Page 78 of His Accidental Duchess

“You look beautiful today,” he said, his voice so low that she almost couldn’t make out the words. “I found myself thinking of our little interlude in the library. Do you ever recall that incident?”

She swallowed again. “O-Occasionally.”

Cool fingers closed around the nape of her neck, pulling her down into a firm, unyielding kiss that made her heart flutter.

His lips were everywhere, his hands everywhere, moving and shifting her around as if she weighed no more than a bag of flour. Hands firmly gripped her hips, shifting her so that she straddled his lap, and she could feel a hard, hot thing pressing against the inside of her thigh.

When he began to tug at the laces that fastened the front of her bodice, Anna’s eyes flew open. When had she tied them?

“Don’t! I won’t be able to lace myself up again.”

“Do you really think,” Theo murmured, his lips darting across her collarbone, “that I will allow you to go back into the theater after this? I don’t intend for you to be in any fit state to converse with anybody.”

She shivered, letting her hands drift across the expanse of his shoulders. He was hot like a furnace.

He did leave her laces alone, though, his hands sliding lower, pushing under her skirts. Anna drew in a sharp breath when she felt his fingers on her thighs again, drawing circles and spirals on her sensitive skin. As before, his hand slid to the apex of her thighs, but this time only his knuckles brushed against her.

Pressing her forehead into his shoulder, Anna tentatively rolled her hips forward, trying to push against him, againstsomething, but he only chuckled in her ear and held her hips firmly, keeping her still.

“Not this time, my dear,” he said, his voice low and hoarse. “I have something else in mind.”

“Then why don’t youget onwith it?”

He laughed aloud at that, and she felt his hand cup the back of her head, pressing her against him.

She heard him fumble with his trousers, and her heart pounded faster and harder than ever. Part of her longed to pull back, to yank her skirts aside and have a good look at it, but she found herself frozen in place.

“Take a deep breath,” Theo said, his lips brushing her ear. “It’s a strange sensation at first, I’m told, but you will quickly get accustomed to it.”

Anna squeezed her eyes shut, allowing Theo to guide her hips as she sank down onto him, a long slow slide that was indeed one of the strangest sensations she had ever experienced.

Certainly not the worst, though.

She kept her arms around his shoulders, holding on tight. At first, he only shifted slightly, allowing her the chance to get used to the intrusion. The heartbeat was back between her legs, more intense and deeper than ever, and Anna found herself trying to move, pushing herself up and sliding back in an attempt to get him to move faster.

He chuckled in her ear, a sure sign that he knew exactly what she was doing. Abruptly, he sped up his thrusts, bouncing Anna up and down on his lap with such vigor that her head might as well have hit the roof if he hadn’t been gripping her hips so tightly, pinning her down.

Heat bubbled inside her, a sort ofneed, although now Anna knew exactly what itwasthat she needed. The intrusion had long since stopped feeling uncomfortable—it was all she could think of, and she had the strangest feeling that if Theo stopped moving, she would die.

It took her a moment to realize that the squeaks, half-gasps, and moans that filled the carriage were coming from her. Her climax, when it came, was faster and more powerful than the one she’d enjoyed in the library, leaving her with shaking legs and a spotty vision, clinging to Theo’s shoulders as if her life depended on it.

He held her tight, pressing her against him, his movements becoming quick and erratic. His hips stuttered, and he crushed her against him with a ragged growl, pressing them tight together.

For a few long moments, they just slumped against each other, both breathing hard. Anna felt wrung out, but somehow also simmering with energy.

I had no idea it would be like this.I do wish Mama had warned me.

After another moment, she sat back a little shakily and ran her hands over her hair, patting a few loose locks back into place. Theo was silent, his expression closed off and unreadable in the darkness.

“I suppose we should—” he began, but was interrupted by Anna as she darted forward to kiss him.

“That,” she said with finality, “was marvelous.”

He broke into a smile, shaking his head. “I wish I had abandoned our silly games earlier.”

“So do I. We could have been doing this for weeks, Theo! Weeks!”

He raised a hand to her cheek, his fingers trailing down her skin. “You’re a remarkable woman,” he said, half to himself, half to her. “I really am luckier than I could have hoped. To think that our marriage was nothing but chance. A coincidence.”

---