AllFreeNovel
Share Us
His arms are around my waist and his chest is pressed against mine. It smells like him everywhere. I’m breathing him in. I can feel the pulse hammering through his body, and something hard throbs between his legs.
He lets out a low groan, closing his eyes. His hold on me doesn’t loosen. Instead, his hand sweeps up my side, brushing my waist and teasing the edge of my breast. When his fingers slide over my jaw, his thumb brushing over the gloss on my lips, he shakes his head.
“The moment you walked into that ballroom, I knew you’d be mine tonight.”
His eyes are dark. Hungry.
My body begs for him. I cling to him, not caring that my nails are digging into the nape of his neck.
And the Duke listens. He angles his mouth to mine and kisses me, his lips parting as a soft groan slips through them.
I melt. Burn. Need.
My arms circle his neck as he deepens our kiss, his hand still cupping my cheek as his other arm slides down to rest against the dimples on my lower back. He presses me against his body, grinding his hips toward me.
He’s hard.
Oh my God, he’s hard. For me. Right now. At the royal ball.
His tongue slides over my bottom lip and then dips inside my mouth, and I taste him for the first time. Hot and spicy and so deliciously male. My whole body thrums for him as he backs me against the side of the piano, his hands sweeping down to my waist to hold me in place.
“I’d fuck you right here against that piano,” he groans, nipping at my bottom lip. Kissing my jaw, my neck, my earlobe.
Dirty, dirty Duke.
How did I get here again? Do I even care?
I pant, clinging to his broad shoulders. “That’s where I draw the line,” I say, leaning my head back as he kisses the space between my breasts. His hands cup them, squeezing gently as he runs his thumb over the fabric of my gown, feeling the pebbled nipples that have been hard for him all night.
“You won’t fuck me?” He lifts his head to glance at me, his lips tugged into a smirk. As if it’s a challenge. As if he can make me change my mind.
“I won’t desecrate this piano that way,” I say, fire burning deep in my core. I know my eyes are full of desire. I know he sees the way he’s unravelling me with little more than a kiss.
I don’t care.
All the tension inside me needs release. All the stress of the evening needs an escape.
And damn it, he’s perfect. He’s broad and strong and commanding, and he makes my panties so wet they cling to me.
I can have one night, can’t I? Soon, I’ll be like Maggie or Rhoda. I’ll have someone chosen for me. I’ll have to marry for honor or titles. I’ll have my whole life laid out for me, and I won’t be able to do this. It could be my last chance. My one night of passion.
Why not with the Duke of Blythe?
The chances of seeing him again are slim. He’s a recluse. I won’t run into him at the concert hall. If things get awkward, it’ll only be for tonight.
And his lips are firm, yet soft. His hands are broad with long, fine fingers that make my pulse thump. And he’s hard. For me. Right now.
The Duke lets out a low rumble. It rattles through my chest as he stands tall, pressing his body against mine. The cold, polished wood of the piano is behind me, and the Duke’s hot body in front. I lift my eyes to his, loving the way he sinks his fingers into my hips.
“For the record,” he says with a grin, “I don’t have women delivered to the estate.”
“No?”
He shakes his head, moving his fingers to the zipper at the side of my dress. “I haven’t made love to a woman in two years.”
The teeth of the zipper catch as he tugs, slowly lowering it down as my pulse quickens.
“No?” I repeat, breathless.
