Page 41 of The Duke In My Bed (The Heirs’ Club of Scoundrels #1)

He placed his hands on each side of her face and looked into her eyes as if to ask her if she was sure.

She wound her arms around his neck. He bent his head, and his lips found hers and moved tenderly, sweetly, briefly over them before he raised his head and looked into her eyes once more. “Did it work?” he asked.

“I don’t think the kiss was long enough. Perhaps we should try it again.” She placed her lips on his, and the kiss started the same way as before—slow, soft, a lightly brushing of their lips together. The contact was delicate, feathery, and enticing.

The moments ticked by. The longer they kissed, the more kisses she wanted.

She opened her mouth, and his tongue explored it with eager yet soothing strokes.

His hands moved down her chest. He parted her robe, and his palm molded over the fullness of one breast, lightly squeezing and caressing.

Her nipple stiffened beneath his gentle touch.

Louisa moaned her approval and leaned into his hand, enjoying the exquisite feeling.

Tremors and shivers tingled all the way down to her abdomen to gather and settle between her legs.

Louisa relaxed and let go of the tight control she’d always kept on the passion she felt for the duke. Without thinking, she shifted and adjusted her legs so that she straddled him. She heard his hissing intake of breath at her movements. He deepened their kiss as she settled her bottom on his lap.

The duke trembled, and she realized he was as affected by these wonderful cravings as she was. His arousal thrilled her almost as much as his touch.

While his mouth and tongue ravaged hers hungrily, her hands roved through his thick, luxurious hair. She pressed him closer, gaining confidence in what she was doing, reading the desire she knew he felt for her and she for him.

“Your nightdress is so thin, it’s almost like touching your bare skin,” he whispered into her mouth as he fondled her breast.

“I love the feel of your hands on me,” she answered.

He chuckled as his fingers searched for and found her nipple again, hidden beneath her cotton gown. At his caressing, it puckered and rose once more. Ripples of desire tightened across her breasts and sent pleasure sweeping down her body again to resettle into her most womanly part.

Their tongues swirled in each other’s mouths as he untied the ribbon at her throat and parted her gown. He shoved one side of her robe and gown off her shoulder and slid them down her arm. He lowered his head and caught her nipple in his warm mouth and sucked.

She gasped and her stomach tumbled with expectancy as the awareness sent chills of pleasure skipping along her spine.

Her head fell back and her chest arched forward and she enjoyed the glorious sensations.

His lips moved up to kiss her shoulder, the crook of her neck, and her chest before finally letting his mouth find and cover her breast again.

His tongue circled her nipple, bathed it, and then gently drew it fully into his mouth.

His lower body lifted and pressed into her with slow rhythmic movements.

Desire bloomed and blossomed inside her, and all her senses reeled in delight.

She gasped again with pleasure. “That feels so wonderful,” she said softly while wave after wave of heat radiated through her. “I don’t want you to stop.”

He chuckled once more and brought his lips back to hers. Their uneven breaths melted together once again before he mumbled, “That’s good because I don’t want to stop. Passion can make you feel that way, Louisa, but what we are doing is dangerous.”

“Then let me do something dangerous for once in my life.”

“If you insist on shedding Miss Prim and Proper tonight, I’m glad you decided to do it with me,” he said between kisses, “but I think you will hate me in the morning if we continue on the course we are heading.”

“I think I already hate you for making me want you continue what I know we shouldn’t be doing.”

He chuckled yet again, and she savored every feeling, every tender caress. The gliding movements of his hands on her breasts thrilled her. He reached over and covered her mouth in a brief but passionate kiss.

“It does not bother me that you will hate me, Louisa.” He kissed the hollow of her throat, teasing her skin with his tongue. “You already think me a beast. I don’t want you to hate yourself, but I promise you will enjoy this.”

“I will forgive myself in the morning and you, too, if you will continue to make me feel this way. I’ve never had these, these strange urges before.”

“They are called primal urges.”

“Yes, that’s it, and if you will think me a wanton beast tomorrow morning for wanting these feelings, so be it.”

“Louisa, you are sitting astraddle my lap, and my hands are on your breasts—I am aching for you. This is not the time to keep making me laugh with your clever words. You must know that there will be no going back if we finish what we have started here.”

She kissed him before looking into his eyes. “I understand, Your Grace.”

He brushed her hair to the back of her shoulder. “My name is Bray. From here on, you must call me by my name and not my title.”

“I understand, Bray,” she said, and slid the other side of her night rail and robe off her shoulder and down her arm, letting the garments pool around her waist.

His gaze feasted upon her for a few seconds. “I knew your breasts would be beautiful,” he said in a husky voice. “Look how the light from the corridor is shining on them. Look how beautiful you are.”

Louisa looked down and watched his fingertips glide from the swell of one breast to the other. The lace from the cuff of his sleeve tickled softly across her bare skin. He palmed both breasts and lightly squeezed them. He kissed one and then the other, filling her with a longing for something more.

He lowered his head and caught the rosy tip of one breast into his mouth again. With his tongue he sampled her heated skin over and over again, and she delighted in every touch and each new and building sensation.

“I want to feel your body, too, Bray.” She reached under his waistcoat and started pulling the tail of his shirt from the waistband of his trousers. She wanted to know what his skin felt like.

He stilled her hands. “I wish we could, but there is no time for me to undress tonight. We must make do. Help me unbutton my trousers and slide them down my hips.”

With frantic movements of hands working together, his trousers were unfastened and her gown was shoved up.

Bray dragged his cloak underneath her as he gently laid her on top of it and stretched his warm body over her.

A tremor of anticipation shivered through her.

Bray rose on his elbows and looked into her eyes for a long moment before his gaze drifted down her face, lingered over her breasts, before sweeping back up to her eyes again.

“You need not worry,” she whispered. “I have no hesitation.”

“I have plenty for both of us, but I won’t let it stop me. I will be gentle with you.”

“I know.”

He bent down and seared his lips to hers.

His lips were moist, hot, and demanding as he kissed her deeply, roughly, crushing his body upon hers.

His intensity should have frightened her, but instead it thrilled her.

His hands tangled in her hair. Their lips and tongues clung together as passion flamed between them.

With his knees, he opened her legs and then pushed inside her. She gasped from the shock, but he swallowed her sounds. His kisses changed from desperate to slow and sensuous. With one hand he found the warm spot between her legs, and he stroked and fondled her as his body moved up and down.

He made love to her with gentleness that overwhelmed her.

His movements were leisurely, sensual, and reverent.

He kissed her, caressed her, and moved on top of her until she felt an indescribable pleasure rise up inside her.

Louisa lifted her hips and moved with him until waves of explosive sensations tore through her.

She cupped his body to her as those languid, heavenly ripples ebbed.

She heard Bray’s breath quicken, felt him tremble.

His body shuddered, and he softly said her name.

She whispered his name, too, before collapsing back down onto the settee with no breath left in her lungs, no strength in her muscles. He lay still and heavy upon her with his face buried in the crook of her neck.

They stayed that way only for a few moments before Bray lifted himself onto his elbows and asked, “Are you all right?”

She smiled and softly answered, “Yes. I didn’t really know what to expect, but my imagination didn’t do it justice. That was quite impressive.”

He grinned and kissed her tenderly. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

He rose and helped her to rise. He then turned his back and started adjusting his clothing, and Louisa did the same.

“Don’t you have something you wanted to ask me?” he said when he turned back to face her.

Louisa was tying the ribbons of her gown, and her fingers stilled. Did she? Maybe she was supposed to ask him if she’d satisfied him. “Did I measure up to your expectations?”

He frowned. “Of course, Louisa, that goes without saying. Why would you ask me that?”

“You said I was supposed to have a question for you.”

“Not that. Hellfire, couldn’t you tell that you satisfied me greatly, completely?”

Annoyed that he was annoyed, she said, “I thought so, but I couldn’t be sure, so it’s nice to hear you say it.”

“Fine, I’ll remember that in the future and always tell you. Now, don’t you have something else to ask me?”

Louisa thought and stared at him. “Am I supposed to ask if we can we do it again sometime?”

His eyes narrowed and his lips tightened. “What?” he asked in an exasperated voice.

Something told her that wasn’t the correct question either. “I really don’t know what I’m supposed to ask you after what we just did, Your Grace. Couldn’t you tell this was my first time?”

“It’s Bray, Louisa. My name is Bray, not Your Grace, and of course I knew it was your first time.”

“Then why are you irritated that I don’t know all the rules yet?”

“There are no certain rules.” He stopped and ran his hand through his hair. “You will drive me to madness. You are supposed to ask me to marry you now that I’ve taken your virtue from you.”

Confused, she asked, “You should have told me that before we—we did it.”

“I did. We discussed this. Now, granted, we were in the throes of passion at the time, but you told me you understood. In fact, you told me twice that you understood the meaning of what we were doing.”

“I did. I do. It meant I am no longer a virgin, but I never said I’d ask you to marry me.”

“That’s what I meant when I asked you if you understood.”

“Well, you didn’t make yourself clear.”

“Could you at least act a little more worried about this?”

“There is nothing to be concerned about. It happened and it’s over, and that’s all there is to it.”

“No, that isn’t all there is to it, Louisa. There is always the possibility of a child from our coming together.”

Merciful heavens!

That danger should have crossed her mind when he had his hands and lips all over her body but it hadn’t. All reasonable thought had deserted her.

She summoned an inner strength and said, “I will not borrow that kind of trouble and make myself go mad with worry over something that may not happen.”

“Then let’s settle it here and now.” He advanced on her and quietly said, “Ask me to marry you, Louisa.”

He seemed so serious. This was her chance to marry the man she loved.

But what would it mean for her sisters if she married a man who knew only about the things that made him happy and nothing about what a real family life was like?

She could handle the wild duke, but could he accept her sisters?

He would not love her or help her care for her sisters. He could hardly bear to be around them.

“No, I will not,” she insisted, and pulled her robe together. “I don’t want to marry you. I think it’s time for you to go.”

“What just happened between us leaves you no choice.”

Louisa stood her ground. “I beg your pardon. I do have a choice, and my choice is no. I will not ask you to marry me, and I will not marry you if you should ask me again.”

“That won’t happen.”

“Good,” she said on a breathy sigh. “Now, please go before Gwen and Mrs. Colthrust return and find you here.”

“Well, we wouldn’t want that, would we? Mrs. Colthrust might try to insist that you marry me!” Bray jerked his cloak off the settee and slung it carelessly over his arm. Not even trying to be quiet, he stomped from the room and out the front door, shutting it soundly behind him.