“I can’t wait. Maybe you’ll be able to write your own book on the subject.”
He caught her bud between his teeth and nudged her thighs farther apart with his elbow. Her hips rose. His hand stole across her stomach to bunch her skirts up higher and subdue her restless movements.
She was frantic, shaking with desire. He knew what she needed, how to arouse her basic nature as he satisfied his.
“Do you want something from me, Ivy?”
She heard the bed creak and felt a coolness against the bare skin of her thighs. James stared down at her with a hunger that matched the intense longing she felt for him. He unfastened the flap of his trousers and took his penis in one hand. Her belly clenched in anticipation. The next thing she knew, he had positioned his hands under her bottom and raised her limp legs over his shoulders. She had only an instant to note the size of his erection before the crest of it disappeared into her sheath, then withdrew in a rhythm he repeated until she was ready to pull out his hair in need. “James.”
At her voice he quickened, pumping deeper until she moved with him and broke with a force that drove the breath from her body. Her muscles closed around his shaft with an uncontrollable instinct that she guessed by his deep groan brought him the relief he needed.
It felt like he was truly hers. Her heart beat wildly as he flexed upward a final time and then fell still at her side, holding her tightly to his damp chest. Her veins throbbed in receding pleasure.
“My dress is a mess now,” she whispered in resigned satisfaction.
“A little more wrinkled than before you arrived, I agree.” He stroked her hair and kissed her with lingering passion. “I meant what I said. I’ll give you anything you want.”
She kissed him back and sat up with a sigh. “For now you can give me the apple green silk dress from the wardrobe. My sisters are going to take one look at me and know exactly what we were doing.”
“Were we doing anything wrong?” he asked, smiling at her in all his alluring deviltry.
“Never mind the children, you’re the one who needs discipline.”
“You can’t discipline a duke.”
“One can try.”
To her surprise he stood, refastening his trousers with some trouble, and went to the wardrobe. He handed her the green silk frock and knelt before her. “I should have said this earlier—I love you. And I trust you as I’ve trusted no one in my entire life.”
She stared down into his face. “I love you, too, James.”
He swallowed. “I think you’d better change or our absence will be commented on. I’m going to my room to dress for dinner. We’ll try to make Lilac and Rosemary forget what happened, if only for an hour or two.”
“Why would anybody attack Lilac and Quigley?” she asked, holding her dress in her hand.
He came to his feet. “I feel responsible in part. And while I’m grateful that Sir Oliver defended Lilac, I can’t seem to like the man.”
“Nor do I,” she admitted. Although he had saved Lilac’s life.
“No more grimness tonight.” With that, he put on the rest of his clothes.
She nodded. Broad-shouldered, elegant, and elemental, he was quite the specimen of masculinity. He could infuriate, master her, and brighten her mood, often within the same hour.
He went to the door.
She knew she should call out after him. James, I have something I need to tell you.
Right after dinner.
* * *
Rosemary and Lilac had gone to visit the Duchess Suite after tea and the children had followed. Ivy did not walk into a restful scene at all, but it was a familiar one that filled her with nostalgia. Rosemary and Mary lay curled up on the bed together, oblivious to the boisterous game of checkers that Lilac and Walker were playing in front of the fire.
“You cheated, Lady Lilac!”
“How rude of you to notice, Master Walker.”
“I’ll chop off your head.”
“Not if I chop off yours first.”
Ivy cleared her throat. “The children need to have a bath and dress for dinner.”
“They’ve already been bathed and dressed,” Lilac said without looking up from the game table.
“I’d like to have a bath,” Ivy announced, walking to the foot of the bed.
Rosemary dismissed her with a wave. “Don’t interrupt. We’re almost at the end of the chapter.”
Ivy sighed. “I’ll just go back to my other room and leave the lot of you alone. I thought you might want to spend some time with me.”
“Why?” Lilac murmured. “You haven’t spared any time for us lately.”
“And now we know why,” Rosemary said, lifting an eyebrow in accusation. “Whatever happened to ‘All secrets shall be revealed between sisters’?”