Page 56 of The Duke's Only Desire

Chapter Sixteen

Sophie sank herfingers into his hair as he wrapped his arms around her legs to press her close and buried his face in her belly through the billowing night rail.

Her heart leapt into her throat. She didn’t dare let herself believe that he was here and not merely another dream. That the marriage she thought had slipped through her fingers could be saved.

“You are exquisite,” he told her. “Not just your body, but your laughter, your intellect, your devotion to the people you care about…”

Slowly, he lifted the hem of her night rail up her legs, baring her both to the cool air and to his heated gaze. The fabric gathered at her hips and barely hid her nakedness.

“You’re an angel,” he mumbled against her belly, his warm breath seeping through her gown and into her flesh beneath.

“Shay…” His name was a pained whisper.

Pushing the gown up to her waist, he lowered his head to nuzzle the patch of feminine curls between her thighs.

Sophie caught her breath as a tingling need thudded between her legs, right below his lips. She ran her fingers through his hair in encouragement.Love me…Please, Shay, love me as much as I love you…

He ran his large hands slowly up and down the backs of her thighs as he began to place soft kisses into her curls, only to slide them to her front and up her inner thighs. His thumbs stroked into the smooth skin and worked their way higher, and with every gentle caress, the need inside her throbbed harder. When his thumbs reached the folds hidden beneath her curls, electricity hummed through her, and her heart pounded so fiercely that she was afraid he could feel it.

Then his mouth lowered to bring his lips against her bare folds.

The feeling was simply exquisite! Each caress of his lips against her was unbearably soft, each gentle kiss a feathery touch. She closed her eyes to absorb every detail of the intimate kisses he was giving her. Even as his lips continued to tease her outer folds, his thumbs delved deeper, stroking and parting the delicate petals. Then his lips followed after, his tongue sliding—

“Shay!” Her hands grabbed at his hard shoulders to steady herself.

She felt his answering chuckle vibrate against her, but he didn’t stop. His tongue continued to flicker over her the way his lips had. And more—each wanton lick ventured deeper into her folds, and Sophie knew he was doing far more than simply kissing her: he was exploring her, claiming her…

No, he was simplyworshippingher, and any thought she still possessed that he didn’t want her vanished like morning fog beneath the dawn.

When she rolled back her head in surrender and stepped her feet apart, he did more than just explore. His kisses turned plundering, with his tongue thrusting hard and deep into the hollow at her core, his lips taking large mouthfuls, his thumbs still stroking persistently against her, still spreading her beneath his mouth.

“That’s…that’s…” A moan rose on her lips. What he was doing to her was a wicked torture. “Wonderful.”

She felt him smile against her, and for a moment, she feared he took her compliment as a challenge as he lifted his mouth from her, took her right leg, and hooked it over his shoulder until she was spread wide before him. His eyes turned nearly black with desire as he watched his fingers circle her outer folds and grow slick with her wetness, then he lowered his head again. This time, his lips folded over a small nub exposed by the spread of her thighs and sucked.

The gasp that tore from her ripped her breath away, and her fingertips dug into his hard shoulders. But it wasn’t enough.

“Please…” she panted out, barely audible against the shadows around them.Please love me! Give yourself to me, now and forever.“Oh, please…”

Then his lips closed around the throbbing, aching point and sucked hard.

“Oh!” Her hips bucked against him, and her hands grabbed for his head to press him harder against her as electric jolts of aching need sparked through her. She rose up onto her tiptoes to bring herself up beneath his wicked mouth and begged senselessly for him to do it again, to throw her over the edge into bliss.

When he obliged, a cry ripped from her throat as sheer pleasure overwhelmed her. Her thighs tried to slam shut against the pulsating ache pounding away inside her, only to be stopped by his wide shoulders that kept her spread open wide. No more sucking now, but possessive kisses and licks that drew out her pleasure until residual waves lapped at her toes, until liquid heat lingered in her suddenly heavy limbs and tingled her fingers and toes. She sagged bonelessly over him, and only then did she realize that she was still begging in throaty whispers for more.

He rose to his feet, and as he stood, he peeled the night rail up her body and off, leaving her hot flesh exposed to the cool air and soft shadows. But she simply didn’t care that he was seeing her naked for the first time, too swept up in the consuming pleasure he’d just given her.

He gathered her into his arms and carried her into her room, to place her gently onto the bed.

When he released her and straightened to move away, a desperate cry rose from her lips, and she tightened her arms around his shoulders.No!She refused to let him leave her.Not tonight.But all she could manage was a trembling, “Stay.”

He stilled, hovering over her, his mouth close enough to hers that his warm breath tickled her lips. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Then he sealed that promise with a kiss so heated that she answered with a whimper and arched up off the bed beneath him. He murmured soothing words and stroked his hand along her side as if comforting a skittish colt, yet she couldn’t help but worry when he slipped away from her.

But he didn’t leave. Instead, he moved back just far enough to strip away his trousers, the remaining barrier of clothing between them. He stood naked at the side of the bed, and this time, her eyes stung as she stared at him, because this time, he wasn’t hiding from her.

An embarrassed heat flushed her cheeks as she shamelessly moved her eyes over him, taking in every glorious inch of him. She could see now the full extent of the scars, how they extended from his face down across both shoulders and chest, how they must have continued onto his back as well, before finally disappearing midway down his right thigh. She could see how the right side of his body had taken the brunt of the burns, how the flames had colored his skin in a grisly tattoo.