Page 20 of The Duke and the Scarred Bride (Duchesses of Convenience #6)

Chapter Twenty

“ T ake me to your chambers, wife.”

Percival’s whispered command had her jumping away from him. Had she heard him correctly?

“Have I stunned you into silence, wife?” he asked, nipping her lip and pulling her closer to him. So close that she could feel the evidence of his arousal against her belly. “You have been trying to get my attention for days. Now that you have it, I do not intend to let you escape me again. Now, lead me to your chambers.”

Louisa nodded and turned to leave, but he pulled her back against him, taking her lips in a kiss that she could only describe as drugging. Slow, languorous, and savoring. His tongue slid into her mouth, and he groaned, his hands kneading her through her dress.

She knew Anne would be upset when she saw the rumpled garment, which brought a smile to her face despite herself.

Percival pulled back with a confused look on his face that made her laugh.

“I’m sorry.” She giggled. “I will try to stop.”

“I’m almost offended that you find something amusing when I’m burning with lust for you.”

“I imagined how angry Anne would be with me when she sees my rumpled dress.”

He stepped closer to her with a naughty smile on his face, which she knew posed only problems for her. He pulled her close again, running his nose down the side of her face, and breathed her in.

“I am sorely tempted to punish you for thinking about something as trivial as a dress when I’m touching you,” he breathed in her ear, which made liquid heat pool between her legs. “Nothing kills a man’s ego worse than what you just did.”

She smiled up at him through hooded eyes as Isabella had told her to. “Does that mean you don’t want to come up to my chambers?” she teased.

He growled, attempting to kiss her but she pulled away from him, laughing as she ran from him and he chased her down the hallway. It would have been embarrassing had there been servants about, aside from a startled Tobias. But since there were not, they were perfectly free to play as they wished.

Percival caught up to her outside her chambers and pinned her against the wall.

“You are a very naughty woman,” he groaned against her.

“Yet, my appeal hasn’t faded?”

“Not one bit.”

He took her by the hand and led her into her chambers, and suddenly, her large room felt too small. Louisa would have wrapped her arms around herself had he not trapped one of her hands in his.

The reality of what was about to happen between them made her feel embarrassed and nervous about being so intimate with him again. His eyes took in her room, and she couldn’t help but wonder if he found the changes she made to it odd.

When his eyes flicked back to her, the heat in them was still as vivid, which had her blushing. She worried her bottom lip with her teeth to quell the nervous energy welling up inside her.

She didn’t know what to do or say for fear of pushing him away again, so she stood there, unable to meet his gaze.

“Why are you looking away from me?” he asked suddenly, startling her.

“What?”

He stepped closer to her and placed a hand under her chin to tilt her head up. His eyes were warm and alight with mirth as he watched her.

“You seem to have developed the habit of hiding in your thoughts, dear wife.” He smiled. “Do I bore you?”

“No,” she answered with a smile of her own. “But you frighten me.”

“Indeed?” he asked. “Why?”

“There is a lot I still do not know, while you seem so… experienced.”

He grinned wolfishly at her choice of words, tilting his head to the side and regarding her.

“And that means you enjoyed having my hands on you the last time?”

It was a statement posed as a question.

She nodded. “Very much.”

He chuckled darkly, spinning her so suddenly that she had no time to react. His hands were on the stays of her dress, expertly working to unfasten them.

“Has anyone ever told you that you are brutally honest?” he asked, pulling the heavy dress off her shoulders.

“Yes,” she answered breathlessly as he kissed her neck. “Does it offend you?”

“On the contrary,” he whispered in her ear, hands loosening the bindings to the rest of the layers she wore, leaving her in her chemise and stockings. “I find that I like it. Very much.”

She smiled, then gasped as he pulled her flush against him.

“I want to see all of you,” he groaned against her, before falling on his knees to kiss his way up her thigh. “I have dreamt of you every night since I tasted you. Your scent has haunted my every waking and sleeping hour.”

She whimpered as he nipped the inside of her thigh and rolled a stocking down and off her leg. He lavished the same attention on her other leg, winding her up so she had to place her hands on his shoulders for balance.

“Get on the bed, dear wife,” he ordered. “I need to see you spread out before me.”

She obeyed, worrying her lip as he crawled over her. The size difference between them sometimes startled her, but she never had any reason to fear him.

He tore her chemise off her body, his eyes darkening as they roamed over her nakedness.

“You are too beautiful for words, darling wife,” he murmured against her breast.

Her back arched off the bed as sparks of heat shot through her where his mouth and hands touched her. He kneaded and squeezed her flesh, both cooling and stoking the fire burning inside her. He was too much, yet she hadn’t had enough of him. She wanted to feel him closer and everywhere at the same time.

One of his hands slid down her body, his finger dipping between her folds to slide inside her. He watched her even as she squirmed at the feeling. She was completely naked and vulnerable beneath him, but she didn’t feel ashamed. He made her feel alive and desired, and the heat and appreciation in his eyes only ratcheted up her arousal.

He moved his finger deeper, slower and then faster, before he added another finger, his other hand pinning her hips down as she writhed on the bed. Familiar pleasure bloomed in her core, and her cries grew louder.

“Percival,” she moaned.

“I’m right here with you,” he groaned against her mouth. “Tell me what you want.”

“You,” she gasped. “Please.”

He kissed her, and she kissed him back, protesting when his fingers slid out of her. He lifted his fingers to his lips, popped them in his mouth, and closed his eyes in ecstasy as he sucked on them.

“You taste even better than I remember,” he groaned. “You are simply divine.”

He trailed kisses down her neck, stopping at her breasts and lavishing his attention on them, nipping and licking and sucking till she pushed her fingers in his hair and cried out her pleasure.

Her nails dug into his scalp when he bit her nipple, and she gasped when his tongue flicked against the flesh, soothing it. She could tell her breasts were his favourite place as he spent more time on them.

Her body burned with anticipation and the desire to experience sweet relief as she had once before, and she squirmed beneath him to let him know.

He chuckled against her skin, kissing lower and lower till his head was buried in her most intimate place. He inhaled deeply and tasted her with one long stroke of his tongue before his hands spread her out in front of him.

Words escaped her in a flood that she couldn’t contain even though she clapped a hand over her mouth for fear that her cries would worry Tobias or Mrs. Owens.

Even though it was only the second time he would be touching her this way, Percival found even more sensitive spots that threatened to drive her insane. She couldn’t help but wonder if it would always be like this between them.

He pulled away from her too suddenly, and she feared he would abandon her again. She sat up, pulling the bedcovers around her.

“Are you leaving?” she asked, unable to keep the fear out of her voice.

He turned back to her, cocking his head to study her. “I do not intend to,” he answered.

“Oh.”

He smiled and began unbuttoning his shirt, not knowing where to look as he did so. When he threw it on the floor, her eyes went wide, not at the scars covering his chest but at the sheer width of him.

He was beautiful. So beautiful that her mouth went dry at the sight of him.

Her tongue darted out to wet her lips. When his hands went to his breeches, she closed her eyes. His dark chuckle tempted her to open her eyes, but she kept them firmly shut.

“If you are going to be this frightened, dear wife, then I will have to return to my chambers.”

No!

Her eyes popped open, and she started, not expecting him to be so close to her or that he was practically naked.

Her eyes widened at the sight of his proud, jutting member, and she paled, wondering how he would fit inside her when he was as large as he was.

“You look frightened,” he murmured as he settled above her.

His weight above her signified the intimacy of the moment, and she flushed deeply. She could feel every inch of him against every inch of her and with her legs spread about him, his very excited member was at the core of her woman hood.

“Have I ever told you that I like how beautifully you flush everywhere?” he purred, propping himself up on his elbows to keep his weight off her. “Like a ripe peach. But you taste sweeter.”

He really had such a dirty manner.

He moved over her, and she felt his member nudge her sex, the sensation unfamiliar yet inviting. He groaned, and she decided right then that she had never heard anything more beautiful.

“I don’t know how to pleasure you,” she mumbled vulnerably.

“You already are,” he answered, moving above her again.

His entire body was taut, and she wondered if he were perhaps in pain.

“I don’t think I can go gently, Louisa,” he groaned, lining himself with her entrance.

She felt the head of his member poking her, and she immediately tensed in fear of what was to come.

“Will it hurt?” she asked.

“It will at first, but I will try to make it good for you.”

She nodded then and tried to relax, her eyes closing in anticipation as she felt him slide inside her. It was only the head, but he felt so good inside her that he stole her breath. She moved her hips, needing to feel him deeper, but he stilled her.

“Open your eyes, wife,” he demanded. “I want to see you when I finally claim you as mine.”

She did open her eyes, but it was hard to keep them open as he slid slowly, inch by inch, inside her. She felt the sharp tear and whimpered as he finally claimed her as his, her body tensing at the intrusion, but he kissed her and whispered sweet nothings in her ear to ease her pain. When it finally subsided, she moved her hips to let him know.

He slid out of her and then back in, in one long, deep stroke that had her screaming out in pain and pleasure. He pulled her legs tighter around him and moved in and out of her in gloriously deep strokes that had her clawing at his shoulders and arms.

Everything her sisters had told her paled in comparison to what she was experiencing right now. There were no words to describe the beauty of seeing him atop her, feeling him inside her and the friction of their coupling. She felt whole and complete, and she knew then that she was completely his. If he denied her pleasure after that night, she wouldn’t be above begging.

She knew when he neared his release, as his thrusts grew harder and shallower, his grunts coming fast. She wasn’t too far behind him, as his fingers had started rubbing slow circles around her pearl.

“Louisa,” he groaned into her hair. “You’re so perfect.”

She felt the world explode about her into a million stars and was only vaguely aware of his hoarse shout before he collapsed on the bed beside her, pulling her into his arms.

Their breathing synchronized, and when they finally came down from their high, he pressed her to his chest, his fingers drawing lazy circles on her back.

“Did I hurt you?” he asked, his eyes still closed.

She couldn’t help but take him in when he looked so sated, with nary a line on his forehead. She smiled into his chest, happy that she had relieved some of his stress, and shook her head.

“You didn’t hurt me,” she answered. “I feel… good.”

He chuckled into her hair. “I would have worried if you didn’t.”

She felt him smile into her hair as exhaustion finally claimed her, the warmth of his body and the steady rhythm of his heartbeat lulling her to sleep.

When she finally came to, it was to realize that she was alone in her chambers. A glance outside her window told her that it was still dark outside. She frowned, wondering why he had left.

Has he regretted what happened between us?

She sincerely hoped that wasn’t the case, or she would be very hurt, considering that she had fallen deeper in love with him after they had finally consummated their marriage.

Her face flushed as she remembered just how beautiful he had looked above her and how whole she had felt with him inside her.

She knew they had crossed a major bridge, and she was grateful for it, but she was well aware they were still a long way from fully trusting each other.

If he chose to be cold in the morning, she would respect the boundaries he put up and hope that with time, he would come to see that he, too, could enjoy happiness.

She sighed, turning onto her other side. She could only hope that with time, he would come to care deeply for her the way she had come to care for him.