Page 55 of The Wolf and the Wildflower
“I might be rough and no longer refined but you’ll be safe and treasured in my arms. I vow it, Wildflower.”
The shock of those words wrenched her heart in several directions.
“Treasured for how long, Your Grace?” she whispered, sensing she was on the cusp of falling into something she did not understand.
“For as long as I am able.”
Only another promise that there will be an end before they even started. He arched her and licked along the curve of her throat. “My mouth is aching to taste you…”
“You are tasting me,” she whispered, surrendering to the madness surging between them.
“Did you forget I want to lick you everywhere, Wildflower?”
Twisting dark knots of sensation rose between her legs. His head lowered as though he couldn’t stop the action, until he was right at the hollow between her legs. He inhaled deeply. “I want to lick you here.”
His voice was rough, filled with hunger, tugging at the lonely, empty place that lingered within her, stroking over her body with shocking heat. The taste of the duke was running through her veins. Her belly knotted, and the breath inside her chest stilled.
“Then taste me there,” she invited, softly gasping when he swung her into his arms, took a few steps toward the small cot, and bore her down onto its softness.
He sucked at the flesh of her throat, and she knew it would leave one of those violent, strawberry marks. James seemed to inhale her into his lungs as he went down the length of her body. She reached between them and undid her flap, pushing her trousers down. He grabbed the edges and pulled them lower.
His breathing was harsh, his forehead pressed against her quivering belly. Her trousers were still hooked at her knees, her thighs barely widened, yet he dipped his head even lower, opening her sex to his gaze and licked her.
Oh hell!
It felt as if lightning struck her clitoris. Jules’s cry choked off as she twisted under the sensation. He slid his hands beneath her buttocks and lifted her quim to his mouth. This time Jules cried out, uncaring that her voice echoed in the stillness of the forest. He scraped his teeth over her nub of pleasure before sucking it into his mouth.
“James,” she gasped.
Her fingers slid slowly into his hair, tangling into the strands until they pulled at his scalp. It was a pleasure she didn’t know if she could endure. Her body was sheened with sweat, her breathing harsh, her cries desperate as he tongued her sex, stroked her hotly with his mouth. With each wicked kiss against her cunny Jules felt another part of her surrender to James. He worshipped with his tongue and teeth until she was a writhing, sobbing mess. Pressure built in sharp, wicked spikes, until ecstasy burst over her senses, sucking her under until she felt as if she couldn’t breathe. Then it expanded throughout her body, and Jules felt as if she floated in clouds of bliss and satiation.
Dimly, she was aware of James carefully arching her hips and pulling her trousers up. He arranged her clothes, scooped her into his arms and took her out onto the ledge. Somehow, he sat with her in the hammock and draped her so that she lay on top of him, her back pressed against his naked chest. She could feel the pounding of his heart, and the hardness beneath her back.
James was still painfully aroused. She tried to turn in the cage of his arms and the hammock dipped.
“Watch the stars with me,” he murmured roughly by her ear.
“You are tense and unfulfilled.”
“I can still smell your fear, Wildflower.”
Her heart stuttered. “I…”
James held her close, resting his chin atop her head, and her body softened against his as if it had a will of its own. “I’ll wait until I only smell desire from you.”
Jules wondered at the fear James scented from her, as she had felt only passion in his arms. Frowning, she stared through the towering leaves of the trees into the star-studded night. Jules hadn’t even known she was cold until his wonderful heat enfolded and surrounded her. This was where she wanted to be, inside the cage of his arms, feeling this inexplicable sense of comfort and belonging.
You make me feel so much, James, and with such little effort.
Was it that awareness that made her feel uncertain still? The weight of how she felt about the duke was unbearable. Yet Jules squared her shoulders, took a deep breath, and resolved to carry it, for it felt infinitely precious and rare, and she would not keep it for long knowing one day she would let it go.
Chapter Ten
A couple days later, several ladies from elite families of society descended on Longbourn Park, with their parents or chaperones. Clearly the duchess had started planning a long time ago, or people were simply eager to catch a glimpse of the much talked about duke. The duchess’s week-long house party was avidly written about in the newssheets back in town, with the greatest fanfare and speculation. Jules’s mother sent her the announcement in the sheets which ranged from simply ridiculousness to the profane.
There had been no doubt in her mind all would accept the duchess’s invitation, even if it was unusual to host a house party right before spring. Everyone was damnably curious about the Duke of Wulverton. Some would attend purely to gain information for gossip, many wanted his wealth, and some were just fascinated and secretly horrified by his experience. And even if he were insane, according to theMorning Chronicle, the duke was still the season’s most eligible and sought-after bachelor.
Jules watched him stroll across the floor, interacting with his family, displaying that touch of insolence, arrogance, and boredom that seemed to characterize his every action. Since their wicked encounter in the tree house, they’d not spent any time alone together. She was thankful for that, for while Jules knew an affair with the duke was inevitable, she wanted to savor falling into his arms and bed, and not recklessly tumble into it. Everything with the duke felt fast and impossible to stop. She did not like that feeling of not being in control, and at least in this way, she would walk into whatever they had together with her eyes and heart open to the full experience.
