Page 21 of Good Duke Gone Far

A wash of red crept up her neck as she melted into him. “Not like that,” she murmured, slipping her hand across his chest, over his shoulders, and up into his hair.

He could die from her touch. It was altogether not enough and all too much at this moment. He wanted to tear her bodice and free those delectable mounds. Wanted her to tug at his clothing. And other parts of him.

“Like what then?”

“I thought you were…boring. And stuffy.”

“I am.”

Kat chuckled. “I can’t call what we just did boring.”

“Neither can I.”

He pulled her back to observe the seafoam green of her eyes, study it to notice a color change or not, depending on her mood.

“What did you–do you–think of me?” She dipped her head and drummed her fingers on the back of his neck.

There were so many possible answers to that question. So many dangerous answers. But this was Kat, who always spoke the truth–at least, as she knew it. She would want the truth from him.

“I thought you were selfish, spoiled, and mouthy.”

Her body stiffened against his and she made a move to lean away from him.

“But I think differently now.” He drew her in.

With a real or feigned harrumph, Kat yielded to his pull. “What do you think now?” She twirled some pieces of his hair between her fingers, and the sensation shot through his body, down his left leg, and then back up to his cock.

“I think I’ve just witnessed the most glorious creature finding herself against me.” He could feel her lungs tighten against his chest. When her eyes met his, they had turned a deep forest green color, closing in on night.

He wanted to stare at them for hours. That’s what he thought he wanted to do until she lifted herself on tiptoe and pressed a soft kiss to his jaw. “I did.” Another kiss up by his ear. “With you. And I don’t know why or how.” Her lips were trailing across his cheek, and he was hoping and praying they would come to meet his own lips again.

The softest pressure, almost non-existent, met the corner of his mouth.

It took all his willpower to hold back and wait to see if she wanted more. She rubbed her breasts against him, and he could feel the pointed nipples. God, how he wanted to lick them without any fabric in the way.

“But I think there’s more?” It was a question. A plea. An invitation. A sign.

“God, yes. There’s more.”

“Will you…give it to me?”

It was the sign he’d been waiting for. The sign for which he had been so patient and considerate. The sign that invited him to do all manner of wicked things with her. The sign that came from her, unsolicited. A sign freely given.

So what made him hesitate? Was it the fact that they were out in the wilderness and not in a proper bed? Was it the fact that she was Reggie’s sister, and he was supposed to be protecting her? Was it his internal moral compass? Was it the fact that he might actually want to stop and think about the consequences and their future? It was all of it and none of it.

But he had to listen to his gut.

“I will. If you still want it later. But not right now.” It was the hardest decision he had made in a long time. Even hindsight would never be able to tell him definitively if it was the right decision.

The current vision before him held no such ambivalence. Clouds stormed her eyes.

“I guess only time will tell on that one.” Kat pushed herself back and smoothed her hands down the front of her dress. Straight across her budding nipples, sweeping down her core. Along her thighs and then, whoosh, her hands slipped into her pockets.

She pulled out a sweetmeat, unwrapped it, and popped it into her mouth. Staring at him the entire time.

She savored it with a tongue across the candy once, twice, and then swallowed. Each movement was seared into his memory.

With a pivot on her heel, she stalked off toward the horse. “Let’s go, Muffin.”

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