Page 15 of Duke in Darkness

“No,” he lied gruffly, as his cock began to throb. “Little more…here.”

Slowly, so slowly, he traced her carnal, rose pink lips with his thumb. Back and forth, around and around, until her lower lip grew even poutier, and her breathing came in short, quick pants.

“Exton…”

“Stand up, Lilian. Now.”

WHAT DID Exton want of her?

It felt like she’d been walking on an abandoned bridge from the moment the archbishop had pronounced her and Exton married, trying to step on solid ground and finding only air. Their wedding day. The horrible wedding breakfast. A new husband who drank himself unconscious rather than bed her. The shame of waking still a virgin, utterly unsure what to do. But this morning, Exton had almost been a different man. Bringing breakfast. Making conversation. Smiling as though he didn’t dislike her.

And now touching her.

His thumb had been so warm. Slightly rough. And the way he’d traced her lips, over and over, until they tingled…shockingly, she’d felt it in other places. Her nipples had tightened, and that secret place between her legs had begun to ache.

“Lilian. I said stand up.”

His words were even, no hint of anger, but there could be no doubting an order. And the way he loomed over her, so huge and hard and uncompromising, made her tremble.

Slowly, she got to her feet, keeping her gaze on a spot over his left shoulder. “As you wish, Exton.”

“I wish many things,” he said in a low voice that seemed to rasp over her skin. “Look at me.”

Every sense she possessed screamed a warning as his big hands settled on her shoulders. Her gown might not expose a square inch of skin, yet the heat of him soaked straight through the fabric to burn her. Oh God. It was happening again, that sensation of her gown being far too small, the fine muslin and soft linen petticoat chafing her flesh.

Reluctantly, knowing somehow for her own self-preservation it wouldn’t be the sensible thing to do, Lilian glanced up.

And her breath caught.

His eyes, so dark they were almost black, seared right through her. His bronzed skin made him appear rougher, even primal. And that scar, that terrible, terrible scar that dissected his face and made speaking so difficult, looked stark and painful. Unbidden, her right hand rose toward the injured, uneven flesh to stroke and soothe, but Exton made a low, growling sound and his huge hand enveloped hers and firmly pushed it away.

“Do not touch my face,” he rasped. “Or body. Only my hands. Or forearms.”

Startled at the unusual instruction, Lilian stared at him, uncertain. The words were plain, and yet…

“Very well,” she whispered eventually. “Husband.”

Exton groaned, and in a lightning fast movement, he secured both her hands behind her back in one of his. Seconds later his other hand clamped around the back of her neck, and his mouth crashed onto hers.

Fire.

The word flashed in her mind as the softness of her lips were both bruised and worshipped by the hardness of his. Her late fiancé had never kissed her like this and the contrast was overwhelming. Exton wasn’t gentlemanly or coolly polite, yet as her senses whirled and blood fizzed, she didn’t want him to be. For once, she didn’t have to think. To decide. Only feel.

Greedy for more hot intimacy, Lilian daringly shuffled forward until the bodice of her pink gown just brushed the lapels of his jacket. Somehow like this, his height and broad shoulders weren’t frightening but reassuring, and his firm grip on her wrists a welcome anchor as his mouth plundered, rested, plundered again and threatened to send her floating away. Surely it must be wrong. Too carnal for a married couple. Yet when his tongue touched her lips, demanding entry, she helplessly obeyed. And what had been hot became scalding.

A tiny sound escaped, part sigh, part whimper, as his tongue darted into her mouth, flicking and teasing, encouraging her tongue to move in return. Tentatively she touched it to his, and he growled as he flexed his jaw then kissed her harder, before dropping the hand about her neck to her hip, scandalously sliding it around to caress her bottom.

“Exton,” she gasped, as her hips instinctively tilted, yet not quite sure what she offered.

“You’re so beautiful. Taste so sweet. I need to be inside you…to fuck you…” he said rawly.

Lilian froze in shock, both at the forbidden word, and at the very large and very hard thing now nudging her belly.

His man part? That would be shoved inside her during marital relations?

No. Impossible. He would tear her in two with something so big.

Wrenching away, Lilian stepped back until a gap of several feet separated them. “This…” she whispered, trying to marshal her scattered thoughts, trying to control the fear icing over what had just been so hot, “this is not proper.”