Page 94 of A Bride for the Duke of Sin

But if he did just that, she feared that he would inevitably tear her apart.

“How do you feel?” he asked her, concern creeping into his voice.

She looked up at him and bit her lower lip. What was she supposed to say?

“Well, you are extremely large…” she began.

To her surprise, he grinned rakishly at that. Was this really the time for him to be so conceitedly proud of his girth?

“I shall go slowly, then,” he promised her. “I will not move until you tell me to.”

Phoebe nodded.

When the initial discomfort waned, she relaxed her death grip on his arm, and he slid into her a little further. It did not hurt as much as it did this time, and so she nodded shyly to him.

Yes, please… do ravish me. But do it slowly, or you might just tear me apart.

The thought of it was so ridiculous that she found herself relaxing even more as he slid deeper into her.

And then deeper still.

Dear heaven, just how deep could they go?

Phoebe nearly giggled in hilarity.

And then, hestopped.

“It is going to hurt a bit more, sweetheart. I am so sorry. If there was any other way I could spare you?—”

She pressed a finger to his lips, cutting him off. “I can take it.”

She watched as his eyes darkened at her words.

I can take it.

For him, she could just about take anything. What more if he broke her maidenhead and she became his in full?

“Oh God, Phoebe,” he groaned into her shoulder.

She laughed softly. “I do not think this is the proper time to be invoking His presence, my h?—”

She let out a sharp gasp when he surged into her, breaching her maidenhead and sheathing himself inside her to the hilt. Her fingertips dug into the muscles of his back as she clutched at him.

Oh, goodness! Therewaspain, but not as bad as they all seemed to say.

“Oh God, Phoebe,” he whispered hoarsely. “I have hurt you horribly, have I not?”

She shook her head. “I thought we should not be invoking God’s name when we are… doing not-so-godly things,” she managed in a shaky voice.

He gave a low laugh and dropped his head to her shoulder. “I would much rather hear you calling out my name.”

She narrowed her eyes and smiled mischievously at him. “Oh?” she purred. “So, you like it when I do that?”

His eyes darkened with desire as he looked at her. “Temptress.”

He began to move inside her in slow, gentle thrusts, and all thoughts—rational or otherwise—flew out of Phoebe’s head. It still hurt a little, but there was alsopleasurein his tender conquest of her.

She sighed and relaxed, feeling the familiar throbbing ache return.

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