Page 57 of An Inconvenient Duke

He groaned at the way the new position opened her even further to him, and his movements grew more intense, more urgent. With every deep plunge, he gave a teasing swirl of his hips against her before retreating, which brushed against that sensitive little place downthereand nearly drove her out of her mind.

She bit back a cry as a throbbing ache pulsed relentlessly between her legs at that place where their two bodies joined. He’d touched her there before…kissing her with his mouth, caressing her with his fingers. But this—oh,thiswas simply divine!

“I want you,” she whispered, burying her face against his bare neck and drinking in the wonderful flavor of man and the musky scent of sex.

“I think you have me,” he returned with a chuckle.

“I don’t…” she explained between labored breaths, “mean…this way…”

“You have me, darling,” he repeated. “In every way.”

He punctuated that promise with a searing kiss that left her panting for more even as he never slowed his steady thrusts between her thighs.

Happiness burst through her, and she shuddered from the enormity of it…and from his body inside hers, her desire for him winding impossibly tight, like a coiling spring.

This wasn’t only sex, only the surrendering of body to body. It wasn’t even making love, although she certainly loved him. There was no doubt inside her about how much. No, what they were doing was so much more. Tonight, they were healing old wounds and absolving whatever threads of grief and guilt yet remained from the past.

“I’ve wanted this for so very long…with you…” She panted out that confession, unable to keep it inside. The words were a benediction for the new trust they were forging tonight, a way forward into the future. “Only with you, Marcus.Onlywith you.”

When she arched her back beneath him, to bring him as deep inside her as possible, a masculine groan tore from the back of his throat. He shoved his hand down between them, to that spot where their bodies joined, and teased—

He touched the aching center of her, and she jumped beneath him, her hips bucking up against his. Electricity sparked through her. With a begging whine of need, she clenched herself around him like a vise, including all the little muscles deep inside her that tightened around him as the first ripples of release bubbled up from deep within her. He touched her there again, this time rubbing her hard and fast.

Stars burst behind her eyes, as brightly as fireworks. His name tore from her lips in an explosive cry as she broke around him, all of her releasing in a lightning strike of pleasure and joy that shot through her to her core. To her soul.

He stroked deep inside her one more time, his hips jerking before he yanked himself out of her and thrust his length between their two bodies. A groaning shudder gripped him, and he spilled himself against her belly. The fierce tension inside him dissolved, and he lay languid over her as he rested his forehead against her bare shoulder, as the shivers of passion that still lingered inside him now seeped into her.

Keeping her arms and legs wrapped around him, she protectively sheltered him in the cradle of her embrace. She clung to him, holding on tight and never wanting to let go.

Eighteen

Marcus tightened his arms around Danielle as they lay together on the old settee. In front of them, the small fire that he’d built in the large hearth cast a flickering golden glow on her bare shoulders as she draped her naked body over his. He pulled his overcoat across her to keep her warm, the only cover in the place that could serve as a blanket. But her body was warm and supple as her arms and legs tangled with his, all of her relaxed from making love a second time.

That time had been here on the settee, after taking their time to properly undress and thoroughly savor each other. She’d come that second time not with a passionate cry of need but a sigh of satisfaction. He placed a kiss to her bare shoulder—perfect.

She laughed, the dulcet sound fading into the silence of the large room around them.

He lifted her chin to touch his lips to hers, unable to stop kissing her, even though he’d just spent hours doing exactly that. “What is it?”

With a smile like the cat who’d gotten into the cream, she traced her fingertip in an invisible pattern over his bare chest. “We were supposed to have had a long talk about how we keep throwing ourselves passionately into each other’s arms.” She lifted her head from his shoulder and looked at him, an expression of such happiness on her face that his gut ached at the sight. “We seem to have neglected that.”

He arched a brow at their naked state. “Apparently.”

“Now we don’t have to have that talk after all.”

No, now so much more than she realized. He’d ruined her tonight, unable to deny himself from finding happiness inside her. But then, he also had every intention of marrying her.

Andthattalk needed to wait a bit longer, until they were both fully prepared for it.

He stroked his hand between her thighs to distract her from any stray emotions that might have crossed his face. She whispered his name and shifted to spread her legs wider in wanton invitation.

He bit back a groan. If she kept that up, he’d have her on her back again. Already, he’d satiated himself with her more than he should have, knowing how sore she would be in the morning from losing her innocence, and on a stone floor, no less.

He placed a light kiss to her lips and slipped from her arms to sit on the edge of the settee. When she wrapped her arm around him from behind, his pulse spiked beneath her hand as she strummed it lightly over his chest.

“The fire’s going out,” he offered as an excuse for why he needed to put enough distance between them to tamp down his lust.

She trailed her hand down to his cock and purred with amused irony, “Oh, I don’t think so.”