Page 27 of Secrets of a Duke's Heart
She swallowed past a lump in her throat. He was still keeping secrets from her. Perhaps, if she could accept that this was destined to be a short-lived affair, she could let herself enjoy a dalliance?
Jude seemed to read her thoughts. With a fierce expression, he took two strides to her and cupped her chin. Startled, she blinked up at him.
“You are the one good thing to come of this entire misadventure, Clarissa. You are the one thing keeping me sane. I know I haven’t always acted like it, but your counsel has been gold.”
Slowly, she stood. His hand never left her face until they were standing toe-to-toe. Her heart hammered against her ribs.
“You are as wise as you are beautiful.”
“I cannot be very wise, then, for I am no great beauty.”
He huffed. “Your beauty is the kind that time cannot wither.” He tugged her closer. “Kindness and intelligence are in short supply. You are amply endowed with both.”
He bent to capture her lips, his breath ghosting against her cheek. Clarissa slid her hands up his chest to twine around his neck. She opened to him, welcoming, testing her welcome with a tentative darting of her tongue between his teeth. He groaned and anchored her hard against his front, palming her breast through her dress.
“You’re just as well-endowed here. An irresistible combination. I cannot comprehend how any man allowed you to slip through his grasp, but I am so grateful he did, for I have you now and I am not letting you go.”
Heady words indeed. Clarissa felt like she was soaring high above her body, yet grounded in his touch. She tugged his shirt hem out of his trousers and dared to dance her fingertips along the bare skin of his lower back. He groaned and pressed the advantage, his tongue tangling with hers. Molten heat settled low in her core.
The placket of her dress parted. How had he managed to slip free those little buttons without her noticing? No matter. Clarissa stepped away from his embrace, letting the fabric slide down her shoulders and past her waist to puddle at her feet.
Jude’s eyes caught hers and held. Reaching behind his head, he tugged the loose linen of his shirt up and off, tossing it casually aside. Just like that, he was naked from the waist up. A huge lump jutted against the front of his trousers. Her mouth went dry. She dragged her gaze back up to find a smirk curling up the corner of his mouth.
“Like what you see?”
“I do,” she said boldly. “You sang my praises, but if I had my way, I would leave you in a perpetual state of undress.”
“To the horror of all who saw.”
“No one would see you but me, for I would keep you all to myself,” she said brazenly as she worked the laces of her stays. They fell away, leaving her in her shift and stockings. His gaze raked down her body. His eyes darkened.
“On the bed, minx,” he ordered.
CHAPTERTWELVE
Obediently, Clarissa scrambled onto his four-poster clad in her shift and stockings.
“Hold on.” He pointed to the bedpost. Clarissa clutched the wood and rose on her knees. Jude lifted her long leg and stripped her stockings down. Three long, lonely nights he’d spent in this very bed imagining this exact scenario, and now she was here in the flesh.
“Gorgeous,” he said, running his palm admiringly up her calf. Denying himself a peek beneath the hem of her shift. For now.
From his position on the floor, he was eye-level with her breasts. He fisted the hem and tugged it up to her waist. She cast it aside, leaving her gloriously naked. She was Venus incarnate with her lush breasts and full hips. Her dark hair fell to her waist. He wrapped his arms around her waist and sucked her glorious pink nipple deep into his mouth. Bliss. She arched into him, threading her fingers through his hair and moaning.
Louder.He was going to marry this woman. Damn the risk of getting caught. Nathaniel would be ecstatic to have his spinster cousin married to a duke. He probably ought to mention that detail to Clarissa at some point, but this was not the time.
When he had taken his fill, he graced her nipple with his teeth and released her. Dazed, Clarissa gazed at him, her brows knitted in confusion. He pointed to the pillow.
“Lay down,” he growled. A sly smile touched her lips. Instead, she got on all fours. Jude interpreted this as an invitation to smack her bottom. She yelped, laughing.
“What was that for?”
“Impertinence.”
“I’ll show you impertinence,” she said breathily.
“Since you aren’t cooperating, little minx, I shall have to teach you a lesson.”
“What kind of lesson?”
