Chapter 4 #2
Now that she’d ended up in his rooms, he hardly cared how it happened.
Her hand finally left his chest as it trailed down toward his lower abdomen, sending wicked shivers up his spine.
Then, her fingers settled on the pool of her robe right atop the swell of his britches and tugged on the fabric.
Light as it was, the touch ripped right through him.
“For something to happen, you’ll have to pull harder,” breathed Elias.
Her sharp intake of breath told him she got his meaning well enough. “I… I believe my dressing gown is pinned under you.”
“Of course.”
His disappointment burned hot as Elias shifted a fraction to grant her the chance to slip out of his grasp. The sooner she would go, the better—before all his remaining sense was overwhelmed by her proximity.
As soon as her robe was wrenched loose, Lady May shot up and rushed to the window above his desk.
“It’s so… uh, stuffy… in here!” She yanked on the weathered window handle in vain. Before he could talk himself out of it, Elias stepped behind her and gently covered her hand with his, guiding her to swing the window open in one fluid option.
She whipped toward him, turning neatly into his arms. She had the wild eyes of a hunted deer, torn between escaping and putting up a fight.
Elias frowned. He’d let his unbridled want cloud his judgment, forgetting the ordeal she’d just gone through. “Are you hurt?”
He checked her over for any wounds, only to find that the fabric of her robe had torn in her haste to get away.
The sliver of her white cotton nightgown flashing underneath the tatters did nothing to dull the want within him.
There was no sight of other damage... but his fingers were itching to run across her skin, just so that he could make certain.
“I am well. I apologize for disrupting your night like this. It’s just that I expected nobody would ever find me in there...”
“I found you.”
“Yes, well... I was wailing on your doorstep like an ancient ghost. I simply meant that come morning, nobody would think to look for me here.”
Lady May would not meet his gaze. Nor did she attempt to escape the circle of his arms.
“I would look for you,” he said quietly. “Do you think I would not notice my irreplaceable aide missing?”
She looked straight at him, then, and he nearly forgot himself. “You could hardly be expected to comb through your secret passages for me, mil—Your Grace.” Lady May’s awkward laugh pained him. “Your plate is full enough as it is. I am meant to alleviate your troubles, not add to them.”
How could she think that? Was he so fierce a figure that she did not believe a well-meaning word from his lips? “Nonsense. I said I’ll care for you, and I will. But, it seems I have already saved you,” his gaze snagged on the flimsy fabric of her nightgown once more, “from danger.”
Was there blush creeping into her cheeks, or did he imagine it? Was she maintaining the distance between them with the same difficulty he felt, or was she simply being professional?
Was it his want that he saw reflected in her eyes, or was it hers?
Ever since employing Lady May, he kept forgetting himself.
They’d struck a deal, and that deal did not include ravishing her until she could not stand.
Elias prided himself on his self-control.
There was nothing controlled about his unbridled desire to seize the beautiful woman in front of him and fuck her until she came apart in his arms. He would have her slowly, at first, thoroughly delighting in every inch of her creamy skin, and then, once she uttered his name. ..
His thoughts threatened to spill out as he stared at her. If she knew what he was thinking... For the sake of them both and the job he employed her for, he had to get a hold of himself.
May could not believe her so-called luck. From thinking she’d die in the tomb of the tunnels to assaulting the man who manifested straight out of her dreams to save her… When the duke opened that door, she was too crazed to think, but, oh, she felt everything as he shielded her from the fall.
She had to stay in control. It was so much easier to cope with the burning desire of her dreams when she knew they would never come to fruition.
But when May felt the press of him against her, she crossed into the dangerous territory where things were real.
Where the merest rise of his rock-solid chest robbed her of breath.
Where the very idea that she might have caused the swell of him now brushing against her thigh.
.. Oh, that unholy thought ignited her loins like kindling.
She had to escape it. She was not thinking as she reached for that window, her mind working tirelessly to put distance between them as every muscle in her body refused to cooperate.
If she succumbed to his charms—a thought so wrong it seemed more right with each passing moment—there would be no going back.
The future in her grasp would slip into oblivion.
Of all the people to place her trust in, was she really willing to risk it for a man who held unimaginable power?
“It seems I have already saved you… from danger.”
May’s heart thundered as she resisted the urge to wrap the remainder of her robe tight about her. He was a duke. He was the danger.
A truly handsome danger. She could not help but stare as the moonlight fell across the duke’s figure.
His ruffled night shirt was half undone, revealing his smooth, corded chest. She did not let her eyes stray any lower, choosing to safely admire his arms instead.
With the shirt rolled up, the fabric was strained.
He was muscular. Far more than she’d noticed before.
Was the duke fond of exercise? What sort of exertion made a man of leisure look this good?
She swallowed. That was a dangerous train of thought.
His dark hair was tousled sideways, partially obscuring his face.
Something about him was different. It took her a moment to realize he was missing his glasses.
Yet his gaze was as sharp and all-seeing as ever.
How long had he been watching her like this?
Something dark swirled in his eyes, magnetizing and addictive.
Then he smiled, banishing the shadow from his eyes, his lips stretching into a pleasant smile.
“You seem to have recovered from your ordeal. I should not keep you up further, not when you still have work… to do.”
It all came back to this: the job she was hired for. The one she was quite certain no longer needed doing. If only she could soothe his suspicions…
“What if the truth is that Lord Spencer is indeed poor and low ranking, but his feelings toward Lady Hannah are honest? Would you prevent your sister from reciprocating them?”
Wake up, May. You’re living in a dreamland if you think he would ever consider someone like you.
“If he truly has no other motive, and my sister is intent on choosing him... I will step aside, knowing my work is done.”
There was no trace of a lie in his voice. She could not help but lean forward, her hand going to his forearm without thought. “Truly? Despite his low standing?”
He cocked his head to the side, surprised. “One’s station is of no consequence in the face of true love. That is all I could wish for Hannah.”
Curse it all. She was this close to getting over her attraction to the duke. But whatever fortitude she’d gathered all slipped away at his answer. May bit her lip.
The duke leaned toward her, that devilish grin of his reappearing. “You will get paid regardless of the outcome, I promise.”
“That is not—that is not why I was asking!”
“Oh?” He stepped a fraction closer. “What is your interest, then?”
May turned her face away. “I did not peg you for a romantic, is all.”
“A pragmatist like me? I have other charms.”
She distinctly realized she’d left her hand on his forearm. “I am sorry to have taken up your valuable time. You are undoubtedly weary from the day’s exertions, and I…” She let her hand slide away but he neatly caught her hand in his.
“Oh, I can still go on for hours.”
“Can you?” The words left her lips so fast. Her eyes unwittingly dropped down to his britches.
The bulge was still there. She raised her gaze back up and flushed, utterly breathless against his wicked grin.
His thumb brushed light circles on her wrist. May sighed as the sensation rippled through her.
He made the gentlest of touches into a forbidden delight she could not resist.
“Let me show you.” The duke slowly lifted her wrist to his lips and kissed the inside of it, letting his tongue dash up across her veins.
May gasped.
That was too much.
That was not even nearly enough.
“Your Grace...”
He looked at her, eyes black as onyx. “Call me Elias.”
The wall between them collapsed. They crashed against each other like waves, merging until there was no telling limb from limb.
May’s hands tangled in the folds of Elias’s shirt.
His lips went to hers, hardly needing to coax her mouth to open for his hungry tongue.
Distantly, she registered the hand that went to her waist and hoisted her closer.
She needed support and leaned into him hungrily.
There was nothing beyond her desperate need for him.
Elias’s fingers found their way to the nape of her neck, lingering to caress the tender spot under her earlobe.
Their kisses turned to rasped breaths and bitten lips.
She kissed the corner of his mouth as he forged a seductive path down her spine, sending shivers with each gliding touch.
The pressure built, and she finally slipped past the pesky fabric of his clothes to run her hand across his smooth pecs.
She could count the ridges across his abdomen as she went on, but her head was beyond numbers.
She was falling out of control and into him.
The press of May’s breasts against his chest drove Elias into a frenzy.
He could not get over how attractive she looked, undone in his arms, hot and bothered, in her night clothes, with the mess of her hair sweeping about her face.
The hot rush of her breath pushing her perfectly round breasts against him was the confirmation he needed.
She gasped under his expert touch, arcing into him.
He was there for her. He let go of her hand to sweep his finger across her collarbone, sliding under that flimsy nightgown of hers.
With one easy flicker, it slid off her shoulder, revealing more of the thin chemise beneath.
Elias uttered a guttural sound in admiration.
The moonlight shone through the fabric, illuminating every curve.
The sight of her erect nipples straining against the cotton sent him reeling. Yet somehow it was not enough.
He ached to see the entirety of her.
To feel the press of flesh as he delighted in the glory that was her. Heaven, he needed to fuck her.
Now.
His hand trailed down to her thigh, and then, her leg, where the accursed gown finally ended, and, finally, under.
As his fingers brushed the softness of her thigh, she pushed his chest away with a gasp, bracing herself against the desk behind her.
“Wait—what... what do you intend to do?”
Elias stilled. Her face was buried in shadow.
Yet despite her outstretched hand keeping him at bay, her fingers curled about his shirt, keeping him in place.
Somewhere deep inside, he knew they were dangerously close to crossing a line that should not be crossed.
But he no longer cared. Not now, not after he’d held her in his arms and felt her lips part for him.
“I intend to get rid of that meager fabric so that I can part your legs and lick the juice off your hungry lips.”
Her gasp was audible.
He took a tiny step toward her. “That’s right. I intend to bring you pleasure, the likes of which you’ve never allowed yourself. I will not relent until you are undone at my hand.”
“Your Grace...” Her fingers tightened more, pulling at his collar, beckoning, her head falling low. He took another step.
“If you grant it, I will fuck you every way I know how. And I will not stop until I hear my given name leave your lips, Lady May.”
His fate hung in the balance.
At last, her fingers uncurled, her arm fell away. But the slump of her shoulders warned him off coming closer.
“We cannot.” She turned away. “I think… we should stop. Now.”
The haze lifted from his eyes instantly, her words a cold shower to his mind, even as his body protested at the very idea.
She’d said no.
“You do not wish it.” He staggered back. “Apologies, I—”
“No.” She turned his way, eyes fierce in the moonlight. “It is that I cannot afford a mistake. The cost is much too high.”
“I.... understand.”
He understood nothing.
“I apologize for misleading you.” She wrapped her arms around herself, and his heart squeezed painfully at the sight. “The fault is entirely mine.”
“Absolutely not.” His tone was flint. “I will not hear it.”
“I’ll find my own way back.”
She slipped out of his room through the door before he could protest, and as Elias slumped against the door frame, the room fell silent. The moonlight bled out of the room with the passing clouds, and the star of hope dimmed in his chest, when he’d scarcely even known it was there at all.