Page 34 of His Ruined Duchess

Silence hung between them for an extended stretch, the rustle of the trees the only sound. They’d lost her sisters and mother somewhere along their promenade, having wandered in a different direction.

This moment of privacy between them lingered too strongly and felt too similar to the way it had in the ballroom when they’d lost themselves to the steps of that dance.

When Hugh spoke again, his voice was soft, his eyes never leaving hers. And he stepped closer toward her. Reducing the distance between them to just a foot.

“Are there not some advantages to marriage?” he asked. “Perhaps you might find someone who appreciates you for whoyou are? It is not impossible that an arrangement of marriage could be made for love as well as benefit.”

The seams of Selina’s stays dug into her skin. It felt too tightly laced, and yet she knew that was not the case. She’d taken care since the day of the Duke’s arrival to ensure they were laced comfortably. Why, then, did everything feel so restrictive when the Duke stared at her like that?

“I will admit that the notion of finding love in a marriage seems quite unlikely to me, Your Grace. It isexceedinglyuncommon amongst the aristocracy.”

Selina hated the breathy quality of her voice, the way she felt beneath Hugh’s stare as he closed still more of the distance between them.

“We have been studying privately for days now. Are you still incapable of calling me Hugh?”

Her cheeks warmed, a swell of something intoxicating in her blood. Selina blinked, forcing whatever it was down into the depths of her being. And still, they had grown closer. They were quite familiar with each other now. Perhaps he had earned the use of her name.

“Hugh,” Selina said quietly, dropping her stare to the walkway beneath them for a moment. “And I will allow you to call me Selina. You—It is no longer inappropriate.”

“Selina.”

Her entire body vibrated with the sound of her name from Hugh’s lips. It was nearly sinful the way it spilled from him, and the heat beneath her skin ratcheted higher. This had not been where she expected this conversation to go at all. Surely, the Duke would see now that it was time to return to the others and put this discussion to bed.

But then he drew nearer, his voice a gentle whisper when he said, “And perhaps, Selina, if you were to wed once more, you might finally feel what it is like for a man to claim you.”

Her cheeks set ablaze, her eyes widening in shock so strong that she nearly crumpled to the ground. She hastily looked around them, ensuring that no one was aware of Hugh’s words, of how closely he stood next to her.

Selina took only a mild comfort in the knowledge that they were indeed alone because she also quickly realized that the Duke had secretly maneuvered her beneath the lengthy branches of a wisteria tree. The light purple flowers bloomed around them, releasing their heady fragrance and creating a curtain behind which they were practically invisible.

Only inches separated Hugh from Selina, and her breath caught in her throat when his eyes fell to her lips.

“It still boggles my mind that you have yet to be claimed by a man. How your husband, regardless of his age, managed to keep himself from you is a miracle indeed.”

“Hugh, this is?—”

“This is what?” he interrupted. “Please tell me because I have been at a loss for days now. What happened in the ballroom the other day? Why is it that I cannot get the sight of you out of my mind?”

Selina did not know whether to feel embarrassed, guilty, or flattered by the words that were falling from Hugh’s lips. In any case, her heart beat so loudly that she could hear each furious pulse in her ears, screaming at her for something unknown. He slipped closer even still, brushing the wisteria branches away from the trunk of the tree so that he could press her back against the bark.

A tiny gasp escaped her, but she was powerless to do more. The intensity of Hugh’s gaze was the same as that day of their dance lesson, the same as the day she spied him in the library. Heat billowed inside her, the clawing need she’d felt before rearing its head once more. Selina’s stare fell to Hugh’s mouth.

She had kissed him once before.

They had said nothing of it, both of them silently agreeing that it had been a mistake, a fluke. Why on God’s green earth was she thinking of doing it again?

“I… I do not know, Hugh…”

“Ugh,” he nuzzled into her hair, breathing her in as his nose brushed against the crook of her neck, “to hear you say my name… It does something to me, Selina.Youhave done something to me.”

“What could I have?—”

But her words were silenced as Hugh nipped at the sensitive skin behind her ear. Buzzing filled her head, and everywhere the Duke touched her, little streams of fire gathered beneath her skin. Her core clamped, arousal blooming from within her even as she tried to push it away.

Selina was too lost to it all. Hugh was incomprehensible. But the allure had been unmistakable since the moment she’d laid eyes on him. What was it about this man that could draw her into the depths of depravity so easily?

It should not be this way. Ugh, what is wrong with me? I shouldn’t allow—damn!

But like fighting slumber when you were bone tired, resisting this connection between them proved to be futile. She looked up into Hugh’s magnificent green eyes, the way they shone like peridots, and she was spellbound and at his mercy.

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