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She did not have long to dwell on that thought and her embarrassing lack of restraint when it came to him, for he had already shouldered the door to his tower open and closed itbehind him with a firm kick. He set her down, dragging her body along his hardness until she let out a soft moan, and then he kissed her thoroughly.

“Take off your clothes,” he ordered her roughly. “And get on the bed.”

His voice had the effect of turning her insides into liquid heat.

Nobody had ever ordered her to strip off, and Evie found it strangely thrilling.

She stepped back and showed him the row of buttons at her back. “I may need help with these.”

In all the years that Jane had helped Evie out of her dresses, the maid had never been able to dispense of her buttons as fast as Daniel did at that moment. He even loosened her stays for her.

She smiled up at him in thanks and then let the dress slide off one shoulder slowly, glancing shyly up at him from beneath her eyelashes. She watched as his desire roiled in green eyes until they darkened to almost black. Slowly, she pushed the dress off the rest of her body, letting it fall with a slight rustle around her feet.

Next to go were her stays. Evie sighed as she took off the restrictive garment, freeing her breasts for his bold perusal.

She had barely started on her stockings when he picked her up and threw her onto the bed, his much larger body covering hers as he kissed her. Evie threw her arms around his neck, kissing him back with as much passion. His thumb flicked the rosy peak of her breast, and she let out a breathy moan, her body instinctively arching into his touch.

“I am going to teach you a lesson today, Duchess,” he growled, nibbling on the delicate skin of her shoulder. “Do not tease me again. You will not like the consequences.”

Evie gasped as his fingers pinched her nipple.

Oh, I like it very well, indeed!

In fact, she just might make a habit of being naughty just to see how far she could goad him.

She gave him a sultry look, eliciting from him a feral growl that reverberated from his chest down to her drenched core.

“Wicked, little thing,” he rasped against her breast. “Let me show you what happens when you insist on testing my patience.”

She let out a breathy laugh that trailed off into a moan.

She was definitely in trouble now.

Daniel was thoroughly convinced that the woman beneath him was a temptress of the highest order. A succubus with the smile of an angel who claimed his heart and soul.

He had initially thought to restrain himself, reminding himself that aside from their wedding night, Evie was wholly untried in the carnal arts. He dared not push her further than what she was comfortable with.

But with every sultry look, every slight undulation, she tested his limits. His wicked, little Duchess had to know just how her soft mewls affected him!

His hand plunged into the nest of curls between her legs, and he nearly groaned when he found her wet for him. She was so responsive to his every touch, and that in itself was already quite maddening.

He grabbed her hands, intertwining his fingers with hers before pinning them over her head. Her blue eyes opened wide, and he sucked in a harsh breath.

Had it been any other day, he might have been able to draw things out. He would have wrenched cry after cry from her lips as he drove her over and over to the edge.

But they had spent more than a week apart, and his hunger for her was an all-consuming flame he could no longer suppress.

And neither could she.

He let out a low groan when her fingers found him hard with his desire for her. Slowly, tentatively, she wrapped her delicate hands around his rigid shaft, her eyes widening as she explored him.

When her fingernail grazed the tip, he let out a loud hiss.

Immediately, her hands stilled, and she stared at him with wide eyes. “Did I hurt you?”

Daniel wanted to laugh at such an innocent question.

Yes and no.