Page 57 of Duke of Seduction

When he had met her at the gate, he did not guide her by the hand as he normally would. Once they were in the library and he had taken her cloak, he stood several paces away. She hated the space between them, but as the strange silence descended around him, she found herself unable to move.

“We are.” She agreed, her tone as numb as his.

Her body trembled, but this time it was due to sadness, not arousal. Sorrow poured so rapidly from the tear in her heart that she could not staunch its intensity. This was going to be their final night together and it all seemed so wrong. She wanted her crimson letter. She wanted his protective, dominant stance taking up her personal space. She wantedhim.

She commanded herself to stop, growing frustrated with the onslaught of feeling. Their arrangement was always meant to be temporary. Morgan was there to help her experience the desires on her list, and that was all, except now that she had cracked open that door, she wanted more. She wanted to throw it open and walk into its swirling shadows, and she wanted to do it by Morgan’s side. She wanted to wear his collar again, to feel that exchange of power and trust as he clipped on the leash and led her, protected her.

In a small corner of her mind where her memories with Morgan existed, she laughed softly at her recollection of their very first interaction.

“Something amuses you?” Morgan asked.

There was no numbness in the way he spoke this time. His voice was heavy and drawn out, as though it pained him to speak. She lifted her eyes to gaze into his green orbs and nearly clutched her chest when she saw the raw emotion in them.

“No,” she answered quickly. “I do not know why I did that.”

“Come now,” Morgan scoffed, his lips drawing into a soft smile as he slipped his hands into his pockets and took a step towards her. “If there is a joke to be laughed at in this moment, I very much want to hear it.”

Helena smiled tentatively and braved a step towards him as well.

“I was thinking of the first evening I met you as Hades,” she confessed, feeling her smile widen. “And how, like him, you have guided me through the underworld of my desires. It just… seems very fitting, is all.”

Sadness streaked across Morgan’s eyes but his smile drew wider, and he closed the space between them to stroke her cheek. Helena nearly sobbed at his touch as the familiar heat and tingle rose in her.

“I suppose it was, Persephone,” he murmured, stroking his fingers along her jaw, as if he could not help himself.

Helena’s eyes stung as she looked at him. Golden streaks of lust streamed through his forest green eyes, and she felt a strange combination of loss and bittersweet joy. She wanted, no,neededhim to kiss her.

Please, Morgan…

“Thank you for coming so early,” Morgan rasped, his fingers ceasing their caress. Helena could not help but sway towards his fleeting touch as he slowly drew away and slipped his hand back into his pocket. Her heart skipped a beat as a cold breeze crept over her heated skin. She swallowed hard and nodded silently, unable to trust her voice.

“Since it is our last night, we shall have to squeeze two of your adventures into one,” he went on, walking towards a box on the table. “As well as another sitting.”

Excitement filled Helena upon hearing his promising words.

“Sitting?” she asked.

“For your portrait,” Morgan replied, his eyes heating up once more. “We had agreed that this would be an exchange of favors, remember?”

She recalled their heated exchange, and her body tingled at the memory.

“We do not have to finish my list,” she said as Morgan brought the box to her. In truth, she could no longer remember its details. Her cravings had rapidly focused on Morgan and the pleasures he could offer her. “What if we just…”

“No,” Morgan said softly, not letting her finish as he pushed the box into her hands, “We made a deal, and we are going to keep it. Now here. Put this on. We must get underway.”

Helena had looked at him with confusion once she had unwrapped the plain, peasant-style dress. One of the less exciting desires on her list was to learn how to gamble. He was by no means going to take her to Ambrose’s gaming hell to learn and participate, so he had decided to take her to theHarvey Tavern.

It was a modest, safe tavern that ran responsible tables for the laymen of the land, and a place very rarely visited by nobles. At times it was reputed to draw an unsavory crowd, but tonight as they entered, dressed in their disguises, Morgan knew it would be a fun, light night. As he predicted, the men at the table they chose were taken by Helena’s beauty, even in her plain dress, and were all too happy to have the presence of her company for her first gambling lesson.

Morgan had not missed the yearning and sadness in her eyes back at his home. It had nearly swallowed him up, almost pushing him to give in to his own desires and make what little time they had left just about them. But last night, as he lay in bed and thought of all the ways he could make Helena whimper and plead for him, he realized something. It was unfair to make her burn for him when she would be forever trapped with someone who left her body cold and without feeling.

He had left other women yearning for him, begging him for more, and he had always done it with a charming smile and a weak promise of future trysts without so much as a care. But he could not do that to Helena.

By eleven, Helena had been swept up by the merriment of the gambling lesson and several cups of weakened ale, and she was smiling and giggling as he helped her back into the carriage. While he had allowed her to drink as she wished, he had kept his solitary cup of strongly brewed ale mostly untouched, wanting to be sure he could assist or protect her at any moment.

She had done fairly well with the games at first, with Morgan’s coin initially coming out about even, but by the end of the night, the rules he had tried to teach her were swept away by the ale. He had lost money in the end, but it was worth it.

In her plain dress, with that smile and giddy expression, he found her more beautiful than ever. His heart swelled in his chest as he took in the happy flush of her cheeks, and the little bounce in her body as she sat opposite him in the carriage. His happiness was quickly replaced with anguish when he realized how happy it made him to make her happy in any capacity, and his responding smile slowly slipped as they made their way to their next location. Helena’s little bursts of giggles gradually faded into nothing, and silence filled the carriage.

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