Page 9 of The Earl’s Tempting Ward (Dukes Gone Dirty #2)

9

F or the second time, Benedict woke to screams.

His feet hit the floor before his mind fully woke. He threw open Philippa’s bedroom door seconds later, and froze at the sight before him.

Candles were lit on either side of the bed, and…she wasn’t screaming.

Philippa was moaning.

Her head thrown back, she moaned softer now as her hand slid between her thighs.

The air rushed from his lungs as he watched, paralyzed by the surge of heat that had made him hard with longing.

Her nightdress was hitched up to her waist, her long slender legs parted slightly—just enough for him to see the dark thatch of curls between her thighs.

“What in the bloody hell are you doing?” he growled.

She lifted her head, her lips parted and wet, her eyes glimmering in the dark. “I need you, Benedict.”

His mind went blank as heat seared his flesh and settled in his loins. His mind sputtered and halted to a stop.

What she was doing was wrong. So very wrong.

And it was the most erotic sight he’d ever seen.

She wriggled her hips, tossing her head. The room smelled of her sex, and the scent was nearly his undoing.

He told himself to walk away. To close the door and turn back.

But when she rubbed her fingers over her mound, her eyes fluttering shut—he found himself walking toward her again.

“I ache,” she whimpered. Her eyelids cracked open enough for her to look straight at him and there was a genuine neediness there, a pleading. “Make me feel better?”

Bloody hell, she was temptation itself. His gaze fixed on her slender hand that was restlessly moving between her legs. For all her talk of experience, her efforts were clumsy and untutored. Restless to the point of desperation.

“Come for me,” he commanded.

He shocked them both with that growl.

What was he doing? Some distant part of his brain revolted.

He was helping her find pleasure. That was all. Then he’d end this madness.

“H-how?” she asked.

His mouth watered as he imagined how he might show her. He’d part her thighs and bury his face in her wet heat until she screamed the house down. Luckily for everyone his mother was a heavy sleeper on a separate floor.

Not that he’d give into temptation. No, he’d just help her, that was all. And then he would leave.

“Slip your fingers between the folds of your sex,” he said instead.

Her eyes widened slightly, and her naivete was on full display for one dazzling moment.

Who had taken her innocence but failed to show her how to find pleasure?

He’d murder the knave if he had a name.

“Like this?” She did as she was told, her middle finger sinking into her wet heat and her hips coming up with a jerk. “Oh!”

A smile tugged at his lips at the sweet innocence of her shock. “I thought you said you’d been ruined.”

“I have,” she said quickly. “I just…I did not do this. Now what?”

He fought another grin at her impatient demand. Greedy girl. His cock was demanding attention and he slid a hand over the straining bulge of his breeches as her gaze followed.

She was too tempting. He was struggling to remember all the reasons he couldn’t take what she was offering.

Because you’re not a monster, and the girl needs to wed.

But it wouldn’t be so very wrong if he wed her, now would it?

The thought took hold and wouldn’t let go.

She wet her lips, and for a moment he was speechless at this spectacular sight. He stroked himself once then forced himself to stop. Her breasts were straining against the fabric, the dark of her nipples visible through the thin cotton. Her quim was visibly wet and her hand was shaking.

She needed someone to take over. Someone to show her what to do.

“Dip your finger down,” he said, his voice little more than a rumble. “Find that tight little hole that needs to be filled.”

“Like this?” she breathed. Her head tossed to the side as she touched her channel. A whimper escaped.

“Now slide your finger in,” he said.

“I can’t, it’s so…so tight.”

He nearly exploded his release right then and there. He had to clench his jaw and focus on his breathing. So tight. So wet.

Oh yes, he could only imagine.

“Let me see your fingers.” What was he doing? He’d lost his mind.

But what was even more mad… She complied. Withdrawing her hand, her fingers trembled as she held them up to see how they glistened with her juices.

With a groan, his restraint snapped and without thinking he snagged her hand and thrust her fingers in his mouth. He needed to taste her.

Her eyes flew open in shock, her jaw gaping open as he sucked off the sweet cream of her cunny. Her lips worked, but nothing came out.

He held her gaze and brought her hand down to cover his hard length. Her expression grew pained with need as she moaned again.

“Was this what you needed, love? Is that what you called out for?”

She nodded quickly.

“You’re a naughty little tease, aren’t you?”

“Yes, my lord,” she whispered.

She was using that voice, the subservient little miss with her master.

He loved that tone. And he suspected she did too. It was a role she played, but there was a truth to it. A need she couldn’t put into words any other way.

He understood it—at least part of the mystery that was his tempting ward. She was floundering in her dark, bottomless emotions and desperate for someone else to take control. To tell her what to do and how to be.

Someone to save her.

The realization struck in a heartbeat, and it rattled him to his core. Her hand was still on his cock, but this new understanding touched something far deeper inside of him.

His heart twisted with an overwhelming surge of protectiveness and affection.

Tenderness the likes of which he’d never known made his insides quake and when it was all said and done, he had the distinct and terrifying sensation that nothing would ever be the same.

He would never be the same.

“Will you take me?” She slid her legs further apart in a silent offer that made him groan. “Will you show me what you like?”

He knew his answer, just like he knew what it meant. It changed everything. The future was suddenly laid out before him, irreversible and undeniable.

It all felt so inevitable. Maybe there’d never been any other path for him or for her.

But he had to give her one last chance to run. He had to try, at least, for her sake.

He dropped her hand and sank onto the bed beside her, trying not to notice the way her breathing had turned to short, choppy bursts.

The girl was desperate for relief. And he could give her that. But not until she understood what this meant.

“You want me to fuck you, love?” he asked. “You want me to use that sweet body of yours and ride that tight little quim?”

His voice was gruff and the hand that cupped one of her breasts and pinched her nipple was anything but gentle. Part of him hoped he’d scare her off, while another part of him was begging for this to be real. That she could truly be his.

Her back arched with a whimper as if she was trying to get even closer to his hand, her body asking for more. “Yes,” she hissed. “Please, my lord. Please, please, please?—”

He crushed his lips to hers to squelch her begging. It was too heady, too intoxicating to hear her plead for his touch. Him. The scarred, broken beast.

He didn’t deserve her. That much was certain. But she wanted him, and he could protect her. He could help her.

And when she was healed and realized she was stuck with him forever?

He flinched at the thought and pulled back. Her lips were already slightly swollen and wet from that bruising kiss.

“I need you,” she whispered. And there was no artifice in her tone. No acting and no teasing taunts.

His heart had been stolen, that much was clear as he gazed down at her wide eyes and long hair splayed out around her just like in his fantasies.

His heart belonged to her now, but she couldn’t know that.

He swallowed hard, shutting out her pleading gaze and the way she writhed and wiggled beneath his touch.

He’d give her one last chance to reconsider her actions before he damned her to his hell. “You sure you want this, love? Think hard because there’s no turning back.”

She nodded eagerly but he cupped her chin in his hand to hold her face still, to force her gaze to meet his. Her lips parted with a gasp and her gaze grew distant and dreamy at the rough handling.

Oh yes, his wild little hellion wanted to be tamed, that much was clear.

“Look at me,” he commanded.

Her gaze focused on his eyes.

“Tell me you know what it means if I take you tonight.”

She blinked once, twice. He could see her mind trying to work. “I understand.”

“Say it.”

Her tongue flicked out to wet her lips and he groaned softly at the sight. “It means…it means I’m ruined.” Her gaze was so soft and sweet, it nearly broke him in two. “I understand the consequences of my actions, Benedict. I know what this means.”

He stared at her speechless for a second because…he was a monster. He was not kind, nor was he a true gentleman. That much had been widely known even before he’d gotten his father and brother killed. But did she really think him so unfeeling that he would ruin her?

He leaned down closer. “Wrong answer, love.”

“Then what does it mean?” she whispered.

“If I take you now, you’re mine.” His voice was as hard as his erection at the thought. Mine, mine, mine . The word thrummed through him and pushed aside the last of his reason. “If we do this now, you are mine forever. Understand?”