Page 37 of The Scandalous Love of a Duke
Her arms reached about his neck, and when he ended the kiss she hung onto him, laughing and lifting her feet from the floor, letting him bear her weight.
He swung her in a circle.
She was only a light burden. A precious burden.
What was he to do about this, about her?
He shoved the thought aside. He wished to just live for this moment, to shut the world out and let only her in.
A single table stood against one wall. He carried her there and sat her on it. Then tugged loose the ribbon tying her bonnet and let it fall onto the table.
Her arms were still about his neck, loosely holding on and he lowered his mouth to hers again but this time his kiss was searing. He wanted her to know how desperate he was for her.
She kissed him back without reservation and his heart swelled with a soul-deep satisfaction.
Her body arching against him, her fingers slid into his hair. She had no modesty today. The demure girl he’d met on the road and in the church had slipped away.
He ended the kiss and smiled at her. ‘You are a contradiction.’
She blushed as he straightened.
His hands fell to his sides.
She did not jump down but instead leaned back onto her hands, and watched him, crossing her ankles and then swinging her legs back and forth.
He was charmed. She was an antidote to every other woman he had known.
His hand lifted and he began tugging pins from her hair. He had an urge to see it loose.
Loose blonde curls fell to her shoulders and tumbled down her back.
‘You can be so prim when you wish, shy, like a quiet church mouse. And then there is this you…’
Her lips pouted and her breasts pressed against her bodice when she took a breath, while her feet uncrossed. So he might step between her parted thighs if he chose. He chose. She let him, her knees parting until they brushed the outer surfaces of his thighs.
‘I think this is the real you, this reckless girl who has come to tryst with me.’
He bent and kissed her again, and her mouth opened to his, not denying his words. Emotion stirred in his chest as an ache.
After he had pulled the last pin free he buried his fingers in her soft hair, held her scalp and kissed her more deeply. She responded equally. There was a strong intuitive passionate streak in Katherine. He had known it without knowing, but now there was evidence.
Her fingers clasped his open coat at his waist and then they released and moved beneath his coat instead.
He broke the kiss, the intensity of his desire shining in his eyes. He hoped it did not scare her but he refused to hide it, or himself. Let her see who he was and know all of him. He prayed she would still want him.
She leaned back again and watched as he stripped off his coat.
He smiled at her. ‘Have you no modesty left?’
She blushed.
He loved her blushes, but it meant the church mouse had returned.
‘You cannot ask me here to do this and then chide me for being immodest, John.’ There was insecurity in her eyes.
He set his coat aside and cupped her cheek, his thumb brushing across her skin. Her eyes closed, probably to hide from him.
He did not wish her to withdraw. He wanted to be the only one who knew the real Katherine. He wished her to be the only one who really knew him. Let this be a bond between them no one else could ever break or share. Let it be something just for them.
