”With all due respect, madam,” Nick started, fighting to hide the amusement from his face. She looked so pleased with herself, she was even giggling. Was she toying with him? “I will not be sleeping in a separate bedroom.”

There were several logical reasons why sleeping in separate bedrooms was a bad idea. First was that it would give the house servants something to talk about, which in turn might catch the duke’s attention. Nick didn’t want Lord Abbott’s attention more than what was necessary. He was the gateway into the House of Lords, and to be able to use him, Nick had to be the best husband that Lord Abbott’s daughter could ever dream of. The other reason he thought was that the said rumor might suggest, though implicitly, that Nicholas Rochford IV had his interest resting on other options, someone who had anatomical parts that Ms. Abbott lacked. He would personally see to it that the second consequence of separating bedrooms would have no chance of happening.

But… Realization dawned on him too late, he had already proposed to her to sleep in separate beds. Could it be that she was thinking that he did prefer other partners? There was nothing wrong with her anyway. She was a beautiful lady, who, with what her dresses revealed, had her curves in all the right places. He should be happy to be marrying this woman. Nick especially liked the way her eyes lit up when she had something mischievous in mind like a few moments back when she talked to him about how he should sleep somewhere else. Her hair, he could just imagine him running his hands on its silky length. And then, as if having a life of their own, his eyes traveled further down his face, to her long slender neck, following her smooth exposed skin down her collar bone and into where skin ad clothes met. After they got married, no matter that it was fake, she was going to be his, and he was definitely not gay. 

Nick cleared his throat. “Our bedroom will have a couch where the person not using the bed can sleep for the night. I suggest, to give both of us a fair chance, that we agree on a contest and whoever wins, will have the bed for a night.” That way they can both stay and watch the other one suffer.