Page 72 of If the Duke Demands

But she wanted even more. She wanted to find some way to brand him onto herself so she could carry him with her beyond the dawn. “Teach me something new,” she whispered, caressing her hand across his cheek. “Something special.”

He stilled and gazed down at her, his blue eyes dark with pleasure as he searched her face in the firelight. “All right.” He placed a kiss against her palm. “Something special.”

Without pulling out of her warmth, he clasped his arms around her and rolled onto his back, bringing her up on top. Surprised at the quick movement, she straddled his waist as she perched on him, his manhood still inside her.

She stared down at him, and her lips parted in a stunnedO.

As the realization slowly sank through her for why this was special, that in this new position they would be able to see the sheer happiness each brought to the other, her lips curled into a smile. With a gleeful laugh, she began to move, at first only in testing little swivels of her hips that elicited low pants of pleasure from him, then bolder thrusts that had his hands gripping at her hips to fight for restraint. Tucking her legs beneath her for leverage, she lifted up and down, raising and lowering herself along his hard length in a smooth slide that nearly brought him out of her, only to plunge down and bury him fully within her warmth again.

She tossed back her head with joy, her hands on his chest curling her fingers into the hard muscle. Oh, what a devilish position! The pounding of his heart beneath her fingertips, the pulsing of his manhood between her legs—she wanted to be wicked, wanton, and wonderful, and all for him. There was no hesitation now, only freedom to tease with her body and be teased in return, not satisfying the need for release but flaming it.

He leaned up on his forearms, raising his back from the floor until he kissed her. “Come now, sweet,” he urged as his hips continued to roll and rock beneath her, his voice a hot whisper. He licked across her lips. “I want to see you find your pleasure.”

His words cascaded through her, spilling into a thousand fingers of heat that swirled through her and lit her on fire. With a soft cry of desperate need, she began to ride furiously over him. Each thrust was sheer pleasure and greed, demanding and hungry, and she galloped hard, racing toward the oncoming release—

She shattered. Tossing back her head, she cried out his name as the wave of release took her, only to moan again as she felt him thrust up deep inside her and grind his hips against her to prolong the moment for her. Her folds quivered around his still-hard manhood as her body milked his to claim each pulse of shivering pleasure.

He thrust up beneath her in a plunge so forceful that he lifted her off the floor. She clung to him, desperate to join her soul with his, desperate for him to feel how much she loved him. A second release gripped her, a second cry of surrender tearing from her throat. Then he joined her, slipping from her warmth to shudder out his own release a heartbeat later.

He fell back onto the rug, and she collapsed onto his chest, utterly spent and completely satiated. For a moment, she couldn’t breathe, not from exertion but from the overwhelming emotions swirling through her. Engulfing her, sending her spinning through space and somersaulting her heart beyond control…

When her breath returned and she opened her eyes, she was again on her back, with Sebastian once more lying over her, as if he, too, didn’t want this moment to end. With his fingers entwined in hers, he held her arms out from her sides, pinning her there beneath him. He stared down at her. His eyes were bright in the shadows, and his lips were parted, as if he wanted to say something but couldn’t find the words.

For a long moment, they remained like that, the only sound their heartbeats echoing into each other.

Then a sob tore from her.

“Oh God, Miranda,” he whispered gently, rolling his weight off her and turning her in his arms to cup her face in his hands with concern as she cried softly. Self-recrimination darkened his face. “I’ve hurt you.” He tenderly kissed her lips and her cheeks, as if trying to take all her pain onto himself. “I’m so sorry—”

“You didn’t hurt me.” She pressed her eyes closed but couldn’t stop the tears, no longer able to hold back the torrent of emotions cascading through her. Her heart simply hadn’t been prepared for him, for the rush of happiness being with him brought. And the terrible anguish. “You were wonderful.”

He kissed away her tears, but his distress for her was still palpable. “Then what is it? Tell me.”

She shook her head, fresh embarrassment surging through her and coloring her cheeks. “I’m just being a silly cake,” she whispered. She buried her face against his shoulder to hide from him, afraid he would see the truth in her…that she loved him, despite knowing that he would never love her in return. “I wasn’t prepared for that.”

“Are you certain that’s all?” Concern sounded thick in his voice as he encircled her with his arms and drew her protectively against him. “You’re trembling.”

“I’m cold,” she lied, unable to bear telling him the truth. Even now, with the masculine scent of him imprinted on her body and the physical pleasure he brought to her still lingering inside her, she couldn’t bring herself to say it.

“What can I do to help?” He caressed his warm lips against her forehead in a gesture so tender that new tears formed at her lashes.

She touched his cheek, trying to ignore the unbearable desolation clawing at her heart. “Put me to bed? I’ll be warmer beneath the covers.”

He gathered her into his arms and lifted her from the floor. “You’re not leaving tonight,” he told her gently but firmly as he carried her into his bedroom. “You’re spending the entire night this time, understand?”

“I can’t,” she whispered regrettably, resting her cheek against his shoulder. “I have to return to Audley House before the household wakes and notices I’m gone.”

“There will be plenty of time to take you home.” He murmured possessively against her temple, “But I want to greet the dawn with you in my arms, Rose.”

Rose.She warmed with love. For the first time, he’d used the nickname not mockingly, not in tempting seduction, but in affection, and her heart pounded so fiercely for him that her chest ached.

She nodded against his shoulder, not wanting to leave him. Not tonight, not tomorrow…

Pulling back the coverlet with one hand, he placed her onto the bed. He leaned over and kissed her, his lips nibbling at the corner of her mouth in promise of more pleasures yet to come before the night was over.

“Sebastian?” she whispered tentatively.

“Hmm?” He nuzzled the nape of her neck as he settled in behind her and tucked the coverlet over them, her back along his front, his large body enveloping hers in its warmth and strength.