Page 124 of Dukes Are Forever
"Well, I'm not afraid of you. And you can lie to yourself all you want, but you know I speak the truth. Maybe you didn't want a wife. And maybe I'm not asking for your heart. Just your presence in my bed. Why are you so determined not to touch me? You keep saying it's dangerous, that this might cause complications between us, but do you know what I think? I think you're afraid if you touch me, you won't be able to stop."
Heat blazed in his eyes. "I told you—"
"You've told me a lot of things. Perhaps we should test my theory?" Lifting her arms, Adele felt the towel slip loose.
He caught it at her waist, but the damage was done.
A harsh exhale escaped him as he glanced down at her bare breasts, all flushed and pink.
"What the hell are you doing?" he demanded. "You're injured."
"Then be gentle with me."
Make love to me.
The blackness was back in his eyes. "I don't think I can tonight. There. Is that the truth you desire? That I want your blood? That I want to take you to bed and make sweet use of that body you flaunt in front of me? All night long. In every way you can possibly imagine, and some you probably can't." Sweeping his arm behind her knees, he lifted her out of the water as it dripped from her legs. And then he was setting her on her feet and toweling the water from her skin with rough, insistent hands. "Don't push me. Not tonight. Because I won't be gentle, Adele. And you need gentleness. I am doing my duty."
Duty.Oh, how that word burned. "Duty as my husband?"
Tugging the nightshirt down over her head, he met her eyes. "Yes."
His own were dark, the hunger eating up all the light in his world. Not immune. No matter how much he pretended to be.
"Then I have been remiss in mydutyas yourwife. Let me make it up to you."
She lifted on her toes and pressed her mouth to his. It had been days since he'd kissed her. Days of heated looks that belied the cool words that kept her at bay. Days of frantic yearning.
A desperate sound escaped him.
But he didn't push her away.
And his mouth softened beneath hers, before he surged against her with a furious claim.
Adele slid her arms around his neck, hungry for more. The nightgown clung to damp patches of her skin, a thin barrier between her soft curves and the hard planes of his body.
Firm fingers dug into her waist, and then one hand splayed over the curve of her bottom, drawing her against him.
God, it felt good.
Adele bit at his lip, her hands sliding down his chest. She wanted to rouse the passion she knew he hid deep inside him, but he kissed her jaw in that moment, his stubble rasping over her ear and—
A pained gasp escaped her.
It broke the moment, broke her hold over him.
"Damn it, Adele. This is precisely why this shouldn't happen." Malloryn caught her wrists and held her at bay, his breath whispering over her lips. "You're hurt."
"I'll be fine."
But he shook his head. "No."
A third and final time.
She wanted to reach for him so badly.
She wanted another kiss.
But he was locking himself down visibly, right before her eyes, and she didn't understand it.
