Page 18 of Seven Nights with the Wicked Duke (Regency Beasts #3)

T heo saw when his little lady understood what his words meant but he didn't want her thinking and denying them both what they craved.

Kissing her was becoming his favorite thing to do and he didn't like it so he punished her with his lips and teeth till she was whimpering into his mouth.

He was careful not to bruise her but he wanted to mark her so terribly and watch her squirm as she tried to explain why she looked like she had been kissed thoroughly.

He wanted to see the eyes of the ton widen as they realized the prim and proper lady Cecilia was the furthest thing from proper, and he so terribly wanted to see them speculate who had compromised her, knowing they would never suspect him.

Even now she was matching his kisses, her hand burying in his hair which caused him to smile against her mouth. He eased his assault on her mouth, stilling his basal urge to mark her lips.

She was unrestrained in her responses now.

To think she had feared being caught.

With the sounds she was making, they would no doubt be caught soon.

"I told you to try to keep silent, little mouse," he reminded her.

"You are doing nothing to make me do so," she breathed out.

He grinned and placed her atop a particularly beautiful oak desk and eyed her swollen lips and bright eyes.

Pleasure looked good on her and he was pleased with how he had painted her mouth.

He wanted to see her everywhere and hear her attempt to silence her cries as he tasted her and he didn't deny himself that pleasure.

He kissed his way down her neck, nipping her breasts lightly but that was not his destination today. He had watched her flirt and play innocent and wanted to see if she would remain innocent with him when he had his tongue on her quim.

There would be no easing her into it.

He was no gentleman and she would remember it.

He didn't spare her a moment of vulnerability not when he had already seen her in just a chemise. She sat up confused when he began to hike up her skirts but she didn't appear worried, just curious and he smiled.

She had grown to trust him after all.

He dropped to his knees, patting her thigh with a small slap when she tried to close her thighs.

"We are beyond propriety now, Cecilia," he warned her. "Open your thighs to me. I want to taste you."

"Taste me?"

"Do not worry," he assured her. "I am quite skilled. At the end you might beg me to begin again."

She looked like she wanted to protest but she relaxed into him and he allowed himself a moment to worship her legs he hadn't been able to forget with his lips. Nipping her calf then her thigh until he drew near to her sex.

Her arousal drifted to him, heady and musky and he wanted her taste on his tongue terribly. He buried his nose in her and felt her squirm, not knowing whether to push him away or pull him closer.

He kissed her softly, then ran his knuckle through the soft mass of curls feeling how damp she was with her pleasure. He split her with his fingers and gave her one long swipe of his tongue and them settled into placing open mouthed kisses everywhere but at the pulsing part of her sex.

He tried hard to ignore her cries but her sounds were a beautiful melody that sparked lust through him and made him want to sink into her warmth just to see her shatter around him.

He wanted to show her all the heights of pleasure his body could bring her but he would be satisfied with just tasting her today.

He nipped at the pulsating part of her sex and held her still as she nearly shot off the table. He smiled against her sex, continuing his onslaught until he felt her hands grip his head tightly.

He slid a finger into her and then another, and soon her hips rode his fingers, which surprised him because he hadn't instructed her what to do. She was a quick learner, his little mouse and he was sorely tempted to see what else she would prove proficient at.

His fingers moved at a quicker pace and he felt her insides spasm as her ecstasy came. She was beautiful, frozen in a silent scream, and his member felt as though it would explode but he pushed his desire to the back of his mind, rising to his feet.

He held her so she wouldn't slide off the table as her body had gone loose and light. It was her first experience of an orgasm and he couldn't hide his grin knowing she would look for the feeling he had given her in any man her brother forced her to marry.

When she finally regained ability to move and think, the duke had arranged her dress into some semblance of normalcy.

Her body felt loose and languid and all she wanted to do was be rid of her clothes and curled up in bed.

Exhaustion wrecked her but she also felt…

blissful, sated, even though she felt there was something missing.

She was moved with gratitude but when she saw the dark glee on his face, she stilled.

That look had never spelled anything but danger for her and she couldn't trust that he hadn't thought up more ways to have her abandon all she had thought proper.

"You surprise me constantly, Cecilia." He smiled, coming to cage her between his arms.

"How so?" she asked.

She had lost her need to filter her tone and words somewhere when he had had his face between her thighs and his raised brow told her he didn't mind. Instead he was intrigued.

Was there anything she could do to provoke this man?

He ran a finger down her face, stopping at her lip and then pulling away.

"I caught you staring at me even when you were with your handsome Lord Buckley," he said accusingly.

Her eyes widened and she pouted turning away from him. So he had actually seen her?

"You were watching me then, to have noticed," she said, lifting her chin in defiance.

"I was," he confirmed. "I will always find you, Cecilia. In every room."

Her heart soared at that promise, so dark yet so comforting.

"I have to ensure you aren't so busy trying to find a husband that you forget me."

The sentiment she had felt earlier vanished as quickly as it had come and she frowned, shaking her head at him. She pushed at his chest needing to be away from him but he held still, stubbornly refusing her.

"We haven't finished our conversation, Cecilia," he reminded her. "You still haven't told me why you watched me even when you knew no one was to know we were acquainted."

She couldn't very well tell him the truth.

She wasn't supposed to but it was hard to act as though there was nothing between them when he had seen and now tasted every part of her. it was impossible for her to move past what he had done to her when she thought of him every single moment she had.

"Tell me, little mouse, " he said, nipping her ear. "What were you thinking about so intently when you were watching me across the ballroom? Remember, I know you. Most intimately. You cannot lie to me."

She worried her lip between her teeth.

How could she admit the words out loud when she felt shamed by them?

"I will not judge you, if that is what you fear." He smiled. "I am more depraved than you. There is nothing you could say that would stun me."

His voice was smooth and deceptive, lulling her to jump over the dark edge into an abyss where she couldn't know what lay at the bottom.

She knew agreeing to have this man help her was like making a deal with the devil but she had risked it anyway because she was tired of being shielded and even now she had toed the darkness, he intended to drag her down whole and how she had.

She had been unable to stifle her passion, begging him and now he knew her deepest parts.

Could she lie to him when the truth of it was already known to him?

"I…" she started. "I was thinking of you and…" she swallowed. "And this, and how I wanted to see you again."

"You are not being truthful, little mouse," he scolded playfully.

"I thought of you and what you do to me and what you would have done to me if we were alone."

His grin was wide as though she had given him a gift he had long desired. He stepped away from her, heading to the sideboard to pour himself a drink.

"It seems I have indeed corrupted the perfect Lady Cecilia," he said, mostly to himself.

"Now you know everything."

"Oh, my little mouse, I already knew it. I just wanted you to tell me."

She gasped at his words, her cheeks flaming at his words.

"You are incorrigible," she accused but her words lacked any heat.

"You know what happens when you call me that word, Cecilia."

She noticed when she unsettled him, he used her name but when he was in control, he referred to her as his mouse and smiled, earning a questioning look from him.

"What now?" she asked, swinging her legs in no hurry to leave. "I do not think I want to return to the ballroom. I was bored anyway."

He moved closer to her and took a long swallow of his drink keeping his eyes on her.

"You must return to the party, Cecilia because I command it."

"Why? I am sure I look a fright and…"

"You will return to the party and you will do so now," he ordered.

"Your Grace, I…"

"You do not understand, Cecilia. I told you before that you will obey everything I tell you to do," he reminded her with a dark look.

"You will go back to the ballroom and flirt and smile like the proper lady you are with others vying for your hand, knowing…

remembering that I'm the only one who can make you feel this way. "

His words filled her with heat again but when he pulled her up to her feet and swatted her bottom, she didn't wait to hear more but scampered away from the library before anyone finally walked in on their illicit meeting.

Her legs still quivered from the assault he had wreaked on her with his tongue and hands but there was a renewed burst of determination to prove him wrong so she pushed all thoughts of the damned man out of her mind and headed into the ballroom with a better attitude.

She would not be thinking of him at all.

"Lady Cecilia," Lord Buckley called.

She turned to him with a smile, irritation niggling in her that she didn't even feel a hint of attraction to him.

"Might I sign your dance card?" he asked.

She nodded, holding out the card to him.

She spied Emerton at the top of the stairs watching her with a smirk.

She was a fool to think she would feel anything akin to what she shared with him with anyone and sent a heated look at the man, turning back to Lord Buckley with a smile.

"Shall we break even more formality and dance in the next set?" she asked.

"I do not want to ruin your reputation, Lady Cecilia," he said looking around the room, worry evident in his gaze.

She wanted to laugh but she smiled instead.

"My reputation will survive one dance," she urged.

He looked thoughtful for a moment but was quick to agree and she smiled, allowing him lead her to the floor.

She would continue to allow them all think she was nothing but the sweet and innocent lady.