Page 50 of It's All About the Duke
“Are you disappointed in your first kiss?” he asked.
Was she?
Perhaps a little she thought, but said, “I don’t think so. I wanted you to kiss me.”
“My beautiful, innocent Marlena, I didn’t kiss you. You kissed me.”
She frowned. She did, but—A tremor raced through her. “Were you disappointed with the kiss?” she asked, suddenly fearful she hadn’t done something right.
A hint of a smile lifted one corner of his mouth. “Not at all. It was refreshing. It’s been a long time since I’ve been kissed by someone who doesn’t know how to do it.”
She thought on what he said for a few seconds. “I suppose that’s true. It’s not something I’ve been taught the way I learned dancing, manners, reading, or even how to catch a fish.”
“Fishing? Did your cousins teach you how to do that, too?”
“They tried. I wanted to be with them and do whatever they did. I wasn’t any good at it.” She smiled. “I’ve had no tutors for kissing.”
The duke chuckled softly. “It’s best there are none for that. It comes naturally with practice.”
“I would assume you know how to kiss very well. That you’ve had a lot of practice.”
One corner of his mouth lifted in a grin. “You aren’t going to fool me into telling you anything about that, Marlena.”
“I’m not trying to. I was going to ask if you would kiss me this time and show me how it’s done properly.”
With his mouth hovering above hers, his gaze locked on hers, and his warm hand still resting ever so lightly against her neck, he asked, “Do you want a kiss from me because you are curious about how it’s usually done or because you have a burning desire to feel my lips on yours once again?”
“Both.”
A sparkle of surprise seemed to light in his dark-brown eyes. “Your answer will do—for now.”
The duke circled her waist and placed his hands in the center of her back, bringing her up close to his hard chest. Marlena felt strength in his arms as they surrounded her and warmth from his body as she settled into his embrace.
He lowered his head, closed his eyes, and softly placed his slightly parted mouth on hers. Just as before, his lips were pliant and moist, but this time her stomach quivered deliciously. Tingles of sensation shivered across her breasts and tightened her nipples. The duke didn’t just press his lips to hers and leave them there. No, he slanted them over hers and moved them back and forth, over and across hers. Slowly, generously, and softly, as if he were caressing the most prized bolt of velvet with his lips. She felt as if she could kiss him all day and not grow tired of doing it.
“Move your lips with mine,” he whispered without breaking contact with her.
Marlena did so as her arms once again circled his neck.
She felt him smile in answer, and then he kissed her again and again, moving his lips seductively, smoothly, confidently, and effortlessly over hers. It was stimulating and she felt every fiber of her being participating. She savored the experience of being held in the arms of a man for the first time. Her body seemed to melt closer and closer to his. She allowed her hands to explore his wide shoulders and broad back beneath the fine wool of his coat.
Marlena was swept away by new sensations twirling, curling, and tumbling inside her. He created such thrilling and intense feelings rippling inside her she was almostafraid to draw breath for fear they would disappear and never return.
How could it be that she’d spent almost three years of her life trying to make his life miserable? And now with his touch on her lips, on her skin, he was giving her pleasure she hadn’t known existed until she’d met him.
The duke raised his head and looked down into her eyes. Her heart fluttered. Her lashes blinked against his beckoning stare.
“Now do you see how much different a kiss can be?”
Almost dizzily, she answered, “Yes. Much better than mine to you. I’m wondering what comes next.”
“If only I could show you, but alas, I can’t. We’ll have to settle for another kiss and that will have to do.”
His lips came down to hers and lightly brushed across them. The contact was alluring, brief, and inviting. With a trembling sigh Marlena surrendered into his embrace again. Kissing was really very easy now that she knew what to do and much more pleasurable than her effort. Her fingers played in the thick, soft hair at the back of his head. She breathed in deeply, trying to take in every second of being in his arms and memorizing them all.
“You smell like sunshine,” he whispered against her lips.
Marlena laughed softly between short eager kisses and though she loved the smell of him, the taste of him, and the feel of him holding her so close to his strong, warm chest, she answered, “Sunshine has no scent.”
