Page 59 of Trapped with her Cruel Duke

The clipped and cold response startled her, and she felt concerned as she wondered if she might have displeased orembarrassed him in some way. She climbed inside as he gave a brief instruction to the driver, and then the door slammed shut behind him and they set off.

“What is it?” she asked, frowning at him.

“Take down your hair,” he instructed.

She frowned all the more at that demand. “Even if I wished to, I could not. There must be thirty pins holding it in place, and I cannot enter the carriage in one state and leave it in another.”

Christian was moving before she could process it, and his body was suddenly hovering over her, his face inches from her own.

“You do not have a choice in whether you will leave this carriage in a different state. You have spent the entire evening flirting with another man, and I shall remind you who you belong to.”

Louise made a high noise of protest, even as lust roared through her at his proximity. “I have done nothing of the sort and I wholeheartedly reject your accusation.”

“I do not care. I shall make it all the same.”

She shuddered as his hand grabbed the folds of her dress and drew the fabric up and over her knees. His hand slid beneath it, and his fingers ran up her inner thigh.

“You admired him, admit it.”

Louise let out a shuddering gasp.

Christian’s eyes smoldered as he moved his fingers further up her thigh, pulled at her underclothes, and drew them down her legs.

“You are mad,” she said breathlessly. “I admire his knowledge ofplants?—”

But Christian did not let her finish her sentence. He lowered his head, his lips covering hers as he groaned in pleasure. Louise gasped again as his fingers brushed against the heat between her legs, and she let out a sharp cry as he pushed his tongue into her mouth, massaging hers with a low moan.

Pulling back, he stopped moving completely, watching for her reaction.

“I would have you this moment if I had not made that damned promise, but I willremindyou who you are married to.”

“I know who I am married to, you brute.”

“Yes, and that brute is going to have his way with you. Tell me, Duchess, do you want me to continue, or do you want me to stop? I will respect your wishes despite the torture you have put me through tonight.”

“Torture?” she asked, desperate for him to touch her again. His fingers were hovering just out of reach, and she felt an alarming urge to ground her hips against them and force him inside her again. “I have spoken to a manyouintroduced me to. Did you wish me to say nothing and ignore him completely?”

“He was very handsome.”

“Was he, indeed? Well, you seem to have noticed his looks more than I.”

His other hand pulled the rest of the fabric down her knees until her thighs were completely exposed.

“You are mine, is that clear?” he asked, pulling her closer to him so that her hips were hovering over the edge of the bench, held suspended by his hands. “You belong tome.”

Louise melted against the seat at his words, overwhelmed by the same need to please him. She thought of that forceful kiss in the private room in his club, the desperation she had felt for his touch.

Will I let him have me now? Will I be so reckless when I myself have told him we must wait?

“Tell me you do not want me, and I will release you. We shall sleep in separate rooms, just as we should,” he said softly, his voice laced with intense desire.

Louise closed her eyes, pushing her hips against his body in a silent entreaty for him to continue.

The low chuckle he gave at that was music to her ears, and no more words were needed as he lowered himself to the floor before her.

Christian was almost mad with lust. He had watched every man in the ballroom stare at his wife as though she were theirs for the taking. He had counted five men in total whose gazes had lingered on her for minutes, and if he had not reined in his anger, he would have been in duels for the next three weeks.

He could not bear it and intended to stake his claim on his wife once and for all.

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