Page 83 of Dare to Love a Duke
Tom was a light burning in the darkness, drawing her forward, making her long for his warmth. With him, she ached in the way one hurt when thawing frozen fingers and toes. There was pain, but she leaned into it, welcomed it.
“In Napoli,” she said in the stillness, “my mother and I lived in the Quartieri Spagnoli. Maybe long ago, it had been a fine place, but if it ever had, that time had passed.”
Tom’s alert gaze slid to her as she spoke, and she undid the ribbons of her bonnet to set it beside her.
“It was difficult to survive in the Quartieri Spagnoli if you were determined to lead an unsullied life.Allora,I did what I had so Mamma and I could endure. Sometimes it was a choice between theft and eating. Morals did not fill an empty stomach.”
Tom looked at her, his mouth set in a grim line. “I’m sorry you had to lead that kind of life.”
“Here,” she said, pressing a hand to her chest, “where it mattered, that’s where I was good. In any case,” she added with a wry smile, “that’s what my mother would tell me.Cerchiamo di fare del nostro meglio, e ogni volta anche di più.‘We do the best that we can, and we always try harder.’”
“She sounds like a remarkable woman.”
His admiration warmed Lucia. “She’d be the first to insist she was a humble woman of unimportant birth. But yes, she was remarkable.”
“As is her daughter.”
Lucia looked down at her hands folded in her lap, before turning her gaze back to him. “Tomorrow will come, and you’ll survive it. So will your sister.”
He grimaced, and he rubbed his hand in the center of his chest. “That’s the part that pierces me like a knife—what all of this will mean for Maeve.”
“What does she have to say about it?” Lucia asked gently.
“If I’m a warrior, she’s my shield bearer, ready to fight with me.” A corner of his mouth turned up and Lucia wanted to touch her fingers to it. “She’d adore you.”
“She sounds like the sort of girl I’d like very much.” But she and Lady Maeve would never meet. They couldn’t.
He seemed to realize this at the same moment, and they both fell silent.
She reached across the narrow space of the carriage to take his hand. Their fingers wove together immediately. “All of this is to say that it might be frightening, these steps you’re taking, but you’ll do your best.”
“AndI can do better.”
She gave him a soft smile. How readily they fell into this rhythm together, its give-and-take. “Certo.”
He lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed her knuckles. “You give me the strength to move forward.”
The thought made her pulse skip with both terror and pleasure. “I’m merely a diversion, Your Grace.”
“You’re far more to me than a diversion.” His gaze was hot, and it coursed through her with drugging intensity.
She was falling, falling, and couldn’t stop herself.
He turned her hand over so it lay palm up, and pressed burning kisses upon her sensitive flesh. Each touch of his lips teased her to life, sparking arousal in flares along her body. He kissed her wrist, his tongue flicking out to trace across her skin. She pressed her thighs together to soothe the ache he created.
When he gently tugged her closer, she went willingly, crossing the interior of the carriage to sit on his lap. They kissed deeply, her fingers threading into his hair to obtain the perfect angle, his hands sliding up her waist. He tasted rich and potent, and she devoured him eagerly as she sank into his touch. His hands cupped her tight, sensitive breasts, making her moan.
They panted into each other’s mouths, and she strained against his lean, solid body. The position frustrated her—she wanted more. In a moment, she straddled him, and they both groaned when the thick column of his cock nestled between her legs, curving hotly along her quim.
His hand delved beneath her skirts, and his fingers dipped down into the opening in her drawers. She cried out in pleasure when he stroked against her slick folds. He rumbled when his fingertip lingered on the ribbon attached to the sponge she’d had the good sense to insert earlier.
“Sweet Christ,” he growled. He pulled back just enough to close the curtains before returning to caress her.
Rocking with the motion of the carriage, they both worked at the fall of his breeches to free his cock. It rose up in a curve, a gleam of moisture already shining in the slit.
She lifted slightly, bracing her hands on his shoulders, felt him align the head of his cock with her entrance. Then he sank into her.
“Yes,” she said on a moan. At the same time, he made a deep, rough sound of pleasure.
