Page 37 of A Bride for the Forbidden Duke
He nodded sharply, and she expected him to push her away and retreat once again, the way he always did any moment they got too close, but the Duke stayed. He did not move his arm, and she felt the warmth of his skin through her dress.
Another beat passed, her heart still racing wildly. Her chest rose and fell with her own ebbing panic and shock of almost falling.
His eyes darted over her face, and she went to ask him what was the matter when he leaned in a moment later and kissed her.
He pressed his mouth to hers, pushing her back against the wall, his arm tightening around her waist. Heat climbed up Veronica’s stomach, but as soon as the kiss registered with her, he pulled away, his mouth parted.
He looked hesitant.
Please do not pull away, she silently begged.
But then he was kissing her again, looking for all the world like desire ravaged him, and kissing her would be his completion.
She moaned quietly at the intensity with which he kissed her. His body pressed to hers, and she arched into him at the coaxingof his arm, her hips flush with his. He inhaled a ragged breath through his nose when his tongue brushed her lower lip, and she parted her mouth for him, allowing him deeper into her mouth.
The slide of his tongue against hers was heaven, and her eyes fluttered closed, lost in the sensation of how the Duke kissed with every inch of anger he often reserved for her. As if he chased both desire and anger, pouring them both into her.
His hand on her waist, from the arm still wrapped around her, moved higher, brushing the curve of her breast, and she moaned softly at the teasing feeling when his thumb dragged over her nightgown, coaxing her nipple to harden.
As if her moan snapped something in him, the Duke pulled back.
“No,” she whispered, bemoaning the loss.
“Do not think I shall leave you with only a kiss. Not when you make noises like that for only this meager touch,” he told her, his voice rough as he teased her nipple once again.
Another soft sound came from her, and she watched his gaze go hard and dark, sultry, as he lifted his chin in order to tangle his fingers in his cravat knot.
“Tell me, Duchess,” he whispered as he began to untie his cravat, leaning in to press his mouth to her ear.
She angled her head closer to him as pleasure shivered through her.
His hand gripped her hip. “Has anybody gone to their knees for you before?” He spoke the words messily onto her skin, his fingers tangling in her unbound hair to pull her head aside to groan into her neck, pulling her flush against him.
A rough noise emanated from the Duke as he latched his mouth onto the sensitive skin, kissing his way up to her jaw before pulling back.
He yanked his cravat off, and the smile he gave her was positively wicked as he smoothed out the fabric between his fingers.
“Answer me,” he told her, his voice dipping dangerously low.
“I—” she whispered. “No.”
“Good,” he murmured. “Then allow me to be the first to show you how a man’s tongue will please you.”
Before she could askhow, that grip he had on her hip turned her around roughly, and Veronica found herself pressed with her chest to the wall, and her hips jutted out.
She heard him mutter a curse under his breath before he was pressed against her, his mouth hot on the back of her neck. She let out a soft groan as she tried to arch into the touch, but theDuke only grasped her wrists and yanked them behind her back, restricting her movement.
“Your Grace?—”
Silk wrapped around her wrists.
“Stop.” A harsh yank of the silk ends of his cravat had her gasping. “Talking.”
Indeed, following his orders, she did stop and turned her head to look at him over her shoulder, her gaze heavy with desire. He met hers unabashed as she watched him fall to his knees behind her.
His eyes raked up the length of her body.
A duke… on his kneesfor her. The thought was heady, and her body tinged with what would follow.
