Whatever his faults, he spoke truly, and Cecily had to accept what he said. The Duke had indeed never broken his promises to her.
“I do not doubt you,” she told him, and then tried to explain further the complicated emotions that had driven her to this unfortunate confrontation. “I am only confused by you, and driven to temper by things I do not understand.”
Watching her attentively, he seemed to listen and to understand what she was saying.
“Hand me my shirt from that chair, if you would,” he requested mildly, seeming as though he intended to rise immediately.
Cecily picked up his shirt and held it out toward the bed while keeping her face turned away. Rather than taking the shirt, however, the Duke took hold of her, one hand grasping hers and the other reaching for her waist.
Within seconds, she found herself in his arms on the bed, pressed against the hot, bare skin of his torso.
CHAPTER 19
“What are you doing?” Cecily cried out as his hands entwined with hers, pinning her effectively to the bed.
Sharp waves of excitement pierced her to the core. Surely she ought to panic? Instead, she was drawn in by the midnight blue eyes hovering above her face, and far from wanting to resist the man.
“Shall I make you less confused, Cecily? I would have done it before, if you had not seemed so determined to avoid me. Don’t you think that has gone on long enough?”
“Avoid you?” Cecily gasped, wriggling helplessly and all too conscious that only a sheet lay between her and his too-fascinating naked body. “But it isyouwho has avoided me! Oh, do let me go!”
For a moment, Nathaniel looked down at her in consternation, and then his face creased in amusement.
“Oh, dear. If you have not been avoiding me since our wedding, and I have certainly not been avoiding you, it seems we have had a comedy of errors,” he chuckled. “I am not a man to take an unwilling bride to my bed.”
“I… I thought you did not want me,” Cecily blurted out, bright red now with self-consciousness and growing arousal. “I thought…”
“You cannot doubt my desire for you now,” he replied, with something more than amusement in his eyes as they gazed down upon her. “You can feel it, can’t you?”
Against her belly, Cecily could indeed feel the firm pressure of something very hard. Only the tangled sheet and her thin summer dress lay between her skin and his, an understanding that made her core tingle and throb unbearably.
“I… I feel you,” she managed to whisper in an unsteady voice that caught in her throat with something close to a moan. “Oh, God.”
“Where do you feel me?” he murmured, pressing a gentle kiss to her lips.
“You know where,” she answered, trembling as his mouth trailed kisses down her neck and throat.
“Here?” he asked, kissing the swell of her breasts above her dress and then the mounds themselves. “Do you feel me in the beat of your heart? Here?”
Releasing her arms, he kissed her midriff through the muslin, and her hands came down to stroke his hair of their own accord.
“Here, in your belly, perhaps?” he murmured seductively.
How was he bringing her to this state of helpless excitement all over again? In a few moments, Cecily knew that she would be ready to do anything he desired.
“Here?” he suggested next, his tone teasing as his mouth settled on the aching spot between her thighs, causing her to jerk and cry out beneath him.
She certainly felt something there, both her desire and excitement stirred by his touch.
She closed her eyes tightly, knowing that if she looked back at him now, she might see him entirely nude as he hovered over her. Part of her longed for that, but she also feared it, feeling already too close to being overwhelmed.
When his gentle hands began to push up her skirts, she could not remain still. Would he take her now?
She whimpered with desire and nervousness, telling herself that it was his right to do so as her husband, while marveling at her own lack of will to resist his advances.
Is it an improper hour for such activities?
“Are you trying to get away from me again? Must I tie you down, Cecily?” he teased her once more as his hands stroked her hips and thighs beneath the dress. “Or will you be obedient this morning? I promise you will not regret it.”
