Page 30 of A Virgin for the Duke of Scars (Ton’s Beasts #1)

A aron searched Theresa’s face like he was looking for the answer to a pressing question. He loved looking into her green eyes, to see the merriment and joy that had so lightened his own outlook on life. To deprive him of her eyes was to deprive him of the very thing he wanted most.

Her .

Was it possible that despite his feelings for her, she felt nothing at all?

No, there is no way that she does not feel an ounce of what I feel for her.

Aaron could not stop himself from going to her, even though she continued to push him away. By the time she lifted her gaze to his, he had already scooped her up into his arms and was halfway across the room.

He set her on the settee in the corner of the library and sat beside her. She was stiff beside him, but he knew how to show her the truth.

The best thing he could do now was show her how badly he wanted her , not Isabella.

He grabbed her chin roughly and tilted it up so that she had no option but to offer her lips. He kissed her forcefully, his lips hungry against hers. She yelped when his teeth sank lightly into her bottom lip.

He licked the seam of her lips, and she opened for him.

“This joke stops here,” he muttered against her lips.

“No, husband. There is no joke in this library,” Theresa said, drawing back.

But Aaron cupped the back of her head in his hand and pulled her back to him. Theresa did not resist his touch, but leaned into his kiss, as if she could not believe her good fortune.

Surely, this meant she realized his affection for her now.

She kissed him back with fervor, her lips pressed firmly against his own. She lifted her hands to his face and pulled him into her, a more intimate gesture that belied her own passion for him. Her fingers tangled in his short hair, making it difficult for him to extricate himself.

Not that he wanted to pull back from her. Not unless he were to kiss her elsewhere.

It was the most passionate kiss they had shared yet, and it only made him hungry for more.

“You are as much mine as I am yours,” he said, pulling back to look her in the eyes. “Tell me you can feel that in this kiss.”

Theresa did not respond with words. Instead, she closed her eyes and took his lips in another searing kiss.

Aaron thought back to the first time he had seen her. Never in a million years would he have guessed that the little nun in the woods who saw the beast in the lake would be here, kissing him passionately in someone else’s home.

This had to be a sign that she cared for him as much as he cared for her. This kiss had to be her way of conveying her feelings.

Desire crashed over him in waves, sending a surge to his cock that he had never felt before. They had been intimate, certainly. But he had always been able to restrain himself. To content himself with giving her pleasure rather than taking for himself.

Tonight, he felt the hardness of his manhood and knew he would not be able to resist. From the moment his lips crashed onto hers, it was the only obvious conclusion.

The cruel joke about his affection for Isabella aside, he found being locked in this library together with his wife titillating.

“There is no one else who can make me feel like this,” he murmured.

Not convinced that she understood what he meant, he took her hands in his own and placed them on the bulge in his trousers.

“I am yours,” he said.

Color rose in her cheeks. Theresa had never touched him like that before, never been with a man. He wondered if she knew what it meant that he was hard for her, that she had caused this.

But they did not stop long enough for him to make sure that she knew. Surely, she could deduce it from whatever the nuns had taught her about the duties of a wife to her husband. She seemed to know that kissing was a part of making babies, as she put it.

Maybe she understood this, too.

He leaned back in and kissed her, expecting her to move her hands away. All he knew was that he could not wait another moment to have her.

He reached down for the hem of her skirt and pulled it up before resting a hand on her bare thigh. “Would you tell me what you want, dear wife?”

She looked him in the eye. Her face was flushed, though he was unsure whether it was from the question or the passion. He caught the ghost of a smile on her lips, and her eyes narrowed on him for a brief moment.

“More, please,” she finally said.

He understood that she was playing within the rules he had set the first time they were together.

He slid his hand up her thigh, all while rubbing small circles on her skin. Slowly, he moved his lips to her cheeks, down to her jaw, and then to her neck. Theresa tipped her head back and let out a moan, followed by his name.

He could not remember a time when she had been this wanton with him. How could she think that he was in love with someone else when their passion for each other was so intense?

When his hands brushed that secret place between her legs, she pulled back.

“Is something wrong?” He asked, confused.

A moment ago, she had been calling out his name and begging him to touch her. She had begged for more, for his hands and his mouth on her sex. She was wet for him, so he knew he was not the only one aroused by their kiss.

“If we are to be together,” Theresa said, rising from the settee. “Then I want you to examine all of me. You may think you know what is beneath my gown, but I would have you look at me in the light.”

Aaron did not move when she spoke. She turned away from him and faced the shelves. He saw her shoulders rise with an inhale and realized that she was nervous.

Of course, she would be nervous the first time she made love.

Had he not already seen her naked that night in front of the mirror, when he had pleasured her until she cried out his name?

Realizing that she was not going to come back to the settee, he let out an exasperated laugh that echoed through the room.

“You have no idea how much I want you. I have been thinking about this moment since I first saw you at the lake.” He stood up to go to her. She made no move to step closer or further away. “A beast like me had no business fantasizing about corrupting a nun.”

“Then you will understand that this is important to me,” she said. “Help me out of this gown.”

“I thought you would never ask.” He stepped up behind her.

He reached for the buttons on the back of her gown, the ones she could not reach and undo herself.

Aaron took his time, kissing her neck as he undid the row of buttons, but she made no sound. She did not moan at his tender touch.

She kept her distance from him, even as he tried to pull her in closer to him. The last thing he wanted was to pressure her into something that made her uncomfortable, so he undid the rest of the buttons and then stepped back.

“I want you to know that you are mine now,” he said, returning to the settee.

Theresa sighed deeply, and a flush crept up her neck. He imagined the lovely color that would rise to her cheeks if he could see her face right now.

She did not say a word. Instead, she slowly pushed the gown down her shoulders. The fabric fell away from her, and Aaron remained perfectly still, waiting until she would tell him that it was all right to touch her.

Everything in him yearned to reach for her, to run his fingers over her smooth skin.

He had had so few opportunities to see her in her full naked glory.

That first time in his tower, she had kept her dress on.

He had seen her naked that night in her chambers, but did not have cause to study her so closely.

Now, she stood before him fully naked and awaiting his judgment.

Still, she did not turn around to face him.

Then, he understood what she wished him to see. The scars that marred her back were raised and angry in the light of the fire in the library. They so closely resembled his own scars that it took his breath away.

Anger surged through him at the abuse she had suffered at the hands of the sisters.

He did not wait for permission to touch her. He slowly made his way toward her and put his hands on her shoulders. His lips trailed down her neck to her scars, so numerous that he did not know where to begin kissing them.

Instead, he followed his intuition and moved his lips slowly over the ones at the top of her shoulders. He kissed his way down her back as far as he could go before she finally spoke.

“As you can see, I am very bad at following orders,” she murmured.

“So I have noticed.”

He could not hide the smile in his voice. If there was ever a time that he was glad his wife was a rule breaker, it was now.

“When I broke the rules, they punished me. Staying out past sunset with the horses. Not doing the chores properly. Missing prayer time and mealtimes.” Theresa sighed as he traced his fingertips over every scar.

“I would seek justice for you, if you let me.”

“There is no point in seeking justice. It is a life I no longer live.”

She turned around, and he took her in—the swell of her breasts, the dip of her waist leading down to the curve of her hips.

The way she held herself apart from him gave him space to drink her in.

The only thing it did was stoke his desire further.

Instead of waiting for her to make the next move, he closed the small gap between them and kissed her. His hands wandered across her delicate collarbones down to her breasts, which he cupped tenderly.

It could not get more perfect than that moment.

When his hands started kneading her breasts, she sucked in a sharp breath. When her nipples pebbled, he kissed his way down to them and swirled his tongue around them.

That was something he had not done before, but Theresa seemed to enjoy it.

One hand pinched her nipple while the other slid down to her sex. As he had anticipated, she was so wet for him.

“You cannot tell me that you do not want this,” he murmured. “Your body is telling me that you do.”

“You have seen all of me,” Theresa whispered. “Do you still want me? Or do you find my scars ugly?”

“You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Your scars do not change a thing about what I feel for you. Let me show you how much I want you, dear wife.”

Aaron moved to turn her around, but she held out a hand to stop him.

“You do not find my scars repulsive, but you still hide your scars from me. Your mask…”

“It is not the scars that make me a beast.”

She seemed to mull this over.

Her hesitation was the only invitation Aaron needed to pull her into him again. This time, she kissed him back and moved his hand to where she ached to be touched. He was surprised by how brazen she was in her affection for him all of a sudden.

He had no problem giving her what she wanted.

But he knew that this was not going to be enough for him tonight. Bringing her to climax would not do anything to quell his arousal.

His cock was rock hard, pulsing with the need to slide inside her. He could practically feel how tight she would be, how good it would feel to bury himself inside her.

Still, he knew he could not ignore the matter of his scars this time.

With a sigh, he pulled back from her.

“Would you be repulsed if I had killed a bunch of nuns?” He asked.

Her eyes flickered, sensing that this conversation would be the turning point in their relationship. If she could see him for the beast he was, would she still want to be with him?

“Yes,” she replied with only the smallest hesitation.

“You would see me for the beast I am?”

“You are not the monster you think you are. But if you are, then I am worse. Because I want you in every way possible. More than is reasonable for any wife to want her husband.”

He found that hard to believe, but he kissed her anyway.