Page 84 of The Duke of a Thousand Desires

He carried her across the room, his hand cupping her backside, and deposited her in the middle of the goose-feather bed. He bent over her recumbent form with his foot planted on the floor.

His mouth brushed her cheek in a good-night peck. “I am going back to sleep for an hour.”

Of course one kiss led to another, and in the next moment he had untied her robe to rub his face across her silky nipples. Without thinking he slid back to strip off his shirt and pantaloons. “I am completely awake now,” he announced.

She lowered her eyes to his heavy erection. “Yes. What a sight.”

She turned onto her stomach with a beguiling smile, raising up on her hands and knees to offer herself to him. “Take me,” she whispered.

“To the stars and back. That is a heavenly view if ever I’ve seen one.”

He wrapped his arm around her ribs and fitted his penis to the crease of her cleft. She rocked forward slightly as he pushed inside her. “More,” she said, her voice catching.

“How much more?”

“All of you.”

He held her securely as blood rushed through his body to obliterate his thoughts. Her hips rose, plump and enticing. Her invitation was flagrant. Not a filament of his being could refuse her. He inhaled and ran his hand over her sleek curves, her flesh like raw silk. He felt like a man who had never had sex before.

She swayed again as he withdrew and quickened his movements. Arching her back, she released a moan that pushed him to the precipice of mortal restraint. He forgot that she was vulnerable, half his size, no match for his power. Need clawed at his self-mastery.

“Sweet God,” he muttered. “I can feel how ready you are.”

He pumped harder, his groin against her generous bottom, as she collapsed with a cry across the bed. Her hands splayed out at her sides in surrender. Her body trembled involuntarily. Still, he continued to thrust, his heart pounding in his chest. His back was slick with sweat when he climaxed.

Just. One. Kiss.

His pulse slowed. He dropped onto the bed, laughing ruefully, and gathered her to him. She smiled into his eyes as she crumbled against his chest. “I hope you can sleep now,” she said demurely.

He rose at daybreak. The sky was clear. During his broken hours of sleep he’d decided not to postpone the move to Caverley House until the end of the week. It was safer to be on the road while the weather held. Timpkins would have to work quickly to interview additional staff members and confirm character references. The country estate and the tenantry required Simon’s personal attention. He looked forward to introducing Ravenna to his neighbors and to the house where they would raise their family.

He was tempted to rouse her and insist they travel right after breakfast. But she was resting like a storybook princess, her mouth red from ardour, her hands clasped above her breasts. What manner of husband was he to give her nightmares? What good was he as a guardian if she rescued him even in her sleep?

He watched her as he shaved and dressed. It would be unkind to awaken her. He went back to the bed to kiss her, then reminded himself why that would be a mistake. Her tumbled curls framed a face of perfect repose. She sighed as if she sensed him but did not open her eyes.

She was a lady to inspire a man to slay dragons, one of who had come to his door while he fiddled about like a fool making plans he could not complete.