Chapter 13 #2
Alice felt a flicker of desire in her lower abdomen and below. The couple in the painting appeared so unrestrained and passionate, surrendering entirely to the act of pleasure. She wondered if she would ever be bold enough to straddle Marco in such a way. She felt herself flushing at the thought.
“You have interesting taste in art,” she said, trying to keep the amusement out of her voice. “Does this painting depict Aphrodite bewitching Adonis with her… charms?”
“It does indeed. You have a fine eye to have caught that,” Marco said, coming to stand beside her, smiling as he folded his arms across his chest. “You are not dismayed by the salacious subject of the painting, I hope?”
“Oh no, not dismayed,” Alice said lightly, biting the corner of her mouth in amusement. “I was only wondering if this was the sort of riding you referred to earlier."
Marco let out a bark of laughter. He guided her out of the corner and sat on the edge of the desk. Watching her with mirth.
“Saints above!” He gasped, grinning at Alice with unbearable delight. “You say such scandalous things, Alice. Whatever am I do to with you?”
“Well,” Alice said, stepping closer with a gleam in her eye. She moved until she stood between Marco's spread legs and put her hands on the lapels of his deep blue jacket, feeling the softness of the fabric under her fingers. "Perhaps you would like to give me another lesson in pleasure?"
She noticed Marco's eyes light up with desire and his pupils dilate suddenly.
Then his mouth surged forward. He kissed her passionately, as if he had been starving for her lips and couldn't wait another second to taste them.
He continued to devour her mouth as he moved to the desk and grabbed her hips.
She was lifted off her feet and placed astride him, much like Aphrodite was on her Adonis.
The warmth in her belly spread to between her legs, where she could feel Marco's breeches hardening.
His fingers gripped the hem of her gown, pulling her skirts up to cup his hot hands against the bare skin of her thighs.
She gasped against his mouth as his hands snaked around and cupped her naked buttocks.
She felt him smile wickedly as he gently kneaded the round globes, then she gasped again when he captured her bottom lip between his lips and gently bit down.
Alice's head was reeling with the sensations Marco created on her body. She needed more, wanted him to take her to the heights of pleasure she saw in his painting. She desired him with a fierceness that gave her pause.
“Wait. Marco, wait,” Alice panted, pushing her hands against his chest as her thoughts cleared away her lust.
“Did I hurt you?” Marco asked, reaching up to run his thumb over the lip he had just nipped.
“No. It is not that. I just…” Alice stopped and clambered off him, pulling her skirts down.
She couldn't believe how quickly she had gotten carried away.
She had been only a breath away from begging him to do something that could result in a child.
“We need to talk. I am beginning to think I was too hasty in agreeing to your proposal, Marco. "
“Why do you think that?” Marco demanded. He had stood when she did. Now his hands gripped the edge of the desk as he looked at her with equal parts confusion and bitterness.
“I did not realize how much I would desire you. How much I would burn for you,” Alice whispered, stumbling over the words.
Marco remained motionless for a brief moment, as if her words had frozen him in place.
Then, in an instant, he grabbed her and spun her around.
Her bottom was suddenly pressed up against the edge of the desk where he had just stood.
He shifted his weight between her legs, tipped her head, and moved his mouth over her neck, anointing it with wet hot kisses.
She moaned and leaned into him briefly before pushing her hands against his shoulders. "You must stop, Marco," she exclaimed.
“You said you burned for me. We do not need to abstain; we will soon be married, Alice,” Marco breathed, rubbing his forehead against hers, his knee pressed firmly between her legs.
Alice tried not to groan as he shifted to cause the slightest bit of friction to dance across her core.
But she needed to keep her wits about her.
“Abstinence is precisely what we need,” Alice said. She knew she must be firm and pushed Marco away again. “We cannot do anything that could result in pregnancy, Marco. I will not have a child."
“I see,” Marco took a deep breath and ran his hands through his hair as he stepped back. “Might you at least tell me why that is, Alice?”
Alice considered him for a moment. Her recent discussion with Beth came back to her.
The girl had told her to be careful with her heart.
If Alice was seriously thinking about giving her heart to him, did he not deserve to know her truth?
Yet she felt she needed to be sure of him before taking that leap.
“You have promised to marry me,” she said abruptly. Marco frowned and crossed his arms.
“I have,” he said slowly. “And I believe that you accepting my ring was your promise to do the same."
Alice flushed and couldn’t stop herself from fiddling with the ring on her finger, but she pressed on regardless. She felt the overwhelming need to protect herself.
“And do you promise that nothing I say now will change that? Because if you back out, the scandal for us both would be devastating," she said firmly, reminding him that they both stood to lose or gain depending on his answer.
Marco stared at her for a moment, face unmoving, then slowly reached out for her left hand.
Alice gave it to him hesitantly, her heart in her throat.
Slowly, he turned her hand over and then, very gently, bent and placed a kiss on her palm.
Alice took a sharp breath, amazed at how just the touch of his lips to her skin caused such a reaction.
She wanted him badly, but she had to do this right.
“Alice, you do not need to threaten my good name to get me to marry you.
I have already agreed to it, and I won't change my mind no matter what you say now because I burn for you too," Marco said softly, his eyes full of sincerity.
Alice swallowed the lump his earnest words caused in her throat, unable to stop her hands from trembling.
His declaration made her long to pull him close again, to feel the fire of his passion ignite with her own.
“Do you truly mean that?” Alice asked, her voice suddenly small and her mind full of all the questions she could not put into words. Could she really trust him to love her? Would he still be gentle and kind once he knew the truth?
“I swear it, Alice,” Marco promised, linking his fingers with hers and squeezing her hand.
She took a deep breath, feeling as if she was on the edge of a precipice, but if she really thought she could fall in love with Marco, if she really wanted to be his wife, he deserved this.
"You see, I hated the Duke, my father. I will not have a child because I want the Fitzroy line to end with me. "
Alice looked at him, saw the shock and concern in his eyes, and felt a jolt of dread.
She was terrified that her worries were coming true.
The fear that Marco only wanted to have a son of his body become a duke and did not care about her at all.
The painful thought shot pain through her as quickly as a thoroughbred on a racetrack.
Then Alice knew with horrible clarity that she had not followed Beth's advice.
She had not been careful enough with her heart.