He kissed her up her neck, down to the top curves of her breasts then returned to her lips. They kissed with passion, a fierceness that made her leg rise, trying its best to hook around his hip. He took control and held that leg down, keeping her body open to him.
“Philip,” she whispered as he pulled back from their kiss. “Please!” she said insistently, trying to raise her hips a little, to feel more of his touch.
“As you wish, my Duchess,” he whispered, a smile curving his handsome face.
Then his hand let go of her.
“No,” she whimpered, thinking he was pulling away from her entirely. He moved down her body, hooking one arm under her leg, then he pressed his lips to her wet center. “Oh!”
She didn’t bother staying quiet anymore as his tongue started to explore this most sensitive part of her. She flung her head back on his desk, reaching for anything she could get hold of. She knocked papers off the desk and rolled inkwell away with her frantic hands as she felt his tongue on every part of her.
He first found a sensitive spot, just above her opening. He worked it, repeatedly, until she was a shivering mess then he moved downward and plunged his tongue into her.
“Philip,” she moaned his name, raising herself on her elbows to look at what he was doing. She’d had no idea this was a thing that couples could do and certainly had no idea it would feel so pleasurable, but Philip knew. He hooked her leg higher, over his shoulder, so she was completely open to him on his desk.
She didn’t think her body could stand anymore pleasure. She moaned his name repeatedly. It was mixed with gasping sounds as she fell back on the desk again, her hands clamping to the wood above her head.
Then he changed their position a little. He returned his tongue to that sensitive area beneath her curls as his fingers teased her all the way up the inside of her leg. When those fingers shifted to her opening and slid inside of her, she lost control.
Grace clamped her eyes tightly shut as her back arched off the desk. Such a thrill shot through her body that it acted of its own accord, completely beyond her control.
She was writhing with it, her body clamping down on his fingers as he rode out her wave. She was still trembling, still moaning, panting as she opened her eyes to see he had raised his head up again.
He was watching her, drinking in the sight of her, that expression as dark and lustful as it had been briefly that night in the carriage. His fingers still worked that sensitive spot until the tremors had passed through her body completely then he pulled his hand from her.
“That is just a taste of what will happen tonight.”
CHAPTER16
Philip’s heart was thundering in his chest as he looked down at the perfect unbidden image of Grace. He reached for the skirt of her gown and pulled it down her legs again, hiding her wetness from him, for if he gazed at her any longer, he was in danger of taking her there on his desk.
I will not. As I promised, I will wait for the bed to do that.
She was trembling, biting her lip as she looked up at him, her cheeks the brightest shade of red he had seen.
He bent over her, capturing her lips with his own. This kiss was much slower than their last, more sensual somehow if not as passionate. He slipped his hand under her back, urging her to arch up into him as she had just done when she reached her climax, then he released her.
“Until tonight.” He stepped back from the desk, doing his best to adjust his hard-on in his trousers.
“W-what?” Grace stammered.
He reached for the door, glancing back to see Grace sat up on the desk, staring at him in amazement. Her hair was wild, half falling down from its updo. The gown too was slipping from her shoulders.
“You do that then stop?”
“I thought you were enjoying the sweet torture?” he asked with a laugh. “You can’t pretend you didn’t enjoy that part.”
“You arrogant and insufferable man.”
“Your husband now, Grace.” He winked at her. “I’m your husband now.” She looked as if she didn’t know whether to curse or smile. “I’ll have to hurry our guests out of this house. As soon as they are gone, worry not.” His gaze slipped down her. “That torture will be over.”
He stepped out of the door, leaving her to get herself sorted. As he stepped down the corridor, he had to adjust his trousers multiple times.
Never had he been so hard in his life for any woman before. Never had he expected the sight of Grace beneath him, calling out his name as she clawed at his papers and made a mess of his perfectly ordered life, to be his undoing so much.
When he reached the door of the ballroom, he had to think of dull and mundane things for some time, pushing all thoughts of Grace away before it was safe to return to his guests without any hint of the desire that rippled through him, straining against his trousers.
* * *