Page 16 of A Duke for Hire (The Devil’s Masquerade #1)

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

“ H ave you been—well, settling into your new role?” Hugo asked.

Guilt still ate at him for how he’d reacted to Seraphina’s touch, but his land was important, and when duty called to him, he refused to shun it. Even if he had left his marriage in an awkward place.

Other women he’d been with had stayed far away from his scars; most likely from fear or revulsion. They’d focused solely on that main part of him of which could derive pleasure. Their touch wasn’t light, wasn’t seductive. It was direct and to the point.

Seraphina’s touch had been the complete opposite. Her touch had been slow, seductive, making his muscles relax and the tension in his head dissolve- until she’d touched his scars. It had sent a shot of fear through him so intense that he’d lost himself to not just anger and surprise, but to the memories of how they’d been created.

It had taken a long, long time to get those memories and feelings back into check, and he’d needed to stay away for the duration of it.

Seraphina pulled more packages from the picnic basket, smiling.

“It was a rough adjustment at first,” she told him, “But I believe I am getting a better hand on it now. Your sister was a great help.”

Hugo grunted, still not overly comfortable with his sister’s appearance. He missed her, but had been relieved when she said she was not staying. She’d seen so much, too much, of his true nature.

“She showed me the differences between here and London,” Seraphina went on, “And I must admit, I am starting to prefer this place to the city.”

Hugo’s brow rose as he lit the oil lamps and placed them around their blanket.

“You believe so?”

Seraphina nodded.

“Yes, in London there is always someone watching you, but here, unless we are entertaining dignitaries, I am able to take more liberties. Like our riding today. It was the freest I have felt in- well, ever. I’d never ridden a regular saddle before, I understand now why men prefer it.”

Hugo chuckled at this, growing more comfortable. He thought she did indeed look more beautiful in the understated riding outfit, with her hair flowing and her cheeks flushed, than she did in the gossamer fabrics of the more sophisticated gowns.

“I am glad to hear it,” he told her, reaching for one of the plates.

Seraphina stopped him, placing a hand over his own.

“No,” she said softly, going to her knees, “Allow me, please.”

Pleasure trickled into his veins as he watched Seraphina prepare his plate, then bow her head slightly as she offered it to him. So graceful, elegant but subtly primal, calling to the part of him that craved submission.

“How was Leah’s visit?” He asked, accepting the plate. As he reached for it, his hands slid over hers, and he felt the gentle hum of her pulse seeping into him. They locked eyes for a moment, and a pink blush bloomed in Seraphina’s cheeks before she slowly slid her hands away.

“She reminded me of something today,” Seraphina replied as she started to fix her own plate.

“Oh?”

“Yes. All families have their problems. I believe I was so focused on mine I forgot how others could feel or react to their own,” she replied. She then sat down with a sigh, her blue eyes growing distant as if she returned to her own bad memories.

Hugo thought back to the moment he walked in on her crying in her home; to the moment on the terrace where he found her cheek red from her mother’s slap, and he felt rage begin to build.

“What was it like for you?” He asked, his tone gentle. “Growing up in a house such as yours. It could not have been easy.”

Seraphina sighed, looked up at the darkening sky, as if searching for something, he began to nibble on a grape as she seemed to contemplate her answer.

“My mother did the best she could, I suppose, given her situation,” she replied at last.

Hugo reached out, stopping her.

“I am not asking about what it was like for her. I am asking about you.”

Seraphina swallowed her last bite with effort and worried her bottom lip with her teeth.

“It was awful in many ways. There were times when she mourned so over her situation that she could not leave bed or the bottle for days, so I would need to take care of her even as she spoke the most unkind words. Then there were other instances when she was always alert about what I was doing; overly worried that I was not taking my lessons seriously enough even though I was trying my best.”

She let out a weak laugh that held no humor.

“I grew quite familiar with the sting of her slap. Or her ruler. Or her feet, if she thought I was not walking properly. Sometimes she would grow so frustrated with my dancing that she’d kick my feet out from under me, then slap my face if I complained of the pain.”

Hugo put his plate down, no longer interested in food. His childhood had been worse, yes, but the thought of her enduring any similar treatment caused that enraged beast to awaken in him.

“Seraphina, I need you to know that you will have no fear of that here,” he vowed. “Or anywhere, any longer. If anyone ever dares touch you like that again—your mother included—they will not live long enough to even attempt a false apology.”

He spoke his words so roughly he expected Seraphina to look at him in fear, but instead, her eyes shone with gratitude.

“The idea of that will take some getting used to,” she whispered, a ghost of a smile flittering across her lips. “Especially after the way you reacted to me the other night.”

Hugo winced, guilt pouring through him as he thought of that moment of fear and rage.

“Did I hurt you?” He asked hoarsely.

Seraphina shook her head quickly.

“No. However the quickness of your change in mood scared me a little. It reminded me of my mother.”

Hugo swallowed hard. “I assure you that I will remember that and work to not do so again.”

He rose to his knees and moved closer to her. Moving slowly, so as to not scare her, he grazed the back of his knuckles over her cheek.

“I do not wish to scare you. Others, perhaps. But not you. You who have been so brave to stand against me and say what is in your heart and on your mind.”

To his relief, Seraphina’s posture softened, and she rested her cheek in his hand. Wanting to touch her more, he brought his other hand up to her right side, and began stroking the delicate pink flesh there with his thumb. A low hum of a sigh escaped Seraphina’s lips as he did this, and he felt his body stir with arousal as she slowly closed her eyes.

“I do not wish to scare you either,” she whispered after a time, slowly raising her long lashes to look at him. “I will be more mindful of your scars. I promise.”

Hugo felt his heartbeat stutter as her soft voice spoke the pact. She was trying so hard to be good for him, to understand him and his boundaries.

“You are such a good little lamb,” he murmured, shifting closer.

Seraphina let out a happy hum as she smiled in the palms of his hands.

“Why do you call me that?” She asked. “Lambs are sweet and innocent, yet you say you admire me for my fire. How can I be both?”

Hugo chuckled, pulling her more into his lap as the stars above them began to glitter.

“Perhaps it is because you are both,” he mused, stroking his fingers over her cheeks, her neck, over hair, “A little wolf in a little lamb’s clothing. Is that what you are?”

Seraphina’s eyes, glazed with relaxation and pleasure, gazed up at him as she nestled into his hold.

“Whatever I am, I am yours now,” she murmured, reaching through the widened part in his shirt to stroke the hair of his muscled chest. Even the small touch was too much pleasure for him, and he knew he needed more.

Hugo let out a strangled moan of need as he dipped his head and kissed her. He had meant to be soft, but the moment he tasted her again sweet, pillowy lips, his entire body ignited with arousal. His muscles tightened, as did his hold on her, and instead of seducing her into a kiss, he demanded it from her.

Pleasure coursed through Seraphina’s veins as Hugo’s possessive kiss claimed her, and she squirmed in his lap to get closer as his tongue delved into her mouth. She accepted it greedily, suckling and lapping at the contact she realized she had missed, and sank her fingers into his muscled chest. Hugo let out a groan as he felt her tiny claws, but he made no move to stop her.

Instead, he pushed one arm out to swipe the plates, cups, and cutlery from the blanket, and then laid her down atop it. Seraphina let her head fall back as his kisses moved from her lips to her neck, leaving a delicious shiver everywhere he touched until he reached her breasts.

Hugo then fisted the parted fabric while his lips still grazed along her collarbone, and with ease, he tore her blouse and the thin, cotton corset beneath it from bust to hem, freeing her from its confines. She gasped as the cool evening air rushed over naked flesh, her spine arching into the freedom of it.

More, she thought, her arousal growing dizzying. She wanted more.

Seraphina slid her hand from Hugo’s hair down to his back as he clasped his mouth around her right nipple, and felt his muscles grow rigid as her fingers came in contact with another scar. He broke away from her then, his eyes wide with a mixture of lust and triggered rage.

“Where,” she breathed, pulling her hand away as her other clutched at his arm, “Show me where to touch.”

She watched in fascination as the rage in his eyes slowly disintegrated, and instead of flinging her away like he had before, he brought her hand to his mouth, kissed her palm, and slowly pulled it between them until she cupped the straining bulge between his legs.

“Here,” he breathed, moving her hand over the fabric of his manhood. “Touch me here, like this.”

He move his hand with hers again, and want coursed through her as she felt him twitch and grow even harder beneath her palm. Hugo let out a heady groan as she did so, and with renewed fervor, captured her lips in a possessive kiss before making his way to her breasts again.

Suddenly she understood that it was he that needed to take the lead, that needed to guide them to that perfect place, and she gave in to his commands. Trembling fingers loosened the stays of his trousers as his mouth continued to light her on fire, and when she finally smoothed her hand over the bare flesh of thick, large, rigid manhood, he let out a moan so thick with need that it caused a gush of warmth to splay over her inner thighs.

Together they moved, Hugo’s mouth continuing the trail down her body as she continued to stroke him. When he reached her skirts, pulled them up roughly and nestled onto his side before his fingers firmly trailed from her inner knee to her sex.

She gasped his name and squeezed him tighter as his knuckles grazed teasingly over the taut bundle of nerves above her petals, and on her own volition, parted her thighs wider for him.

“Is that you want, Seraphina?” Hugo rasped, teasing her opening with gentle strokes of his fingers, “Is this what you wanted the other night?”

She blushed, not sure if she could actually say it aloud.

“Say it,” he rasped, his teasing growing worse, “Say it and I’ll give you what you want.”

“Yes,” she whispered needily, feeling a bead of moisture roll down the back of her fingertips as she kept her grip on him, “Yes it is what I want, Hugo.”

He smiled wickedly as he let just the tip of his middle finger slide into her.

“Be polite,” he warned, swirling his finger in slow circles at her opening.

Seraphina whimpered as she bit her bottom lip, torn between bashfulness and lust.

“Please,” she panted, feeling her entire body begin to tremble with anticipation. “Please, Hugo, I want you. Please.”

A low groan of approval escaped Hugo’s chest as she said these words, and he slid his middle finger deep inside of her. The sensation made her arch her back and roll her eyes, and for a moment, she let go of him.

“Don’t stop,” he commanded, his tone suddenly gruff as he stopped mid-thrust, “Don’t let go of me until I say so.”

Seraphina quickly returned her hand to Hugo’s manhood, squeezing her fingers tightly around him, and she began to work his cock up and down, just as he’d shown her. They both moaned then, lost in the pleasure of one another, and once more Hugo’s fingers began to work their magic.

“I can feel you tightening around me, coaxing me for more,” Hugo groaned.

“More,” Seraphina whimpered, her hand now wet with his precum, making it easier to slide it up and down his length.

“Do you want to come for me, my little lamb?” He teased, his deep voice coming in ragged breaths, “You want to soak my hand with your pleasure?”

“God yes,” she whimpered, no longer feeling bashful with her words. “And I want to feel you erupt. I want to feel your pleasure explode in my palm, Hugo, please.”

Seraphina’s name poured from Hugo’s throat in a growl as she felt him grow impossibly large in her palm, then spasm wickedly as she her fingers became coated in his release. At the same time, Hugo’s fingers drew more adamant strokes from within her, forcing a rushing tide of her juices to burst through, splashing over her thighs and soaking the blanket.

Stars burst behind Seraphina’s eyes as her release seemed to tremble and ebb through her for several long moments, making her feel light and weightless as Hugo continued to pump himself into her palm long after her release.

“You are becoming quite addicting you know,” he said through heavy breaths, the two of them still locked together.

Still dizzy with pleasure, Seraphina’s head lulled against the blanket as she tried to find her own words. Her grip on him was still tight, and she did not want to let go.

“I want you to teach me more,” she whispered, finally finding her voice.

Hugo gave her a devilish and sated smile as he leaned down to kiss her.

“My little lamb is turning into a vixen,” he teased between kisses.

“It is your fault,” she teased back, smiling against his lips. “You have awakened this in me.”

“A blame I gladly take,” Hugo moaned, then clasped both her cheeks so he could kiss her deeply.

He kissed her until Seraphina nearly forgot to breathe, and when he finally let her go, he had to smooth a hand over her chest to remind her to inhale.

“Let’s get you inside, my wolfish little lamb,” he murmured, taking care to pull the edges of her ruined blouse and corset back together, “I think there are many more lessons I can teach you in bed.”

Suddenly realizing that this had all happened outside, Seraphina gasped, gripped at her ripped blouse, and sat up. She looked around wildly at the dark expanse of the empty field, wondering who could have possibly seen.

“It’s all right,” Hugo chuckled, helping her to her feet. He then picked up the blanket, shook it out, and wrapped it around her shoulders. “No one would dare follow us. You are safe with me, Seraphina.”

And, as Hugo kissed her once more, wrapping his arms around her tightly to hold him to her chest, she realized that was true.