Page 73 of The Haunted Duke

Evander shrugged.

“He is just a boy. Name-calling is something they all do. And I believe we both enjoyed the bit of play,” he replied.

“Well, I am afraid you will have to continue your mighty battle against Alex another day,” she playfully replied. “I have come simply because I missed my husband.”

She had spent the better part of the morning trying to shake off Letty’s warnings. Yet despite her efforts, despite recalling how passionately Evander had greeted her when she accidentally interrupted him the day before, she could not quite silence the feeling that had been building for weeks now. She could feel that Evander was keeping something from her, and she had to find out what.

“Well, I am particularly glad you have come then because I happen to be missing my wife,” Evander replied, his blue gaze growing warm and dark as she settled into his lap.

His hands dropped from the back of his neck and settled around her waist. Pleasure and desire rushed through Helena as he held her close and kissed her lips. She sighed, sinking into his body, and reveled in the way his tongue and lips led her into a deep, lazy kiss.

She was dazed and humming with need when he drew away, and she could not help but bite her lower lip and smile as she turned away from his lustful gaze to look down at his desk.

“So, what are you working on today?” she asked, reaching for one of the many papers covering the top of his desk. “Have you finally made enough money to buy out the King?”

Beneath her, she felt Evander grow tense, and before she could read what was on the paper she was holding, he gently plucked it from her hands and moved hurriedly to sweep them all into a drawer. Helena’s heart dropped as she watched him. She had thought that what they had was special. That he hid nothing but the demons of his past, which she had already seen glimpses of. Yet if it was so, why would he hurry to hide his correspondence?

“Nothing so adventurous, I am afraid,” he replied, turning her so that she straddled his lap and faced him. When she was seated to his satisfaction, he pulled his leather gloves off and set them aside. “Just the boring, usual accounts that need to be tended to.”

He smoothed his palms up her corseted waist to the scooped bust of her ice blue gown, sending flames licking through her veins.

“Though I must confess, I would much rather be tending to you,” he rasped, trailing his fingertips over the bare flesh of her cleavage.

He leaned forward, pressing his lips to the plump flesh of her breasts, and Helena shivered in anticipation as his kisses made their way toward her collarbone. She swept her fingers through his dark hair, down his back, and smoothed her palms up the front of his shirt as his lips pressed languid kisses up the column of her neck. Heat bloomed in her core, and she shifted her hips, loving that when she did so, she could feel his cock, already strained and rigid beneath his trousers, pressing against the apex of her thighs.

With a quickness that made her gasp, Evander gripped the nape of her neck and slammed his lips down on hers in a needy kiss. She responded with equal passion, nipping at his bottom lip, then sweeping her tongue seductively over the small hurt before she suckled it into her mouth. Evander released a feral groan into her mouth at her boldness, and in a flurry of movement, he had her off his lap and sitting atop his desk, his hands pushing up her skirts and parting her thighs wide.

In turn, she reached for his cravat, hoping that the urgency of the moment would keep him distracted. She barely hooked her finger into the knot there, though, before Evander muttered a curse against her lips and gently pulled her hands away from the fabric.

“Please,” she breathed, trailing kisses down the corded column of his throat. “You have no idea how much I want to touch you, to kiss every part of you, scarred or not.”

Evander let out another groan, only this time it sounded more tortured. He pulled back, his glazed blue eyes finding her green ones, and she felt guilt spear through her arousal as she saw that such torture existed in his gaze as much as it did in his voice.

“I love that you think so,” he rasped, still holding her hands tight. “But you have no idea of what I have spared you from. I… A maid walked in on me once. She thought that I was still boxing with Toby, but I had finished early. She took one look at me and screamed so hard she fainted.”

He shook his head, the hurt of that memory vivid in his eyes.

“I do not ever want to risk such a reaction from you,” he went on, his deep voice pleading for understanding. “You cannot possibly know how much that would destroy me.”

Helena frowned, torn between allowing their moment of passion to be ruined by her insistence, or once more letting him lead her away from what she wanted most.

“Very well,” she whispered at last, tugging her hand free from his grip. She slid her palm down his shirt, reveling in the feel of his hardened muscles that lay just beneath. Then she went further, past the waistband of his trousers and down to the apex of his thighs, and smoothed her palm over his impressive bulge.

Pleasure surged through her as Evander’s eyes screwed shut and he let out a moaning breath as his entire body trembled.

“Is this part of you scarred?” she asked, gently rubbing her palm up and down his length.

“No,” he gasped, then seemed to struggle to swallow. “No, it is not.”

“Then I see no reason to keep this part of you hidden from my touch or sight any longer,” she whispered, sliding her hand up to his waistband.

She waited for Evander to stop her, but her confidence grew as his hands only dropped to her thighs and his grip tightened there as she loosened his breeches and pulled them down. Her gaze still locked on his, she tentatively touched her bare fingertips to his rigid, mushroomed tip, and swirled her fingernail across the drop of dew that had gathered there.

Pleasure and power surged through her as Evander let out a feral moan and tightened his grip on her thighs. She then dared a glance down, and she blushed at the sight of his impressive length and girth.

“Tell me…” she coaxed, brushing a soft kiss across his forehead as he bowed his head to the pleasure. “Tell me how to touch you.”

It seemed to take Evander a moment to find his voice again. When he did, he guided her steps, telling her how to wrap her fingers around his shaft and slowly work him. She barely passed her grip over him thrice before he reached down and pulled her hand away, and laid her down atop his desk until her hips were hanging over the edge and her knees were balanced atop his shoulders.