Page 55 of His Ruined Duchess

“I do not want to leave.” She met his stare, everything about her both shy and hungry. “I want you, Hugh. Please. Please take me.”

He had tried. He had tried to keep Selina away, to do what he knew a better man would have done, but all that was gone now. Hugh surged forward, taking Selina by the shoulders and spinning her around until her back was pressed against the bookshelf. He pinned her there, towering over her as he stared down into her shocked expression.

“Remember that I warned you, Selina.”

And then he crashed his lips down on hers, keeping her pressed to the wood that housed her precious books before maneuvering Selina’s hands above her head and holding them tight in one hand.

Selina had wanted to relinquish her virtue, and Hugh was now going to claim it as his forever more through the evening until the sun was up.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Selina had been nervous down to the very last fiber of her being before she came into this study. She had sat with her decision for so long on her bed in her room, watching the embers in her fireplace grow dimmer and dimmer. But this was precisely what needed to happen.

Her obsession and compulsion to be around Hugh, to be with him, to touch him, needed to be dealt with, and the only solution that she had arrived at was to indulge it for one single night.

The furious beating of her heart had been so thunderous inside her head throughout the entire walk downstairs. When she reached Hugh’s office, she had almost walked away again. But she found within herself the strength to push forward, and she rapped gently upon his door.

When she saw him there, the familiar desire to be closer to him, to touch him, to reach out and admire the feather-light silk of his hair, consumed her once more. The rapid thrumming of herheart had never calmed, had never steadied, though she believed that she had handled herself as well as she could.

It was when he had almost left. It was when Hugh had nearly turned her down and walked away, leaving the study and not returning, that the panic had truly almost overwhelmed her. Selina had been so sure that Hugh had felt the same way she did. Hearing his dismissal had nearly crushed her.

Still, it had come from a place of wanting to protect her, it seemed. To shield her reputation from being damaged by his own. It had given her a moment longer to push forward.

Though he had warned her, as he said. Hugh had told her that if she agreed to this, if she allowed him to claim her virtue, as she had said that she wanted, he would not hold back. There was a slight tremor of terror that still rippled through her now, even as Hugh’s tongue wound against her own. But there was nothing about that sensation that diminished the ever-burning fire within her that demanded more of Hugh’s presence to feed it.

Her hands were now pinned above her head, the edges of the bookshelves behind her pressing into her body. She could feel one at the back of her wrists and another in her spine. While the twinge of discomfort was there, so too was the longing for more —more and more and more.

The scent of Hugh surrounded her, the deep musk of his cologne and his taste lingered with that of whiskey. He did not seem addled which made her feel more confident about how thismight progress. And so the smoky peat taste on his tongue was something that she could lose herself to and enjoy just as much as the way his firm touch grounded her wrists to the shelf over her head.

Hugh’s other hand reached around to the back of her, finding her rear and gripping it tightly. She squeaked against his lips, surprised but wanton. The memories of what they had done in that shadowed hallway at the party leaped to the front of her mind. Warmth and slickness gathered between her thighs, and the desire for him to claim her roared all the louder.

Eyes squeezed tightly, Selina focused on the feeling of Hugh’s fingers against her skin. He held her with such intensity, the kiss a potent battle that she allowed Hugh to win completely. He pressed her back against the shelves with such hunger that Selina had already begun to moan against his mouth, and he had barely touched her.

Then Hugh’s fingers scooped up the fabric of her shift, a similar move to the one done in the dark hall. Selina clamped down around nothing, silently begging for Hugh to touch her once more, to allow her to fall over that edge again. She did not know if it would be the same were he only to claim her with his body, and she wanted that sensation. She craved it.

“Do not move your hands.” Hugh’s raspy voice was muffled against her lips, but as he pulled his hand free, she kept her wrists held up over her head. “Perfect. Just like that.”

The hand that had held her wrists skirted down the side of her neck, briefly squeezing as he returned to kissing her breathlessly. But then it dropped lower, finding the swell of her breast. The thin chemise she wore did very little to dull the sensation, and the heat of Hugh’s palm settled into her flesh.

His fingers found the pebbled peak of her breast, pinching it and rolling it between them. Selina yelped again, arching against Hugh’s touch as he excited her nerves. Again, there was that slight edge of pain, but it swirled through her alongside the pleasure, driving it higher.

Suddenly, his hips pressed to her front as Hugh had the full length of her chemise clutched in his other hand. His knee came up, splitting her legs apart, and Selina could feel the hard press of his length against her. It terrified and aroused her. She was so utterly naïve to the intricacies of sex, and her mind swam at the possibilities.

As Hugh set his foot back down, his hand found the inside of her thigh. Selina gasped, but it quickly melted into a moan as he massaged the sensitive flesh. He was much quicker now, moving his fingers to her center and smoothing them against the slippery seam.

“Ugh!” Selina cried out against his mouth.

Hugh pulled himself back as he teased her. She flickered her eyes open to see him staring down at her like a starved wolf. He hovered his lips over hers, seemingly relishing in her little whines as he continued to toy with her.

“Do not wake the house, sweet Selina.” He nipped at her bottom lip. “But I must say that I adore the sounds you make. I would hear them every day if I had my wish.”

Selina did not allow herself to read into that statement. Instead, she permitted herself to moan and pant as Hugh worked her seam, slipping a finger and then two inside her as she rocked her hips against his hand in search of more.

The fullness hit her immediately, the feeling of holding Hugh’s fingers inside her like that. She thrust her hips forward as he sank them deeper, a stifled howl breaking free. It was this immaculate dance between them. Hugh pushed forward, only to retreat, and Selina returned the movement in kind.

“And will you squeeze for me, sweet Selina?” Hugh used his free hand to pinch her nipple once more, and Selina clamped down around his digits. “Ah, yesss. There it is, dearest.”

Embarrassment and arousal burned her cheeks. She was so very slick, so needy for Hugh’s touch, but it still felt so vulnerable to be exposed to Hugh like this, to be pinned here against the wall, taking him so wildly. The pressure on her peaked bud was brutal, and the need for his touch only increased. Each time he squeezed her or rolled the sensitive flesh between his fingers, Selina felt her body clench around Hugh’s fingers, drawing her closer to that edge.

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