Page 48 of Lusting for the Duke's Kiss
He was beautiful, built like Adonis. His shoulders were broad, and his chest, with its smattering of dark hair, wide. Her eyes travelled down over his stomach to the nest of dark hair, and the evidence of his manhood standing proudly to attention. Her eyes widened further. It was hard and long. So very big. She simply had no idea that a man could swell to such proportions. How on earth was it going to fit within her? A flickering of alarm swept through her.
But before it could blossom into full blown fright, he was upon her, caressing her again, murmuring words of love into her ear. His lips found hers, and they kissed, long and deep. She relaxed again, beneath the onslaught. The heat was growing between them, once again, to a fire that was threatening to consume her, entirely.
His lips found a nipple, suckling fiercely. She arched her back instinctively, seeking to draw him closer, filled with a wild, urgent need. Tentatively, her hands caressed him, as he nipped and sucked, sweeping over the broad expanse of his back. His skin felt like velvet beneath her touch. She had never imagined that the skin of a man could be so soft.
His lips journeyed down her body, hot, brief kisses, over her stomach, until they arrived at her centre. She strangled a moan as he gently pulled her legs apart. And then, he was kissing her again, burying his face deep within her moist folds, his tongue like a darting flame, within the depths.
A hot wetness flooded out of her as he continued licking and sucking, bringing her to the brink of ecstasy. Waves of it crashed over her, again and again, each one stronger than the last. She felt a sweat break out over her entire body, her body consumed by this agonising fever. She heard herself moaning as if from far away.
But suddenly, he broke the contact. She could barely open her eyes. In her delirium, she watched him, kneeling between her legs, gazing down in hunger at her centre point. She didn’t have the strength to move a muscle as he positioned himself. And then, there was a hot, searing pain, as she felt him enter her for the very first time.
He was still, for a moment, gazing at her. She felt the strange fullness, within her, expanding, second by second. And then, ever so gently, he started to rock against her, his pelvis thrusting, bit by bit. She cried out in bewilderment. It felt so good. She wanted him to keep doing it, never to stop.
His movements quickened to the point that he was slamming against her, widening her legs with every thrust. For a moment, she thought that it was impossible, that she would split in two, that he could not go any deeper than he had been. But every time, her body seemed to accommodate him, flowering open beneath him until she thought that he was about to climb inside her, entirely.
Those wild sensations were blossoming to life, once more. The brief pain was gone, replaced with this delirious pleasure. With every thrust, it intensified. She started moaning again, tossing her head, from side to side. He looked like a dark angel, raging above her, delivering her in shackles to the foot of heaven itself.
Surely, it couldn’t build to any greater height. And yet, it did. Suddenly, she hovered on the brink, in a frenzy of sensation, before it crashed over her, again and again. She cried out, twisting beneath him, almost unable to endure such ecstasy. Feeling that she would surely die or melt clean away.
Suddenly, he gripped her, his face contorted. With a long groan, she felt him release himself within her. The sensations that had just been starting to taper off within her gathered again, in one mighty burst of light.
It was done. With one final cry, one last twist, he fell upon her, his body bathed in sweat. Her heart slowed down as she gathered him in her arms. A delicious lethargy was consuming her, now. Little aftershocks of pleasure, slowly diminishing, second by second.
So, that is what it is all about, she thought, in sheer wonder. I am a maiden no more. I could never have guessed, in a hundred years, that it could be so beautiful.
His breath was slowing down. He looked at her, his green eyes glowing in the darkness.
“My dearest love,” he whispered in a strangled voice. “It was worth the wait. I feel that I am reborn in your arms …”
“As I am, in yours,” she whispered back, a lump forming in her throat. “I never imagined that it could be so glorious. That you could do those things to me, make me feel so alive in a way that I have never felt before …”
He smiled. “I told you we were meant to be together, Hetty. It just took an awfully long time for us to finally be with each other.” He paused, looking like he was struggling for words. “I will never forget this. I will never forget the first time that you came to me. That you became mine for eternity. My one, and only, love.”
The next moment, he was abruptly asleep, his eyes closed, still hugging her tightly.
She smiled. It had been an awfully long day. Weariness was sweeping over her, too, dragging her away. But she fought it for just a little while longer, staring at the window, beyond the bed, and the thinsliver of moonlight shining through it.
She was a married woman once more, and a duchess, this time. She raised her left hand, staring at the new circle of gold on her finger, replacing the one that she had thrown away. The one that lay abandoned in a field at her parents’ home, just like her first marriage had been discarded. As if it had never existed at all.
It had all been worth it, every agonising second of it. The journey to get here. The journey that had led her here, to be laying in this man’s arms, replete with love. She couldn’t imagine now, being locked away in a convent somewhere, bitter and despairing of life itself.
She couldn’t imagine how she had ever thought it a possibility. Nor could she imagine still being married to her first husband. The stranger, who had betrayed her and could never have given her the pleasure that she had just felt, nor be the husband that the man who lay so sweetly in her arms was going to be.
She was exactly where she was meant to be. As her thoughts started to scatter, and she closed her eyes on her second wedding day, she knew without a shadow of a doubt that she would be awakening tomorrow far differently to how she had awoken after her last wedding night.
It would be a new day. A new life. And withthisman by her side, it could only get better.
Epilogue
Hetty threw the ball far into the distance, watching as the little boy toddled after it, laughing. The three dogs that were their constant companions set off after it, too, barking with delight.
She laughed, picking up the hem of her gown and running after them. If she weren’t careful, one of the dogs would pick up the ball and spirit it away. She had already played tug of war with them several times this morning. And Ben so enjoyed being the victor, in any case.
She was panting slightly by the time she got to them.
“Down,” she commanded the dogs. They looked at her a bit grumpily, but they obeyed. Ben laughed with delight, picking up the ball and flinging it. It bounced for a moment before settling a short distance away. Ben still couldn’t throw very far, but he was always determined to try.
“Well done,” she said, smiling down at the golden-haired child. “You are getting better every day.”
