Page 69 of Only Scandal Will Do

He brushed straggling burnished wisps from her face, then dislodged her head and slid

down beside her under the covers. When he brushed her lips with his, she did not stir. A second, more lingering kiss drew a soft purr from her throat, but no other response. Chuckling, he engulfed her face in both hands and melded his lips with hers. A moan escaped her this time. She seized his head and invaded his mouth, insisting, with her tongue. Now, this was how to begin the day.

“Good morning, love,” he said, after disengaging their mouths. “You slept well, my lady?”

“Better than I have ever slept before,” she murmured. “So relaxed.” She opened one bright blue eye. “It’s still night. Why aren’t you asleep?”

“Because I am in need of something to relax me, sweetheart. If you are not too sore.”

Her eye closed again. The smile widened on her lips. “Sore? I don’t think so. Anyway, I wouldn’t care if I ached, my love. I am sure you have a trick or two to make me forget.” She swept her hand across his chest and made as if to pull him atop her once more, but he stayed her with a hand to her cheek.

“There are more ways than one, love.” “More?” She cocked her head.

“Shall I show you?” He tugged her into his arms, opening her mouth with his kiss, reigniting their earlier passion.

“Umm, yes. Show me what you will.”

Duncan rolled her over, so that she lay on her front. “Sit up on your knees, Kat.”

She complied, her bare bottom pressed against her heels, but gave him a curious look.

“Trust me?”

At her nod, he ran his hands across her smooth, rounded buttocks and up her back. She arched into his caress, and he knelt behind her cupped her full breasts, fingers open so the nipples peeked through. Slowly, he slid his fingers closed, pinching her nipples, teasing them until they formed hard peaks against his palms.

He’d been busy the while, caressing her nape, nibbling down her shoulder, nipping her soft skin until he felt it pebble with goose flesh.

“Lean back on me, love.” He took her weight against him, repositioned her knees apart and continued to stroke and torment her breast. With his other hand, he journeyed down to the tangle of moist red curls between her thighs. At his first touch, she moaned.

“Sore?”

“No,” came the low, throaty response. She strained her head against his shoulder. “No, I’m fine. Ah!” She gasped as he circled the sweet little nub he would use to bring her to the height of pleasure. “What are you doing to me, Duncan? Ahh.” The groan at the end sounded almost guttural, low and needful.

“Loving you, sweetheart. Is that all right? Does that feel good?”

“God, yes!” Her head rocked back and forth across his shoulder as tension built within her, swifter than last time. He smiled with satisfaction and slid his fingers lower, slipped into her hot, wet flesh and stroked in a slow, insistent rhythm. She moaned again, as he ran his tongue up her shoulder, tasting the light salty sweat he had already evoked with his play below. Her need mounted. He gently pushed her into position on her knees, and as he slipped his fingers out of her, she cried out in protest. As he knelt behind her, the tip of his shaft poised at her entrance, she gave a low, guttural sigh of satisfaction.

Though more than ready for her, he made himself dawdle, teased himself with the feel of her, so ready for him, and teased her with the hot hardness he longed to plunge inside her. But he wanted to make this time as memorable as the first. So he pressed into her tight sheath and slowly possessed her, every inch of her drenched in her desire for him. Arms around his wife, covering her, cherishing her, he enfolded her in his embrace.

Katarina moaned and writhed with impatience, until he finally stopped, his shaft buried inside her. “How is that, my love?” he whispered, breathless with his own desires. “Can you feel me deep inside you?” The image his words evoked, coupled with the long awaited feeling of her body wrapped tightly around his aching flesh, almost sent him headlong into climax. He fought the base urge to seek his pleasure before hers, groaning with the effort to retreat from the edge.

“Relax, love. Relax and take me deeper still.”

She breathed in shallow pants and fell to trembling, then her muscles relaxed around him and he could breathe again.

Fighting his urgency, he withdrew and thrust back, going even further than he’d believed possible. The moment was too glorious, the experience must be savored, but that warm, slick slide would undo him all too soon.

He returned again, plunging so far within, they must become one. Despite his caution, he reached the pinnacle first, cried out at the exquisite release--made sweeter when she called his name as she shattered. Her flesh embraced him strongly time and again as he reveled in the incredible intimacy he shared with this woman he loved.

Still joined, they collapsed onto the bed. “Ohh, I like your rake’s tricks, Duncan.” Kat’s satisfied tone brought a smile to his lips.

He placed a loving kiss on her shoulder. “And just think, my love, now they are all for you alone.”

CHAPTER 30

“Considering the beginning of our journey, my love, this final leg of our return has been remarkably without calamity.” Duncan squeezed Katarina’s hand as the carriage drew up before the front door of Dunham House late one afternoon toward the end of August, almost seven weeks after he’d set out with her aboard the Constanza.

It had taken them considerably more time to travel to London than either he or Katarina had expected simply because neither wanted to give up their precious time alone together. They’d tarried at Seaton House for two weeks, exploring the estate and surrounding areas with the carefree abandon of children on holiday. Once on the road, they’d often spent more than one night at an inn they’d fancied, or a morning or afternoon idly stretched out on a blanket beside a picturesque lake or stream or meadow. Never in his life had there been a time more filled with peace, contentment, and love.