Page 37 of Duke of Destruction
He hadn’t just sworn in front of her, hadn’t just insulted her family. No, he had used an oath to insult herdead kinsman.
To his utter astonishment, she let out a surprised peal of laughter.
“He was, in his way,” she agreed, “not that anyone would have dared say as much to his face. He was powerful and grand and he made sure that his family reaped the rewards of his grasping ambition.” Her mouth pulled into a lopsided smile as she turned to face him fully, the holly leaf cradled between her palms. “But he was harsh on anyone whom he did not see as fitting in with his way of building the world. And I have no doubt that that harshness left more scars than those he left behind will ever truly realize.”
When she reached for him, it was to hand him the holly leaf. Percy knew that.
But his rational mind couldn’t keep up with the crashing realization that Catherine—at least this side of her, this secret part—was not at all what he expected.
She was not like her grandfather, the man he’d so hated.
Behind that primness and propriety, there was genuine kindness in her.
He was pulling her in for a kiss before he even realized what he was doing.
She gasped into his mouth, and it tasted so sweet. She was so sweet, like a confection he’d never dared indulge in, with her own little bite of tartness beneath.
Lemonade, he thought madly. She was that first perfect sip of mouth puckering lemonade on a hot day.
Still, just because he wanted to drink deeply didn’t mean heshould.
“Catherine,” he groaned against her mouth as her hands fluttered to his shoulders, resting there so lightly. “Tell me to stop.”
She hesitated for only the slightest moment. Percy lived a lifetime in that moment, the agony of waiting far outstripping the length of the pause.
Then she shook her head.
“Don’t stop,” she told him.
He dove back in to devour her mouth once more.
CHAPTER 10
Of all the things that Catherine should not be doing, kissing the Duke of Seaton in the woods surely topped the list.
But God, she wanted to. And she so rarely did things just because she wanted to do them.
And the duke… Well, he seemed like he was unconstrained by things likeshouldandshouldn’t.
After all, he had insulted her grandfather, a man so powerful that even now, two decades after his death, people spoke of him in hushed, reverent tones.
Shereallyshouldn’t kiss the duke for doing that. She loved her family, was loyal to them.
But she wasn’t thinking about her family or her legacy or her obligations as she pressed herself up on her toes so that she could kiss him even harder.
“Catherine,” he groaned when her body came fully flush with his. “I—we?—”
“Do you want to stop?” she asked, feeling delirious with her own boldness as she pressed a kiss to his cheek, then his jaw. It was only midafternoon, but there was already a faint rasp of stubble there.
“Fuck,” he said, sounding pained. “No.”
The triumph that surged through her was nearly as pleasurable as the heat of his touch.
He wrapped a strong arm around her waist, holding her up and against him as he plundered her mouth anew. It was a strange, consuming sensation, the way he tangled his tongue with hers as they kissed, something that made her want to cry out for more even as he held her so tightly against him. His fingers tightened against her ribcage, and that press, each fingertip distinct even though her stays, made her knees go weak.
She half-stumbled. He caught her, moving forward as she went back, then continuing, until her back met the solid wood of one of the massive oaks that made up the forest.
“Yes?” he asked her, pulling back just enough that he could look into her eyes.
