Page 62 of My Secret Duke
“I worry that whoever we marry, we will drift apart. We won’t be friends anymore.”
His dance step stuttered. Ivo was never clumsy. “Olivia…”
She bit her lip. “And I worry that being friends precludes other things.”
“Like?” But there was a spark in his green eyes, fixed so intently on hers.
Olivia took a rallying breath. “Kissing. Being with you in… in the bedchamber.”
He opened his mouth, closed it again. She had shocked him into silence, but she couldn’t stop now.
“You were talking about another dare,” she said, her voice trembling slightly. “I dare you, Ivo. I dare you to show me how a man is with a woman.”
He dragged his gaze from hers with an effort and, tucking her hand into his elbow, began to walk toward the supper room, only to diverge into the study at the last moment. He closed the door.
Olivia had taken a step back, a seesawing mixture of anticipation and trepidation humming through her veins. He was watching her, and there was a charge between them—like lightning flashing in a stormy sky.
“Come here,” he said, his voice gravelly, and held out his arms.
All those doubts that had held her back slipped away. She went to him, and he folded her close. As he gazed down at her, she saw such tenderness in his expression that it melted her.
“Ivo, I want—”
“Hush,” he said, and bent his head. Their mouths fused. Heat licked over her skin, and with a soft moan she tried to get closer, standing on her tiptoes. Her arms were wrapped around his neck, her fingers tugging at his hair in a manner that probably hurt, but he didn’t complain. He took a step toward the desk with her still in his arms, and then he was lifting her so that she was perched upon it. His hands slid down over her shoulders and her arms, until he was holding her hands.
“Don’t only selfish cads kiss young ladies at private gatherings?” he asked, paraphrasing her words back to her from that painful day when he came to propose. There was a lift to his eyebrow that demanded an answer.
“Would you still be a cad if I had asked you to kiss me?”
He grinned. “Probably.”
“I expect you have kissed a great many ladies,” she said primly, but her heart was beating hard.
He smoothed a lock of her hair, tucking it behind her ear, and then brushed his lips across her cheek. “No one who matters,” he said quietly. He kissed the tip of her nose, and then her eyelids, tenderly. He ducked his head and kissed her neck, making her arch upward with a shiver.
Olivia wanted to saymore, she wanted to ask him how many women he had bedded, but she knew she would sound ridiculously jealous. Shewasjealous.
“I have never wanted to kiss any man but you,” she said instead, her cheeks hot. “Well, anyrealman. I have fantasies sometimes.”
He brushed his lips against her collarbone. “I’d like to hear about these fantasies.”
“I thought you were going to kiss me. Properly, Imean.”
He straightened and skimmed his lips against hers, a barely-there kiss. He paused and frowned. “This feels dangerous,” he admitted. “I could lose control.”
“I want you to,” she whispered, reaching up for him.
With a groan, he sank into her, his mouth warm and desperate against hers. Olivia felt as if she was now caught up in the storm, being whirled and tumbled about. She tried to get closer to him, because this wasn’t enough. What would his naked skin feel like against hers? His body heavy on hers? Her emotions surged up, and she knew that whatever happened to her and Ivo in the future, she wanted to experience this passion he was offering her. She was not going to change her mind.
“I want you to take me as a man takes a woman.” The words rushed out of her. “I want you to show me what it’s like to be with you.”
He stopped kissing her and lifted his head. “Olivia?” he said softly, and it was a question.
“I dare you!” Her voice rose. She was shaky, but she meant it. The thought of lying in bed with Viscount Carey popped into her mind, and she was even more certain that whatever happened, whoever she married, it was Ivo she wanted as her lover.
There was a loud knock on the door, and guiltily, they sprang apart. Olivia hopped down to the floor and smoothed her gown with trembling hands. She wondered if her lips were as red and swollen as they felt. Before she could even say “enter,” the door opened, and Roberta peered inside.
“There you are,” she said with a knowing smirk.
