Page 63 of It's All About the Duke
“How could I possibly know,” she said in a lighthearted tone. “I can’t see inside your head.”
It was his turn to smile at her. “I know because we are thinking the same thing.”
“We couldn’t be.”
“I have the kisses we shared the other day on my mind.”
Her gaze swept his face. “I told you I wanted to forget that happened and not talk about kissing anymore.”
Rath stepped in closer to her. A tremor of arousal threaded through him. He wanted to kiss her until she surrendered everything to his will. “But can you forget?”
She flattened her back against the side of the house. “I had until you mentioned it just now.”
“I believe that is what some would call fibbing, Marlena.”
“No, I—No. Maybe I thought about the kisses a time or two, and that’s all I’m going to say about them.” She wiggled her shoulders just a little as if to shake off what she’d just said. “Besides, you should have never let the kisses and touches happen between us.”
“Me?” He blew out a soft, brief chuckle. “So it was my fault? Even though I gave you my handkerchief to stop me.”
“Entirely your lapse in judgment, yes,” she insisted with a smile. “You knew I wanted the kiss, that I had never been kissed, that I was eager and curious to have my first one. You should have remained strong and denied me for my own good.”
“Your own good? You are so unbelievable at times, my lovely Marlena, that I find myself wondering how you will astound me next,” he said, hoping she could see the respect and the desire he had for her in his expression. “How could I have done that when I wanted the kiss as much as you, if not more?” He moved a little closer to her, keeping his gaze steadily, firmly on hers. “I want to have more kisses with you. Right now.”
She moistened her lips and swallowed. “If that is the case, Your Grace, you will have to do it.”
With pleasure.
“I’ll consider that permission, but from here on, you will call me Rath. Not Your Grace.”
Her eyes widened. “I shouldn’t.”
“All you need is permission to do so and I just gave it. We have become too close for you to continue being so formal.”
He could no longer bear not touching her. He caressed her damp cheek with the backs of his fingers, letting them slowly trace down to her jawline and then over to her lips. Just touching her face caused his lower stomach to tighten and a surge of longing to catch impatiently between his legs.
Rath’s hands parted her cape and his arms slid beneath it to circle her waist and pull her close. He immediately felt her soothing warmth and leaned into her, enjoyingthe feel of her in his arms. He stroked her back and shoulders while reaching down to kiss her forehead and then both cheeks before letting his lips trail first to one side of her mouth and then the other.
He lifted his head and smiled at her. “Your face is wet from the mist.”
“Does that bother you?” she questioned.
It arouses me.
“No,” he answered with a smile. “I’m sure mine is the same.”
Keeping her gaze steadfast on his, Marlena reached up and touched his cheek with her gloved hand.
That was all the invitation he needed. Rath bent his head and brushed his lips tenderly across hers. They were soft and enticing. But that one sweet pleasurable kiss was not nearly enough to satisfy the hunger he had for her, and he sensed she had an equal appetite for him. He kissed her again, lingeringly at first, taking his time to fully taste her lips before easing his tongue into her mouth.
The streets and houses around them were silent, the deep fog having sent everyone inside. All he heard was the strong, increasingly erratic beat of his heart and their mingled moans of pleasure. A burning heat surged through him and a longing to make her his filled him with an overwhelming eagerness. He didn’t want to tamp down his growing desire for her.
He sought her sweet, yielding mouth again and again. Their tongues met. Their breaths mingled. Each kiss dissolved into the next. With her clothing between them, he continued to rub his hands along the contour of her back, around to her hidden breasts, and then down her waist to the lean lines of her hips and thighs. She was beautifully shaped, womanly soft, and heavenly to taste. It was as iftime weren’t moving. All he could think, all that mattered was how good she felt in his arms and beneath his hands.
A tremor shook her body. That sent a slow spread of delicious warmth sizzling through him. It pleased him that his hands exploring her body thrilled her as much as it pleasured him. He continued to caress her, loving the feel of her against his hands. Touching her helped ease the intense hunger he had for her and gave him such pleasure that he wanted more and more from her.
She stretched her arms up and around his neck and leaned into his chest. In place of the mist on the back of his neck, Rath felt her velvety-cotton-gloved hands. Her warm, eager acceptance of his touch pleased him. He held her tighter, urging her to fit her softness more fully against the strength of his body. He lifted his hips toward her.
Their kisses deepened even more. Rath loved the way she responded to him, and in turn he was consumed with hot, throbbing desire for her. It scorched through him fast, making him want to give her more and demand more in turn. Without letting his lips leave her skin, he kissed her cheek, behind her ear, and then back to her lips to tempt her with short, sweet kisses that moved agonizingly slowly over her mouth.
