Page 43 of The Duke and the Scarred Bride

His eyes weren’t on her. Rather, they were closed as he nipped a line down the valley between her breasts and down to her stomach. He kissed the curve of her hip, which made her squirm, and her back arched off the bed when his teeth clamped down on her.

“Percival,” she hissed.

“A pound for your thoughts, dear wife,” he said against her clothed hip.

Her body burned, and even the flimsy garment she wore irritated her already raw nerves. The cotton fabric of her nightgown grazed her sensitive nipples and had her biting herlower lip to hold back a moan, yet he expected her to be able to make a full sentence?

“I do not like to wait, wife.” His warning was followed by a nip to that same spot on her hip.

She whimpered and shook, grateful for his weight over her, or she would have thrown herself off the small bed.

“I was thinking…”

“Yes?” he prompted in a lazy tone.

“My whole body feels like it’s on fire,” she began. “I feel like I might go mad if I don’t get these clothes off me.”

He cursed as though he hadn’t been expecting that. She felt the solid heat of his desire at her core and wondered how it would feel to be completely owned by this man.

Her sisters had said it would be painful at first and then it would become enjoyable, but she was still afraid. What if she wouldn’t be able to satisfy him?

“You certainly do know how to surprise a man.” He chuckled darkly.

“I…”

The words died in her throat as she felt his hand slide up the bare skin of her thigh to her hip and then her abdomen, before it stopped. Her eyes shot open, and she was embarrassed to see him watching her. His hand slid up higher, baring more of her skin till she was almost fully nude before him.

His eyes glazed over as he took in her bare body, and she couldn’t help but wonder if her too-generous curves displeased him. She had heard that men much preferred slimmer frames, but she had always been plumper than the average lady, which was why she chose to wear gowns that hid her figure as much as possible.

“Have I displeased you, Percival?” she asked vulnerably.

He shook his head before palming one of her breasts.

“On the contrary,” he muttered, leaning down to capture one of her nipples in his mouth.

Her back bowed off the bed as bolts of heat shot through her from where his teeth and tongue worked her nipples.

“You are beautiful,” he mumbled against her breasts.

“Percival,” she groaned, tangling her hand in his hair.

She had always wanted to do so, especially at breakfast when it kept falling over his eyes. It was silky soft, and she was glad that it was long enough that she could tug on it, since he seemed hell-bent on making her scream with the naughty things his tongue and teeth were doing.

He strummed her body like it was a well-tuned instrument he had been playing for years, eliciting sounds from her that she hadn’t known she could make. She was grateful to his previous lovers, who had no doubt given him all the practice he needed to be as proficient a lover as he was.

When his lips started to move lower, her eyes widened, and she tried to stop him, but he only fixed her with a searing look.

“I can smell the sweetness of your desire from here,wife. Wouldn’t it be wicked not to let me taste it?”

He had a very naughty mouth, that much she had noted about him, and the things that spewed out of it sent heat through her body. But she tried to relax into his caresses even as his tongue slid down her body.

She had thought herself prepared for anything, but she hadn’t expected the oddness of his tongue tasting her most intimately. His eyes met hers, a wicked gleam in them, and he groaned against her core as his tongue slid deeper between her folds, exploring her.

She squirmed against him, but his hands held her hips down. He groaned against her sex as if in appreciation, and more liquid heat pooled between her legs.

“You taste better than blueberries,” he murmured, sniffing her.

A hand slid down, and then he slid a finger into her. His eyes darkened in rapture as he watched his finger slide in and out of her. He moved deeper, slower, and then faster before he added another finger.

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