Page 74 of How to Love a Duke in Ten Days

“I’m sorry.” He reached for his drink once more, granting her a reprieve with which to catch her breath.

They were silent in the dark for a moment until he pressed, “Why do you conceal your shape?”

Alexandra crossed her arms, unsure of why she felt defensive. “In my line of work, I need economy of movement. I don’t want my wardrobe to be another cage. I can’t be mired in a world of muslin, unable to properly move or breathe. Nor can I be chained in gold and jewels, draped like a display. It isn’t practical.”

“And you value practicality over what is socially acceptable.” The gentle curiosity in his voice disarmed her.

“I do,” she said. “All our lives, we’re told we mustn’t, we shouldn’t, we can’t. I don’t like those words. I never have.”

“Nor have I.” His voice was reverential as he abandoned his drink.

“I-it’s part of why I didn’t want a husband. Because I thought he would use those words against me. But I… I don’t think, that is to say, I hope you’re not that sort of man… that sort of husband.”

“I don’t want us to be impediments to each other, Alexandra.” He reached for her once more, his body throwing off waves of heat. “I’ll not be a forbidding husband, if you’ll not be a faithless wife.”

Swallowing hard, Alexandra pressed her palm against his bare chest. Somewhere left of center, over the unrestrained tempo of his heart.

“It is not in my capacity to stray,” she said. “I can never imagine wanting another man.”

She could have never imagined wanting this one. Of doing what they were about to do without a great deal of suffering, And yet, she had to admit, the swells and contours of his chest were a magnificent blend of smooth skin and rough hair. The abrasion against her palm was rather lovely. She drew her hand down, counting the depressions of his ribs, marveling at the width of his trunk.

The touch interrupted his breath, then he released a foul word. “You’re always one step ahead of me, woman.”

“I am?”

“Not for long.” His mouth descended with more urgency than before. His lips coaxing hers to open, their breath mingling in the darkness.

She braced for his touch, for his hands to travel down her hips and lower. So when he spanned her rib cage with a gentle exploration, she tensed, her nerves stretching taut. “Do you want me to lie on the bed?” she asked.

“Eventually.”

She didn’t guess what he was about when he bent down,until the heat of his mouth replaced that of his hand over her nipple. A gasp escaped her as a cry when he compressed his lips, tugging gently on the aching bud.

“You can’t!” Her fingers clawed into his hair, wrenching his neck away.

“Can’t I?” His voice matched the night around them. Darker, even. Laced with a savage carnality. “I didn’t use my tongue.”

Every part of her was trembling now, thoroughly overstimulated by what he’d just done. By how it affected her.

There.

Between her tightly clenched thighs, something had stirred.

At her silence, he gathered her to him. “It’s all so much for you,” he crooned. “So new. They tell women to be afraid of their own need. To be ashamed of it. But I can’t have that. Do not allow what you feel, what you want, to frighten you.”

How could he know just how deeply shame and fear dominated her life?

She allowed him to draw her to the bed as he inquired, “Is there aught you’re curious about? Anything you want to ask me?”

“I just… I’d rather get it done.”

She felt rather than saw his smile. “Anticipation can be cruel,” he acknowledged.

Passively, she let him nudge her onto the bed, and stretch her on her back over the silk coverlet. Her breath trembled in and out of her, her ribs struggling to contain lungs that threatened to seize at any moment.

Alexandra expected him to crawl over her, between her legs, to insert himself inside her.

Instead, he joined her on the bed with his trousers still on, lying beside her raised on one elbow. “I need to makeyou ready,” he murmured, tucking her hair behind her ear and leaning down to bury his face against the curve of her neck. “Then we will ‘get it done’ as you so poetically put it.”