Page 60 of If the Duke Demands

“Yes.” She fought to breathe, not understanding how a simple kiss could steal her breath away. “You’d said you liked it.”

“A great deal.” His lips curved into a devilish smile at her thoughtfulness. “Lady Rose.”

She couldn’t resist running her fingertip over that smile, then laughing as he bit playfully at her finger. So unlike the Sebastian who had been so glum and reserved since his father’s death, so unlike the duke who had been so stern and cross with her these past few weeks. Oh, she very much liked this version of him best. This was the man whose arms she wanted to be in tonight, whom she wanted to give herself to, knowing how tender and careful he would be with her.

He lifted onto his forearm beside her to flutter his hand along the side of her body. “You know what’s even better than you in this dress?”

Heat rose everywhere he touched. “What?”

“You out of this dress,” he murmured hotly.

Her breath hitched at the pulse of nervousness his words sent spiraling through her. He’d seen her uncovered from the waist up. But he’d never seenallof her.

He gently tugged at her skirt. “It’s only fair.” The heat in his eyes as he stared down at her set her on fire. “Since I’m not wearing anything.”

Sweet heavens, he wasn’t! Her belly knotted with trepidation. While she hadn’t looked at him, notthere, she had the feeling that he very much planned on looking at her everywhere. She worried her bottom lip between her teeth. “But what if…”

“Hmm?” Another caress of his hand up and down her body, this time pulling the skirt higher up her thighs.

She trembled as goose bumps covered her bared legs. “What if you don’t like what you see?” she whispered aloud her fear, so soft her lips barely formed the words.

His eyes softened with understanding. “But I will like it,” he assured her even as his hand inched up the skirt until the hem lay just beneath the juncture of her thighs. “I’m positively certain, in fact.”

She trembled, all of her tensing in sudden apprehension. She didn’t want him to stop, but…“But what if you don’t? Can I—” She choked as he inched the hem even higher, exposing her triangle of feminine curls to the cool night air. Thankfully, his eyes never left hers. She didn’t think she could have borne it if he’d looked down at her at that moment. “Can I put the dress back on?”

He chuckled, and the warm sound rumbled into her. “Yes, you can.” The fabric slid across her hips to her belly. “But you won’t want to.”

As he untied the ribbons at her shoulders to release the bodice, then slid the dress over her head and off, she closed her eyes. She didn’t want to see his expression when he saw her completely naked for the first time, if he compared her to those fine ladies he’d been with before and found her lacking—

“Dear God…you are so beautiful.”

She smiled as a soft laugh of happiness and relief bubbled from her. Sebastian thought she wasbeautiful! Even wearing nothing at all. She was right—he would make tonight wonderful for her, the way no other man could.

She opened her eyes. Wildfire tore through her at the raw desire she saw on his face as he gazed down at her, and she shivered from the intensity of him. Everywhere his eyes lingered on her body flames prickled beneath her skin, the force of it nearly overwhelming.

“I’m sorry to tell you this.” He rubbed his thumb across her bottom lip and said with teasing solemnity, “But the dress stays off all night, I’m afraid.”

“Sebastian!” she scolded, her cheeks flushing with an instant blush.

Laughing, he lowered his head and nuzzled his cheek against hers, and his midnight beard scratched tantalizingly across her soft skin. So very masculine. And for this moment, all hers. Her heart soared with the joy of that.

“Have I ever told you how much I enjoy the way you blush?” He placed a kiss on her lips before she could answer. “HowinspiringI find it?”

Which only caused the blush to deepen and left her speechless.

“It starts here.” He brushed his lips across her cheekbone. “And lingers here.” Then down her jawline to her neck. “And here.” Down farther until his mouth was on her breast. “And ends right here.”

When he took her nipple between his lips and sucked, she arched up off the mattress with a strangled gasp. Oh, his wicked mouth! He knew exactly how to torture and pleasure her at the same time, how to softly suck yet generate a fierce ache all the way down between her legs. How to make her whimper for more beneath the breathless onslaught of licks and sucks and nibbles.

“Such a beautiful blush,” he mumbled against her breast. “Which makes me wonder…”

She bit her lip to hold back her curiosity as long as she could, even knowing he was baiting her— “Wonder what?” she asked, unable to help herself as her fingers ran wild over his shoulders and bare back, loving the feel of his muscles rippling beneath her seeking fingertips.

“If other places on your body also blush.”

She tensed. Surely he didn’t mean—

“Like here.” He lowered himself to lick at her belly in slow, languid circles as his hand stroked along her inner thigh. “Or here.”