Page 34 of Corrupting his Duchess (A Duke’s Undoing #1)

Anna stepped toward him and reached for the edge of his cravat. Her fingers trembled as she pulled the knot loose.

“I was sure the moment you said my name like it mattered,” she said.

He caught her face between his hands. His thumb swept gently across her cheek, and then he kissed her– deep, slow, devastating.

Every part of her came alive at once.

When their mouths parted, she pulled back just enough to whisper, “Please. No more waiting.”

And he answered her with hands that shook.

He undid the tiny buttons at the back of her gown with aching reverence, his breath catching each time a new inch of skin was revealed. She was trembling, whether from cold or anticipation, she couldn’t say. Her chemise slipped from one shoulder.

He pulled her close again, but this time his hands didn’t stop at her waist. They moved reverently to the ties of her gown.

She stiffened just slightly as he found the buttons at the back.

He paused. “May I?”

Anna nodded, her pulse fluttering.

His fingers were careful, undoing her piece by piece. The bodice gave way first, then the sleeves slipped from her shoulders. Her corset followed– her hands helped, shaking slightly.

And when the last layer fell, leaving her bare to the cool air and his gaze, she looked up at him.

He wasn’t smiling.

He looked shattered and in awe, as though she was something too exquisite to be real.

“You are…” he exhaled. “God, Anna, you are… everything.”

She undid his waistcoat next. Then his cravat. Then his shirt, her fingers skimming the hard lines of his chest as she pushed the fabric off his shoulders. His breeches followed.

And there he was. All hers.

For a breath, neither of them moved.

When he finally touched her skin to skin, it undid her.

He kissed her collarbone, her shoulder, down the inside of her arm, murmuring things she couldn’t hear but felt everywhere. His hands slid along her ribs, her hips, mapping her like a man trying to memorize the divine.

She gasped when his warm mouth found her breast. Her fingers tangled in his hair, breath ragged.

“Henry…”

He looked up. His eyes were dark with wanting, but still he asked– “Tell me to stop.”

She didn’t.

She kissed him instead, pulled him toward the bed, her body bare now but not afraid.

He laid her down slowly and when her back met the cool linen of the sheets, his body hovering above hers, every inch of skin burned where it met his.

His mouth never left hers, their limbs entangling with something more than urgency. Need, yes, but also trust.

Henry paused, his hand cupping her cheek, thumb brushing across her lower lip.

“You are certain?” he murmured.

Anna nodded, breathless. “Yes.”

His gaze swept down her body slowly.

Then, with aching care, he reached between them, guiding himself to her, pausing again when he felt the resistance. His brow furrowed, not with frustration, but with restraint.

“Anna,” he said softly. “You’re untouched.”

She flushed but didn’t look away.

“I didn’t– ” he started.

“I’m happy it is you,” she whispered.

His breath left him like a prayer.

Then he pressed a kiss to her lips. Her neck. Her breast.

“Hold onto me,” he said gently. “This will be the only time it ever hurts.”

She did as he said.

And then–

She gasped, body tensing as he eased forward, meeting that barrier.

Her eyes widened.

His body went rigid, every muscle locked tight with the effort not to move.

She whimpered. Just once.

He stilled instantly. “I’m here. Look at me. Just breathe.”

She nodded, blinking hard.

He leaned down, kissed the corner of her eye, then the other, where two small tears had slipped free. “I’ve got you. I promise.”

Then, slowly–so slowly he shook with the restraint, he pushed in the rest of the way, holding her hips steady, kissing her through the ache.

She gasped again at the size of him, but this time her hands clutched at him.

But the pain faded as her body adjusted, the sting melting into something warmer.

He buried his face in her neck. “You feel–God, Anna. You’re perfect. You’re…”

He couldn’t even finish the thought.

She moved beneath him. Tentative.

Then again. A little bolder.

He groaned. “Careful. If you keep doing that…”

She smiled faintly through her blush. “I want to.”

Henry lifted his head to look at her, face flushed, eyes glassy, mouth parted.

He started to move. Carefully. Slowly.

She gasped again, but not from pain.

Her fingers tightened in his hair.

The rhythm built, soft, deep, then faster as her hips lifted to meet his, the ache forgotten, replaced by fire and breath and the sound of their bodies moving together, finally, fully.

They moved together, mouths searching, gasps slipping between them.

When she came undone, it was not quiet. Her body arched, head falling back, every breath catching in her throat and then she cried out his name, “Henry– ”, voice breaking with the force of it.

“I love you,” she gasped.

And that…that…was what undid him.

His rhythm faltered. A groan tore from his throat as he buried himself deep, trembling with the force of it, her name spilling from his lips.

He came hard and raw, he was shaking and wrecked by her…his body bowing into hers as he spilled into her.

For a long time, there was only breathing.

They lay tangled in the quiet, the fire casting slow light across the room. Her skin was flushed, slick with sweat, her breath still uneven against his chest.

Henry held her like he didn’t know how to let go.

One hand in her hair. The other wrapped low around her waist, fingers splayed wide across her hip.

He leaned down, mouth grazing her ear, voice low and wrecked.

“You’re mine now,” he said. “And I’ll ruin anyone who tries to forget it.”

Her breath caught. She didn’t speak.

Her heart was still thudding when he whispered it again, this time lower, rougher, directly against her throat.

“Mine, Anna. In every way that matters.”

Something in her tightened.

Heat bloomed low in her belly.

She shifted gently, rolling them both until he was beneath her.

Henry blinked, caught off guard.

But when she leaned down, eyes dark and mouth parted, he let out a sound that wasn’t quite a laugh.

“Careful,” he murmured, hands already sliding over her hips. “I might think you’re trying to undo me.”

She smiled and then kissed him. When she lowered herself onto him, he swore softly.

And the rest of the world slipped away.