Page 53 of The Duke of Scandal

“Good choice,” he murmured.

Harriet began tugging blankets around herself, beginning to shiver. Then she stopped, looked at Edward, and held the blankets up at one side. He moved closer and took the blankets, pulling them across himself so that they were both wrapped in a warm cocoon of wool.

“Do you believe me?” Harriet said quietly.

Edward looked at her. Just like Eleanor, she was looking at him with wide, plaintive eyes. Unlike Eleanor, there was no hint of seduction in her look. This was not a woman playing at being vulnerable in order to attract a strong man. This was a woman who was genuinely vulnerable and scared.

“I do,” he said, “The question is, what do we do next?”

Harriet looked into his eyes. She bit her lip. “You cannot be coerced into marrying me. I will not have it and it would not be good for you.”

“No. It would not.”

“Should you choose to marry me and convince me that this event did not influence you…”

“Would that not be playing into the hands of whoever did this. Someone seems to want us to marry,” Edward said.

His mind was wandering from the conversation to the sensation of her body being so close to him. Her lips were inches from his own, her dress was molding itself to her bosom, making her breasts stand proud. Her thigh pressed against his.

“It stands to reason it would be someone in my family. But I cannot think who,” Harriet admitted.

She gave a shiver and Edward pulled the blanket tighter around them, putting his arms around her. Her eyes met his from so close that they became his entire world. Words melted away. There was no thought and no reason. Only those incredible eyes that communicated so much, connected so deeply with something within him that had never been touched. Lust and longing wound themselves together inside him. The need to possess her body with the need to hold her and care for her. The desire to treat her like a conquest against the desire to worship her as a goddess.

Harriet held her lips less than an inch from his. Her breathing came quick and sharp. Her tongue flicked across her full lips and she bit her lower lip again. Edward bent his head and kissed her softly and deeply.

CHAPTER 37

Harriet had not intended to kiss Edward. She did not want to kiss him. After his angry arrival at Erdington and the shock of the reason for his anger, Harriet had sought to get him on his own so that she could talk freely. She had felt sure that this would convince him that the announcement in the newspaper was not a ploy by her to trap him. But seeing him in the arms of Eleanor had put her into a frantic flight. Thought had been driven from her, leaving only the need to escape. She did not want to hear his reasons or his excuses.

The image of their lips pressed together. Of Eleanor practically swooning in his arms, was one that had seared itself into her mind. She ran to escape it, wanting to forget what she had seen and what it might signify. The idea of Erdington being saved through Eleanor marrying Edward was one that made Harriet want to be sick. But Edward had pursued her. Then she had tripped and the next thing she knew, he was hauling her out of the pool.

Now, she nestled in his embrace. His blue eyes took up the entirety of her vision, deep pools of infinity. The warmth and strength of his body was intoxicating. She was helpless, falling into him, closer and closer until…their lips met and all thought fled from her. He stroked her cheek, his fingers warm against her cold skin, tracing the line of it down to the corner of her mouth. Harriet sought more of his mouth, pulling on his lips and pushing towards him. Her teeth found his bottom lip, biting gently, wanting to taste him as well as feel him.

She ran her hand down the side of his face, pushing aside locks of wet hair. She traced the sharp line of his cheeks, then spread her fingers to cup his face, holding onto him tightly. His tongue entered her mouth and she responded with a quick, dart of her own. Strong fingers ran through her hair, pushing it back to expose as much of her as possible. Then hungry lips kissed the exposed skin. Cheeks, ears, neck. Harriet gasped as she felt his lips against her throat. They pressed there, allowing her to feel the pressure of his teeth before becoming soft and tender once again.

Then to a different spot, mouth opening and teeth tightening on the sensitive skin, bringing a soft moan from Harriet. The pain from the bump was forgotten, vanishing as her heart raced and her breath quickened. Edward was sampling her body with his mouth, tasting her as though she were some delicacy. He kissed the hollow of her throat, pushing down the material of her dress, then licked his lips as he pulled away. It made her think of a wild animal which made her desire surge. She felt giddy and didn’t know if it was from desire or the bump to her head.

Edward's hands roamed down her body, boldly squeezing and caressing her breasts through the dress, the material rendered sheer by the soaking it had received. As he tried to move on, she clamped one of her hands over his, holding it on top of her breast, pressing his fingers in, making him squeeze until it was painful. Then she gasped and moaned his name, mouth seeking his body, lips working against his skin. Finally, his strength overcame her desire to be touched there. His hand ripped free and explored her stomach, spreading the material of the dress as though seeking with his fingers to pass through it.

Something hot and fiery lit within Harriet. She and Edward had been in this position before. He had driven her to the very edge of ecstasy with his touch and his knowledge of the female body. Now, she wanted to be the one in control and him be helpless before her touch. She threw her weight against him, pushing him back and pinning his hands down by his sides. Then she grabbed for the laces that secured his shirt, untying them hastily. When the smooth expanse of skin was revealed, she lowered her head, kissing and licking at the taut muscle.

He tried to rise against her, pushing her down, but she held on with all her might, straddling him and pushing down with her hands as hard as she could. He managed to lift his own hands to shoulder height before giving up, allowing her to hold him down. Breathless with her own daring, Harriet tugged insistently at Edward’s shirt, trying to lift it from where it was secured within the waistband of his breeches. As it pulled free, she allowed him to lift his arms so that she could tug it over his head and discard it. The sight of his lean, muscled frame made her loins tingle.

It was her first sight of a man undressed and she had never imagined a sight of such perfection and raw power. With the strength of those smooth muscles, he could surely master her if he chose, bearing her to the ground beneath him and ripping her clothes away. Moving by instinct, Harriet pressed herself against him, moving her hips forward until her pelvis was pressed hard against his. She kissed him and pulled her hips back to thrust forward again. A pressure was building in him, she could feel its hardness reaching for her and growing with each passionate thrust of her hips.

Harriet’s lips closed around one of his nipples and he gasped her name in a voice that told her that for all of his strength, he was helpless before her now. She moved her mouth lower, tracing a path with her tongue over his ribs and down to his flat, iron-hard stomach. No longer held, his arms were around her and he sought to lift her head to kiss her. But Harriet resisted as her lips reached his navel and the bulge in his breeches that was the representation of his passion for her. Gasping, Harriet ran her hand down that bulge, making Edward cry out. She pressed harder, moving rhythmically and then pressing her lips to it.

Through the almost unbearable desire, she felt there was still one conscious thought in her mind. She would not become a conquest. It seemed to her that if she gave herself to him too freely, he would come to look down on her. She would become the same as Eleanor, another woman trying to entrap him with her body. Harriet lifted her head and saw the need in Edward’s eyes. If she let him, she knew he would bear her roughly to the wooden boards beneath them and he would take her. It would be glorious but it would change everything.

She pressed both of her hands to his manhood, squeezing and massaging, all the while looking into his eyes and seeing the desperate pleading for release.

“I have a favor to return to you, but we must hold back from what we both want. I will not be another Eleanor,” Harriet whispered. “But I want to see you as helpless with desire as I was that night at Wrexham.”

Edward whispered her name as she undid the ties of his breeches and plunged her hands down. She kissed him and he crushed her body against him as she moved her hands, not knowing how to pleasure him but repeating any movement that brought a gasp of pleasure from him. Those gasps increased in frequency and ferocity until he convulsed, the pressure he held her with becoming painful for a moment. It was glorious and Harriet felt a responding fire within her, just as she had that night. She responded by crying out his name, the pain of his embrace showing her how badly he wanted her.

Then he was limp beneath her, panting and with sweat mingling with the water that already soaked them both. Harriet put her arms around him and nestled her head against his bare chest, smiling happily.

CHAPTER 38

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