Page 77 of A Deal with her Forbidden Duke
“I wish you would.”
“Do you fear I might take you for myself and let nobody else ever find you?” he laughed. “I am so terribly dangerous, Duchess. In fact,sodangerous, you likely should leave and return to Silverton without me.”
He teased but she stepped back, a smirk on her face as she lifted her hands to the sleeves of her gown.
His eyes took her in, sweeping her from head to toe appreciatively. Not breaking eye contact, she let her dress pool to her ankles, bearing her corset and shift beneath. She shivered under his gaze.
“Well?” she said. “You must help me remove the rest.”
“With pleasure.” His voice was rough as he came to her, his hands already lifting to the fastenings of her corset.
Quickly, he pulled it free and then off of her, while she pulled her shift over her head. This time, her hands did not tremble. Instead, she felt bold as the breeze snaked between her legs, and her nipples pebbled.
“You are aroused,” she noted, glancing between his legs.
“You are surprised?” There was a growl to his question as he roughly yanked off his own clothes, bearing himself to her as much as she did to him.
She shivered with each inch of skin bared of his, every line of muscle and tapered line of his honed body.
“You are beautiful,” he told her. “And the only thing better than coupling with you in the comfort of a chamber is doing it right here, seeing how you glow in the sunset’s colors. You are magnificent, Madeleine.”
“You say such things and yet you are made from bronze in the sun. A beautiful statue from legends, surely.” She laughed at her own words. “And yet I imagine I do not need to broaden your ego.”
“Keep broadening,” he instructed. “For it is working wonders with the way you are looking at me.”
“Indeed,” she breathed, glancing down at his length, proud and erect.
“Lay down on the shore,” he told her. “I do not care for all the water, and the wine, for I only wish to drink from you.”
Her breath shortened at the bold declaration, and when she did not move, he took a step towards her. “I am dangerous, am I not?”
“You aresovery dangerous,” she said, grinning.
“Then you should run.”
He took off towards her, and Madeleine cried out, turning and running towards the sea. She splashed into the shore, aware he chased her, and the thrill of it sang through her.
She barely reached the waves before a weight pushed against her, felling her entirely. Her body crashed to the sand, the waves lapping at the side of her body, Alexander on top of her.
His face was harsher in this light, the sunset casting the lines of his face even sharper.
“Lie still,” he whispered, already folding his body over hers.
His hard length pressed to her thigh. His mouth dragged over hers, kissing her briefly, before he moved over her jaw, her chin, her neck.
Beyond, he went, peppering kisses along her collarbone and navel, licking over her hardened nipples.
She had been ashamed of her body once upon a time, aware she carried more curves than most women, blaming that for Donald’s lack of desire for her, even as she had been thankful for that lack. But any doubt disappeared with Alexander’s exploring mouth on her skin.
He groaned as if she was a feast and he indulged as he lowered his face between her legs.
“I have thought of this ever since I tasted you in the carriage,” he told her.
Rough desire coated his voice. He pressed a kiss to her folds, and she gasped, jerking with the sensation.
“I have craved another taste. No wine, no decadent feast, can ever compare. I believe you have ruined me, Madeleine, for even the finest things one can consume.”
She moaned softly, hands sliding into his hair. Already, she felt sensitive. The cool water lapping around them, and the soft powder of sand beneath her body, and Alexander’s tongue already delving into her—it all had her shivering against him.
