Page 46 of Trapped with her Cruel Duke

“How strange your mind is,” she mused. “I wonder how you get anything done with suspicions like that.”

There was a brief silence as he continued to dry her shoulders, and then, as her heart began to beat wildly in her chest, he turned her again so that she was looking up into his stoic expression.

“When can I meet him?” she whispered.

“That is not important right now,” he said, the back of his hand trailing over the line of her collarbone, making her shudder.

His lips curled into a knowing smile as he brushed his fingers over her skin. Louise was convinced that he could hear her heart. Her skin felt so hot she could barely draw in a full breath.

His hand moved to the damp hair hanging down her back, and he brushed it over her shoulder, running his fingers through it reverently.

“Why is it not important, Your Grace?” she asked without thinking.

His fingers instantly tightened around her hair, his lips thinning in displeasure. “Call me that again,Your Grace, and see what happens.”

“It is hardly my fault. It is a force of habit,” she protested.

But as he stepped closer to her, the words died in her throat.

“My name,” he said, his voice softening as his fingers came up to the hem of her robe, “is Christian, and I would have you say my name tonight… I would have you scream it.”

Louise’s mouth fell open in shock as he began to peel the robe off her body.

Prevent this. Stop him!

But she did not—could not. The feel of his fingers as they brushed against her flesh was maddeningly addictive, and with the kiss earlier that night, she could not resist him any longer. Her mind was consumed with what his body did to her, as, even now, she felt the familiar pulse of need deep in her core.

Slowly, he pulled her robe aside, baring her body to him inch by inch. Louise was trembling now, wondering if his arrogant gaze would soften at the sight of her nakedness.

Christian could barely believe she was allowing this, but as he slowly moved the fabric aside, she did not attempt to stop him.

His wife was exquisite, her voluptuous figure stunning in its perfection as he ran his eye over her tight waist and pert breasts. His mind was running wild with everything he wanted to do to her, but he also knew he had made her a promise.

He allowed his eyes to admire her for a little while longer, breathless at the shape of her waist and the roundness of her hips. Then, having looked his fill, he pulled the robe back over her shoulders.

“You are glorious,” he murmured as the worry in her eyes slowly faded. “I am honored to be able to behold such a beauty.”

“And which do you prefer, this or the Ice Queen?”

He chuckled. “You will not speak of yourself in that matter, my Duchess. You cannot be an Ice Queen when you are made of such fire.”

His hand cupped her jaw, and he leaned forward, placing a tender kiss on her lips before pulling back.

“Earlier, I told you there were many things that a man and a woman could do without the risk of producing an heir,” he said as his eyes twinkled in the firelight. “Will you allow me to show you some of them? I will not break my promise and take you tonight, but I cannot be parted from you for a moment longer.”

Louise was panting as he stepped closer, and she trembled against him as he ran his hands over her waist.

“One word from you, and I will leave you be,” he said, kissing down her neck as her fingers gripped his shoulders. A low moan escaped her throat as he pulled her hips against his. “One word and I will leave you to your bed.”

There was a pause, as though Louise were debating what she would allow him to do. But as his fingers curled into the fabric of her robe, she spoke two words that almost undid him completely.

“Show me.”

Christian did not need to be asked twice. With a growl of desperate desire, he lifted her off her feet and spun her around, before lowering her onto the bed. She stared up at him in wonder.

“You are beautiful, Louise,” he said as he tugged his coat off his shoulders. “I cannot believe that I resisted your charms for so long.”

She let out a cry of surprise as he leaned over the bed, gripping the sides of her robe and pulling it open to bare her body to him once again. He lowered himself over her, running his nose over her neck.

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