AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Oh, yes, something like that.” Lady Rose nodded. “Tell me about your childhood, My Lord. Was it marvellous to grow up in such a grand house as this?”
Anthony cringed at that.Oh, what she must think of me!he realised, deciding there and then, that it was absolutely the right thing for them to spend the night talking rather than making love as everyone expected.
If she did not even know that he had happened across the title and the estate by mere fortune of being born to a cousin of a duke who had no other living family, then she most definitely knew nothing about him at all.
“I am afraid my sisters and I did not grow up here,” Anthony admitted, shaking his head. Beginning to feel a little more at ease now that Lady Rose seemed more relaxed, he leaned back against the mountain of pillows and turned his gaze upon her once more. “I was born the son of a solicitor with no title. It was merely chance that brought the dukedom to my feet.”
Lady Rose looked utterly astonished at that and blurted, “Then you are just like me!”
Instantly, her cheeks grew bright red, and she lowered her gaze from his, hiding behind her eyelashes as though she believed she had said something disastrously wrong.
“I beg your pardon, My Lady?”
“Oh, no, I did not mean exactly like me,” she said, almost seeming to fumble over her words. “I meant, you must feel out of place, living in a world you feel you have no business being in.”
Still, she would not look at him, and for several moments, Anthony watched the way she was playing with a loose thread holding some lacework onto the bedclothes.
“I … yes, My Lady, that is exactly how I feel,” he realised aloud, unable to believe that she had read him quite so easily.Is it that easy to see that I do not fit here?he wondered, half-worried that it might be.
“If it is any consolation, My Lord,” Lady Rose lifted her gaze to his once more and smiled even though her cheeks were growing redder by the moment. “I do believe you are the nicest duke I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.”
Anthony’s breath caught in his throat then. Not only had her words touched his heart, but her eyes were locked onto his, and as silence filled the space between them, he quickly came to realise that it was no longer awkward.
In fact, his eyes travelled languidly down her face, stopping at her delicate pink lips, the lips he so desperately wished to kiss. Now more than ever, he felt it. He felt his attraction towards her and the fact that all that lay between them were bedsheets and her nightgown.
Seeing the way that she trembled beneath his gaze, Anthony acted upon instinct. Reaching out, he pulled the blankets a little tighter around her, half hoping that tightening them might prevent him from taking things too far too fast. He did not wish to imagine that her trembling was merely down to his gaze upon hers, instead assuring himself that she was cold even though she was perhaps wearing the thickest nightgown he had ever seen.
“Thank you, My Lord,” she breathed quietly, accepting the blanket as she leaned into it and to him. It wasn’t until he felt her breath warm his cheek that he realised he couldn’t hold back any longer.
Her scent wreathed all around him, and he instinctively lifted a hand to cup her face in his palm. “Forgive me, My Lady, but I cannot help myself,” he whispered as he drew closer, leaning into her. When he didn’t feel her try to pull away, he leaned in further still, his lips meeting hers in an instant.
Chapter 16
This cannot be happening!Penelope thought as a spark passed between their lips, as the duke pressed her backwards into the mountain of pillows with his kiss. Her mind was screaming at her to stop, to stop kissing him and shove him away and remind him that he had promised he would not touch her, and yet her body was screaming to kiss him. Worse than that, her body craved his touch, not just the touch of his lips but of his hands.
Almost without her permission, her own hands travelled up to the duke’s face, and she cupped his cheeks in her hands, guiding him down on top of her. The bedsheets slipped down between them, and suddenly, the thickness of her nightgown was too much. It became hot and itchy and made her feel more than a little uncomfortable as she writhed beneath him.
It wasn’t until she felt his hand digging beneath the bedsheets, searching for the hem of her nightgown, that her mind suddenly screamed at her,This can’t happen! If you allow him to do this, you will never be able to get an annulment!
It was only the reminder that she would not be able to get their marriage annulled if she allowed him to consummate it that stopped her, and she suddenly let out a strangled scream, whimpering as her hands flashed from his face down to his chest, forcing him backwards.
The turmoil that coiled deep inside Penelope was like nothing she had ever experienced before. On the one hand, she knew that none of this was real, that she could not allow herself to fall for the illusion that they were now man and wife, that she could never allow him to consummate a marriage that would never be true.
But on the other hand, she wanted it so desperately. To have this man, to hold him and kiss him, for him to hold and kiss her, was all she could think of. The mixture of conflicting emotions that rolled like a storm cloud deep in her gut was so painful that she had to grit her teeth to stop herself from screaming out loud.
You have to stop this!she told herself firmly as the duke began to ease off her. He hovered over her still, his lips gone from hers, but his forehead pressed against hers as though he couldn’t bare to move any further away.
“I am sorry, My Lady,” he breathed against her, and she felt his breath caress her face. At that moment, she knew she had to act quickly before allowing the desire to overwhelm her all over again. She knew that if she allowed him to kiss her again, she would not be able to stop him for a second time; she would not be able to stop herself from allowing it to go much further.
“My Lord, you assured me you would not touch me,” she snapped at him, biting back the urge to quickly take the words back as soon as she had said them. She knew there was only one way to get him to stay away from her. She had to make absolutely sure that he knew she did not want him.Even if I do want him …
As if stung by the sharpness of her tone, the duke suddenly moved away, sitting bolt upright on the bed. Penelope had to fight the urge to reach out for him again, stop herself from pulling her back to him and apologising profusely before asking him to make love to her as she so desperately wished him to.
If I allow him to, I will never be free,she reminded herself, knowing all too well what would happen if the Comte, Lady Cecily, or even Lady Clara arrived to find that she was married to the duke in Clara’s stead.No, I must wait until morning, and then I must be on my way before anyone can stop me,she told herself firmly, knowing there was no other way.
She would sneak out during the night, escape and write a letter from the nearest tavern explaining to the duke all that had gone wrong and all the reasons why she couldn’t have told him the truth sooner. Yet deep down, she knew there was only one reason,I am a coward.
“I am sorry, My Lady, please forgive me,” the duke insisted, pulling back further on the bed. He looked startled and slightly confused, clearly unsure as to the sudden change in her.I cannot blame him,she reminded herself sternly,I have no idea as to what is going on myself.“I … I appear to have got carried away.”
