Page 38 of His Ruined Duchess

She shook her head, her breath hurried and warm against his skin. “No. You… were my first kiss. My first real one. This is all… so new.”

God, I could cut glass with how the want consumes me.

Hugh was thrilled, positively beaming that his sweet Selina had only ever tastedhislips, felthistouch. And as much as he didn’t want to admit it, he was desperate to keep it that way.

“Hmm,” he hummed against her neck, nuzzling into the lovely scent of her. “You’re going to fall apart for me, Selina. You’re going to feel such pleasure from my touch.”

Sliding his hand from her breast to her hips, Hugh began to bunch up the fabric of her dress until he could reach underneath. The skin of Selina’s thigh was silk against his fingers, and she whimpered once more. Oh, how he could get lost in that sound for hours.

“Hugh, I—Oh, God.” The words tumbled from her as he teased her, stroking closer and closer to that blissful core of hers that he so longed to touch.

“You need to be quiet, Selina. I won’t have anyone coming down here and stealing this moment from me.”

She whined, and Hugh felt her hand brush along his back before the sensation disappeared. As he leaned forward to kiss her again, he found the edge of her hand. She’d sought to silence herself, but he could certainly provide that for her.

Gripping just a hair tighter on Selina’s throat, her hand abruptly left her mouth and moved to his hand, her nails digging into his flesh. The sting only served to ramp up the pleasure, and Hugh pressed his lips to hers just as he ran a finger across her seam.

“Ugh,” she squeaked, the noise muffled by his lips.

Hugh chuckled, whispering against her mouth, “You are so ready for me, Selina. Your bodycravesmy touch.”

He would give anything to see her face right now, to know what color pink her cheeks had turned, but he would not risk someone seeing her. Instead, Hugh focused on the sound of her rushed breaths and the muffled whimpers that bled through his kisses as he traced his finger back and forth over her split.

She was so responsive, and Hugh reminded himself that she had never been touched like this. Selina was a virgin, perfect, innocent, and ignorant.

I’m going to love teaching her, corrupting her.

Hugh moved slowly but insistently, using more and more pressure until his digit slid between her folds and was enveloped in warmth. He circled over the sensitive bud at the tip, knowing that it was a point that would make her go wild. She bucked against his hand, a cry nearly breaking free before he devoured it with another kiss.

“That’s it,” he mumbled as he joined a second finger with the first. “So blissfully slick for me. You’re heaven beneath my touch, Selina.”

Sliding them deeper, Hugh gently entered her. She was incredibly tight around his fingers, and it made the passionburning in his blood throb harder, his arousal leaking from him. Pumping in and out slowly, Hugh worked his precious Selina’s channel, loving how she trembled beneath him. If it weren’t for the wall, he was certain Selina would have collapsed.

“Hugh… Oh God, I—Ugh!”

She began to cry out, the release claiming her, but he crashed their mouths together once more, ensuring no one would hear her cries but him. Hugh relished every moment, every pulse of her body around him, and it was enough to have him crescendoing right along with her, releasing on the fabric that still contained him.

He’d never done that with a woman, not at all since he was a young man, but there was something about Selina, about how she gave herself to him and the exquisite perfection of her entire being, that took hold of him and wouldn’t let go.

“Ugh,” he groaned, dropping his head to Selina’s shoulder as she tried to catch her breath. “You are… perfection.”

Mournfully, Hugh began to slide his fingers free. He didn’t want this to be over. He didn’t want to go back into that damned ballroom only to watch his Selina flirt with whoever she might find. This moment had been theirs and theirs alone, and he wished for it to go on forever.

Which was worrying.

Whatever was happening between them, Hugh knew that this moment was far from the end of it.

Chapter Seventeen

The estate seemed especially quiet that morning. After a breakfast of no words whatsoever, Hugh excused himself to the study. He remained there uninterrupted for at least two hours, sulking in the silence. He hadn’t accomplished nearly as much work as he had hoped, and if he was honest with himself, it was because at any sound beyond the door, he would look up, hoping to see Selina.

It was ridiculous, utterly preposterous. They had both gotten carried away last night, but that was all it was. A silly mistake. He’d allowed his libido to run the show, and it had been unwise. Incredibly pleasurable but unwise. If his time with Selina had taught him anything—those lessons drilled into his mind—it was that existing in the aristocracy was not about enjoying oneself.

It was putting on a show, presenting the image you wished for others to see, and it appeared they had both forgotten that last night. Still, he would not let himself get so carried away again.

Of course. You… Last night was… It was nothing. It was nothing but a lapse in judgment. Nothing to be carrying on over.

He dove back into his work, content to focus on nothing more for the rest of the day. Shipments and trading, contracts that he needed to go over with his solicitor, would be the items he would focus on. Hugh was comfortable amongst them, and he would maintain this distance from the object that had been holding his attention so rapt. This was excellent. He would?—

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