Page 92 of Rules for Heiresses
She groaned as a heated ripple of desire surged through her right to her core. Apparently, this pregnancy was going to go the way of the first. It was truly scandalous. She only had to see him or smell the man, and her entire body would go on alert, nipples pebbling beneath her shirt, thighs going damp, brain dissolving into a useless chant of want. She needed a dunk in the ocean. Perhapsthatwould cool her overheated body.
Courtland met her eyes over the top of Isla’s head, his teeth gleaming in his tanned face, and froze as if he could see the need etched in every line of her body. He nodded for the hovering nurse to take Isla in for her bath, then stood, shirt pulling taut over his chest, those corded forearms doing things to her libido that should be outlawed. The man was beautiful—all sinuous limbs and sculpted muscles. As he prowled toward her, Ravenna couldn’t look away if she tried. That sultry onyx gaze impaled hers, holding her prisoner.
“Don’t you do it,” he warned.
She arched a brow at his imperious warning. “Do what?”
“Run.”
Her breath hissed through her lips, muscles bunching. Ravenna whirled and ran down toward the beach, hearing him give chase behind her, his huge strides eating up the distance between them. She had no idea where she’d intended to go, but he caught her around the waist before she could even make it more than a dozen steps.
Her husband’s lips closed over her nape, his teeth grazing her damp skin and biting down just hard enough to make her whimper with need. “I told you not to run,” he said, lips traveling up her neck to her ear.
She gasped as he sucked her lobe. “You like the chase.”
“That’s true.”
He drew her into his arms, his hands finding her full, aching breast as his mouth sought her lips. “Courtland,” she gasped. “Someone will see.”
“Who will see?” He pinched her sensitive nipple, and an indelicate moan tore from her throat.
“The servants.”
“I’ve dismissed them all except for Isla’s nurse for the afternoon, and she just went inside to give Isla a bath and put her down for a nap.” He nipped at her lower lip, his tongue soothing it and then chasing into the depths of her mouth to tease hers. “We are quite alone, Duchess.”
Eyes nearly rolling back in her head, she ground herself onto the straining length of him as his delicious mouth devoured hers. It was erotic and exciting…the fact that they could be discovered at any moment. Even if the servants were gone and theirs was a private stretch of beach, they were still out in public. In theopen.
Worry interspersed with pleasure warred inside her, but Courtland took the decision from her when he walked them both into the waves. And then his hands were roaming her body, touching her in places that made her gasp. When they stood waist deep in the sea, standing past the small breakers, he shifted her slightly to free his stiff length and yanked up her sodden cotton skirts. Even submerged, she was so wet it didn’t take much for him to slip into her sheath. They both groaned in unison at the tight fit and the unexpected friction of the water.
“Fuck,” he growled against her ear when she wrapped her legs around his waist.
Ravenna’s cheeks went hot.Fuck, indeed. They were in the middle of the ocean with no one around for miles and half-hidden by the water, but they were still exposed. Anyone stumbling upon them would know what they were doing, glued together as they were.
“Stop thinking and enjoy it,” he told her.
“What if someone comes?”
His smile was downright sinful as he fisted handfuls of her bottom, shifting in and out of her with three shallow thrusts that made her forget every coherent thought. “Someoneisgoing to come, if I have anything to say about it.”
“That’s not what I meant.” Was her voice always so breathless?
He rolled his hips, making her gasp. “What did you mean?”
“Nothing, you awful man. Just move!”
He complied with a smug grin. Ravenna’s body was so sensitive that pleasure built and roared through her in a matter of strokes. She cried out, her body clenching around him, and Courtland followed with a deep thrust and a growl of his own. He wrapped his arms around her when his body slid from hers, and sank them both into the cool water, his lips sealing over her temple.
“You are stunning,” he murmured, licking the salt from her skin.
She pulled a face. “If thetonand Lady Holding could see me now. Frolicking in the sea like a wanton.”
“I quite like this side of you—a siren come to life.”
Ravenna kissed his nose, and let her body relax into the heavenly water, her cotton clothing floating about her. “Do you know you’re the only man who has ever accepted me for who I am? Everyone else always wanted to change me in some way. Mama, Rhystan, Lady Holding, everyone but you.”
“They’re fools. You’re perfect as you are.”
She stared at him, love brimming and overflowing in her heart. “You’re perfect, too, you know.”
“I wouldn’t say that.”
Ravenna grinned. “Are we quarreling, Your Grace?”
“No, no. I surrender,” he said with a mock sigh of defeat, dragging her toward him for a kiss. “Fine, suffice it to say that we’re perfect for each other, jagged edges and all.”
As she gave herself up to his tender kiss, Ravenna couldn’t agree more. They were made for each other—there was no other man in the world who could ever fit her so well. She was wild and unconventional, and he was contrary and uncommon. If there was ever a match made in the stars—a star-crossed bond between two lonely, kindred souls—this was it. She wouldn’t trade the chance of a lifetime of happiness for anything.
Not when she’d finally found the one worth staying for…her sinfully handsome, deeply infuriating, and extremely kissable island duke.
