The Unexpected Duchess(59)

He moved his head back down to her breast and the brush of his slight stubble against the soft skin there made her tremble.

He kept it up. The rough bite of his tongue against her nipple. The slow slide of his finger in and out of her. The masterful glide of his thumb over the most sensitive spot on her body. Lucy shuddered again. Her entire body tensed and she panted into his ear, breathing heavily, helpless to control the spasms that began in her most intimate spot and then spiraled out and up, making her entire body quake and shiver. She closed her eyes. Then her hands went limp in his embrace. He’d just given her the most incredible experience of her life and she’d wanted it.

“You’re a good kisser, too,” he whispered with a roguish grin against her lips.





CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE



Lucy rolled over on her bed and jammed her pillow over her face. This was all Jane’s fault. All right, very well, it was not Jane’s fault. But if she’d had a chance to speak with Jane in the last day or two, she might not have got into this untenable position. Kissing the Duke of Claringdon? Passionately? At his house? In the middle of the day? Unthinkable. But true. And doing … more. Much more. That was the only word she could conjure to classify the other things that had happened between them. Just thinking about them made her hot and left her wanting. She couldn’t help the little smile that popped to her lips.

Lucy tossed the pillow aside, scrubbed her hands over her face, and groaned. She stared at the ceiling. What was she to do? She was not only the worst friend in the entire world, she would die of guilt. That was all there was to it. She’d somehow managed to right her clothing and scramble out of Derek’s drawing room earlier without much of a good-bye, hideously awkward though it had been. They’d barely spoken two words to each other. No apologies. No discussion about how their little interlude would affect Derek’s courtship of Cass. No. Cass had not been mentioned and so much the better. What could they do to possibly make this right? There was no talking it away.

Lucy had faced the poor footman who’d been patiently waiting outside the whole time while she’d been tumbling around on the sofa with the duke. Thankfully, the servant didn’t say a word about her mussed clothing and wild hair. She pulled her bonnet down tight over her messy coiffure and nearly ran through the streets to get back home as soon as possible, the footman trailing her. That had been hours ago and she was still hidden in her room, alone with her regrets. Were they regrets? Or just deliciously wicked memories?

How would she ever explain this to Cass? And explain she must. “Oh, Cass dear, just a moment. You know the man who’s been courting you? The handsome duke? Yes, him. I just happened to do some unspeakably inappropriate things with him earlier. Have a happy marriage!”

Lucy couldn’t even laugh about it. It was ludicrous. It was wrong. And even though she knew Cass didn’t have deep feelings, or any really, for Derek, it still didn’t make what had happened between them acceptable. It was wrong, wrong, wrong. Blast it. Why had she allowed Cass to talk her into going over to Derek’s house? She’d known better. Truly known better. And at any rate she should have brought Janie with her. But instead, she’d pranced off knowing that she’d end up doing or saying something she shouldn’t. And oh, she’d done both. Spectacularly.

Where was Jane? Jane needed to tell her what to do. Lucy clamped the pillow back over her face and groaned.

* * *

After Lucy left his house, Derek made it his foremost duty to locate the boxing club in Bath and join immediately. He was already well into a bout with a chap who was little match for him. And yes, if truth be told, every punch he landed he pretended to be pummeling Berkeley. But despite having dealt some crushing blows, he still couldn’t erase the memory of his afternoon interlude with Lucy Upton.

How had his plan gone so wrong? Derek was nothing if not decisive. He prided himself on it. Lived for it. Lived because of it. Being decisive had literally saved his life more than once. His father’s words echoed in his brain: “A man is decisive. He makes decisions quickly, accurately. He doesn’t hesitate.”

Another punch.

And Derek’s decisiveness had caused him to choose Lady Cassandra to take to wife. She might be a bit shy and her penchant for using her friend to speak for her wasn’t her most endearing quality, but she was lovely, and sweet. Most important, she would be a steadfast wife. He could survive a bit of shyness while she was getting used to him.

What did he care if she thought she was in love with Julian? The stark truth was that Julian wouldn’t be coming back from the Continent and even if by some miracle he did, he couldn’t propose to Lady Cassandra. Besides, love didn’t exist. The fact that Cassandra thought she loved Julian demonstrated how inexperienced she was. But that was still acceptable. Love wasn’t part of the equation. Derek wanted a wife who would be true to him, of course, and he could tell that whatever unrequited love pulsed through her veins, Cassandra would not cuckold him. If Julian lived and married her cousin, Julian would never be so dishonorable as to be unfaithful, either. He knew his friend well enough to know that. Derek merely needed to convince Cassandra to give him a chance and see things from his perspective. They would make a fine match. They would have strong, healthy children. They would both go about their lives and their pursuits independently of each other as most of the couples of the ton did, and that was perfectly fine with him. His own parents might have enjoyed a very different marriage, but he inhabited a new world now. A successful union   did not require the complication of passion.