Page 84 of Claimed By Her Forbidden Duke
Penelope was left feeling forlorn, watching after him, but as soon as he left the dining hall, she exhaled in relief. Her cheeks warmed at the prospect of seeing Edmund again.
However, when she retired to her room, she found a note on her bed. That same, swirling handwriting she was growing to crave seeing on that thick, creamy paper.
Penelope,
Please excuse the rushed and late note. I hope this reaches you in time. It seems we have been offered another night together, for Julian has been held up by a client tonight.
I must see you.
A carriage will be waiting, and if you have eaten dinner, then we shall simply skip right to dessert this time.
Sincerely,
A very greedy duke who must get his hands on you immediately.
* * *
Greedy hands grabbed her as soon as she entered through the back door of Julian’s house, a mouth already on hers as the door was kicked shut behind her. Her back was pinned to it, hands already roaming.
“You came.” His voice was breathy, his lips skimming down to her neck, already venturing beyond the silken neckline of her dress.
She could feel how he ached for her already, and she had the vulgar thought to simply pull up her skirt and let him enter her right there. No preamble, no more waiting.
“It has been days, and it has felt like an eternity.”
“You kept me waiting,” Penelope told him, her voice light and teasing, tilting her head back.
This was all so new to her, and yet she felt bolder and bolder beneath Edmund’s hands. He was still the Duke who intimidated her, but she had pulled back a veil and revealed another man beneath. A man who yearned for her body as she yearned for his. A man with a cutting glare yet attentive touches. Roughness meeting gentleness between the sheets.
“Juliankept me waiting,” he all but snarled. “You have distracted me all week, and yet you have not even been in my sight.”
“What power you presume I have over you.” She giggled.
Edmund pulled back, his dark hair mussed and his gaze heavy-lidded. “Penelope, youdo,” he told her.
She simply laughed again, drawing him into a needy kiss where she let herself get lost in the way his tongue brushed against hers.
When he next spoke, it was against her lips, barely letting them part. “I wish to see you naked with your hands on the back of the chaise in the hallway. I promised you every forbidden place, no?”
She understood their rushed time tonight, and she did not mind, not when it made desperation and pleasure clash in a dizzying way.
She moved quickly, her stomach jumping with those familiar nerves that came with their newfound intimacy. The first worry of losing her maidenhood had been broken, and Penelope now found herself utterly ravenous.
Her fingers curled around the gold frame of the chaise, the dark gray velvet dimpling where she braced her knees. Turning to watch as the Duke approached, her eyes took him in.
As always, he wore black, and if it was not for the rushed nature of their visit, she knew she would see those glorious muscles once more. But now that she knew the shape of his body intimately, she could see it beneath his clothing.
That, and his length as he pulled it out.
“Have you touched yourself since our first night together?” The question came as he stood behind her.
Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as he slowly slid himself between her legs. A juddering exhale left her.
“Yes,” she admitted. “And nothing has come close to satisfying me.”
“I have managed some restraint.” He smirked at her. “But make no mistake. I do intend to fully indulge us tonight enough to make up for these past days.”
Before she could answer that they ought to satisfy themselves for every dayafterand not just before tonight, for this could not happen again, he entered her, and she forgot why she needed to protest him taking her like this.
