Page 67 of The Heiress Gets a Duke
She could not help but poke the beast. “Oh, then you are fine with me taking a lover?”
He stared at her as he dropped the pen, leaving an ink blot on the parchment. “You are intentionally provoking me.” He paced back to the fireplace.
She was and they both knew it. She wanted him to be as filled with impotent and restless anger as she was. “I am simply hoping to clarify things between us, and I find it odd that you don’t prefer to include a provision on my having a lover. What else am I to conclude but that you don’t mind?”
“I do mind.” He faced away from her, staring into the flames, his voice rumbling with barely constrained emotion.
“I find that difficult to believe. This is simply a transaction to you. You need a wife who comes with significant capital, and I happen to be that woman. I don’t know the figure you and my father have discussed, but I have read the papers, and I know the rumors say two hundred thousand dollars—”
He turned toward her, and a sound she could only describe as a growl issued from deep in his chest. Before she could move, he was pulling her against him, one hand at the small of her back, the other delving into her hair to gently cradle the back of her head.
“You are mine, and I will not share you with any man. I want us to be done with this negotiation.”
Her instinct should have been to put distance between them, but instead of pushing him away, her hands moved up his shoulders and curved around them. Her body pressed closer to the hard strength of his, thrilled to be held by him again. This was the emotion she craved from him. “No, you wanted this negotiation.”
“I wantyou, August.” The intensity of his gaze only inches away burned into her. “I want the woman who fought me at every turn. The woman who knows that this entire negotiation is archaic and wrong.”
Her heart pounded, but she was afraid to hope that his words meant what she wanted them to mean. That he, too, wanted that indefinablemorewith her. “Archaic and wrong because you believe certain things should not be discussed?”
His breathing came hard, almost as if he had been running. His breath was hot on her lips. Somehow, the inches between their mouths had reduced to a mere fraction. “Because I want us to be more than a business transaction.”
His lips crushed down on hers, and she melted into his kiss.
Chapter 19
What draws men and women together is stronger than the brutality and tyranny which drive them apart.
Millicent Fawcett
Kissing him made all of the fury and aggression vanish. They simply slid away like warm honey under the onslaught of such tenderness, for it was not a frenzied, chaotic thing. While the initial touch of their lips had bordered on fierce, he had gentled her, moving to cup her face and take her mouth in a tender and slow caress. The kisses melted one into the next until she was a trembling thing of need. August clung to the lapels of his coat, suddenly aware of the difference in their clothing as her unencumbered breasts pressed against the stiff fabric of his dinner attire. Yet it hardly mattered in her search for the comfort he brought her. The heat of his body became a part of her.
She gasped, drawing in much-needed breath, and squeezed her eyes shut. He moved; whether it was to pull back, she couldn’t say, but she grabbed his arms and held him. He made a soft groan, and his hand slid up to cup her head.
“August,” he whispered, soft and barely more thanbreath of sound. “If I could save you from this, I would. Forgive me for not understanding earlier?” He placed petal-soft kisses along her jaw and neck.
“For not understanding what?” she whispered.
“That I need you for you and not your wealth.”
He drew back then but only so far that she could see his face clearly in the firelight and the single lamp that burned on the table. His eyes were tender and full of a dawning wonder. It made the ache in her throat expand. “I want to shield you from this. Let me negotiate with your father. I promise that once we are married, you will not have to worry.”
“No.” She gave her head a shake because eloquent words had deserted her, and she needed him to understand she meant it. “I don’t need a shield.”
“How thoughtless of me.” A smile curved his lips, and he pressed a kiss to her mouth. “You need someone to fight beside you.”
His eyes were serious as he said that, as if he meant the words and was not humoring her. “Do you mean that?” she asked, because she dared not believe he could understand.
“I do. We will do this together.”
His hands roved down her back to fill his palms with her bottom. An involuntary gasp escaped her as he squeezed and brought her against the hard ridge contained in his trousers. Molten heat burned low in her belly and throbbed between her legs. Without corset or petticoats, she could feel him all along her front, except the very thickness of his own clothes was in the way. Her hands fumbled their way inside his coat and pushed it down off his shoulders. He released her long enough to shrug out of it and allow it to drop to the floor before reclaiming her. His mouth took hers, tongue delving in to taste her. Her fingers tore at the buttons of his waistcoat as his mouth dragged across her jaw to nibble at ear. An erotic shiver rocked her to her core, and the insistent throb between her thighs grew more intense.
“I love being able to finally feel you.” His voice was a harsh rasp as his mouth moved down the column of herneck in hot, openmouthed kisses. She let out a sound of satisfaction as one large hand kneaded her bottom and the other covered her aching breast to shape it and revel in the unencumbered touch. His thumb brushed over the sensitive tip, tugging at the need building inside her. Never had anything felt more gratifying.
Her hips moved against him in an unconscious rhythm, desperate to get closer. He groaned into her neck and held her tight against his rigid length. Tugging his shirttail from his trousers, she pushed her hands beneath to find his smooth skin and the light furring of hair that abraded her palms. It was only then that she realized this groping wouldn’t be enough. She wanted to explore all of him.
“I want to see you.”
His answer was immediate. He let her go to quickly unbutton his shirt and toss it away. The firelight kissed him, turning his skin a pale gold. She marveled at how his muscles were clearly defined, like a sculpture. Her fingertips explored him with a will all their own, tracing the line that bisected the ridges on his stomach to where it disappeared into the high waist of his trousers. His erection was clearly outlined beneath the fabric, but she wasn’t quite bold enough to explore there just yet. Instead, she moved upward to the twin muscles of his chest. She squeezed gently, marveling at how well-formed he was.
