Page 56 of His Ruined Duchess

“Please… please, Hugh. I am… so close…” She pleaded in a muffled murmur against the Duke’s lips. Selina’s core ached,the very tip of her humming as it begged for the sensation as ardently as her words did.

“Yes, Selina. Fall apart for me.” He moved back and forth quicker, his thumb finding the nub at her seam’s tip and working it in rough rubs.

“Ah!” Hugh swallowed her cries with his kisses just as Selina found her release. It was ecstasy, and he had still not fully claimed her. “Hugh… Hugh, please. I… I need you inside me.”

It was a flash of movement as Hugh slid his hand free, only to use both of them to hoist her up. His hips shifted forward, and Selina gripped the shelf over her head to steady herself. She did not know when he had released the fall of his trousers, lost to the climax as she had been, but the blunt head of his shaft found her entrance and nudged between her folds.

“You are mine, Selina.” Hugh’s fingers dug into her rear as he held her aloft. “I do not care one bloody bit what anyone else might say. You aremine.”

The words seared her as much as Hugh’s touch, and as they left him, he drove his length deep inside her. She called out, Hugh’s lips muffling some of her cries. The fullness and stretch were the most intense sensations she’d ever felt. It was almost so overwhelming that Selina arched against his hold by instinct, her body seeking out something to do with all the chaos filtering through her veins.

And then he began to pump his hips, thrusting in and out of her in pointed strokes. More pleasure and pain mingled in her blood as he filled her, his length bottoming out inside her before Hugh rocked back and did it again. Selina almost feared that she would not be able to take the way this fullness pounded against her consciousness. Still, with each second, each stroke, her body relaxed to the sensations, melted around Hugh, and took him as only she could.

It was perfection.

Tremendous arousal claimed her as Hugh did, and Selina rocked her hips furiously against his efforts, gripping the shelf overhead until her fingers ached. She did not care about them one bit. The books behind her jolted in their homes, and as they continued, several bounced their way to the edge of the shelf and toppled onto the floor.

Again, Selina did not care. All there was was the feeling of Hugh inside her, claiming her virginity. All there was was the connection between them finally being allowed to burn as brightly as they desired, uninhibited and free.Shewas free. At last, after years of longing and self-sacrifice, Selina was embracing a freedom she had never known, and she would keep the memory of it with her forever.

“The way you feel wrapped around me, Selina.” Hugh’s words were punctuated with harsh breaths, and he thrust into her. “It is beyond divine. Ugh, an angel giving itself to a demon.”

The words singed her skin. She had long wondered what her first time might be like, and this was hardly what she expected. Still, Selina was at a loss to describe the all-encompassing bliss that surged through her now. It was raw and passionate and unbridled. It was everything she never allowed herself to be.

A brief flicker of sorrow struck her at the notion that this would also be the last time that she enjoyed pleasure like this. But she did not regret it. This one act would last her through the end of her days.

The reality she despised was gone in this moment, only joy and fulfillment as Hugh gave himself to her as she did for him. The frenzy between them rumbled harder and faster, cascading toward another release. She could feel Hugh thicken inside her, and he slowed.

Selina reached an arm around his neck, keeping him close. “What are you doing?”

“I cannot complete… Should you fall?—”

“I have finished my courses only two days ago. You will not…” Selina swallowed, smiling as she began to resume their rhythm. “Please, Hugh. I… want to feel you find your release with me.”

Hugh’s eyes closed as he released a heavy breath, but then he joined her, that mind-numbing sensation of him sliding in and out of her returning. They met each other’s rhythm, a potent, intense push and pull that drove Selina up to that mountainous cliff once more.

They ran toward it together, faster and faster, that thickening of Hugh’s shaft inside her stimulating all the nerves she had. He hit this perfect point within her, and stars burst behind her closed lids as she careened off into the sky. Selina moaned loudly, and Hugh claimed her mouth as a gush of warmth settled within her.

His hips stuttered, and slowly, Selina found herself back on earth again. Their breathing was ragged, fluttering her mussed hair that hung in her face. Hugh’s forehead dropped to hers, and the two of them stayed there in that moment for as long as they could, breathing each other in and finding their calm once more.

Selina was no longer a virgin, and tomorrow, she would return to her wedding preparations, having put all this behind her.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Birds sang outside Selina’s window as the sunlight slipped through the openings in her curtains. She stirred, blinking her eyes several times to adapt to the light. A pleasant soreness took over her body, and she forced herself to stretch.

Everything had changed, and yet… nothing had changed.

Selina finally opened her eyes fully and sat up in bed. The soft fabric of her blanket around her was at odds with the sharp sensations her mind was still focusing on. Prodding around near her spine with her fingers, Selina found the tender spot where her back had pressed against the bookshelf.

That ache would be a constant reminder of what had happened the night before. A strange part of her wished that she might carry the mild discomfort with her forever, even though she knew nothing would allow her to forget what Hugh and she had done together.

I am no longer a virgin.Selina sighed, knowing it would be a secret she kept until her demise.I have been claimed. Finally, the temptation for Hugh has been eliminated.

A strange sense of peace overwhelmed her. Selina was a different woman, certainly, but this would allow her to carry on with her duties undistracted. She would be able to marry Magnus without issue or reservation, and the idea that he might seek a lover outside their marriage would not bother her as much because she had done this herself.

Yes, it is all for the good. The matter is resolved at last.

Selina swung her legs over the mattress and stepped down onto the cool floorboards. She proceeded to the vanity where she kept her robe and slipped it on over her chemise so that she could call down for hot water. The ache in her muscles—as well aslower—would be well-served by the heat, and she could start her day fresh.

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