Page 54 of A Duchess Bound
“Perhaps that you would strike me,” Lady Dorothy said. “With a rod or some such thing.”
She moved slightly, pressing her thighs together.Thatwas an interesting reaction and one that Gerard would certainly remember. “I think you would like that.”
Lady Dorothy shook her head. “No. No one would like such a thing.”
“You might be surprised, my lady. I have found that ladies enjoy all manner of unusual behaviors,” Gerard said. “It is charming how you know so little about desire.”
“I am glad you find my ignorance so attractive.”
“It is not your fault,” Gerard said. “I find that the world is too protective of ladies.”
“And too unkind to them,” Lady Dorothy said softly. “I feel sometimes as if desire is the most disgraceful emotion for a lady to have.”
“The world would have you think so,” Gerard said, a genuine swell of sympathy blooming within him. “But fear not. You will know more about pleasure at the end of our affair than most women in Britain.”
She smiled. “You are rather presumptuous, Your Grace. Boasting of your skills in such a manner is unseemly.”
“I have had enough of your mockery tonight.”
“What are you going to do?” she asked, tilting her head curiously. “Punish me?”
“Indeed.”
He withdrew the rope from his pocket, and Lady Dorothy visibly startled. She looked at him as though he might have taken leave of his senses. “Is that rope?”
“I am glad to see that you have not been rendered unexpectedly blind,” he said. “Yes, it is. Now, be a good girl and offer me your wrists.”
Lady Dorothy stared at him with wide eyes. “You cannot be serious.”
He laughed. “You came here thinking I meant to strike you with a rod,” Gerard said. “But now that I have shown you some rope, your courage has abandoned you?”
Lady Dorothy straightened her spine and lifted her chin. Imperious as a queen, she held out her wrists.
Gerard considered her for a moment. “Behind your back.”
CHAPTER 19
“Behind your back.”
The Duke of Greenway smiled as if he were the devil himself. When she did not immediately comply, he gestured for her to turn around. Dorothy’s breath caught in her chest. She turned around and crossed her wrists behind her back.
He came to her and kissed the back of her neck. “Good girl,” he murmured, his voice low and dark. “Look at you, taking your punishment so well.”
“Is…is being tied up the punishment?”
His Grace chuckled and tied the rope tightly around her wrists. Dorothy hissed between her teeth. Even through the fine silk of her gloves, she felt the roughness of the rope.
“Only a small part of it.”
Once her wrists were bound, he stepped away. She sensed him watching her, and heat curled inside her core. Dorothy knew that she ought to flee, but her feet were rooted to the spot. She tested the ropes, but she was far too tightly bound to escape them.
His Grace seized her upper arm and pulled her towards the cottage. She stumbled a little but quickly regained her footing. Dorothy followed him, obediently stepping inside the cottage when he opened the door.
“Onto the bed,” he ordered.
She awkwardly tumbled onto the mattress, rolling onto her back. Dorothy planted her heels into the bed and shifted backwards. Gerard watched her with an amused smile.
“Now, what?” she asked, her breath emerging in hot and uneven pants.
