Page 59 of Five Nights with a Rakish Duke
The pleasure was unlike anything she had ever known. It had a quivering power over her and was beginning to build. Penelope tried to reach toward Asher, to tell him anything of what was about to happen. Somehow the pleasure was growing in a sort of crescendo, like some fine piano piece building toward a climax of sound and melody, then it crashed with a wave of pleasure smothering her.
She lost control of her body as she contracted around him, throwing her hands on the rug and gripping onto it as her knuckles turned white. When he slowly released her, touching her gently in the after tremors of her pleasure, she looked up to him, seeing him flushed with a great smile on his face.
“You do not know how long I have wanted to do that,” he said in a whisper as he licked his lips. The sign of him loving the taste of her made her quiver and hold her hands to her chest.
“You have?”
“I told you, I would not break my promise to you. Only if you wished me to.” He crawled over her, lowering his body over hers. She rested one hand on the necklace and reached up to Asher with the other arm, wrapping it around him and pulling him down toward her.
He nestled himself into the crook of her neck, bestowing more soft kisses there as they both breathed heavily, coming down from the high.
“Asher…” she said softly, not knowing what else to say. She closed her eyes tightly, clinging onto him. She longed to tell him what it had meant to her, so much more than a rake and one of his ladies.
Oh God… I am falling in love with him.
The feeling struck her so acutely that she released her hold on the necklace and clung to him with both arms, winding her hands in his hair and across his back. Maybe she couldn’t have him forever, but she could have him for this moment, and she wasn’t going to let go of this moment very easily.
She wondered if something else would happen now. Would he wish to go further? His length was clearly hardened; she could tell from the way he moved the two of them together in this gentle rocking and teasing motion. It brushed her between the covering of his trousers, making her moan. Yet he did not. They stayed exactly where they were, arms looped around each other, and his lips buried in the crook of her neck.
“I’m already wondering when we can have our fifth night,” he whispered the words against her skin. Something about it woke her up. Her eyes shot open again, her reason breaking through the daze of pleasure.
What have I done?She was falling in love with a man that only wanted one more night with her, nothing more.
“I… I need to go,” she said, releasing her hold on him.
“I beg your pardon? Now?” he asked in surprise as he lifted himself up to brace his weight on his hands. “Penny, how can you think of leaving after what we just –”
“I need to go,” she repeated again. She moved the two of them and pushed into his chest. He capitulated to her, rolling them so that she was on top and could extricate herself. She clambered to her feet, lowering her skirts and stumbling as the aftermaths of the waves of pleasure she had just experienced still rocked her body.
“Penny? What is wrong? Did you not like what we did?” he asked, jumping to his feet too. She couldn’t let him think the worst. She turned back to him, reached up and kissed him. The effect was silencing as what was meant to be a small kiss developed until they were both grasping onto one another, the desire and passion taking over. When they parted, he was clearly trying to continue the kiss, but she pushed herself away from him.
“I loved it,” she confessed, “but I cannot stay here. I must go. I cannot stay until the morning.”
“Then stay five more minutes at least, please?” he asked, walking toward her.
“I… can’t.” She reached for her reticule that had been discarded on a nearby chair. Her paisley shawl was somewhere, but all thoughts of trying to collect the shawl vanished from her mind. She was much more concerned with escaping the house, escaping the power Asher had over her body and her heart. “Good night, Asher.”
“Penny, no!” He was walking after her, into the corridor, but she left him all the same. “Please, stay a few minutes more at least.”
“Our fourth night is over,” she said softly and reached for the door. As she flung it open and stepped out into the night, walking around the house to the carriage that awaited her, the chill of the summer night settled into her bones, contrasting the warmth and pleasure she had experienced minutes before.
What have I done?The question ran through her mind repeatedly as she reached for the carriage.
There was a sound nearby. Penelope flicked her head around, certain for a second that she saw a person’s shadow walking between the buildings, watching her. Then the shadow vanished, and she shook herself, figuring it was in her imagination.
“I need to get out of here.” She clambered into the carriage as quickly as she could, wrapping her arms around herself as she sat back in the seat.
What she and Asher had would soon be over, and that thought hurt her more than she ever thought it could.
* * *
“No, they’re still out there,” Asher muttered to himself. He had suspected he had seen the figure lurking outside of his house the night before, yet when Penny had arrived, he had grown quickly distracted, deciding that he was overreacting. The figure could just be some passing beggar hiding in the nearby doorway in order to shelter from the rain. “Then why are they still there now?”
He had to face the fact that he was wrong. That figure with its head angled toward Asher’s house was clearly watching him.
The early hours of the morning were quickly slipping away into the bright morning. With Asher changed for the day, he was hovering by the window upstairs on the landing, looking out to the nook in the house along where this figure was standing. From the shadows caused by the eaves of the house, he couldn’t see the figure’s face. Even the clothes were cast in shadow, and from the darkness of the fabric, it was impossible to discern any distinguishable features about them.
“Why would someone be watching this house?” Whoever it was, such things did not bode well. Frustrated, Asher walked away from the upstairs window, hurrying down the stairs and into the sitting room where he flung back the curtain to have a closer look at the figure.
