Page 54 of His Abandoned Duchess

“Likely, yes. I have left the care of the estate with the steward and housekeeper. I expect that I shall find it well looked after, but there will be the matter of supplies to see to. I plan to host a number of smaller arrangements with my peers there so that we might discuss where the best future investment lies.”

Richard was speaking about investments and financials. He had already planned for his work, and he’d given himself just three days before he left Heartwick. He, evidently, was not distracted by their current status. The Duke had honed his focus once more, and Amelia knew that the time they’d shared was distantly far from his mind.

I cannot do this. I…I will not divulge the secrets of my heart when it is so clear that Richard would prefer to return to other matters entirely.

Amelia smiled tightly, a lingering thought in her mind.I will not see him after this. Memories of his touch will be all that remains, and I…I will take one more if it is allowed.

“I apologize for interrupting your evening.” Amelia shook from head to foot. “I will admit to having a selfish request in mind.”

Richard cocked a brow. “Oh?”

“You will travel to Blackford on the morrow, and I will be left once more to tend to the manor myself. I accept it wholeheartedly and continue to profess my love of our staff and this beautiful home. However…”

The words drifted. How was Amelia to ask for such a thing? It was completely without foundation in her mind, and her desire was scratched at its back by the waves of sorrow and regret that tormented her more and more with each passing moment.

Richard stepped forward, his eyes finding hers intently as he came within inches of her. “Speak, Amelia. This is the last of your opportunities to be given.”

The encouragement, though brusque, was heard, hitting her eardrums and traveling down her nerves with the force of a pistol’s hammer.

“I will not stand in the way of your duties or your desire to leave, Richard. Still, I must confess that recollections of our intimate moments together haunt me so. I…I wish to give myself a final memory to hold onto—a point in space that I may refer to whenever I am feeling called to do something like this again.”

She stepped forward, lying her hand on the firm muscle of Richard’s chest.

“Just once more. Allow me this final experience, and then set out on your journey tomorrow morning, knowing you have given me what I have asked for.”

A welling ache blistered through her chest. Amelia did everything she could to buckle down against the swelling emotions rising through her like a flood. Indeed, Richard must understand that this was a beg from her, a desperate request to feel him against her one more time before he left.

His brows rose over widened eyes, the look of surprise melting into one of begrudging understanding. Still, Richard held himself firm, and there was no relaxation of his posture as Amelia held her hand over his heart.

“This is not wise, Amelia.” Richard sucked in a breath, his eyes rolling closed. “Muddying the waters is far from what I wish to do to you.”

“Please, do not turn me away after I have finally found it within myself to ask for what I desire.”

She pressed herself against him, relishing in the way his breath coasted over her skin as Richard turned his face down toward her. It was foolish. She knew as much. But Amelia could not deny the way she pleaded for his touch. Even if it were to be this last time, there was little in this world she would not sacrifice for another moment of happiness with him.

“Amelia, I…” But Richard’s words drifted into the ether, and Amelia could feel the swell of attention within his trousers.

“I will not ask more of you. I assure you,” Amelia whispered, lifting herself up onto her toes to dust her lips across his. “Just this moment, and that is all.”

Without another word, Richard wrapped his arms around her and pulled Amelia close. His lips found hers, immediately tangling with them as he held her firmly against him. Amelia did not know what it said about them that neither she nor Richard could withstand the pull to the other.

She simply had to be with him, just as similarly as Amelia had to eat and breathe.

At once, Richard lavished Amelia with kisses, and his maddening touches continued along her arms and back, the very tips of his fingers searing into her soul. She’d yet to experience a desire, a ravenous pull, for a single other person before. Every moment with Richard—with her husband—made her entire body hum with the aching need to careen over that invisible cliff. It was a low thrum behind her at most times, a comfortable arousal stirred by just laying eyes on him. But alone with Richard, as they were now, particularly after having been so bared to him, Amelia craved his touch.

“Please, Richard. I am desperate for the release. My mind splinters at your touch.” Amelia guided him along until they reached his bed. She rolled them over, positioning him so that heknelt between her parted thighs.. “You root me in the moment, Richard. I am here and nowhere else.”

Richard buried his face in the crook of her neck, his breath rippling across her skin as he nipped at her. “I give you this, Amelia. This being all that I can.”

A delicious purr of sorts rumbled out of Richard’s chest. Amelia mewled low—a wanton and needy sound—as he drifted his lips across the hollow of her throat, kissing down to her collarbones and sending vibrations ringing through her very essence. Amelia reached for the coverlet on the bed, pulling it over her shoulders and out of their way.

Sitting up for just a moment, she tossed it to the floor of Richard’s bedroom—what might become hers after his departure once more—and then Richard swiftly returned to her, his delirious kisses on her feverish flesh drawing out a pained whimper.

Richard kissed her shoulders, trailing the caresses nearer to the swells of her breasts over the ruffle quilling of her gown. His hands smoothed down her arms until he reached the curves of her waist and slowly drew up her billowy skirts before slipping it over her hips and bearing her to him.

Cool air rushed around Amelia’s flesh, and it felt wondrous for how overheated she had become. In the back of her head, Amelia was vaguely aware of the reality that lay just beyond this space. Still, the adoration and appreciation traveling through her nerves shoved the problematic thoughts abruptly to the wayside.

“I should never feel anything as soft and marvelous as your skin, Amelia.” His full, soft lips returned to her, lazily inching over her chest and sternum as he freed her of the restriction her top created.

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