Page 13 of Seven Nights with the Wicked Duke (Regency Beasts #3)

" T ake off your dress, pet," Theo commanded, his voice the silky slide of pure sin.

Perhaps Cecilia had not been fully aware of what she had signed up for when she had agreed to allow Theo lead her down the sweet road of scandal and sin, but she was slowly getting a clearer idea of what he meant and it was in no way tame.

It was wild, even more so than anything the authors of her secret romance novels could concoct.

None of them would be able to capture the look in Theo's eyes accurately on paper. Even now his gaze threatened to burn the clothes off her body if she didn't shed it herself quickly.

The Theo she met on her secret night visits to his estate was vastly different from the one that walked the day as a disreputable, free spirited rake amongst nobility.

With every day she braved escape to his estate, she got even closer to seeing the man hidden beneath and she was startled with each find she made.

His gaze got even more intense as he watched her each time and when she stepped into his study, she felt as though he was appraising her although his gaze wasn't demeaning, not in the way the insufferable Lord Finch did. She very much liked his gaze.

Even now, his eyes roved over her cloak covered form like he could see down to the undergarments she wore underneath the layers of her dress.

As if he knew what she was thinking, not too long after he was demanding that she stripped down.

Somehow she did not think he would be satisfied with just seeing her undergarments.

"What?" she asked, her hand climbing to her neck. Shock and excitement causing her fingers to tremble.

She knew that he was comfortable with debauchery and had informed her she would pose nude for him but she hadn't expected that he would truly demand it of her.

"I want you to pose naked for me, Cecilia," he repeated, confirming her suspicions, his voice close to her ears, sending heat down her spine so swiftly, it was a miracle she was still standing upright. "I did inform you before, didn't I?"

"I cannot," she said nervously, clutching her skirts tightly, hoping to find some sort of equilibrium while her body hummed with excitement, uncaring about whatever moral dilemma her brain seemed to be fighting.

"This is the deal, pet," he said with a slight chuckle.

"You wanted scandal and sin. This is what it looks like.

I want to paint you naked. To immortalize your beauty in a painting.

It is for my eyes alone, I promise. But you have to allow me do this.

Allow yourself to be free and enjoy your sensuality.

You are a beautiful woman, would it be so difficult to allow yourself to be free once?

One night out of all the other nights. Your innocence would be safe. "

His voice was like the devil's, tempting her to leave all her inhibitions behind and dive headfirst into debauchery and scandal and she was tempted to. Oh how easy it could be to let go.

No, after this night I might remain a maiden but definitely not innocent, she thought, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth.

It probably said volumes about her wanton nature that she wanted to do it.

To allow him feast on her intimate flesh with burning eyes while she tempted him mercilessly to the limits of his self-control, but perhaps it was years of an upbringing of modesty, she could not make herself do it.

To suddenly go all the way to complete nudity.

"What if I don't want to?" she choked out, turning around so that she could stare into Theo's eyes. Even now they blazed intensely, their brilliance not even dimmed in the slightest by her potential refusal. They sparked in a challenge as though her modesty delighted him.

Even now, he turned his head, a slow wolfish smile on his lips. This man was dangerous and somehow she knew that he had the power to devastate her senses without even touching her. Once he had her begging and pleading for his touch, he would devour her, and she had no doubt that she would enjoy it.

"Well pet, that just means you would be required to receive the punishment. Every action has consequences, you see," he said slowly, his tone dark and sinful. "You promised me obedience and when you refuse me, you will have to pay."

The forbidden gleam in his eyes and the way he eyed her like a hungry predator made her suspect that the punishment, whatever it was, might even be more sinful than a simple undressing. She did not think she was ready for that yet. Her sensibilities could only handle one shock at a time.

"I will disrobe, Your Grace," she said quietly.

"Excellent decision, Cecilia," he praised. "Even if you have ruined my fun by escaping the punishment."

She breathed out easier knowing she had been right to assume that whatever punishment he had had planned would no doubt have tormented her more than she would have been able to handle.

"But..." she waited until she had his full attention before continuing, "I cannot disrobe completely. I beg to keep my chemise on."

He stared steadily at her for a while. His eyes searching her face while her heart hammered in her chest. A salacious feeling hidden under her breast, wishing he might insist, so she could be indulged to behave as scandalously as she wished and have him to blame for it.

"As you wish, my lady," he said, breaking eye contact with her as he went to take his seat before his canvas.

"That would totally change the tone of the painting, but I would never force you to do anything you do not want to pet.

I did say if you weren't comfortable, you were allowed to voice your concerns. "

Cecilia swallowed shakily, giving him a tiny nod. She raised her head and started to disrobe, starting from the dress, aware of Theo's gaze on her, darkening with every layer that fell off her frame.

Soon she was down to her chemise. While the piece of muslin offered some semblance of modesty, she felt well and truly nude under the heat of Theo's eyes on her.

Surely he could see her silhouette through the thin fabric and he was devouring her with his eyes, causing waves of heat to pour down her spine, warming the place between her legs, making her breasts feel so heavy that she nearly tore the dress herself, to free herself from the torment.

"Lay down on the couch, Cecilia," Theo commanded, the huskiness of his voice telling her that she was not the only one suffering from unfulfilled desires.

She obeyed, going to lay down on the couch and arranging her chemise around her. She could not tell what possessed her, but she pulled down the neck of her chemise slowly, leaving her shoulders completely bare and the upper part of her breasts exposed.

She was deeply satisfied with the fire that sparked in his eyes at her action, but he said nothing, just turned back to his painting.

She watched him as he focused on the canvas before him, eyeing his delicately long fingers and how they gripped the brush. Every stroke of the brush was decadent, sensual and curiosity burned in her breast.

Her back began to prick at her after some time lying there and she squirmed, unused to lying around exposed.

"Do not move, Cecilia," he said, tracing her body with his eyes renewing heat wherever his eyes touched. "If you keep squirming there will be consequences. You will be punished, pet."

His warning was stern, much unlike the man she had seen growing up. The tempter before her held no resemblance to the man in front of her now. The painter with the taste of the forbidden. The sensual man with dominant tendencies that she could not fathom. Who really was the Duke of Emerton?

The one she knew growing up, played with her, teased her about her pigtails and played with her sometimes, when Magnus was away but at some point everything changed, by the time she was fifteen, her interactions with him became shadowed with awareness of him as a man.

He was no longer just her brother's friend.

He was a wildly attractive man, one that she felt a growing attraction for.

He must have noted the growing attention, because he started withdrawing, until they hardly saw each other anymore.

All the information she gleaned on him was from the newspaper, when he appeared at events and flirted beautiful women.

It was even rumored that he took them home with him for nights of pure debauchery.

His life was so fast paced, that the society rags were thrown into frenzy speculating on who was to be his next conquest.

His reputation as a rake should have been enough to clear her infatuation, but it had not been. Not really. She had just learnt to suppress it while pretending that he did not exist. It worked for the most part, until that day when he caught her with the letter.

She had expected that with his loyalty to his friend, he would report her, but instead he volunteered to help her achieve the items on her list. A most unconventional deal if she had ever seen any.

But then she agreed that she didn't truly know Theo well.

Not the real him at least. The innocent girl she had once been, would never had guessed that one day she would be posing semi naked for the object of her infatuation, with the possibility of being caught.

"What if someone comes into this room and catches us?" she asked.

She might be willing to pose for Theo half dressed, but that did not mean she wanted anyone to see her this way. Apart from the fact that it would lead to her ruination, there was also the fact that if she got ruined and the story got back to Magnus. All hell would break loose, quite literally.