Page 29 of The Wallflower and the Duke
He broke their kiss at last, the two of them struggling to catch their breath. He whispered against her ear, “Do you want that, too, sweet?”
For a writer, she suddenly was at a loss for words. Instead, she rolled to her side and pulled at his buckskins, frustrated suddenly there was so much between them.
He gripped her hand, stalling her progress. “I don’t intend to rush this. Let me make this feel pleasurable for you. I…” He drew her hand up to his mouth and dropped a chaste kiss on the back of it, nearly making her dizzy. “I crave to bring you pleasure, Jo. Always.”
She rolled to her knees and stood on them, towering over Alfie as he lay back on the bed. She noted the panic flashing in his eyes before she grabbed the hem of her shift and pulled it slowly over her body. Marjorie didn’t break eye contact, even when she heard his soft gasp and tossed the shift to the floor of the glass house.
He could have her. Her heart. Her future.
She was his.
CHAPTER 8
“Look at you,” he said in a reverent whisper. Alfie reached out and traced his finger slowly up her thigh to the swell of her hip.
It was a slow, tortuous touch. She sucked in a breath, wishing suddenly to cover herself. Afraid of what he might think of her body or her boldness at baring it.
He pressed the pad of his thumb into the indentation of her hipbone and shook his head.
“No more hiding, right, sweet?” His tongue darted out to wet his lips as he gazed up at her and hooked his other arm around her thighs. “You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
“Alfie.” She wasn’t sure if she was pleading or begging.
“Open your eyes.”
Slowly, she did, in time to feel him draw her close. The warmth of his fingers was a sharp contrast to the goosebumps scattering across her skin. Alfie kissed her inner thigh before his eyes connected with hers.
“We can stop whenever you want. Do you understand?”
Very well. She was begging. Marjorie nodded, finally reaching out to brace herself upright by placing a hand on his shoulder. She felt the corded muscles of his arm tense beneath her fingers.
“I am going to taste you again, give you pleasure until you scream out my name, and then, and only then will I lay you down and make you mine.”
No words. Her throat was dry, but she felt the dull ache of desire between her legs, listening to him talk to her as though he wanted her and only her. Dear heaven, she craved every word of it.
“Good girl,” he whispered against her skin. His lips moved closer to her core, softly circling her inner thigh and her hip but never where she wished for his lips the most. Never how he had touched her like that morning on the balcony.
Marjorie rocked her hips forward, desperate for his touch. He grazed his teeth on her delicate skin, then slowly moved his hands from his hips, up her stomach, and higher still to the swell of her full breasts.
“Ah, I think you’re teasing me, Alfie.” She pressed her nails into his shoulder, the desire to feel him inside her again almost unbearable. A wicked, sinful craving.
Alfie touched her as though she was precious. The soft grunts he made in the back of his throat as he touched her, cataloging every inch of her body, made her feel like a gift. Made her feel wanted and special.
Made her feel loved.
“Never teasing, sweet. I’ve dreamt of this… Christ, I’m afraid you’ll still leave in the morning and never come back. This is all I’ve wanted and all I’ll ever want.”
The protest on her lips died as soon as he dropped his hand and brushed the soft curls between her legs, pressing his thumb against the small pearl there at her apex. She clenched her thighs together in a deep sigh.
Majorie still knelt before him, stuck between wanting more or falling back against the mattress. He gripped her hips and tugged her closer until she straddled him.
He drew one finger through her curls, dipping it inside of her, moving through her wetness in a slow exploration. Then added another.
“That feels… Yes.” She couldn’t think of anything else to say. Her head tilted up toward the glass ceiling as the candlelight danced over them, and she rolled her hips, greedy to feel him.
“Lie back, let me taste you.”
Marjorie removed her legs from his waist and lay back, collapsing against the pillows, doing as she was told. Her heart thrummed in her chest, and she felt as though she were on fire, and yet something was still missing.
