Page 52 of Her Seven Nights with the Duke

Samuel’s rage was evident in his eyes. “Did he ever… lay his hands on you?”

Nora looked away, and Samuel’s hands balled into fists.

He breathed in heavily before speaking. “I hate violent men… My father—the late Duke—was a very strict man when it came to educating me. My relationship with him was more that of a teacher and student than father and son.”

The Duke turned to face her, and she could see in his eyes that it was not something he enjoyed speaking about. “His strictness was part of the reason the rumor about me being violent exists. Like father like son, after all.”

Samuel chuckled humorlessly. “His need for me to be perfect meant that whenever I failed at something or did it wrong, I would be punished cruelly. I came close to dying once after he left me out in the cold as a punishment. It was a moment of realization for me. He could never be the father I wished him to be.”

Nora gasped, making him chuckle. Her heart ached for him, the little boy who only wished to be loved but instead received pain and torment.

“Perhaps I should not say this, but it is a secret I have carried for so long.” He swallowed. “When he died, I felt relief instead of sorrow. It was like a burden had been lifted off my shoulders and I could finally breathe.”

Silence returned to the room. “I guess there was a reason we found each other, after all. Two broken people hurt by those who should care about them. Our stories will bring tears to many eyes if we make it a drama in the theater.”

Samuel laughed suddenly, his body shaking beside hers. “Have you considered investing in business, Lady Nora? You appear to have the mind for it.”

“Perhaps I should.” She grinned. “With you as my teacher, I would be rivaled by none.”

She smiled when he chuckled once again. She had never seen him so free of his worries as he currently was. She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his, kissing him softly.

Samuel’s hands came up to her shoulder, and he gently pushed her away from him. She looked at him with a confused expression.

“I cannot touch you now that our deal is over, Lady Nora,” he said with a pained smile.

Nora pushed away from him, slightly embarrassed and also disappointed. She hadn’t thought that he would reject her like that.

“I can, however, teach you how to please yourself,” he said, rushing to explain when she only looked at him with confusion. “You said you only did it once but could not enjoy it.”

Nora nodded as her face turned red. He lifted her dress up to her waist. He took her hand in his and pressed it to the nub at the apex of her center.

“Rub it gently. Feel around it and only stop when you have found the place that feels so much better than all the others,” he said, moving her fingers around.

She gasped as her fingers strummed underneath the nub, sending pleasure through her body.

Samuel grinned. “There it is. Pull up the hood.”

He directed her fingers to the hood, pulling it up as she rubbed against it. She tossed her head back as pleasure flowed through her, her earlier embarrassment forgotten.

Her hips tensed as the heat mounted, becoming more and more intense inside her. She groaned as her legs shook and she came with a loud moan.

Nora looked at him in shock.

“Now you know what to do when you wish to pleasure yourself. You learn more as you continue to do it,” he said, pulling her skirts down to cover her exposed legs.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

The sun rays shined brightly into the room, waking Samuel from his slumber. He groaned, lifting a hand to protect his face from the sudden brightness. His eyes adjusted to the space, and he looked down at the woman fast asleep beside him.

She was every bit as beautiful asleep as she was when she was awake. She moved in her sleep, freeing his hand from under her body. He pulled her closer to him, breathing in the scent of her hair, a mix of flowers and oils.

He tensed suddenly. It was the first time that he had ever spent the night with a woman until the next morning, and the first time he’d ever slept holding her in his arms like that. His jaw ticked wildly. He should not have been so affected by it, and yet it filled him with irritation that he was so happy to have her wrapped in his arms like that.

Samuel had made his seven-night rule because it helped him to avoid the problem of developing feelings for the woman he waswith. He could never develop feelings for her, not when he knew he couldn’t marry her.

Her light snores drew his attention back to her, and he sighed. There she was, innocently asleep as his mind raced. How could he marry her when it would only bring her pain?

He rubbed a hand down his face in agitation and confusion. This was not the way things were supposed to go. He shouldn’t be developing feelings for her, especially since he had only spent five nights with her, the fifth of which she had only accepted merely to tell him that she was putting an end to their agreement.

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