Page 16

CHAPTER TEN

“ Y our Grace!” Sally exclaimed, rushing forward to curtsy to him, only for Julian to walk right to Anna’s side, barely acknowledging her.

“What is wrong? Are you all right?” he asked, his voice void of concerning but holding something much simpler and plain.

Anna could not speak, the anger within her rapidly dissipating and leaving nothing but shame in its place.

She could not believe she had been so unruly – and in front of her husband no less.

Embarrassed, she lowered her head and tried to gather her thoughts, barely able to get a word out before Julian spoke up again,

“You,” he stated, looking at Sally. “I know you.”

Sally’s face was alight with joy.

“Yes, Your Grace. We have not met properly. I am –”

“Leave this place at once. My wife already instructed you to do so, multiple times before. Your continuous presence here is overstepping your boundaries. After all, I am certain that she told you never to set foot in here. If we were really to call it what it is, what you have done is trespass onto this property.” Julian told her, his tone much colder than what Anna had used when she spoke.

Sally faltered, looking pale and ashamed.

“Y-Your Grace, it wasn’t my intention to offend you – either of you!” she stammered. “I only wished to help my daughter with her new born as I am now a grandmother and it is my duty –”

“I will provide my wife with all the help that she needs,” Julian retorted with a glare, wrapping an arm around Anna’s waist and gently tugging her closer to his side. “This is none of your concern and therefore, you should stay out of the matter. You have helped enough.”

To Anna, he said in a softer tone, “Come with me,” and he began to guide her in the direction of his study.

“B-But she –” Anna tried to protest, but he cut her off.

“She can see herself out.”

Once they had put a good enough distance between themselves and Sally, Anna gasped,

“Nicholas. I must go to him. He was crying –”

“I’m sure he has been tended to already, seeing as he has fallen silent now. Thank goodness, otherwise I would need to inquire why you have so many maids if none of them know how to soothe a single infant.” Julian sighed, releasing her from his hold and walking ahead, into his study.

Just like he had said, Anna noticed she couldn’t hear the sound of Nicholas’ cries anymore, heaving a sigh of relief at the peace that washed over her at the quiet air that filled the house. Reluctantly, she followed her husband and as soon as the door slammed shut behind her, Julian asked,

“Did you somehow forget that you own this house?”

Frowning, she shook her head. “I did not. Why would you think –”

“No, no, I believe you must have. That is the only plausible explanation for why it took so long to send your mother back from whence she came.” Julian rebutted, folding his arms and staring at her expectantly, as though he was waiting for an admission of her forgetfulness.

Ah, Anna sighed to herself. She had only just begun to feel as though it had been too long since they’ve had a spat.

“I did not forget,” she stated through gritted teeth. “I was simply trying to handle the matter as delicately as I possibly could.”

“Delicacy doesn’t get the job done. She would have been out of your house and your hair much sooner – and without my help – if only you had toughened up and done what was necessary.” Julian shrugged, as if it was so easy.

“Well, I did not ask for your help. You had no reason to get involved!” she snapped, frustrated by how ridiculous all these situations were, lining up to irritate her one after the other.

Julian sighed and stepped towards her, his tone growing softer the closer he got to her side.

“Of course I had a reason to involve myself. It irritates me to witness disorder – within my home no less. You forgot your place and so, she felt as though it was all right to ignore hers and challenge you. But you are aware that no one can disobey you in your house, right? Surely, you know this. Just as you know that it was your mother you trapped you – trapped us in a scandal. It was she that put your reputation, your life at risk.”

Something prickled along Anna’s skin as a chill raced down her spine.

“You know. I mean – I told you but –”

“Yes. I know. I never actually thought it was you who had planned it. I saw your face when we were found that night. I understood it wasn’t your fault.” He replied gently, not touching her but still somehow enveloping her with immense warmth.

Anna risked a glance up at him, a little startled by just how close they were.

“Did you mean what you said? Will you actually help me?” she asked softly, a tad unsure.

Julian stared down at her, his insides twisting into knots, bending his will and destroying his ability to refuse her – to deprive her of anything.

“Yes, I did,” he told her, because it was impossible to say otherwise when she looked at him with those eyes.

Those eyes that beckoned him to erase the distance between them, that gaze that demanded he hold her in his arms and claim her rightly, as she was meant to be, that stare that dared him to take her breath, her moans, her shivers of pleasure and her ecstasy.

It wouldn’t take much, he thought. Another kiss would suffice, would put them right where they had left off and as soon as he can touch her –

“I never had any lovers.” Anna blurted out suddenly, unsure of why she felt the sudden need to tell him then and there.

“What did you say?” Julian asked carefully, swearing that he had heard wrong.

Anna cleared her throat, but her voice still came out small and somewhat frightened.

“I never had any lovers. I had no need for them and I wouldn’t have felt comfortable just doing… such activities with just anyone who wasn’t… my husband.”

The duke narrowed his gaze and told her, “I expressly told you to. I instructed you to have as many as you wished. And yet, you disobeyed me? That appears to be a hobby of yours, is it not? Going against my word. Well, this time, I’ll ensure that you are properly punished.

And you will know never to go against me again. ”

Julian then tugged her closer by her arm and kissed her deeply.

Anna was lost in the kiss almost immediately, sighing into it as he pressed their bodies together and walked her backwards, his hands firmly fixed on her hips.

She clung to his shoulders, squeaking slightly when her back hit a piece of furniture, but he kept his hold firm on her, ensuring that she had regained her stable footing only a moment later.

Soon, his hands began to roam lower, sinking below her waist to cup her buttock, another coming back up to gently comb his fingers through her hair, his lips leaving hers to trail fiery, wet kisses down her neck and onto her bosom.

“You infuriate me, at every chance you get. Even more so because you are so beautiful. It pains me, how much of a nightmare and a dream you are.” He grumbled against her skin, drawing up to kiss her again.

Anna felt her coherent thoughts leak out of her head though her ears when their tongues touched, one of her hands braced tightly against the back of his neck as he licked into her mouth like a starved man.

When he pulled away slightly – likely to marvel the mess he had made of her from a single kiss – she parted her bruised lips to say the only thing still left in her mind.

“Sounds as though I am a wife befitting a man of your caliber.”

The corner of Julian’s lip twitched, as though he was fighting his amusement and he leaned in to whisper against her lips,

“It seems you still are yet to understand your predicament. Allow me to illuminate your conundrum.”

And without warning, he turned her around by her hips and pressed pushed at her back until she fell forward, hands down on his desk as her hips jutted upward.

“I meant what I said. You deserve to be punished. And you will be,” he told her darkly, his tone as heavy as the hands running up and down the back of her thighs, his touch heating her up from within.

“Your Grace –”

“One more word from you and I’ll double it.” He warned and Anna snapped her mouth shut, whimpering as he pulled her skirts up and rolled them up into a bundle that was left to sit on her waist.

Anna waited for the inevitable arrival of what she thought was coming with baited breath, and still, she was unprepared for the stinging pain of his palm meeting her buttock.

Surprised, she cried out, and pressed her hands to her mouth, afraid that she had truly worsened her punishment.

“Tsk, duchess. I thought you would be able to endure much more than that. You are always so quick to state your rebuttal, so I assumed you could handle the consequences.” Julian said to her, his tone lightly mocking.

Anna felt embarrassed and exposed, so… bare beneath his gaze, given no choice but to wait for the pain.

When he spanked her again, the sound seemed to echo within the room and Anna gasped with a shudder, only just noticing the odd heat sinking to the bottom of her stomach and dripping between her legs.

“Nothing more to say now, lovely?” Julian teased, just as his hand connected with her backside once more, the strike reinforcing the strange almost-pain haze slipping over her, twisting into something else as it seized her breath as he hit her again without giving her enough time for a reprieve.

And – oh. Oh, that felt good.

Anna whined, standing on her toes to wave her bare backside higher in the air, inviting him to do it again, rewarded with another smack that burned deliciously and pulled a moan past her lips.

“Dash it,” Julian hissed, leaning over her and turning her head with a careful grip on her jaw before kissing her.

Anna leaned impossibly closer, committing as much of him as she could to her memory.

Everything from the way he smelled of cedar and whiskey, to the way his tongue stroked hers as they danced a sultry tango, to how his touch burned as he lightly kneaded the stinging skin of her buttocks, before his touch trailed lower and lower…

until his fingers slipped inside of her.

She jerked at the sudden intrusion, groaning a second later when his fingers pressed in deeper, each stroke sending waves of pleasure she had never before experienced through her.

“You were remarkable,” Julian told her quietly as he thrust his fingers in and out of her, relishing in how she shuddered and shook, one of her hands coming up to cling to his arm. “So, I thought you might like a reward.”

Anna truthfully had lost the ability to distinguish between what was a punishment and what was a reward at some point while he was still smacking her behind. As the line between pain and pleasure blurred, she found herself rapidly getting lost in all that her husband was giving to her.

A particularly rough stroke made her knees weak and pulled out a half scream out of her and he slipped two fingers into her mouth.

“Ah, ah,” he tutted, his voice sounding strained as he continued his ministrations. “Be a good girl and take what I am generously giving you, lovely.”

And by God, how Anna wanted it. She wanted it all, especially as this strange weight within her seemed to grow tighter and tighter with each deep stroke of his expert fingers.

Suddenly, a fingertip pressed against her stiff nub, rubbing aggressively and she was reduced to a dizzy gasping mess, falling quickly into the throes of ecstasy.

It was hard to breathe, hard to stand, hard to recall who she was in that moment and all she knew was the tingle running along her skin. She could feel Julian moving around her, his fingers slipping out of her mouth and out from the warmth in her, pulling her skirt down into its right place.

Then slowly, he turned her around to face him, lifting her up to sit on the top of what she had only just realized was his desk.

For a moment, he stared at her, his gaze searching her eyes for anything amiss and seconds later, he leaned forward and kissed her, this one chaste and lighter than any of the kisses they had shared thus far.

“I hope you have learned your lesson,” Julian murmured.

If Anna really concentrated, she could still feel her buttocks ache and her cheeks filled with heat.

“Consider me adequately educated.” She replied softly.

Julian smirked, and just as his lips parted as he prepared to speak, the sound of Nicholas crying pierced through the atmosphere, startling both of them.

“Nicholas – I-I must go,” Anna said, pushing him out the way and slipping off the table.

Before Julian could speak up, Anna left his study, her heart thundering as she ran away from her husband and the sudden passion they had just shared.