Page 43 of My Dangerous Duke

“Yes. That is all, isn’t it?” He asked, looking up at his valet.

“Just one more point, Your Grace,” Jared informed him.

Xander groaned internally, starting to wonder whether this little game he and Eleanor had created was more pleasurable or torturous. Since their first time together in bed, she had provenherself to be a most willing student of lovemaking, and he feared he had created, in some twisted way, his perfect little monster. Sweet and pure on the outside; dark and seductive on the inside. They were barely able to stay away from one another.

“What is this?” Xander asked, losing focus as Eleanor’s tongue brought him closer to his climax.

Xander tried to comprehend his valet’s words as he drew ever and ever closer, but when he realized he had reached the end of his resolve, he gave up trying to listen, signed the portfolio, and immediately ordered Jared to leave.

The moment the door shut behind him, Eleanor’s hands clenched down on Xander’s thighs, and she suckled harder, bringing him to climax in seconds.

“Oh my God,” Xander panted, pulling Eleanor out from under his desk. Her eyes were bright with desire and her full lips were dewy from her blessed work. He moaned in approval as he drew his thumb across her bottom lip, and then kissed her deeply.

“You held on longer this time,” she teased, smiling through her kisses.

“I had to,” Xander groaned, resting his forehead against hers. “Jared would not bloody leave. Every time I thought we were done; he would pull one more paper out of his arse.”

“I like this game,” Eleanor giggled, getting comfortable in his lap.

“Ilovethis game,” Xander, agreed with a satisfied smile. “But it has proven to be potentially dangerous as I have no idea what I have just signed for Jared. I could have signed over Larsen Hall to him for all I know.”

“Oh, no,” Eleanor gasped in mock concern. “Well, we cannot have that, can we?”

“Mmm,” Xander murmured, pulling her in for another kiss. “We certainly cannot.”

His head was churning through the many deliciously dark ways he could pay his wife back for her little act of service when another knock on the door came. They both sighed in annoyance as they broke their kiss and, against his wishes, he let Eleanor get off of his lap so they could adjust themselves.

“Later?” He asked, winking at her as they finished.

“You better,” She warned, her grin incredibly alluring as she looked at him from the chaise lounge.

Xander gave her one more heated look before he turned his focus to the door and said, “Enter.”

“Ah, good, you are both here,” The Dowager stated after the butler opened the door.

Xander and Eleanor threw one another one more amused glance, both hiding their smiles.

“How are you today, Your Grace?” Eleanor greeted, getting up to help Margaret take a seat.

“Quite happy,” the Matriarch announced, accepting Eleanor’s help. “It seems our dear Richard is home again. For a longer visit this time.”

“How long?” Xander asked, his mood changing immediately.

“He was vague on the details,” the Dowager sighed, her expression shifting from pleased to concerned. “But he is not himself. More on edge than ever since his last visit. He wishes to speak with you privately before we have tea as a family.”

The illusion of bliss had settled over Larsen Hall since the night Xander came home beaten and bloodied a month ago. There was no more tension between him and Eleanor, and in Richard’s absence, there had been no unnecessary fires for him to put out. Even Victor, as annoying as he was, had been placated lately by Eleanor’s little act of forgery.

With Richard home, though, the illusion was now shattered, and the intense emotions he had been free from for a month were now all rushing back to him.

“I will have the butler fetch him and bring him here,” Xander stated, his emotionless mask sliding back into place. “We shall join you for tea in the day room when we are done.”

Satisfied with this answer, Margaret got up and made her way to the door.

“Is everything all right?” Eleanor whispered to him as his grandmother called for her to come.

“Of course it is,” he lied, feeling a sense of doom as he swept a quick caress across her cheek. “Go on. We will be there soon.”

Eleanor gave him a look, and he knew she saw through him. To his relief though, she gave him a nod and went to catch up to his grandmother.

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