Page 39 of A Wicked Duke's Redemption
And he hadleft! Violet dropped into the chair before her mirror and stared at the door. A groan tore without warning from her throat. She longed to bolt from the room and follow the infuriating man, but she knew it would be for not. Violet buried her face in her hands and tried to control her breathing. At least Emma had not been present to witness this profoundly embarrassing visit.
***
Leo lay in his bed, staring into the darkness. He was hot and uncomfortable, and Violet consumed his thoughts. Leo scowled into the nothingness and silently cursed himself for having passions that were so easily aroused. For a long time, he rolled about in bed like a piece of driftwood caught in a tempest until, at long last, sleep found him. When he dreamed, it was of Violet.
She stood in his bedchamber, entirely naked. The moonlight traced over her soft curves and bathed her in light. Violet looked like a marble statue of Aphrodite that he had once seen. She was a goddess brought to life. Leo let himself look at her, his eyes trailing from her lovely face to her small, round breast. Then, to her narrow waist and her wide hips.
“Leo,” she murmured, her voice filled with such longing and need that everything inside him grew tight and ached.
“Come here.”
She eyed him shyly and crossed the room. Once she reached the bed, she climbed over the counterpane and rolled onto her back beside him. Violet stretched her arms above her head, so her breasts lifted. She turned her head and watched him with wide eyes and trembling lips. “I am burning, Leo. Will you not help me?”
He turned over, straddling her waist with his thighs, and brought their lips together. She moaned against his mouth and twisted beneath him. Her breasts rubbed against his chest; her hips pressed against the aching bulge of his manhood.
Violet’s hands reached for his shirt, struggling to pull it over his head. He leaned back for only an instant and removed the garment himself. They aligned their naked bodies, and he lowered his head, trailing kisses over her neck and across her collarbone. She groaned and curled her fingers in his hair.
“Oh, Leo!” she exclaimed.
His hands found her breasts, soft and yielding beneath his touch. He worked them gently, squeezing and pressing. His thumbs circled her nipples until they hardened like small, pink rose buds. “Do you like that?” he growled against her neck.
“Oh, yes! Please!”
His hands went lower, tracing her a path down her stomach and past her hips. Her legs quivered, and Leo drew himself up. She released his hair and raised her arms above her head instead, her fingers curled. Violet’s red hair spread over the pillow like a cloud of fire. Her eyes shined, and her lips remained parted as she drew in quick, heated pants. She looked at him with such longing that he could scarcely control himself.
“Shall I show you something that only married women know?” he asked huskily.
Her thighs pressed insistently against his own. “Please,” she whispered.
Leo gently stroked her maidenhood, already hot and damp. Violet groaned and arched her back. Her hands curled into the bedclothes, and her hips bucked upwards. Leo gently pushed a finger inside her, and Violet gasped. “Oh, Leo! Oh!” she exclaimed.
He smiled and carefully pulled his finger out. Leo went in again, stretching against her walls. Violet rocked her hips and made a whining sound from deep within her throat. She matched his rhythm with ease, pushing her body relentlessly against his finger. Leo pushed in another, smirking as Violet’s inner walls pressed against him. “What—what is that?” she asked.
Her thighs shook, her hips rocked, and Violet tossed her head back. Liquid rushed over Leo’s fingers as Violet came. She gasped for air and raised herself onto her forearms, watching him still with such heated intensity that his own body shook.
He took his throbbing manhood in hand and eased it inside her. Violet fell back against the bed. She twisted her hips and groaned. “Please,” she said. “Oh, please!”
He pushed himself fully inside her, grunting from how tight she was. Violet was a virgin, as expected. She gasped. “Please, again.”
He pulled himself almost fully out and then plunged into her again and again. Leo dove into her with reckless abandon, unleashing all his barely controlled lust into her lovely body. His thighs quivered, and Violet trembled beneath her. Leo pushed quicker and quicker, and just when he thought he could endure it no longer, he came. Violet’s thighs grew tight beneath him. “Come for me,” he murmured.
She tossed her head back and screamed his name.
Leo smiled and unsheathed himself, and then —
Leo woke up. The room was swelteringly hot, and his bedclothes were damp. He remained in bed and tried to catch his breathing. There was no question aboutwhathad happened during the night. He groaned and pounded his fist uselessly against his pillow.
He had managed to control himself until he returned to his bedchamber, at least. Leo pinched the bridge of his nose. What was he truly hoping for? Violet would never ask to consummate their marriage. She was an innocent young woman, who surely knew nothing of such things.
Or does she?
He remembered the comment she had made to Lady Priscilla. Nothing about how Violet spoke sounded like someone who had experienced such intimate pleasures, but it seemed she might know something about them. Leo let out a shuddering breath. Sweat drenched his body and the bedclothes around him. He could not continue like this. Hehadto talk with her about their consummation before he drove himself mad with desire for her.
Chapter 19
Even if the night ended with some frustration, the kiss with Leo seemed to have changed Violet’s entire world. Her husband seemed softer and less distant, and Violet felt herself warm towards him in a way that she had never thought would be possible.
“It will be winter soon,” Leo said after breakfast was finished. “Would you be opposed to a walk this morning?”
