Chapter Twelve
Dulverton held her gaze until Katie backed toward the bed and stumbled up the three steps to the high mattress, perching on the edge to watch.
He turned away from the bed and strode to one of the two identical chairs that faced the fireplace and sat, his huge body dwarfing the delicate piece of furniture.
Moving with graceful economy he pulled off one Hessian and then the next, setting his boots neatly beside the leg of the chair before standing and unbuttoning his coat and tugging off his cravat.
Once he’d neatly folded both garments and set them on the chair, he pivoted toward the bed and caught her staring. “Lie down.”
Katie clumsily swung her feet onto the mattress and stretched out on her back, twitching her nightgown so that she was modestly covered.
Still clothed in stockings, pantaloons, shirt, and waistcoat, Dulverton climbed onto the bed, kneeling high as he stared down at her. “Lift your skirts.” His eyes sent a chill shivering through her.
Katie jolted at his abrupt command and glanced at the candles on the bedside table. “Aren’t you going to snuff—”
“No. Lift your nightgown,” he repeated.
She slowly raised the hem up to her knees.
He closed his hands over her ankles and opened her legs.
“What are you doing?” She pulled her thighs back together—or trying to—but his hands were like hot, unyielding shackles.
Dulverton frowned. “How is it that you do not know what I am doing? You said you fornicated with your aunt’s footman.”
Katie gritted her teeth at the word fornicated.
“I know about—about coitus. I just do not understand how you are going about it.” Face flaming, Katie cut a pointed look at the front of his pantaloons, where the stretchy weave of the fabric did nothing to hide the long, thick ridge of his arousal. “You are still clothed, Your Grace.”
His eyelids drooped and one corner of his stern mouth twitched. On anyone else, Katie would not have noticed such a slight change of expression, but on Dulverton it was the equivalent of a face-splitting grin.
“Do you find something funny, Your Grace?”
“No.”
Katie saw nothing to indicate amusement in his opaque gaze; she must have been mistaken. Of course she had. The Duke of Dulverton didn’t know how to smile. Certainly not when—
“I am going to spread your legs” His voice was quieter, almost gentle, and nothing like his normally cool, clipped tone.
Katie looked down the length of her body to where his warm, strong fingers stroked the thin skin of her ankles.
There was something about the ropy blue veins on the back of his hands that made her pulse pound.
She knew he was waiting for some response from her, so she nodded.
Dulverton moved her feet until they were shoulder-width apart and this time Katie did not struggle against him. Her heart thud thud thudded like a blacksmith’s hammer against her ribs as he caressed up her calves, the slightly roughened pads of his fingers leaving goose pimples in their wake.
“Lift your gown higher.”
The air was suddenly thinner, and even breathing through her mouth Katie could not fill her lungs. This was not what she remembered with Jasper. He had never looked at her the way Dulverton was looking at her—as if he wanted to consume her—nor had he—
“Kathryn.”
The sound of her name pulled her from her daze, and she reached with shaky fingers for the fine muslin and lifted it higher. His pupils flared to life and an expression of such hungry anticipation settled on his harsh features that Katie could not bring herself to care how exposed she was.
He made a low rumbling sound of approval. “You are perfect.” His praise played havoc with her already thundering heart and made the muscles in her sex clench and send shivers of pleasure through her body.
Dulverton lowered to his elbows, his face close enough to her mound that she felt his hot breath on her skin.
“Wh-what are you doing?” she asked shrilly.
“I am readying you.”
Katie made a mortifying squeaking sound when he gently parted her netherlips, his eyelids lowering as he studied her.
“You are so wet,” he marveled, briefly looking at her face before lowering his blazing gaze.
She opened her mouth to say something—because… shouldn’t she? Shouldn’t she tell him to stop messing about down there?
Katie was still working up her nerve when he suddenly lowered his head and closed his lips around the source of her pleasure.
“Oh, Dulverton,” Katie mumbled in a croaky voice as her suddenly boneless elbows slid out from under her, and her eyes rolled back in her head.
***
Gerrit heard his name and then nothing except a great deal of moaning and gasping.
As shocked as Kathryn had first appeared, she had not told him to stop. His cock throbbed with possessive pleasure at the knowledge that Kathryn’s footman lover had not done this one thing for her. At least in this way, Gerrit would be her first.
Encouraged by the noises she was making, he slid his arms around her silky thighs and spread her wider, settling more comfortably so he could relax and enjoy himself.
Her needy whimpers quickly turned to earthy groans and her hips bucked as she chased his tongue.
Gerrit was tempted to give her what she needed, but sex was one of the few times he engaged in physical contact with another person, and he was in no hurry to end the rare pleasure.
The sight of his proud, combative wife turning into his writhing, begging bed-slave made his own aching need an exquisite agony. But Gerrit could wait. Waiting would only make his release that much sweeter.
Feeling her muscles tense and tighten, Gerrit paused his tonguing, smirking at her frustrated exclamation. The view up her soft, curvaceous body was sensational, and his mouth watered at the sight of her erect nipples thrusting against the thin fabric of her nightgown.
I should have stripped her bare.
Indeed, he should have. But this was only their first night together, so there was no rush. She was his now and he could explore her body as often and as thoroughly as he pleased.
She is only yours until she provides you with an heir…
Gerrit shoved away the unwanted thought and resumed teasing her greedy little bud, working her until she thrashed in his arms, but never giving her quite enough to push her over the edge.
When she tried to grab his hair, the tips of her slender fingers scrabbled on his shorn locks before she was able to get a good grip and drag his mouth to precisely where she wanted him.
Amused, Gerrit decided to torment her a little more and slid a finger inside her.
She groaned, her body clenching at the invasion.
As he proceeded to tease her with both his tongue and hand Gerrit could not recall when he had last enjoyed himself so much.
He was in no hurry to put an end to his pleasure.
***
Katie could not think straight. Every time she clawed her way to the edge of bliss and teetered on the edge Dulverton would simply wander off, dropping her back down to earth.
“Please!” she all but wept.
Rather than show mercy, his lips and tongue disappeared altogether.
“Relax for me, Kathryn.” Hearing his voice sent a shock through her.
She had not forgotten who she was with, of course, but it was still staggering that the passionate lover between her thighs was the same disagreeable man from dinner.
A large hot palm caressed one of her thighs while a second finger eased in beside the first.
Katie stiffened at the uncomfortable stretch.
“Shhhh,” he soothed. “So tight,” he said, his warmly approving tone causing an involuntary clenching in her sex. Katie desperately hoped that Dulverton didn’t notice her body’s mortifying reaction to even the tiniest bit of praise.
“Ah, you like that,” he said.
So much for hoping.
“I like that, too,” he said, stroking her faster and deeper. His lust-black eyes pinned her, and the corner of his mouth kicked up the tiniest amount before he said, “You are a such a good girl, Kathryn.”
To her shame an even more powerful bolt of arousal coursed through her body.
“Very nice,” he muttered smugly, and then his soft, hot lips closed around her bud.
Katie’s eyes fluttered shut as sensation seized her. If Dulverton stopped again and left her hanging, then Katie would—
She cried out, her thoughts swept away when his thrusting fingers stroked something exquisitely sensitive inside her, sending her hurtling over the edge.
Waves of bliss rolled through her in brutal spasms until she was wrung out and limp.
Everything was pleasantly fuzzy and her limbs were far too heavy to move.
She felt drunk, but much happier than the handful of times she had over-imbibed while playing stupid parlor games at the house parties that used to fill up her summers.
Katie drifted back to herself; she knew she should at least push her nightgown back down and stop lolling about, but she couldn’t make herself care.
You will be deeply humiliated when you recall how you eagerly you moaned and begged and shoved Dulverton’s head between your spread thighs.
For once, Katie easily ignored the voice. Instead of worrying about later, she relished the moment. She especially relished her new husband’s earthy, enthusiastic lovemaking. If readying her meant rendering her boneless then he had exceeded his goal.
What about the pitiful, wanton way you responded to his praise? Are you really so desperate? So needy? So easily won?
The niggling voice found a toehold and a tendril of unease snaked through her post-climax haze. Was she really so needy for approval? Could she truly be—
“Are you still awake?” a deep voice rumbled.