughts?”
    Tearing her gaze from the red velvet canopy and counterpane over the massive bed, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “No. Not I. I thought about my decision to marry you long and hard. I am committed to you and making a happy marriage.”
    He swept one arm around her waist and grinning against her mouth said, “I am delighted, too, you are willing to brave a man many call wild.”
    “Mr. Wild, I’ve heard of you. A talented politician. But brash, eager and tormenting to women. Just like your brothers.”
    “My brothers, Arrogant and Difficult?”
    She chuckled. “What’s in a name? I know they have other redeeming qualities, just as you do.”
    He walked backwards, leading her further into the room rich in ruby velvets and damask, punctuated by gold appointments. “Contrary to what you may have heard or read, no other woman has ever been here. Not in this room and not in my bed.”
    “But your first wife?”
    His eyes darkened, his lashes dusting his rigid cheekbones. His voice was a rasp. “She was never here.”
    Felice was filled with such joy at knowing her uniqueness to him that she was momentarily speechless.
    He stared at her, knitting his brows, all of a sudden hesitant. “I want you to know that in the morning, if you wish to go, I will not forbid you.”
    His largesse tore at her. Was