Page 14 of Ravished by the Beastly Duke (Regency Beasts #1)

CHAPTER 14

“ Y ou do not have to do anything. Trust me to give you the pleasure you seek.”

In as much as William would have refused her request, he had been tempted by the sight of her in the exquisite dress he had commissioned for her. He had known she would look beautiful, but when he saw her standing at the top of the stairs, he had wanted to forgo the ball and take her to bed. It was only the last shred of his self-control that had him escorting her to the carriage.

She had made it even harder for him when she held on to him as tightly as she had because she felt insecure.

When he had asked her to dance, it had been to escape the questioning and teasing looks of his friends, and he had expected only sedate conversations about the ball and the guests—nothing at all like what she had asked.

“I want you to show me pleasure, husband. If I’m ever to get rid of this raging fire inside of me, it can only be by your hand.”

Her request had been enough to shatter the last shred of his self-control, even though she had called them friends—which irked him.

He did not think the word was accurate to describe whatever this thing between them was, but he did not consider himself in love with her, so it fit them well. He was scared of how quickly he had grown to like his wife, especially because he did not think he would ever find someone so young interesting. But she had filled his days with more laughter than he had in years, and the dark clouds that had hovered over his estate had all but dissipated with her arrival.

He could never offer the love she would not doubt desire one day, but he could show her pleasure, satisfying both their needs effectively.

Kissing her was like tasting a sweet dessert after a very bad day, and he did not see himself tiring of it any time soon. She moaned into his mouth when he did so, pushing into him. Her sweet, floral scent assaulted him as well as the taste of the fruit punch on her lips. He wanted so dearly to taste her mouth with his tongue, but he calmed himself, choosing to pace his ministrations rather than rush her.

Tonight was for her and not him, even though he wanted to ravish her. Every part of him felt taut with need and longing, and if he continued down this path, it would soon be impossible to keep away from her. But he spoke to the simmering lust in his blood, willing it to subside into a small fire.

He lifted her with one easy move and placed her on the table, not breaking their kiss even when she gasped. He was quickly getting addicted to the taste of her lips, but tonight he had plans to taste her everywhere else.

His hands went to the stays of her dress, which laced up at the front and was one of the reasons he had chosen this design. She would be miffed if she knew that he had hoped tonight would go this well.

He did not undo her stays all the way but loosened them, so if she needed to redo them, it would not be difficult. She gasped again, but he swallowed the sound, stepping between her legs and pulling her closer to him. He buried his hand in her hair, groaning as his tongue tasted hers.

God, he wanted this woman with a hunger that he couldn’t explain.

His hands moved lower, remembering there was no time to delay, and hiked up her skirts. He dragged a finger down her thighs, loving how she shivered, and then trailed it up the inside of her thighs.

She moaned into his mouth, burying her hand in his hair, and running her nails along his scalp. He loved how passionate his little wife was and how instinctively she knew the things he liked. Perhaps not instinctively, since she had taken to reading improper things.

He smiled against her mouth, kissing his way down her neck to the junction where he felt her pulse flutter against his tongue. She groaned, fisting his hair. Blood pooled in his member, pulsing so painfully that he ached for release, but he reminded himself that tonight was about her.

He pulled down the front of her dress, eyeing her beautiful, full breasts. He palmed one, savoring the weight of it in his hands. It felt more perfect than anything he had ever held, with a beautiful, dark berry tip that teased his tongue.

He leaned down to taste her, groaning and pulling the pebbled tip into his mouth. Her back arched, her hips bucking wildly.

“Oh God!” she cried out.

“Hush, wife,” he said, smiling against her flesh. “You do not want them to find us before we even begin.”

“We’re just beginning?” she whimpered.

“Indeed.” He nipped her nipple playfully.

She whimpered again, clapping a hand over her mouth.

Her response delighted him even though he had never once feared incompetency in the bedroom.

He liked how unrestricted her sounds and reactions were, and if they were in his bedroom, he would have loved to hear her scream out her pleasure.

He kissed lower, cursing the fabric that prevented him from kissing her abdomen and hips, going down on his knees before her. He ran a hand over one stockinged leg, squeezing her calf delicately.

“What are you doing?” she asked, looking down at him.

“I am caressing you, wife.”

“Oh…”

He kissed the inner part of her knee, which elicited a loud gasp from her.

He chuckled and repeated it on the other side, placing a hand on her thigh to keep her in place.

He kissed his way up her thigh, burying his head underneath her skirts, but he did not get very far as she tried to scamper away.

“What are you doing, husband?” she asked, blushing deeply. “You should not see me there. It is not very…”

“Proper?” he supplied.

She nodded, blushing even hotter.

“I assure you, wife.” He smiled. “It is very proper.”

“I do not think so,” she said with a pout.

“Did your books never mention anything of the sort?” he asked.

If they had not, then it was a testament to the writer’s lack of experience.

She shook her head.

“Then I am delighted to teach you something better than anything your books described.”

Her hands still did not move from her skirts, showing her innocence.

“You have to trust me, Eveline,” William urged. “I have no intention of scandalizing you more than what is expected of me. I am your husband, after all. You swore your body belongs to me as I swore that my body belongs to you. I want to use my body to pleasure you, but you have to trust me so I can adequately perform my duties.”

Her grip on her skirts loosened a bit.

“If you are uncomfortable at any time, you only have to say so, and I will stop,” he assured her.

“All right.” She let go of her skirts.

He smiled, easing into his caresses, as she still looked frightened. He restricted his touches to feather-light strokes along pleasure points that had her eyes fluttering with pleasure.

Good.

He moved slower this time, anticipation filling him as he kissed her calves and then higher till he was near her core. He could smell her desire and buried his nose into her folds, breathing in her scent.

Her undergarments did little to hide the sopping evidence of her desire, as it was made of flimsy fabric, just like her nightwear. He ripped the fabric with the slightest effort.

“I have wanted to taste you since you came into my chamber in nothing but that flimsy scrap of a nightgown. I wanted to flip up your pretty gown and see if you would taste as sweet as you looked,” he growled.

Eveline thought she had heard scandalous words, but nothing compared to the words that had fallen from her husband’s mouth or the oddness of his tongue tasting her most intimately. His eyes met hers, a wicked gleam in them before he pushed her skirt higher, tasting her again.

She squirmed at the unfamiliar sensation, gasping when he nipped her bud, which had pulsed when he had sucked on her breasts. She had yet to recover from that sensation, and now he shocked her again.

He groaned as his tongue slid deeper between her folds, exploring her. She squirmed against him, but his hands held her hips down. He moaned against her sex, which aroused her even further, causing more liquid heat to pool between her legs. She pressed her hand harder to her mouth.

How could anyone keep silent when someone was wreaking this much havoc on their senses?

She had asked him to show her pleasure, but he had taken to driving her mad with desire.

“You taste better than anything I could have ever imagined,” he murmured against her.

She felt his hand slide up her thigh, and then he slid a finger inside her. The stretch and the friction had her hips bucking. If it weren’t for his other hand, she would have slid off the table.

His head emerged from underneath her skirts, his eyes dark with lust as he watched his finger slide in and out of her. He moved deeper, slower, and then faster, before he added another finger.

“You feel heavenly.”

Why did he have to keep saying such scandalous things?

She writhed, uncertain of the unfamiliar terrain they were traversing even as she felt pleasure build low in her belly. Her fingers dug into his hair when he nipped her pearl, and his fingers moved quicker in and out of her.

“Please,” she begged.

But she did not know what she was begging for—she could barely muffle the sounds escaping her throat with her hands.

Eveline sincerely hoped no one in the house had strayed to the library or overheard them, but she was starting not to care. Not when it was increasingly difficult to make any rational decision, with him exploring her body so intimately.

The ball of pleasure in her belly grew and grew till she was clawing at his shoulders, and then the world exploded as pleasure greater than anything she thought she could feel crashed over her. It was beautiful and overwhelming, but she would not have wanted to be anywhere else.

She felt more than saw him chuckle against her skin as he rose to his feet, holding her as she swayed forward. Her legs were trembling with the aftershocks, as was the rest of her.

“Was that sufficient for you, wife?” William asked suddenly, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

She could scarcely look up at him or move, considering she still felt drained, but she nodded, which caused him to chuckle deeply.

“We must leave now before we are discovered.”

“I feel exhausted,” she confessed.

“If you weren’t, I would have been disappointed in my abilities,” he teased. “I will help fix your dress.”

She nodded and let him lace up the stays of her dress, not bothering to ask how he knew how to do it so expertly. When he moved to fix her hair, she took over, feeling somewhat stronger. He let her but watched as she did so.

She allowed him to lead her past the hall to the carriage, falling asleep almost immediately after they began the journey back. When they arrived home, she was only shaken awake because he had lifted her into his arms.

“You do not have to carry me,” she protested. “I can walk on my own.”

“I know, but you seem to still be tired,” he rebutted. “I do not mind.”

She lowered her head, leaning back against his chest, and allowed the steady beating of his heart to lull her to a near-sleepy state.

“Did…” she trailed off. “Was tonight somewhat pleasing for you too? I know I did not do anything, but I…”

She sighed, not knowing how to phrase her question. In as much as she had felt satisfied, she feared that he had not felt the same. She wasn’t unaware of what should happen between a man and woman, and since that had not happened, she did not doubt that he was not satiated.

He opened the door to her chambers without answering her question and lowered her onto her bed gently.

“You should not ask such questions,” he chided with a chuckle.

She frowned, sitting up. “I was only curious.”

He smiled, placing a chaste kiss on her lips.

“I have never tasted anything as sweet as you,” he whispered in her ear. “Now, my waking and sleeping moments will be haunted by you.”

With that said, he stepped out of her chambers, leaving her with her face aflame and her confidence boosted.

She had always feared that her husband would not find delight in her because she wasn’t a classic beauty, but now that he seemed pleased with her, she couldn’t help but smile brightly.

She quickly rose to undress, blushing all the while as she remembered what his hands had done earlier. She would never have thought herself so wanton as to engage in something so sinful in someone else’s home, but her desire had gotten the better of her.

“Now, my waking and sleeping moments will be haunted by you.”

She reddened as his words echoed in her mind.

He had been gentle with her, coaxing her into trusting him to give her what she wanted, his words like honey pouring over her skin. He had been everywhere all at once, and just when she had thought she would die of too much pleasure, her body had burst into a million stars.

She considered herself most fortunate to have married the Duke of Mayfield. She had seen many women look drained after their weddings, but looking into the mirror now, there was a glow about her that could have only come from happiness.

She so dearly wanted to tell someone about the new developments between her and her husband, but with her sisters and friends so far away and unmarried, she did not think them very good candidates to discuss such matters with.

But her heart was giddy, and her body still hummed with relief. He had said he would never grow to love her, but if he kept touching her as he did, she was sure that would be enough for her in time.