Page 55 of A Duke's Christmas Carol
The next second, he pulled away, his mouth bruising hers with the most intense kiss, before he began to trace his kisses down her neck, exploring all of her once more.
Fleetingly, Valerie wondered if she had done something wrong, her slick well still eager to feel him. But as his kiss found its way between her thighs, his tongue tasting her swollen bud, she soon forgot any disappointment or doubt. If she had done something wrong, he would not be continuing at all; he would have turned her out of his study altogether.
Perhaps, he is a gentleman after all…
Maybe, her reason for wanting to proceed was the reason he had not, so that she would not be ruined.
“Yes, Adrian…” she moaned, her back arching up off the rug, her body glistening with sweat as his tongue worked its magic upon her bundle of nerves.
And when his fingers eased into her, it was as if he had never pulled back at all, granting her that same satisfaction. Indeed, the anticipation had risen to such tremendous heights that it was not long before that wave of pure bliss crashed through her.
She relished every second, trembling with the might of that majestic euphoria, her very soul alight with the force of it. And when it ebbed, as it had to, she lay back on the rug and waited for Adrian’s burning kiss. A slow, lingering kiss that tied a bow around the pleasure he ignited within her. A gift she would cherish for the rest of her life, regardless of where fate placed her.
“Does this mean I am forgiven?” she murmured as she held him against her, savoring that singular delight of feeling his bare skin against hers.
She had been right before; she needed no fire as long as she had him to warm him.
Adrian kissed her again and propped himself on his elbows to look at her, the ghost of a smile upon his lips as he murmured back, “For now.”
What a beast you truly are.
Adrian watched Valerie as she dressed herself, marveling at the divine beauty of every curve that he had kissed, while furious with himself that he had almost stolen her honor. If he had not reined his discipline in at the final moment, he knew he would have claimed her and it would have undone him entirely.
It was not how close he had come to making love to her that perturbed him, but the fact that he would have done so without knowing anything about her. She had listened to him and comforted him, but had he done the same for her? Had he asked a single thing about her, aside from a cursory mention of siblings? Indeed, she had alluded to the fact that she, too, had lost a mother, but had he bothered to ask her about that? No.
He could not promise that he would be able to stop himself if they were to be thusly… entangled again, but, at the very least, he would know more about her before that could occur.
“Will you join me for dinner?” Valerie asked, a touch shy.
Still shirtless, and rather grim of temper, Adrian shook his head. “I have no appetite.”
“Oh… well then, I… suppose I will see you… uh… when I see you,” she said, clearly dismayed for the second time—perhaps, the third—that evening.
“Tonight,” he said abruptly, before he had a moment to talk himself out of it.
She frowned, her head tilting to one side. “Pardon?”
“When you have dined and whatnot, come to my chambers,” he replied. “I would have a nightcap with you.”
Her enchanting eyes widened, a smile forming where her disappointment had been. “Very well. I… shall see you then.”
With a slight spring in her step, she headed out of his study and left him alone in that stark room, his eyes fixed upon the place where he had almost made a terrible, delicious mistake.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Of all the ideas I have ever had, this must be the most foolish.
Adrian could neither stand nor sit still, his attention snapping toward the bedchamber door at the merest sound. And a residence like his made an awful lot of strange and unexpected sounds. Even before the stories that it was haunted, he could remember Christmas guests shrieking and laughing nervously at noises that, to him, were just part of the ancient fabric of Blackwall castle.
I should have requested a nightcap in the library or the drawing room. Why did I tell her to come here?
It was almost as if hewantedto make the same mistake as earlier… and make it properly this time. Then again, maybe he was just trying to challenge his discipline, to ensure that it didnothappen like that again, where he had very nearly lost complete control. Truly, it would have been a catastrophe for her in her unwed state.
Just then, a different, more deliberate sound made his head snap toward the door. His neck protested the sudden movement, but his heart was beating too wildly for him to notice it much.
She is out there.
A knock confirmed his suspicion. “Adrian?”
