Page 80 of A Duchess Bound
He halted once more, and Dorothy cried out. “Please!”
Her whole body trembled. Everything was too much; all her senses were consumed by him. Sweat pooled at her back, sticking the linens to her. He was drenched with sweat, too. She saw drops falling down his chest, chasing the finally carved abdominal muscles, all the way down to where their bodies met.
“You have not done as well as I might have hoped with this,” Gerard said dryly. “All that crying and begging.”
“Gerard…”
He dipped his head and kissed her stomach. “Fear not, my sweet. I will indulge you.”
Gerard shoved into her. He straightened his spine and drove quickly in and out. Dorothy gasped, startled by the sudden swiftness of his movements. She screamed and bucked against him. Her release came almost at once, like a wave slamming into the shoreline. White light obscured her vision.
For an instant, she forgot how to breathe. Dorothy shuddered into her release, gasping for air as she rode that wave of bliss. Gerard kept driving into her, and she clenched around him.
Impossibly, she seemed to be approaching yet another summit. She shouted and cried out without shame, not giving even a moment’s thought to the fact that they might be overheard. Gerard’s thighs trembled.
“So beautiful,” he gasped between clenched teeth.
His hips jolted against hers, and warmth surged within her. Dorothy gasped, shaking as yet another release swept over her. It was calmer than the first—almost peaceful. She threw her head back, her chest heaving. Her body was boneless and well-used, and Dorothy smiled lazily at Gerard.
He withdrew from her with a wet, lewd sound that sent a fissure of delight coursing along the path of her thigh.
“Magnificent,” he said.
“Yes,” she breathed.
Gerard patted her thigh and shifted further down the bed on his knees. He reached for the tie that held her right ankle in place and undid it. Dorothy flexed her ankle, and he gently rubbed the place where the tie had been.
“Did you like it?” Gerard asked.
“Very much so.”
He pressed his lips to her knee, rubbing his jaw against her shin. “I am glad. I enjoyed myself immensely as well.”
Gerard untied her other ankle and gently rubbed Dorothy’s ankle, where the silk had been. Faint pink lines were left there, and Dorothy shivered, feeling deliciously daring at the sight of the marks. She had let him bind her to the bed! Dorothy might be a spinster, but she was now one who had experienced the pleasures of the bedroom. She shivered. It was a pity that she could tell no one.
Gerard reached for her right wrist, and her breath caught in her throat, as he loomed over her. The scent of sweat mingled with his cologne. A lump formed in her throat. He understood her body and her mind so well.
“You are exquisite,” he said, tracing his knuckles over the side of her face. “Anyone who says otherwise is a fool.”
She laughed. “You are offering me too much praise.”
He released her left hand and linked his fingers with hers. “Not so,” he said, placing a light kiss on the back of her hand. “There is no such thing astoo much praisewhen it comes to you.”
Gerard went onto his side beside her, smiling at her with such gentleness that Dorothy’s own heart quickened. She did not want to end this. With something like dread, she realized why.
Dorothy did not want to relinquish this relationship, the connection that she had with Gerard. If anything, she wanted it to be somethingmore, something greater. Dorothy stared at him with wide eyes. She might be?—
She was rather?—
Genuinely falling in love.
CHAPTER 28
Gerard lay beside Dorothy, who turned to face him. She was beautiful, lit only by the flickering candlelight in the room. His eyes swept over her soft curves, damp with sweat from the night’s activities. Pink still spread across her cheeks, as delicate and lovely as a rose.
His own body was cool and relaxed. He had done it, and the encounter had been everything that he had wanted. “Gerard,” she murmured.
He smiled at the wonder in her voice. Dorothy slowly raised a hand and stroked his cheek. Her touch was gentle and light, barely there. He was reminded at once of all the tenderness she had shown throughout the Season, of all the care she gave to her family. Gerard jolted back.
