Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty

“ P erhaps you should not have been so intense with Lady Rowthern,” Madeleine said during their carriage ride back to Silverton.

She ached for rest but that felt… wrong. She ached for something , yet she was not entirely sure what that something was.

“She had no right to speak to you that way.”

“Sometimes you must let me fight my own battles. I can handle ton women like her.”

She wasn’t entirely sure how true that was anymore. Usually, she could but now she was the butt of their gossip and speculation, and she had lost her grip on her ability to do so.

“Although it was foolish of her, she was in love. Misguidedly, but I suppose one cannot choose who their heart wants. It makes sense that she lashed out.”

Alexander moved closer to her, making her breath catch. “You are mine , Madeleine. When will you realize that? Do you know what that means, wife?”

He drew a finger down the side of her face, caressing her cheek.

“It means that nobody, and I mean nobody , should ever dare to insult you. Not in my presence, not without my presence. That means you should receive respect, and if you do not I will ensure that changes immediately.”

Madeleine opened her mouth, preparing to argue back but Alexander pressed a finger to her parted lips.

“No.” He shook his head. “Do not refuse my words. You did not deserve the way Kinsfeld treated you. I am not a fool, Madeleine; I know it was likely worse than you will ever confess. You never deserved any of it.”

“He merely ignored me. It is the unfortunate fate for many,” she whispered.

He shook his head again. “No, that is no way for anyone to treat their wife.”

Suddenly, the carriage felt a lot smaller with the pad of his finger pressed to her mouth, and the urge Madeleine possessed to run her tongue over his skin.

She held back, but Alexander’s figure was there, leaning over her, demanding her full attention.

She gave it willingly.

“Perhaps, Duchess, it is time I showed you how a real man treats his wife.”

The words sank into her slowly, and she was still understanding them even as he kissed her.

His mouth was searing against hers, demanding yet soft, his lips moving against hers sensually.

After a moment, he swiped his tongue over her lower lip, and sucked her lip between his. Madeleine’s stomach curled with heat, and she gasped, letting herself fall into that pit of desire he always opened up in her.

When he pulled back, he already looked like a man wrecked.

His gaze was on her intensely, dark and promising.

“Alexander,” she whispered.

Her husband straightened up, and she almost mourned the loss of his nearness, only to watch him sink to his knees before her in the carriage.

Her mouth opened, and she could not hold back her soft gasp of surprise as he looked up at her from between her legs.

“Here is what will happen, Duchess,” he told her. “This carriage is going to continue taking us to Silverton Hall but meanwhile, you are going to lift your skirts, and you are going to bare yourself ever so prettily for me. And me… I am finally going to feast on you like I have been dreaming of doing for many, many nights.”

Her heart stuttered, and her desire flickered, blazing bright.

“Yes?” he prompted.

“Yes,” she sighed, aroused already.

“Do not lower your skirts for a moment,” he told her. “I want to have nothing in my way when my mouth is on you.”

She could not hold back her whimper of shame, almost, as she slowly hitched up the skirt of her dress, baring herself.

“Part your legs for me, wife.”

She did as she was told, and she found that the moment she did, Alexander gave her one last long look at her before he dipped his head forward, lowering it to the mound between her legs. He kept his gaze on her as he pressed that first kiss to her most intimate part.

Madeleine bit her lip hard enough she thought she’d chew her flesh off.

“You may be loud,” he said. “Anything my staff hear will remain private.”

“They will speak?—”

“Let them, for I do not care. You are my wife, and I will pleasure you where I wish.”

She could not hold back the soft moan she gave at the promise in his words, especially when he punctuated them with his mouth closing over her. He laughed quietly into her skin, biting the inside of her thigh.

“You are soaked,” he commented. “From only my words and my kisses, Madeleine? I am a lucky husband, indeed.”

She did not get a chance to answer him with words for he gave a particularly harsh bite to her thigh, and she gasped louder in desire.

Alexander littered her thigh with them, and she realized he did it because nobody would see the bruises there. Surely there were bruises, and she would know that when she walked around in public, knowing they were hidden by her dress.

The thought burned through her—but not more so than when her husband closed his mouth over the peak of her core, sucking harshly. Her hips bucked up wildly, the new sensation so strange to her that she cried out, choking on her moan.

“Beautiful,” he muttered against her.

Alexander did not give her a chance to get used to the sensation of the harsh suckle, for he moved lower, and his tongue came out to lap at the folds that hid her entrance. His tongue glided up and down, lavishing her with pleasure she had not ever imagined possible.

She did not think a man would ever have his mouth anywhere near there, and yet Alexander feasted on her, as he promised, with every bit of passion he had for her. His eyes were closed, the dark lashes fanning over his cheeks.

His beard was deliciously rough against her inner thighs, and a dark spark of desire curled through her, secretly hoping there would be some sort of red mark. A burn. A rub of sorts.

Alexander gave a long, indulgent groan into her core, his fingers gripping her thighs to keep her legs ever parted. Madeleine could not help her gasp as she writhed beneath the attention, her hands reaching out to slip through his unbound hair. Her nails raked over his jaw, scratching through his trimmed beard, before she tangled her fingers in his dark hair.

She tugged experimentally, earning herself another groan that reverberated through her.

Alexander’s tongue delved through her core slowly, languidly, as if he had the time to explore her. Still, the carriage moved towards their country estate, as he promised it would.

Madeleine’s desire only rose at the thought of passing people by outside, nobody knowing that her husband had disappeared beneath her skirts, feasting between her legs.

“Alexander,” she moaned, when his tongue pushed into her, no longer simply tracing her wet folds.

The noises of his pleasuring filled her ears, only making her breath sharper as it sliced out of her.

“Alexander—oh, do not stop.”

“I never intend to,” he murmured against her.

She felt every letter, traced right over her heat. She arched her back, gasping, as she pressed into his face for more—more pleasure, more sensation. And he gave willingly, for he was soon thrusting his tongue into her.

His speed built and built, and she grappled for a hold above her, pressing her palm into the carriage roof as she gasped and sought, her hips bucking against his face.

She felt obscene, scandalous, but she was a fool to ever want to deny herself this pleasure.

Her husband’s tongue delved deep into her, tracing more patterns into her most intimate area. He licked and tasted, groaning into her like she was the most decadent thing ever.

His fingers probed her folds further open, spreading her helplessly, and Madeleine could not help her moans increasing in volume and pitch as he pulled her closer and closer to a climax.

She thought of his muscled body, the way he watched her, the searing taste of his kisses.

Alexander pushed a finger into her heat, along with the flicker of his tongue, and Madeleine could not help her cry of pleasure.

Her hips rose helplessly, the force of her climax storming through her when he sucked harshly on that peak of her folds, a sensitive bud she had only ever dared touch herself.

Alexander did not stop, not even when Madeleine cried out, gripped his hair harder, and shoved his face further into her as her thighs clamped around his head.

She moved with abandon, losing herself to her climax as it rolled through her in ebbing waves. Alexander slowed his ministrations, smiling against her as he lifted her head. His lips glistened, and he only smiled deeper as he took his seat once more.

“You are delicious,” he told her as he straightened up, right as the carriage pulled to a stop.

He opened the door himself, and Madeleine hastily fixed her skirts but still felt the rush of the balmy air between her legs.

No staff awaited her outside to point or comment, and she was grateful for Alexander’s power to let them indulge in their privacy.

Her face blazed with heat as he got out and extended a hand to her.

“Come.”

Madeleine hesitated and Alexander fixed her with a raised brow.

“Yes? Did you think I was finished with you, Madeleine? No, darling, I have only just begun.”

A dark, deep thrill ran through her at the promise in those words.

Madeleine took Alexander’s hand and he led her out of the carriage.

“Come,” he told her again, and she felt almost compelled by his word, but she knew she would follow any order he gave, utterly willingly.

He took every chance around every corner to drag his hands up her sides, to brush over her shoulder, to dance his touch down her lower back.

Finally, they reached his chambers.

He pushed open the door and walked inside, already taking off his jacket.

Alexander turned to her, and with only the moonlight outside and some garden lights to illuminate him, he looked like a man from her darkest, most sordid dreams, all sharp planes of his face and a thrilling promise.

He held out his hand again. “My chambers are yours to be indulged in, thoroughly, tonight, if you wish.”

Madeleine paused on the threshold before stepping in and closing the door behind her. “I wish.”

“Then I will show you how a wife should be treated.”

His hands landed on her shoulders, guiding her deeper into the room.

Her legs still trembled from her climax.

“I will not let you remain wanting. I will pleasure you, and myself, and show you what a marriage can be like, as I once promised. Something full of passion, of desire, of nights possessed with one another like this. Nights that burn so brightly you will still feel the warmth of it when morning comes.”

Madeleine let out a soft moan. How did his words undo her so?

She nodded, stepping closer to him.

Alexander lifted her chin. “Say you want me.”

“I want you, Alexander,” she whispered.

“I once promised you that you would scream my name all night long,” he purred. “Tonight will be only the first time I make good on that promise.”

Madeleine grew dizzy. Boldly, she began to grasp the sleeves of her dress to tug them down.

“And yet you stall—why?”

Alexander laughed, the sound full of desire. “Because I will lose myself to my desire for you. For another moment, I wish to admire you while I am still relatively clear-headed.”

Madeleine’s stomach swooped as her husband drew near.

His mouth captured hers in a kiss, and she let him lead her to the edge of the bed.

“I will undress you,” he murmured. “I will do everything for you. All I require of you, my wife, is to lie back and enjoy yourself.”