Page 43 of Trapped with the Forbidden Duke
He took her wrist, pulled her hand from his hair, and pressed a kiss to her palm. A pressure built between Edwina’s thighs, and for a terribly hot moment, she wondered how it would feel to have his mouth trail lower and kiss every inch of her.
The Duke’s eyes flicked down to where her dress bunched over their laps, inappropriate and entirely too revealing, even without showing anything directly. The hand he had kept on her hip slid over her gown, tugging it higher.
Her breath hitched, and she realized how she ached for this, even though she did not know the full extent ofthis.
Nerves sparked through her, and, as if the Duke had noticed, he took her chin between his fingers and brought her mouth back to his.
“I am not a begging man,” he murmured, his lips brushing hers, “but I would gladly beg for many more of these kisses.”
Edwina’s head was spinning. She was lost to the heat, the desire, and the strange intimacy of kissing. Her heart pounded in her chest, and she pressed closer to the Duke, feeling herself being lifted. When her dress fell back to her feet, the Duke had an arm around her waist, and she arched back to tilt her face up to his.
She was so lost in the kiss, in the sweet taste of his tongue, basking in something that felt secretive, selfish, and utterly indulgent, that she did not hear the door to the parlor slam open.
“Get your hands off her!”
Edwina pulled away from the Duke sharply, her lips parting in shock at the sight of her brother standing in the doorway.
Her brother, who barely looked able to keep himself upright, was flushed with anger, and the brunt of it was aimed at the Duke.
Edwina took another step away from the Duke and towards her brother. “Nicholas?—”
“Do not defend him,” her brother snarled. “He has dishonored you, yet he speaks to me about my honor.”
Edwina was caught between the two men, who were both staring one another down.
“Nicholas.” The Duke’s voice was quiet and calm, trying to appease the Earl. “It is nothing to get angry about?—”
“I let you into my home when I would much rather have sent you packing back to your lavish townhouse, or perhaps the countryside estate you justloveto hide away in. In fact, yes, go there, for it might be far enough from me.”
“Nicholas, please,” Edwina cried out. “His Grace is helping us.”
“I can see exactly what he is helping himself to.” Her brother turned his glare on her and then sneered at her. “Are you letting him, Edwina? Because if he is forcing himself on you?—”
“Do not dare suggest such a thing!” the Duke shouted, his temper flaring. “I am not such filth.”
The glare Nicholas gave them both was utterly scathing. He staggered into the room but paused after taking two steps.
“I have had enough of your presence here, Lucien. You have changed everything. You have run this household as though it was your own, so you may parade around like a hero, only to then set your sights on my sister.”
“Brother, you are making too great of a deal out of this!” Edwina insisted angrily. “Nothing has happened?—”
“I did say you were conspiring against me,” Nicholas snapped. “You have betrayed me, Edwina. You have betrayed the years I have spent without my so-called best friend. I thought we had always fought for one another.”
“From where I am standing, it seems as though you have left her to fight for herself,” the Duke countered. “Is it your guilt that feeds your accusations, Nicholas?”
“How dare you!” Nicholas roared.
With whatever strength he had—which seemed to be waning—he launched himself at the Duke.
“No!” Edwina cried out.
The two men knocked over the table where she had put her wine glass. The glass smashed, and for a moment, it was not hard to believe that the wine stain was blood, that one of them had gotten hurt.
Edwina cried out, rushing to them when Nicholas punched the Duke. The strength of a war-hardened man should have been enough to give him the upper hand, but she knew that laudanum had weakened him so much.
“Please, Nick, stop this!” she cried again, but her protest landed on deaf ears.
In a moment, the Duke had Nicholas overpowered and flat on his back.
