Chapter Twenty-Four
“Not exactly subtle, is she?” Justin asked as Cordelia spun around, pressing the three books to her chest. It was the best protection she had from him at the moment.
The duke was leaning against feathered pillows, an easy grin on his face.
A strand of unruly hair fell onto his forehead and he had a few days’ worth of stubble built up on his chin.
Cordelia leaned against the closed door as she eyed him, failing to fight the blush that was creeping up on her cheeks, and the spark of longing she felt in her chest.
She’d made up her mind about accepting Rhys’s offer and then this man had to be laid up in bed, looking devilishly handsome and rumpled and damnably hers for the taking. It was very unfair on his part.
“Between her and Lady Billings it will be quite a show at the ball,” he added.
Cordelia tried to find the words but was having a difficult time thinking straight.
Placing her books on a side table, she walked toward him, hands clasped in front of her skirts, trying to play at being demure.
She wondered how the image would hold, now that he’d seen every inch of her without any clothes on.
Besides manners, Cordelia had no armor remaining, and that left her nervous.
“Your bandage needs changing?” she asked, pointing to his forearm.
“Yes,” he replied, his smile faltering.
She nodded her head, turning to the table where fresh linen was piled high.
Cordelia reached for an already damp towel, soaking it again in the steaming basin.
Moving to the opposite side of the bed, she looked around for a chair, but much to her disappointment it was on the opposite side of the duke’s chambers.
Sighing, she made a move to reach for it but stopped when Justin said, “Where are you going?”
“Getting the chair,” she said.
“Why?” he asked, placing his hand on top of the coverlet. “I don’t bite.”
Yes, you do, she thought suddenly, an image flashing in her mind of her nipple between his teeth. Where her cheeks had once been warm they were now scorching.
“Dear lord, Lia,” he said. “You’re simpering like a milk maid.”
“You shouldn’t call me that,” she snapped, marching over to the wooden chair and dragging it across the room with renewed purpose.
“Why not?”
“Because,” she replied, setting it down, “it is not proper.”
Justin chuckled to himself as she gathered his arm in her hands, untying the bandage.
Cordelia’s heartbeat quickened as she felt his gaze on her.
She was thankful for the few silent moments he was allowing her as she set to work cleaning the wound.
It was looking much better, and for that she was wordlessly grateful.
“Cordelia,” he murmured as she worked. “I hope you haven’t been avoiding me these past few days.”
Avoiding him? Of course, she had been avoiding him!
What else could he expect, after she’d acted so stupidly after their…
encounter. Encounter was a bad word to describe what had taken place between them.
More like an earth-shattering, life-altering happenstance, which she would think about in the years to come.
Which she was already thinking about whenever her mind was unoccupied.
When Cordelia did not respond, Justin said, “I should be offering my heartfelt thanks.”
Cordelia looked at him suddenly, mouth agape. “Really?”
Justin breathed, “For saving my life.”
Cordelia’s heart fluttered as she regarded him, knowing that in the real world it would be her turn to say something to the effect of, You have rescued me so many times, it was only fair I finally returned the favor.
But none of this felt real, so she didn’t.
“Yes, well,” she began, “I only did what was needed.”
“Is that all?” he said.
“What more would you like?” she asked. “You have the manor house, the title, and now your life. You’ve readily taken everything.
” Cordelia did not add from me. That would have been too petty.
Nevertheless, she was growing irrationally angry with the man and wasn’t sure why.
Asking him to approve her marriage to Rhys was growing more difficult.
“Only things that have been offered freely,” he countered.
Cordelia gasped; he’d misunderstood her insinuation.
“Can we have a discussion that does not eventually become an argument?” he asked, shaking his head. “Did you know that you can be quite infuriating at times?”
“How dare you?” Cordelia replied, pointing the scissors she was using to cut the linen at him. “If you continue to speak to me like this, I’ll leave.”
He growled something under his breath.
“What was that?” Cordelia asked, in a sour voice.
“Nothing,” he muttered.
“I thought so,” she replied. Satisfied with the length of linen, she set to work wrapping it around his forearm, leaning over the bedspread. Doing her best to tie off the knot, she noticed that Justin was pulling it farther and farther away from her.
“Stop that!” she hissed, reaching over to salvage a piece of bandage that had come undone. But Cordelia lost her balance and proceeded to fall directly in his lap.
“There, that’s much better,” he murmured.
Cordelia scrambled to sit up, searching for purchase between the covers and his warm, inviting body. She pressed a hand to his chest, righting herself, but he clapped his palm over hers, pressing it into his heated flesh, her fingers tangling in the dark downy hair there.
“Oh!” she squeaked out, meeting his gaze. His blue eyes had darkened, the pupils dilated.
His other hand cupped her neck, fisting his hand in her hair, and brought her within an inch of his parted lips.
Before she could open her mouth, he kissed her.
And just like that, Cordelia’s head emptied.
All of the worries and qualms and options she’d been turning over and over and over again evaporated suddenly.
She was, once again, just a woman in the arms of a man. It felt good to only be one thing.
Justin groaned, pulling her closer to him, so she was sprawled out on top of him. “Take this off,” he said, tugging at the sleeve of her gown.
“I-I,” she tried to say between kisses, “I’m supposed to be receiving guests in an hour.”
Justin bit the side of her neck, his tongue burning a trail to the valley of her breasts, which were now straining against the stiff fabric of her corset. “Oh God,” she whispered.
He reached behind her back, searching for the buttons to her dress. If you let this happen, you won’t be able to stop yourself, a rational voice intoned in her head. When the duke flicked the first button open, running his rough fingers down the knobs of her spine, Cordelia knew she was lost.
“Quickly,” she said, reaching for the buttons herself to help him. “It needs to be quick.”
Justin chuckled, “One of these days I will have you and I will make sure it is the longest, most torturous night of your life.”
“Sounds rather terrible,” she remarked, pulling down the sleeves of her gown.
“Oh, trust me,” he said, his voice deep and wicked. “You’ll be begging me to make it last longer.”
Standing, she shimmied out of her dress and draped the frock over the chair so it wouldn’t wrinkle. “So no one suspects,” she said, returning to Justin’s arms in her corset and shift.
“By all means,” he said, wrapping his hand behind her neck to possess her mouth.
She breathed into the kiss, letting out a shocked cry when he bit her lower lip.
She felt the jolt down her belly and between her legs.
Pulling back the covers, she settled over him, so she could feel him more fully beneath her.
Cordelia felt terribly wicked, their bodies flush against one another in the duke’s own chambers.
There might be maids right outside the door, or someone, his mother included, could come knocking at any moment.
That train of thought should have deeply disturbed her, but it had the opposite effect instead.
She ground her pelvis against his, quivering at the familiar feeling of electricity.
Cordelia used to scoff at young women who gave themselves over so quickly to men. Even after Rhys, she’d not been particularly keen on seduction, having knowledge of what went after. It had taken Rhys so many years to get her to that point anyway.
As the duke reached under the lip of her corset, pulling her breast from its confinement, she felt like she understood very well how a woman could ruin herself without a second thought.
Quickly, a voice whispered in her head.
Reaching between their bodies, Cordelia palmed the hard length of his cock. He hissed in her ear. “We must hurry,” she said, trying to roll her body over to get beneath him. His hands held her hips firmly in place.
“I rather like you there,” he murmured.
“What?” she whispered, frantic.
Pulling up the length of her shift, he slid his hands along her legs and up her thighs, toying with the ribbons on her stockings. “You heard me,” he replied.
Cordelia spluttered, “But… I am not sure…”
“Like the time we first met. Astride, Lia,” he replied, a wicked grin on his lips. He sucked in a breath as he rolled his hips up, creating a delicious friction. Cordelia gasped, rocking her hips forward experimentally.
Sitting up, she found his hard length with her hand, pressing him inside of her. There was a little pain, but much less than the first time. The sensation was different from when Justin had been on top of her. Testing the feeling, she moved her hips up and down, shivering.
“God, yes,” Justin said between clenched teeth, his eyes screwed shut.
Cordelia watched him with interest as she continued to move over him, experimenting.
“Try this,” he said, tilting her forward so her chest was once more against his.
Her pubic bone rubbed against his flesh, sending shockwaves through her body.
Between that sensation and the fullness of him inside of her she had to bite her lip to keep herself from crying out. It was almost too much.