Chapter 15
The Duke of Rothbury led her to a small room, which appeared to serve as some man’s study. Lavinia swallowed hard as His Grace locked the door behind them. She found that it was not he whom she feared but a potential passerby catching them there.
It was difficult to be dissuaded by the threat of being caught, however, when her core pulsed with need.
Evelina smelled the evidence of her attraction, a subtle musk that filled her nostrils.
Even if she knew what His Grace was implying by bringing her to this room, her face still grew warm with embarrassment that he might notice how eager her body was for his own.
“I—I have not given you my answer yet,” she stammered. “We should not be hasty in producing an heir.”
“No?” he asked.
He walked to her, keeping an unruffled and leisurely pace that made her heart race. She stepped backwards, the back of her thighs colliding with the desk. “No, we should not work on producing an heir until we are properly married. I was overly hasty when I spoke earlier.”
His Grace smiled coyly. “But you seem so very eager to have a congress.”
“It is your fault,” she said. “You tormented me with your words, knowing that you would awaken desires within me.”
“At least, you admit that you desire me,” the duke said, grinning rakishly.
“Only because of what you might give me,” she retorted, the words sounding hollow to her own ears. “That is all I am thinking of.”
“Oh, I know you are thinking of what I might give you,” he purred. “I can give you far more than a child, my lady. Don’t you know that?”
Her eyes darted to his sinfully full lips. “Of course, I know it.”
“How much?” His Grace asked boldly. “Was your husband a generous lover?”
He stalked to her, and Evelina’s mind whirled.
Could she manage to escape him? If she tried to run for the door, she suspected that the Duke of Rothbury could catch her with ease.
The thought of being caught in his strong arms only made the ache between her thighs grow.
Her mouth was dry and her pulse thundering. What could she do? What could she say?
“No.” The words sounded as if someone else had spoken them, some other Evelina who was dissatisfied with her husband’s lack of attention.
“I see.”
He stopped before her, so near that she could reach out and touch him.
Evelina tried to look away, but instead, she found herself appreciatively gazing at his body.
Her eyes roamed over his strong neck down to his sculpted chest; even through his finely tailored jacket, the definition of his muscles was clear.
He was unquestionably a handsome man, and that heat curled between her legs, so persistently that she hurt.
“Perhaps, I should show you something that your husband did not,” he said in a sonorous voice. “Maybe just a little of the pleasure I might offer you.”
“Pleasure? I do not need pleasure,” she said. “I have made it clear what I want.”
His brow furrowed, and the Duke of Rothbury looked at her as if Evelina was a puzzle he could not solve. “But you would prefer the deed to be pleasant,” he said. “Wouldn’t you?”
Another step. His powerful thighs brushed against her own, and a lump rose in Evelina’s throat. “I—I do not know.”
He grasped her around the waist and lifted her up, depositing her neatly on the desk. Evelina gasped, marveling at how easily he had done it. She remained seated as he stepped forward, placing himself between her legs. Evelina stared at him with wide eyes. “What are you going to do?”
“You are a brazen woman,” he said, “one who prides herself on defying conventions. I am going to teach you something that defies all conventions for what a proper lady should do.”
His Grace took a handful of her skirts and drew them up over her calves.
Evelina curled her fingers around the edge of the desk and let him.
He brought them up past her thighs, and a ragged moan tore from her throat as the cool air in the study brushed across her bare legs.
She had the sensation of being wonderfully exposed, and when he looked at her, his eyes alight with appreciation, Evelina shivered. “Please,” she whispered.
Evelina did not even know what she wanted, what action ought to follow her desperate plea, and His Grace only smirked. “In time,” he said.
The Duke of Rothbury slowly sank to his knees. He grasped her ankles and coaxed her legs apart. Her slipper-clad feet dangled in the air, her heels brushing against the polished wood of the desk. “Look at you,” His Grace said.
Evelina swallowed hard. Her skirts were bunched up around her thighs, and with her legs spread as they were, she knew that he must be gazing at her damp and clenching sex.
He stroked her thighs, and Evelina shifted on the desk.
She did not know what to think about this.
Anticipation twisted in her chest and her body.
Evelina felt strangely alive, as if she had been dreaming before and only just awakened to a world that was so full she could scarcely comprehend it.
His Grace dipped his head, and his warm breath ghosted over her thigh. Evelina gasped, her chest heaving. “Y-your Grace,” she rasped.
He chuckled and placed a gentle kiss against the inside of her thigh. Then, he paid the same to the other. Evelina shifted on the desk, her hips jolting forward. “Impatient,” he teased.
She searched for some witty retort, determined not to let him win so easily, but every remark fell away as he kissed and stroked her thighs.
Her inner walls clenched, and her core ached.
Evelina grasped the edge of the desk so hard that her knuckles hurt, the pain a steady point that kept her tethered to a tenuous reality.
Her body was warm all over, sweat pooling at the small of her back and gooseflesh raising on her arms.
“I—I need…” she trailed off, words escaping her.
“Release?” he asked, chuckling against her thigh. “Your husband treated you poorly, indeed.”
Her husband had never even touched her like he was. He had never lifted up her skirts and touched her thighs with his fingers or his lips. A little whimper escaped Evelina’s lips as His Grace’s thumb gently traced through the red-gold curls of hair between her legs.
“You have been neglected for so longer,” he said.
He had no idea how long. Her muscles grew taut as he kissed right over her core. An undignified cry tore from her, and Evelina’s hips bucked reflexively forward. His Grace tilted his head back, so he was no longer obscured by her voluminous skirts. “I want to watch you come undone,” he said.
Evelina let out a small, breathless laugh. “I do not think you will find me very lovely when I do!”
She imagined how she must look to him with her flushed face, heaving chest, and disheveled skirts. It must be an uncomely vision, indeed! The situation would be worsened only if someone entered and saw her in such a disgraceful state.
“I think you are exquisite,” he said. “Psyche herself would be envious.”
She laughed. “Liar.”
His Grace grinned shamelessly, his thumb stroking between her folds.
Evelina squeezed her eyes shut, gasping as his every touch soothed the ache between her legs, while igniting something else entirely.
Her core pulsed, and she rocked against her hand.
A tightness grew inside her, and tears sprang to her eyes as she fought to contain it.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Ensuring that you leave this room fully satisfied,” he said. “Look at me, my lady.”
Her eyes snapped open, and she met his gaze.
The sensation in her grew tighter and tighter, and she shifted against the desk and against his hand.
Evelina was in an agony that she had no words for, and tiny broken sounds fell from her throat.
“Wh—what are you doing?” she asked again. “What does that mean?”
Her thighs quivered, and he quickened his movements.
Evelina rubbed her core against his hand, twisting and turning upon the desk without any conscious thought.
Some deep-seated instinct seemed to have taken over her body, and she cared for nothing except for how she might satisfy that need, that tension curling inside her stomach.
Suddenly—
Her body shuddered, and a warm sensation swept over her.
White lights obscured her vision as a wave of pleasure overcame her.
Evelina gasped for air. She fell forward and instinctively seized His Grace’s hair, keeping herself steady as her body basked in this new state of ecstatic and divine feeling.
Then, it was gone, and she sat sated and well-used on the surface of the desk. “That was—that was unlike anything I have ever felt before,” she gasped out.
“Then, your husband handled you poorly, indeed,” the Duke of Rothbury said.
He produced a handkerchief from his jacket and gently wiped the inside of her thighs, cleaning the wetness that was there.
His Grace tucked the handkerchief away and slowly smoothed her skirts until they covered her completely.
Evelina gasped for air, watching him with a strange, heady mixture of pleasure and bewilderment.
“What—how did you…” she trailed off, a sense of foreboding sweeping through her. “Have you done that for many women?”
“A few,” he said. “It need not bother you, though. I told you that I will not leave your bedroom until we have produced an heir, and I am a man of my word. I shall show you that pleasure every night.”
Evelina blinked and took a deep breath. Did she dare ask how those two things related, or would he laugh at her?
He knew that she had been previously married, so he must assume that she had at least lain with a man before.
Evelina thought she might die if she had to correct his assumptions, but now, she wondered if her silence might prove to be detrimental to them both.
“How does that…” she trailed off and looked away.
Evelina’s eyelids were heavy, and she thought that she might like nothing more than to sink into a long sleep. She wondered how many questions she would invite from Theodora if she announced an intention to retire and rest so early in the day.
“We will do that,” he said. “Then, I will sheath myself inside you. We can do it more than once, even.”
His Grace’s eyes gleamed, as if he relished the prospect. A thick lump wedged itself in Evelina’s throat, as she imagined the Duke of Rothbury showing her this same pleasure over and over. The thought sent a jolt of longing tracing along the path of her spine.
“I have not given you my answer yet,” she said, her voice trembling. “I might still decide that I do not wish to marry you, especially after you have acted in such an untoward manner.”
“You did not seem too vexed by that mere moments ago, my lady.”
“May a lady not change her mind?” she asked, raising a brow.
It was not Evelina’s best retort, but she silently told herself that she might have done worse.
“You may,” he said. “If you do intend on changing your mind, however, it would be courtesy to do so soon. I have told you that this is an urgent matter, and that has not changed. I can pursue other prospects.”
Evelina bit her lip, thinking. He could, and the steel in his eyes indicated that he would if she forced his hand. Evelina pressed her thighs together, as the impulse to cover herself rose within her. She took a deep breath.
“What is your answer?” His Grace asked. “My patience is at its end, my lady. I will wait no longer.”
It was as if a great weight pressed on her chest. Evelina clasped her hands together and forced herself to remain visibly calm, even as her heart fluttered in her chest like a caged bird.
“Yes.”