Page 26 of Wedded to the Forbidden Duke (Forbidden Lords #1)

“ O h, Nancy.” Cecilia clasped her friend in her arms fiercely. “It was a wonderful ceremony.”

She almost had tears in her eyes as she said it. Her best friend looked truly beautiful as a bride. The white fabric perfectly complimented her peaches-and-cream complexion, and her blue eyes shone brighter than ever with pure newlywed bliss.

Their house had been transformed, as well, decorated in all shades of white hangings, shining brightly and bedecked with colorful flowers, and a towering cake in the center of the room.

“It was, don’t you think?” Nancy let out a tittering laugh. “Though I must admit, I almost lost my head with nerves! I half thought I might forget to say I do. ”

“You would have done no such thing,” Cecilia promised her, squeezing her best friend’s hands in hers. “You looked so beautiful up there. And Zachary could not take his eyes off of you for one second.”

“I know.” Nancy flushed even as she said it. “I could not take my eyes off of him, either.”

“You know you must tell him that he must treat you absolutely perfectly,” Cecilia said threateningly, “or else I will see to it that he is most egregiously punished.”

“And how exactly do you plan to dole out this punishment?” Zachary said, bounding up to join them with Ian, Lady Lindbury, and Lady Sheridan in tow. “Shall you tell Mother on me?”

Cecilia pinched his cheek. “Don’t tempt me,” she said.

“Cecilia!” her mother chided her playfully. Zachary just shook her off, laughing good-naturedly.

“Excuse me,” a new voice said, entering the conversation.

They all looked over to see a young man, around Ian and Zachary’s age. While they did not recognize him, there was something about his eyes and his features that struck a chord of familiarity.

Lady Sheridan was the only one who showed immediate recognition. “Ah, here you are!” She turned to Ian. “Your Grace, may I introduce you to the new Viscount Sheridan.”

“Henry Banfield,” the newcomer said stiffly.

He was much younger than Cecilia had anticipated. A strapping young man, with cold brown eyes and sharp features made sharper by his perpetual scowl.

“I will not intrude upon your conversation for long,” he said. “I came over only to offer my congratulations to the newlyweds.”

“Thank you, cousin,” Nancy said, curtsying.

“Yes, thank you,” Zachary echoed.

“Ian Repington,” Ian said, reaching out to clasp the viscount’s hand in his. “Duke of Harwick. I am afraid both Zachary and I were away in Europe when you arrived in London, which is why we have not met. But I do hope you’ll join the rest of family the next time they come to visit my wife and I in the country.”

“Perhaps,” the viscount said.

Neither the expression of his face nor the tone of his voice betrayed any kind of emotion in any direction. It was a pity; he really would be such a handsome man if he didn’t look so constantly displeased. Now Cecilia realized why he had seemed both familiar and not. His features were so similar to Nancy’s, down to the precise hue of his eyes.

That said, where Nancy was perpetually smiling, this man’s expressions could not be more the opposite. His social graces, likewise, were perfunctory at best, unfriendly at worst.

“Thank you for the invitation,” he said, nodding with all the ease of a wooden puppet. “It is good to meet you all.”

When he had walked away, Lady Lindbury and Lady Sheridan huddled together.

“My, my,” said Lady Lindbury.

“Indeed,” said Lady Sheridan. “You know, my friend, he reminds me quite a bit of your new son-in-law before he met your Cecilia.”

“You are most correct, Lucinda,” Lady Lindbury replied, nodding her head. “And perhaps he is a bit like my Zachary, as well, before he wed darling Nancy.”

“Well. It is true that love can quite transform a man. And you know, given our rather impressive track record of successes…” Lady Sheridan gave a look in the direction of the two young couples, who were happily engaged in conversation just a short ways away. “Perhaps we shall simply have to take care of the new viscount, as well. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Lady Lindbury gave her a smile and a nod before they walked away.

In another corner, Ian and Cecilia watched as the newlyweds walked around the room, greeting the rest of their guests at the wedding breakfast.

“This is quite different,” Cecilia said, looking about, “from our wedding breakfast, wouldn’t you agree?”

Ian snorted. “That would be quite the understatement, I should think.”

“They do look very much in love,” she said wistfully, “don’t they?”

Ian looked at her. “Do not tell me you are jealous,” he said. “They are not as in love as us by half.”

She flushed. “I mean only that—well. Compared to us at our wedding…”

He shook his head. “Speak for yourself,” he said. “Even on our wedding day, I wanted to do unspeakable things to you. If we had been on half as good terms then as they are now, I would have snuck you upstairs and had my way with you before the breakfast was over.”

This last part, he murmured in her ear. Cecilia flushed, before turning to him with a mischievous grin. “Would you have really?”

He bent down and brushed his nose against hers. “You know it to be true.”

She bit her lip. “You know,” she said, “I do still have a bedroom at this estate.”

He raised a brow, smile growing to match hers. “That is true. It is a most excellent bedroom. And one which I have not visited in far too long.”

She glanced back at the crowd, making sure nobody was looking at them that would miss their absence, before taking his hand and leading him discreetly into the hallway.

They all but ran down the hallway and up the stairs towards her room, stopping only when they passed by members of the house staff going about their business. By the time they reached her room, they were both giggling, and flush with desire.

Cecilia shut the door behind her, locking it firmly. By the time she turned around, she was delighted to find her husband already half undressed.

“My, my,” she said. “So eager, Your Grace.”

“So efficient,” he corrected. “And you can hardly blame me, with such a sight presented in front of me.

Cecilia smiled. “I am flattered,” she said. She sighed, walking towards him playfully. “Though it seems I am entirely too slow for you, my lord, when it comes to the matter of disrobing. However shall I catch up?”

He caught her in his arms and pulled her towards him for a kiss. “I would be more than happy to be of some assistance with that,” he murmured, before reaching down to pick her up.

She laughed with delight as he lifted her up in his strong arms and lowered her gently to the bed before climbing up atop her. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her.

Cecilia melted immediately at the sensation of his lips on hers.

She would never get tired of this feeling. Her husband’s body pressed against hers, every angle and plane of muscle a perfect contrast against her soft curves, even through the fabric of her clothing. Working together, they relieved her of her clothes in very short order, abandoning it all in a heap of fine fabric on the floor next to the bed.

It was as electrifying as though it were the first time. The feeling of bare skin against bare skin. The comforting weight of him atop her. The way he fit between her hips, as perfectly as though they had been designed by some master sculptor for each other.

She used her legs to draw him in closer. Already he was hard, and she sighed in pleasure at the feeling of his length against her core.

“Who is the eager one now?” Ian asked playfully, rocking his hips against her. She moaned at the pressure.

As always, though, she knew he could not help but tease her, just as she always teased him. The moment he threatened to slip inside her, he pulled away, kissing down her body and teasing her with lips and hands alike. She could not complain too much, though she did writhe against the sheets, seeking more pressure, more heat, more of whatever he wanted to give her.

“I want all of you,” she said. “Always. And yet you insist on teasing me so. It is most unfair.”

He chuckled against her hipbone, running his fingers along her slick core. His other hand palmed at her breast, pinching her nipple to make her gasp. “I think it most fair, given all of the times you continue to tease me. Do not tell me you are unable to take a taste of your own medicine?”

“You would tease me whether you were trying to return the favor or no,” she said accusingly, even as she sighed with pleasure and leaned further into his touch.

He did not deny it. She had known he wouldn’t. “Yes,” he admitted, “well. You can hardly blame me. It is not my fault you look so damnably delicious in every room we walk into. No matter what time of day, and no matter what you are wearing, you are impossible to resist.”

“You say that even when I am wearing nothing at all,” she said.

“Indeed. I think that might be my favorite outfit of all.” She slapped his shoulder lightly, and he laughed. “If anything, that is the true injustice; that I should be made to suffer through even one moment in your presence that isn’t spent with your body bare and spread out before me.”

As he licked and kissed at her, Cecilia was at a loss for any more teasing words. It was so difficult to think at moments like this, when he was using every tool at his disposal to torment her with pleasure. “You have me now. Please, Ian, tease me no longer.”

“Hm.” He hummed into her, causing her to buck at the feelings of the vibrations through her body. “Since you asked so nicely.”

She pulled him to her eagerly as he climbed back up her body and sank into her with one fluid motion.

Neither one was in a mood for patience. The pace soon quickened, the two of them moving in a sweet, sensuous rhythm. With each movement, sparks went off within her.

“It feels so good,” she bit out against his shoulder. “God, Ian, I am so close.”

“I am, as well,” he managed. “You are so perfect. So good for me. Come for me, Cecilia. Come with me.”

As she clenched around him, she felt him spill into her, both of them reaching their climaxes in perfect harmony.

After they finished, Ian rolled onto his side, arm still wrapped around her. They curled into each other, still breathing heavily, and kissed as they came down from the pleasurable heights.

“I must say, wife.” He kissed her again, then pulled back, studying her face with a smile. “You seem to have a particular light about you this morning,” he continued. “Could it be that famous glow women are said to have when they are with child?”

She blushed deeper and laughed. “My lord, you know full well I am not with child.”

He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “Would you like to be?”

Her eyes shone as she searched his face for any hint of jest. “Do you really mean it?” she asked hopefully.

He nodded, unable to hide a smile from his face. “I would not dream of jesting about anything so serious as this,” he said.

Cecilia’s face lit up even further. At once, she kissed her husband passionately, nearly throwing herself against him, and he pulled her in closer still, strong, muscular arms wrapped around her waist.

“Thank you,” she said, between kisses. “Thank you.”

“It is perfectly unfair, you know,” he replied against her mouth, “how thoroughly you have managed to ruin my life.”

She pulled back, eyes darting across his face with a wry smile on her lips. “Is that so? Whatever do you mean? I could say the same to you, you know,” Cecilia replied smartly, “seeing as how it was your fault we were ever tossed together in the first place.”

“Oh, not this old argument again.” Ian rolled his eyes good-naturedly. “You were in the garden. You know as well as I that I did not kiss you, or touch you, or do anything other than catch you from a fall.”

“Yes, but if you had not followed me into the garden to tease me, there would have been no rumor.”

“And if you had not looked so damnably tempting since the first time I met you, perhaps I could not have followed you into that garden,” he said softly, his eyes tracing a path across her face.

“Tempting, or infuriating?”

“Both,” he replied.

“Ah. Well, if we agree to disagree on who was at fault, then you can hardly place the blame on me for ruining your life.”

“I most certainly can,” he replied swiftly. “You have turned over every plan I ever made for my life. Everything I thought true about myself, you proved false with impossible ease. You have changed me forever, Cecilia Repington,” he said, kissing her deeply before he finished, “and I will be grateful for it every day of my life.”

The End?