Page 45 of Claimed By the Duke of Ice

Then, when he was spent, it seemed as if every bone in his body suddenly went soft, and he collapsed beside her on the bed. Deep, ragged breaths seemed to pour from his chest for several moments, making Grace feel as if she accomplished something great. Then, when his breath was caught, he looked at her with thankful eyes and pulled her close to him.

“Are you all right, darling?” he whispered, showering kisses in her hair and over her face.

Grace nodded, her own lips skimming over his collarbone and neck, her tongue darting to taste the sweat that now covered him.

“I shall be fine,” she promised. “Soreness, I’m told, is normal after the first time.”

A sound of satisfaction left Nathaniel’s chest as she said so, and then, he gently untangled himself from her and left the bed.

“Where are you going?” Grace asked. She was too tired to move, but she followed him with her eyes.

“To send Wilson for hot water for a bath,” Nathaniel replied, pulling on a robe. “I believe we both need one.”

Lazily, Grace rolled onto her stomach and watched as her husband peered out of his chamber door and talked in a murmured tone to his valet outside. She couldn’t help but smile as she watched him nod his head repeatedly—as if he was trying to get the man to do his bidding as soon as possible. Finally, he closed the door again and returned to the bed. He paused at the foot of it and stared at her.

“Is something the matter?” she asked softly, peering up at him. A smile touched Nathaniel’s lips as his eyes roamed slowly over her, and he shook his head.

“Not a thing,” he assured her.

“Mmm, then take off that robe and come join me again,” she purred, wiggling her backside enticingly.

Nathaniel’s smile widened, and he immediately did as he was told. Before he kissed her again, he grabbed the tapestries of the canopied bed and drew them around them around the mattress for privacy. In the darkness, he reached for her again, and as they reunited with a kiss; his hands began to carefully work out the pins in her hair, setting the locks free one at a time until her blonde curls fully escaped from their captivity.

When he finished, he delved his fingers through her silken strands as his lips feasted on her forehead, the line of her jaw, her eyelids, and down to her neck. Whatever malady that had kept him from touching her before had seemed to finally melt completely away, for his studious touch continued down over her entire body. His lips touched her everywhere, from the tips of her elbows to the small curves at her feet. To the small indent of her navel and to her tightly piqued nipples which he teased with both his fingertips and mouth until she let out a small cry of pleasure.

“Quiet, little one,” he whispered into her ear, pressing a gentle hand against her mouth. “The servants are filling the tub. We mustn’t let them hear you.”

CHAPTER TWENTY

“It starts with pins and needles,” Nathaniel explained, his deep voice soothing and calm as he pressed the sponge to Grace’s collarbone. “But not like when a limb falls asleep. It is as if every pore on the surface of my hands and arms is filled with an immovable, sharp prick that progressively goes deeper. And then the numbness starts which is somehow worse.”

They had stayed in the privacy of Nathaniel’s canopy bed until the tub had been filled. Sometime during his thorough tasting of Grace’s body, she had found the courage to ask why he had stayed so far away from her for so long if he enjoyed touching her so much. He’d waited until they were alone then he carried her into the bath and began to explain.

“That sounds absolutely dreadful,” Grace murmured, tilting her head up from his chest, so she could look at him. Nathaniel looked down at her, kissed her head, and nodded.

“Gloves made it better, but it didn’t stop it completely,” he continued. “Nothing stops it really. And once the symptoms start, I cannot make them stop. They travel up arms into my chest. My heart begins to pound loudly, and I sometimes lose control of my facial expressions. It’s like being trapped in your own body with no way to get away from the pain.”

Grace turned the new information over in her head as Nathaniel dipped the sponge in the water again and began running it between and over her breasts. Her back arched against his chest as she did so, and she let out a sigh of pleasure.

“The way I would hold on to you must have been dreadful,” she mused, her heart hurting for him. “Had you told me, I would have never pushed myself on you so.”

Nathaniel rubbed his chin against her head in contemplation. He was thankful for her understanding, but hearing the guilt felt unbearable.

“I have never told anyone my secret,” he confessed, picking up her hand so he could kiss the back of it. “I think by the time you and I met, I was lost on how to even begin to explain it to anyone. And truthfully, your touch confused me.”

“How so?” she asked.

“Because for the first time, I wanted someone to touch me,” he explained. “And I wanted to touch someone—you in return. My wants had always aligned with my limits. Until I kissed you.”

“Why did you kiss me at the dinner party?” she asked. “The pain must have been dreadful.”

From Nathaniel’s chest, she heard a small rumble that resembled laughter, and he kissed her temple.

“Because when we were lying there on the floor, tangled in another’s limbs, it was the first time since my symptoms started that I touched someone and felt pleasure instead of pain,” he explained, continuing his washing of her body. “It was like being able to finally breathe again after being held underwater. I dragged you into me as if I needed you to survive.”

Grace smiled softly, liking his answer.

“Is it always like that when you touch me?” she asked.

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