Page 16 of An Accidental Bride for the Duke
That word…punishment. It lit something inside of Iris that she had never felt before. But she understood its meaning well enough. How hot her body ran. How it shook. And the way she found her defenses weakening because all her life she had beencoddled and treated like a fragile piece of porcelain, never once being in trouble, never once in need of being punished.
She wanted it. She didn’t know why. Just that she did.
“What are you saying?”
The duke said nothing. Rather, he showed her exactly what he meant.
Still holding onto her chin, he leaned forward as he lifted her face and before Iris could so much as breathe his lips found her own and he pulled her into a passionate kiss.
Iris might have cried out were her lips not so busy. Her body erupted. A fire spread from inside of her and consumed her fully. She thought to pull away but the feel of Philip’s lips touching her own and she gave in, melted into her husband, and allowed him to kiss her like she never knew she wanted but now knew she would kill for.
Their lips parted and his tongue slid into her mouth. It licked her tongue, lapped at her lips, danced around her mouth and all she could do was accept it and pray that he did not stop…
Which he did do, seconds after beginning.
She gasped and lurched forward as he pulled away. She blinked, her heart racing, her body shaking so she could hardly stand. He dropped her chin and took a step back, a smile of delight on hislips, a chuckle escaping him because he saw too clearly what that single kiss did to her.
“You may leave me now,” he said.
“What?” she lurched in surprise. “But?—”
“Leave me.” He turned and walked back to his desk. “Your punishment, as it is.” He chuckled and sat back down. “Is knowing what you might have, but what you claim you do not want.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I think that you do,” he said with a knowing smile. “And know that next time, I won’t go nearly so easy on you. Now…” He cocked an eyebrow at her. “Leave. And don’t make me tell you again.”
Iris’ body was still rebelling against her. And her mind was fractured into a million pieces as it tried to reckon with what had just happened and what it meant. That kiss… even she could not lie to herself about how it felt. Just as she could not convince herself she didn’t want more.
And that right there is the punishment.
Unable to speak. Not daring to push her husband further, Iris was quick to turn and leave. She raced from the room andslammed the door closed behind her, falling back on it and sinking to the floor the second she was alone.
That, whatever it was, had not gone how she wanted. Or had it?
She had been so convinced that this marriage would be one of convenience only—that all she desired was a husband who did not ignore her, but who did not want her either because she did not want him. And now… her husband was right, and Iris had no idea what she wanted.
And dammit, she had never felt so confused because of it.
Chapter Six
The moment he was alone, Philip exhaled deeply and forced his body to calm.That was… probably not a very smart idea.
His heart was beating faster than it ought to have. His body was flushed. And these two reactions, paired together, had his blood flowing down his body so that he could feel his member throbbing with desires brought about by the dangerous game that he was playing.
When Philip had elected to marry Iris in his brother’s stead, he had done so for the right reasons. Not because he wanted to but because he had no choice. His cursed brother, forever threatening to upend his family’s good name and ruin everything that Philip had worked so hard to fix, had forced his hand in ways that should have been predictable… just as they were frustrating beyond measure.
The only reprieve that Philip was able to glean from this intolerable situation was that his new bride, Iris, appeared as uninterested in this marriage as he was. Dammit, she seemed to loathe the idea of wedding him. She did not want a happy union, she did not want to fall in love, and she most certainly wanted as little to do with Philip as he did with her. Or so he thought…
For a time there, I allowed myself to breathe a sigh of relief. A marriage in name only with a bride who would be happy to pretend that I did not exist. At least that was the assumption.
Philip was at pains to make it clear to her that all he wished for was a marriage of convenience. Having lived alone now for so long, Philip had grown used to living his life a certain way and with no desire to marry or fall in love ever, he fully intended to keep this lifestyle intact.
In hindsight, perhaps telling her that he expected an heir had been a bad idea.
But it had also been necessary. As a duke, these things were expected, and with this marriage already threatening to turn into its own sort of scandal, the announcement of a pregnancy would soften the rumors and force the pesky whispers of his peers to quiet and go away for good. And besides, there was a part of Philip that wanted an heir, especially when considering everything he’d put up with in his life.
It would be nice if for once things worked out in his favor…
