Page 88 of The Governess and the Brooding Duke
But it existed.
Jane had been a fool. To have sought out another man when she had this one.
It was a strange thing to think of his wife.
And yet she could not help herself.
For what woman would trade anything, anything at all, for this man?
How could she surrender her life? How?
It made no sense.
This was everything real and fantastic that she had never dared believe in.
He was like a dragon. Mystical and great in his beauty. A terror that was hers and only hers.
That was real for her.
He sat her up and released her dress the rest of the way, pulling it completely from her body, along with her undergarments. Her stockings. And he left her bare to his gaze.
He was still clothed, a position of power that would have frightened her before, but now filled her with a delicious sense of anticipation.
He took off his jacket and slung it across a chair near the bed. Then he loosened his cravat.
He was left in a waistcoat and his white shirt, his snug-fitting black breeches.
Close, he was formidable. Beautiful.
And she knew that she should feel like a virgin sacrifice. But the glory was, she was not a virgin. Nor was she sacrificing herself here, on the altar of his need. No.
She was joyously claiming it.
Happily embracing it.
And if the sacrifice tied herself to the stone, then it wasn’t a sacrifice at all, was it?
The power was with her, just as much as him.
She watched as his eyes grew hungry, and she had run from that expression in men’s eyes all these years.
She could not afford their hunger.
The cost was too great.
And now she luxuriated in it. Opened herself up to it. She found her legs relaxing, her thighs opening.
And the sound he made was definitely that of a dragon.
‘Yes,’ he said, moving to slowly unbutton his waistcoat. ‘Part your legs for me. Show me. How wet and glistening you are.’
She was wet. She ached.
The sensation was unfamiliar, except when it came to him. For she had that sensation when thoughts of him had spiralled out of control.
It would ease his passage, she knew that.
She was thankful for it.
