Page 41 of An Accidental Bride for the Duke
“I know you do,” he purred. As one hand traced between her thighs the other continued to rub over her exposed buttocks. “And I think you can be.”
“I want to be,” she pressed. “So badly. Please…”
His laughter was deep and commanding. “How about this. I’ll… test you. And if I think you deserve it, then I’ll give you a reward. As I did the last time.”
“T—test?” she stammered, her heart leaping through her throat with excitement. “What sort of test.”
He didn’t answer with words.
Still bent over the bed, Iris’ heart threatened to erupt from her chest as she felt Philip shuffle around her. As she felt him lower himself behind her. And then, when she felt his lips kiss where he had spanked her, she very nearly screamed such was the excitement at what she knew was about to happen.
He kissed her again. And again. Each kiss moved lower, inching slowly toward her womanhood. Her thighs were trembling. Shewas turning moist, and she knew that he could feel it. His hands squeezed her thighs as those kisses moved closer and closer.
Almost there. Each kiss sent a small ripple of pleasure through her thighs and her body. She could hardly contain herself. She wanted to shift herself and put her womanhood right in his face because he was taking so long! But the way he teased her was just as tempting.
And then, finally, she felt his tongue lick the outside of her lips and a low whimper escaped her mouth as she shoved her head into the bedding, bracing for what was sure to come next.
A sudden knock at the door snapped her from the spell.
Her head snapped up and she spun about, almost crying out ‘no,’ because she could not believe this was happening.
“What!” Philip shouted from his knees, his hands still gripping her thighs.
“Your Grace!” It was Mr. Tibbitt on the other side of the door. “Might I come?—”
“No!” both Iris and Philip cried out as one. They were frozen to the spot, both unable and unwilling to move.
“I am… busy,” Philip answered. “Whatever it is, I am sure it can wait, Mr. Tibbitt!”
“But Your Grace!” Mr. Tibbitt shouted through the door. “You have a guest—just now, he has arrived. Your brother, Your Grace.”
Iris’ eyes widened.Lord Robert Lawerence… what is he doing here?The man she had meant to marry, returned for some reason, and at a most inopportune time.
“Robert?” Philip released Iris’ thighs and again she almost cried out, her heart crashing and her body rebelling because she didn’t want this to stop.
“No, Your Grace,” Mr. Tibbitt answered. “It is your younger brother, Master Percy.”
Chapter Fourteen
“You have another brother?” Iris asked as she followed Philip from the room.
“I do,” he said without looking back. Gone was the playfulness from earlier, replaced by a far sterner disposition.
“I don’t understand,” she said as she tried to puzzle through his reaction. Thinking on it, Iris had heard something to the effect of an illegitimate brother, but not enough to think of it as being true. Or to understand it at all.
Again, I am reminded of how little I know about my husband. Worse than that, how little he wishes to tell me.
“There is nothing to understand.”
“But—”
“Iris, please.” He turned on her, anger flashing behind his eyes, quickly replaced by a pleading stare. “All you need to know right now is that I do indeed have a younger brother. He is dear to my heart but for certain reasons I do not make a habit of speaking about him freely.”
“Reasons?” she frowned. “What…”
“There is a time for this conversation,” he said. “Now is not it.”
Had this most random occurrence taken place earlier, Iris might have pushed. When the duke was purposefully ignoring her and cutting her off from his life, she would have demanded that he tell her because she was sick of being kept in the dark, just as she was sick of being treated like she did not matter.
