Page 46 of The Haunted Duke

“Please say something,” Helena whispered after several long minutes had passed.

He turned and walked back to the chaise, clenching his hands together as he sat back down.

“What you say is true. All of it. I… I yearn for you, Helena,” he confessed.

The ache in his deep voice eased Helena’s fears. Unable to contain her relief, she moved toward him. She hesitated for a moment as she stood before him, unsure of what to do or how to touch him. Then suddenly, Evander reached out to her, almost yanking her into his lap. Her arms wrapped around his broad shoulders immediately as she spread her legs under her skirts to straddle his lap, unabashedly pressing herself as close to him as she could.

She had missed the feel of him, his warmth, and she gave in to her need and ran her hands over his back and shoulders as he nuzzled into the crook of her neck.

Then it was over. So suddenly that she felt dizzy as she found herself standing, with Evander several paces away.

“I am sorry,” Evander choked out. “I should not have reached for you like that. We should not be doing this!”

“Why not?” Helena breathed. She moved to take a step toward him, but hurriedly stepped back.

“Because you were also right about me being a gentleman, Helena,” he said, his tone full of ache as he slowly drew his gaze back up to hers. “I cannot hold you like that. I cannot touch you the way I want to. Not while you still wear Jeremy’s ring. You have to tell him.”

Frustration burned through Helena’s veins, eating away at her desire.

“I have been trying to do so all day!” she exclaimed, wrapping her arms around her middle defensively. “Why do you think I rushed to him when his carriage first arrived?”

Evander’s brows flew up in surprise.

“I thought it was because you missed him,” he replied. “Because you felt frightened of what I did to you last night.”

Helena quickly shook her head.

“It was not you that frightened me, Evander, but my own desire. You have no idea what you have done to me! I have morals too, and yet I find myself willing to toss them the moment you are near! I wanted to speak to Jeremy about my feelings for you before the party, so this entire thing would not go any further! But he would not hear me, and his valet pulled him away, and even during the party, I pleaded for a moment alone with him, but he would not give me one! I do not want this ruse anymore! I want… I want you, Evander,” she confessed.

Then, before she could think better of it, Helena tugged the ring from her finger and hurled it into the darkness beyond the firelight, where it landed somewhere among the books with a small, hollow sound.

“There,” she breathed, lifting her chin, her eyes bright and fierce despite the tears gathering in them. “Whatever comes of this, I do not want to wear another man’s promise while I stand here wanting yours.”

Evander’s face was a mask of torture as he raised his eyes to hers. For one unbearable second, he only stared at her, as though he could not quite believe what he had just witnessed. Then strong arms wrapped around her, and before she could say or do anything else, Evander’s lips crushed down on hers—and she was lost.

Chapter 16

“Helena.”

Evander murmured her name like a prayer against her lips. He still could not believe that those lips he had longed to caress and taste for years were now finally pressed against his own.

Evander lost himself in that kiss, and as he felt Helena’s body melt into his embrace, he wagered she was losing herself too. Morals left his mind. Restraint left his body. There would be consequences later. For now, heaven had come to earth, and he was certain he would die if he pulled away.

Evander pulled back just enough to let a sigh escape Helena’s lips, then leaned in again, deepening the kiss with slow, sensual brushes of his lips against hers, guiding them into ecstasy. He paused, allowing Helena’s gentle nips and hesitant strokes to grow bolder until he brushed his tongue across her lips. Instantly, Helena parted them wider, and as he stroked his tongue over hers, his satisfaction turned into craving.

He skimmed his hands down the curves of her waist, over her buttocks, and then lifted her.

“Evander!” Helena gasped his name as he picked her up, but her kisses did not stop, and her arms only tightened around his neck as he carried her back to the chaise.

“You have no idea how long I have waited for this moment, Helena.”

Somewhere in the darkest depths of his mind, a voice shouted at him to stop. To wait until they could speak to Jeremy. To Evander, though, that voice was nothing more than the annoying buzzing of a bee that he quickly swiped away, too busy relishing the feel of having Helena on his lap, of their kiss growing deeper, his touch—and hers—growing bolder. Where his hands stroked down her back and down her shoulders, hers moved from around his neck and down his chest. He hissed in a breath of pleasure and let his head fall back as he felt her nails through the fabric of his shirt.

Needing more, he let his hands drop down to her hips, and with a savage yank, he pulled her deeper into his lap, shoving her skirts out of the way until her sex pressed tightly against the aching erection in his breeches. Helena gasped and paused as she felt his cock, and for a moment, he worried he had let himself go too far too fast.

“I want…” she rasped, awkwardly squirming against his cock as her blush deepened. “I want you so much, Evander. But I do not know how…”

Evander groaned, only further aroused by her sweet innocence, and he leaned up and kissed her lips sweetly once again.