Page 150 of Stolen By the Heartless Duke

He took one deliberate step forward. Now scarcely inches separated them. Jane had to tilt her head to meet his eyes fully.

He was close enough that she could make out the tiny flecks of lighter color hidden within their dark gray depths. Close enough to hear the steady rhythm of his breathing. Close enough that the warmth radiating from him surrounded her completely.

A shiver ran down her spine. She could no longer remember what clever reply she’d intended to give.

Instead she simply looked at him. At the strength of his shoulders beneath the dark dressing gown. At the faint shadow along his jaw despite having shaved that morning. At the small scar near his temple she’d noticed weeks ago but never asked about. At the tenderness hidden beneath the disciplined composure he showed the rest of the world.

Everything about him felt quietly overwhelming.

His hand lifted slowly. His fingertips brushed a damp curl away from her cheek. The gesture was astonishingly gentle.

Jane leaned into the touch before she even realized she was doing it. His thumb lingered against her skin. He drew a slow breath.

“You have no idea...” His voice was barely above a whisper. “...how often I’ve imagined holding you like this.”

Her heartbeat stumbled. “Hector...”

He leaned closer until only the narrowest space remained between them. “I have tried very hard to be patient, but I would very much like to kiss you.”

She smiled. “I wondered how long it would take you to say so.”

A quiet chuckle escaped him. “I was attempting restraint.”

“It seems exhausting.”

“It has been.”

His expression softened into something almost unbearably affectionate.

“I would happily spend the rest of the evening discovering precisely why my wife has been looking at me that way since she walked down the aisle.”

Warmth flooded her cheeks. “And how have I been looking at you?”

“As though you expect me to stop behaving.”

She laughed. “Perhaps I do.”

“I fear you may succeed.”

His hand slipped gently into hers. He lifted it to his lips and pressed a lingering kiss across her knuckles. Then he looked into her eyes once more.

“You need only say the word.”

Jane answered not with words but with a small, almost imperceptible nod.

His smile deepened. “So be it.”

Slowly, giving her every chance to pull away, he closed the remaining distance between them and kissed her with all the tenderness he’d been denying himself for weeks. Their first kiss as husband and wife was unhurried, warm.

He broke away and looked down at her with such raw passion in his eyes that it made Jane’s breath catch. When he caught her lips in a second kiss, it was nothing like the first. It was heated and hurried.

Jane kissed him back with the same fervent desire, meeting him in desperate need to get closer to him. The layers of clothing between them felt too much.

He tasted of coffee and wine and sweat. Her world tilted, and all she could think about was the way his hands were drifting from her cheeks down her shoulders, stopping to linger at her breasts. He cupped them gently through the material of her robe and nightgown before untying the sash of her robe and tossing the dressing gown to the floor.

Jane moaned as Hector found her erect nipple through the thin nightgown, and rolled it gently between his thumb and forefinger. Waves of pleasure rolled over her body. She braced her hands on his shoulders as his mouth found hers again.

He lifted her into his arms, and moved her to the bed. Before she quite knew what was happening, he had bunched her nightgownup around her waist and had dropped to his knees beside the bed.