Page 38 of In Scandal with the Duke
Laughter poured from her, sweet and unfettered. “Well, perhaps it was not so dramatic. More like this.”
She groaned again, this time softer, but the sound was just as awful, and then she wilted. Elizabeth tumbled and cried out. James leaped forward and grabbed her about the waist, supporting her weight that she rested on one leg.
“What is it?”
A slight frown drew her brows together. “I have a cramp. In my left calf.”
He stooped and felt along her leg until he found the knotted muscle.
She groaned. “So painful.”
“We overdid it,” he murmured. “We have been walking and exploring the gardens for over four hours. I am going to carry you to the carriage.”
James stood and swung her into his arms. She gasped and slipped her hands around his neck, laughter lurking in her tone. “Oh, dear, how scandalous.”
“Why do I get the sense you are simply tired of walking, Elizabeth?”
She giggled, the sound so damn sweet his chest ached.
“There are so many people looking at us,” she said, smirking.
“It is not everyday they see a gentleman walking and holding another man so in his arms.”
Good humor danced in her eyes. “They might presume us to be lovers.”
“That they will do.”
“You do not mind?”
“What is one more scandal attached to my name?”
She laughed again, the sound far too damn sweet. It did not take long for them to reach his carriage, and his coachman looked away after a single twitch of his eyebrow. James assisted her into his carriage and entered behind her.
“Where else do we go? It is early yet.”
“I am taking you home,” he said drily.
“Oh.”
The soft, disappointed sound pierced him. Then her eyes lit up. James grunted when she tossed herself into his arms, her lush arse nestling perfectly against his cock. She slipped a hand around his nape and said, “I have been wanting to kiss you all night.”
He knocked the hat from her head, removed the wig, and unpinned her hair, letting it tumble in loose waves down her back.
“I love your hair,” James murmured.
Elizabeth did not reply, pressing her mouth against his, kissing him with artless passion. James groaned, his heart quickened, and so easily desire burned in his veins. All James could sense was the soft warmth of her mouth, the taste of her tongue and the feel of her body against his. Blood was rushing in his ears, his head felt light, and his cock was heavy and throbbing.
She lifted her mouth from his and touched the corner of his mouth. “Have you ever tupped in a carriage?”
“Oddly, no.”
“Ah,” she said, delight glowing in her blue eyes. “I will be a first in this for you.”
Bloody hell. “The coachman might hear.” James waited for her reaction with a lifted brow.
She placed her finger below his chin, nudging his face upward. There was a wicked gleam in her eyes as she purred, “I will try and be gentle with you so that you make as little noise as possible, Your Grace.”
He laughed, and she swallowed the sound with another kiss. Their tongues glided against each other for several minutes. He broke their kiss to shift her onto the seat, then tugged off his gloves. When she reached for him, James stopped her, undoing her flaps and dragging off her trousers and boots. How alluring and wildly desirable his lover appeared, her hair spilling over her shoulders in ripples of waves. He removed the cravat and untied a few buttons of her shirt. Luckily, she had not bound her breasts. They were small but high and firm, with large, berried nipples that had his mouth watering.
