Read Bewitching the Duke Online
Authors: Christie Kelley
Bewitching the Duke (16 page)
He hadn’t been with a woman in years? How was that possible with all the stories she’d heard about him. “I don’t understand,” she whispered. “I’ve heard what people say about you and it is far from pleasant.”
A tinge of color crossed his cheeks. “Everything you might have heard about me and other women was fabricated to ruin my reputation.”
“Who would do such a thing?”
“Me.”
Oh, dear God, it all made sense. He didn’t want another woman after his wife died so the stories of his conquests were just that . . . stories. Her heart went out to him. She could only imagine how difficult that had been for him to say aloud. “Thank you,” she said softly.
“For what?” He turned around and stared at her.
“Being truthful with me.” Slowly, she stood and walked toward him. She reached out and caressed his cheek. “Was I the first since Mary?”
Red colored his cheeks. “Yes.”
Selina’s heart pounded in her chest. “Why me?” she whispered. “After all this time. Why me?”
“You are the first I have truly desired since her.”
What in God’s name had made him say that to her? The next he knew he’d blurt out that he loved her. And he certainly didn’t love the willful woman. He desired her unlike any woman but passion and love were completely separate things. If a man were lucky enough to have both, then his life would be perfect. But Colin understood there was no such thing as perfect in his life.
“Thank you for what you said, Colin,” Selina said in a soft tone. “I should retire now.”
Just thinking about her lying in the bed only a room away made his shaft thicken. “I shall escort you to your room.”
“There is no need,” she said in a rush. “I know the way.”
“I insist.” He held out his arm for her.
She pressed her lips together, then looped her arm with his. He felt a slight quiver from her as they walked down the hall. Perhaps she was not so unaffected by him. But could she ever want him again after how he treated her?
They walked through the corridor in silence. He’d never felt so unsure of himself with a woman before now. Not that he’d been any type of rake before he married Mary, but he’d had a few willing women.
“I will return to Lord Hartsfield’s estate tomorrow,” she commented as they paused by the door to his room.
“Oh? What if my sister needs you? I believe Hart’s estate is too far.”
She stared at the door. “Your sister is fine now. Far better than most women who recently suffered a miscarriage. I expect her youth is the reason. But it matters not. I cannot stay here in your house when you have asked me to leave.”
Colin clasped her shoulders and turned her to face him. For a long moment, he just stared into her emerald eyes unable to say the words that he wanted to speak. Finally, he whispered, “Now I’m asking you to stay.”
She went completely still for a long moment. Her eyes told him what she could not. He had no doubt that she was debating with herself. But as he watched her breasts rise and fall, her eyes dilate with passion, she would soon say what they both wanted to hear.
“No,” she whispered.
And that was not what he wanted to hear. “No?”
“That is what I said.”
“Why?”
“Are you mad?”
“Quite possibly. Come inside and talk to me in private.”
“That would be improper.”
Colin raised a brow at her. “Indeed? When have you ever been proper?”
She gave a brief nod. “Very well.”
He opened the door to his room and walked inside. He waited for her to enter and close the door before continuing, “Do you have any idea how much I want you? How long I’ve waited to feel this way again? I’ve been dead inside for the past eight years until I returned here and found you.”
He walked toward the window and stared outside as the long shadows of dusk darkened the skies. “I’ve never felt this way about a woman.” He looked back at her.
“Any woman.”
“Any woman.”
A slow, seductive smile lit her face as she tentatively walked to him. “Any woman?”
“Yes.”
“Why me?”
“Oh dear God, the questions women ask,” he muttered. “I honestly don’t know. You should be the last woman I’m attracted to . . . and yet, I can’t keep my eyes off you. You enter a room and I know it before I turn and see you. You drive me mad on so many different levels.”
She stepped closer. “And that is why you want me?”
He laughed softly. “I suppose it is.”
“Hmm,” she said as she reached his position by the window. “Perhaps that is a good enough answer.”
Before she could utter another word, he kissed her. Hard at first, as if to punish her for making him admit so much to her. But as she slowly opened to him, he softened the kiss and let his tongue warm the recesses of her mouth. He wrapped his arms around her, bringing her tightly against his body. He wanted her now.
But this time, he would go slowly. She would learn exactly what it meant to be seduced, made love to, and ravished. She moaned softly as his tongue played with hers. He wanted her to be as crazed with desire as he was right now.
Colin worked at the buttons on her dress, eager to see her naked again. Finally, he had the last small button through its hole. He skimmed his arms up her back and broke the tight grip she had on him.
Selina backed a step away and stared at him. His admission that he wanted her more than his late wife had softened her heart to him. She wanted to feel him shower kisses all over her body. To teach her how to please him. To help him learn how to please her.
“I’ll do it,” she whispered. She watched his eyes darken as she slipped her dress over her shoulders and down her waist until it pooled between them. “Now, I get to remove an article of your clothing.”
He groaned as she slid her hands up his chest, under his jacket until she reached his shoulders. She glided the jacket off his broad shoulders, enjoying the sensation of his muscles tightening as she caressed his arms.
“Do you have any idea how much I want you right now?” he asked.
She smiled at the tight tone of his voice. “I think I do.”
“Oh no,” he said as he brought her roughly up against his hard cock. “You have no idea.”
“Show me,” she said. “Show me how to pleasure you.”
“That is not going to happen tonight.”
Selina glanced up at him. “Oh?”
“Tonight is all about you.” He smiled slightly. “Turn around.”
She did as he demanded. Immediately she felt his finger working the knot of her stays and then the gentle tug of the string through the loops. Her stays suddenly dropped to the floor. Her breath quickened as heat crossed her cheeks. She still wore her chemise but that was only thin cotton.
His arms wrapped around her from behind. His thumbs brushed her aching nipples. Her head fell back against his shoulder as desire weakened her muscles. He moved his hands up the top of her shift and then quickly pulled the garment down her body.
He spun her in his arms and pressed her against his chest. Unable to move or speak, she stared at the dark look of passion in his blue eyes. His lips caught hers in a crushing kiss. As his tongue played with her, her folds moistened in preparation for him. Slowly, he eased away and bent over her, catching her nipple in his mouth.
“Oh dear,” Selina muttered.
He smiled against her breast and then moved down her stomach. He knelt beside her and played with the curly hair between her thighs. Selina’s knees went weak when he split the folds and touched her gently.
Need spiraled through her. She wanted him inside her now, sating this wanton longing she had been feeling since their previous encounter. Instead, he moved his mouth closer and kissed her thighs. Shivers ran up her body.
Surely, this wasn’t proper. Then again, that’s what she was known for. His lips moved upward until he reached the apex of her thighs. Before she could utter a word of denial, he brushed his tongue between her legs.
“This is wrong,” she uttered.
“No,” he rasped against her folds. His tongue delved deeper until she felt him pushing into her as his finger rubbed her clit.
Desire weakened her, pulling her along until she closed her eyes and the release washed over her. She’d never felt anything like this before. Her heart pounded against her chest as she attempted to catch her breath.
Colin rested against the downy hair between her legs. He was rock hard with desire but he had at least made her see that women could take their pleasure too. Slowly, he stood and kissed her flushed face. He found her lips and let her taste herself as he had her.
This slip of a woman was becoming far too important to him.
He felt her fingers on the button of his shirt. He smiled as he realized that she was no more done for the night than he. After pushing her fingers away, he yanked the shirt over his head.
Her fingers slid over his chest and brushed across his flat nipples. He reached for the buttons on his trousers eager to let her fingernails skim up his hard length. As he reached to remove them, she brushed his hands away and took over.
“It’s your turn for pleasure,” she whispered. She pulled the trousers over his hips and then giggled as his cock sprang forth.
She divested him of his shoes and clothes before looking back down at his cock. “May I?”
“You can touch me.”
Dear God, please touch me.
Dear God, please touch me.
Her fingers ran up the long length of him until she found the top. Circling her palm around him almost did him in. He closed his eyes, reveling in the moment and trying to find some self-control so he didn’t come in her hand.
Warm moisture enclosed him. He opened his eyes and fought for control. She was on her knees in front of him, sliding her mouth up and down the length of him. Desire clawed at him. There was no waiting.
He reached down and pulled her to her feet.
Blinking she looked up at him. “Didn’t you like that?”
Colin laughed softly. “Far too much, Selina. If you’d kept that up, the evening would be over now.”
She frowned slightly and then as if understanding his meaning, a slow smile lit her face. “Oh.”
He clasped her hand and tugged her toward the bed. “Come on, we aren’t done yet.”
She giggled and walked to the bed. He picked her up and brought her down on the soft mattress. “What else do you mean to do?”
This time, he chuckled. “Let me show you.” He sucked her nipple until she squirmed under him. Her hips grazed against his shaft, tempting him to hurry. He tickled a finger down her belly until he reached her moist folds. Feeling how damp she was, he shifted until his cock prodded her entrance.
He moved slowly, letting her stretch to his size. Feeling her tense, he slid his mouth back to her breast. A soft moan erupted from her as he inched forward into her tightness. With no barrier, he finally reached the hilt. Moist heat encircled him, pulling him closer to the brink.
But not this time.
She would reach her climax before he came deep inside her. As he slid out and then back in, she moved her hips in the rhythm. Her moans increased as he quickened the pace.
“Colin,” she moaned.
He felt her tighten around him as she reached her peak. Unable to stop, he followed her over the precipice as waves of pleasure racked his body.
Finally, he collapsed on top of her. Neither could slow their breathing down as they attempted to recover their senses. He inhaled the heady scent of her before rolling off to lie on the bed.
A part of him felt guilty for his actions. Not because he was betraying Mary, but because he took Selina’s innocence. She wasn’t the type of woman a duke married. She was the type a man kept as a mistress.
He turned on his side and watched as she dozed, naked and sated. Her blond hair spread across the coverlet like the rays of the sun. His thoughts turned dark as he remembered how Mary always insisted on keeping her shift on as they made love. He had thought it endearing that after a year of marriage she still felt embarrassed to have him stare at her.
Selina never seemed shy about her body with him. She had stood in front of him as he pleasured her with his tongue. Something Mary had never allowed. Selina was a free spirit who understood that what happened between a man and a woman was a natural act.
A frantic knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. “Yes?” he whispered so as not to awaken her.
“Your Grace, I need to speak with you,” Mr. Roberts said in a rush. “If you do not mind, I would prefer not to do it through the door.”
“I’ll be there in a moment.”
Gingerly he moved off the bed and found his disheveled clothing. After dressing quickly, he went to the door and walked into the hall. If Roberts thought it strange not to be invited into the duke’s bedchamber, he never said a word.
“What is the matter, Roberts?”
“It’s Miss White, sir. I cannot find her anywhere. I searched her room and checked with your sister. No one has seen her since dinner.”
“Perhaps she had to check on someone outside of the house,” he said as he slid a glance toward his door.
“She would have told one of the footmen.”
Damn her for being conscientious to the servants. “Why is she needed now?”
“Davie Patterson was climbing a tree and fell out. His mother thinks he broke his shoulder.”
A child was hurt. Colin would have to wake her or face her wrath. But he also knew she would be dreadfully embarrassed if discovered in his room. He had to come up with some excuse so he could wake her without Roberts discovering the truth. “Let me change and I will go out looking for her.”
“Thank you, Your Grace. I would feel much better knowing you were searching for her. I sent Randall out looking but . . .”
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