Forbidden to Love the Duke(66)

“And you’ve only realized now it was missing?”

He reflected on this for several moments. “The world is full of heartless men. Few of them are given a chance to have their hearts returned and allowed to feel happiness again.”

His lips met hers. His fingers stole down her throat to her belly. She started to shiver, to feel her hips lift against him. “I thought you were supposed to rest.”

“My arm. I should have been resting my right arm. If you’re going to eavesdrop, at least listen attentively.”

A doubt entered her mind and swiftly exited as he began to scatter kisses everywhere he possibly could. From one corner of her mouth to the other. To her throat, her breasts, and in between her ribs until he paused. She raised her head. His face had disappeared.

“James. You’re not . . .”

He was. He slid his hand under her buttocks and gave her a good push that brought her into the middle of the bed, spreading her legs apart as he did. He licked between her folds and at the pearl of her cleft. She subdued the urge to sob. This was an act that should only be performed in darkness. She couldn’t see what he was doing, but she could feel every lap of his tongue to her core.

“James.”

He didn’t respond, too intent on caressing her belly and teasing the hollow of her womanhood with his mouth. She felt his fingers replace his tongue, working deeper, stretching her pliant flesh. The more he gave her, the more she needed. Her nerves knotted. She couldn’t stay still. Her body demanded relief and she was past caring how disgraceful she looked.

He rose up again and lowered his lips to her breast. His fingers sank deeper into her sheath as he sucked hard at her nipple. She felt his erect penis against her stomach. That was what she wanted. “Oh, please,” she whispered. “What have you done to me?”

“Nothing yet.”

“Then . . . do it.”

He laughed softly. “I’ll take my sweet time. You aren’t in bed with a schoolboy.”

“I never imagined for a moment that I was.”

“Do you know how beautiful you look right now?”

He pushed her legs farther apart, exposing her damp curls and the crease below. He shifted and positioned his shaft at the entrance of her body. She gasped at the contact.

“Keep breathing, Ivy,” he said. “Put your legs around my back. It might hurt a little.”

“Only a little?”

“I’ll do my best,” he said in a thick voice.

“I trust you, James.”

“Remember you said that.”

She made out the angular shape of his face in the darkness, the width of his shoulders. Take me, she thought. I don’t care how much it hurts.


* * *

She was both a goddess and place of worship. And he was as dedicated to pleasing her now as he was to protecting her when they stepped outside this room. Twice she attempted to clench her thighs together. Calmly he pressed her legs apart, braced himself over her, and concentrated on sliding his shaft between the engorged seams of her sex. A slow torture for now.

He was on fire, imagining the moment when he would sink his cock into her heat. Not all at once. She was still quivering, his beautiful virgin. Stretching her took restraint. Readying her for the moment required that he wait and let her pleasure build. She raised her hand as if she wanted to touch him. The gesture inflamed him. He flexed his back instinctively.

“May I?” she whispered.

“I beg you,” he said in a hoarse voice. He felt so hot. Could he wait? Her hand strayed over his chest, finding the demarcations of his ribs, his abdomen. A woman’s touch had never thrilled him and left him aching like this. He was the only man she would ever know.

He pressed another inch inside her, his penis throbbing, his blood smoldering. She moaned and shifted, restless, and he leaned lower to kiss her, his aggression mounting.

“I can’t stop now, Ivy.”

“It’s all right. I want this, James.”

He withdrew slightly, his prick coated in her moisture, and thrust inside her harder this time. Her eyes widened, and he felt her inner muscles close around him, forcing him to drive in farther to breach her maidenhead.

“Ivy,” he said on a moan like a man with a fever.

He slid his hand between their joined bodies and rubbed her nub. He felt her shiver helplessly. Her legs tightened around his hips. She cried out something he could not understand. Blood roared in his head.

Then she arched and lifted upward with a desperation that pushed him to the edge. His elemental side took charge. He grasped her arse in one hand and embedded himself inside her fully. She gave a soft cry, and for a moment she didn’t move. But it was done. She was his. There would be time for tenderness later. For now he surged into her again and again, aware that she had climaxed, her body shuddering beneath his.