Chapter 24

CHAPTER 24

It was as if something snapped within him.

They were just words, and Daniel had never been one to put his trust in the words of people, but Evie was looking up at him, her eyes wide and trusting, smiling up at him as if he was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

How could she possibly know that in her moment of surrender, she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen?

Do not look at me like that, he wanted to tell her. I am only going to hurt you. Disappoint you. Ruin you.

But it was too late for that now. She might never realize that she had stolen not only his breath but also his soul at that moment.

He wanted her—had always wanted her—more than his next breath.

He slanted his lips over hers, unleashing all the hunger and desire he felt for her at that moment. The longing he had suppressed over the past few weeks roared out of him that for the space of a breath, he feared that it would be too much for Evie, that his appetites would overwhelm her.

But she had thrown her arms around him, her lips molding to his as she gave as much as she took.

“I am going to have to tie you back up,” he told her hoarsely.

Evie smiled up at him. “By all means, Your Grace.”

He groaned as he reached for the ribbons on the posts overhead. He could not have tied her wrists fast enough, taking care that the bonds were not too tight that they would hurt her, merely restricting her movements.

When he returned to kissing her, Evie squirmed just a little bit beneath him, struggling against her bonds just the slightest bit. Then, he felt her leg move against his hardness, and it tore a harsh breath from him.

“You have been a very naughty girl, Duchess,” he warned her, narrowing his eyes at her.

“True,” she admitted without any hint of remorse. “But I am your Duchess.”

“Damn right you are!” he growled.

He disposed of his breeches while Evie watched, bound to the bed. Her eyes were wide with wonder as they roved over his form, devouring him hungrily as he had done to her earlier. When her gaze dropped to the member jutting between his legs, he raised an eyebrow at her.

“Do you like what you are seeing?” he teased her.

She flushed and mumbled something under her breath as she looked away. After all that he had done to her, she was still an innocent.

But not for much longer.

After tonight, things were going to be different—he could feel it. It was not as simple as him taking her maidenhood. There would be no going back from this.

It should have alarmed him. For most of his adulthood, he had exerted fierce control over every aspect of his life, having been powerless for most of his youth.

Evie would never know how much power she exerted by surrendering herself to him.

He kissed her again, his fingers dipping into her folds to find her wet and ready for him once more. She arched into his touch with a soft cry, pulling slightly at her bonds.

“So beautiful,” he murmured as his lips drifted to her breast. He sucked on the rosy peak, delighting in the unabashed moan that tumbled past her lips. “So wet and ready for me.”

She writhed beneath him. “Daniel,” she moaned. “Oh, please…”

He circled her pearl with his finger, and she threw her head back, his name escaping from her throat in exultation. When he slipped into her tight entrance, her walls clamped around his digit, and he let out a low growl of approval.

“Duchess…”

Her eyes, glazed over with desire, fluttered open.

“This is going to hurt,” he warned her.

“I know…” she murmured. “I’ve heard Lady Wendell talking about it after she came back from the country with the Viscount…”

“I wish there was some other way to spare you the pain,” he muttered hoarsely.

She shook her head. “You have already shown me so much… Daniel… let me do this for you…”

He groaned and kissed her again, his leg nudging her thighs apart as her words pierced through his soul.

He was going to take her. Take all of her as she had asked him, never mind that he would end up corrupting this bright creature of innocence and light, tainting her with his darkness.

He nudged at her opening, carefully watching her face for any signs of pain or discomfort. He had never bedded an untried maiden like Evie before, and he feared that he would not know how to be gentle with her, not when his desire for her raged in his veins.

“I trust you, Daniel,” she told him softly. “Make me yours.”

He groaned and surged into her, her words reaching a part of him that he had long thought was nonexistent.

Beneath him, Evie gave a soft cry, stiffening slightly as he slid into her tight channel.

Bloody hell, she is so tight!

It took all of his self-control not to tear into her like the beast that he was. She deserved so much more than the base rutting he had indulged in in the past.

Evie was different. She would always be different. Special in that wonderful way that only she could be.

She relaxed into him, and he slid deeper inside her, his muscles straining as he held himself from plunging into her. When he finally reached her maidenhead, he stopped.

Her eyes, which had been shut, opened in confusion. “Is something amiss?”

“No, nothing,” he ground out harshly. “Everything is…”

Exquisite. Perfect.

She was all of these things, and he would be damned if he ruined everything for her tonight.

“This is going to hurt, darling,” he warned her.

She nodded and licked her lips. “I am ready.”

He watched her intently, watched the shadows play across her face in the final moments of her innocence. After tonight, after he claimed her, she would be a woman.

His woman.

The knowledge filled him with such pride, and he surged into her, tearing past her maidenhead to sink fully into her.

Evie’s sharp cry of pain lanced through him as surely as if someone had stabbed him with an actual dagger. He truly wished there was some other way—at least one that would not cause her so much pain.

“I am so, so sorry, Duchess,” he murmured, raining soft kisses on her sweaty brow. “Oh God, I am so sorry…”

He gathered her into his arms as he let her adjust to his size. There was nothing that he wanted more than to pump into her until they were both spent, but she needed him to rein himself in. Trusted him as much.

She was so frail and so small, so delicate in the face of his rampaging desire.

“I-it does not feel so bad,” she managed with a slight smile.

“Does it still hurt?” He looked at her with concern.

She bit her lip and shook her head. “It feels… full.”

He groaned at her choice of words. The things she was doing to him!

He bent down to take her breast into her mouth as he slipped his hand between them, unerringly finding that small nub that had made her cry out in pleasure only moments ago.

“Oh!”

Her soft cry trailed off into an unmistakable moan. Encouraged by her reaction, he continued to tease that little bud with gentle circles, drawing out her desire once more as he sucked on her nipple.

“Daniel!” she gasped. “Oh, Daniel!”

He could feel her getting wetter, could feel her tight channel accommodating him and squeezing him until he could hardly think straight.

Slowly, he pulled out, before thrusting back in. The soft moan that tumbled past her lips was all the encouragement he needed.

He started to move inside her in long, languid strokes, flicking her little pearl with his finger as he did so. In a matter of moments, Evie was writhing on the bed underneath him, the tips of her breasts flushed with arousal and the evidence of his attention.

“Daniel… dear God…” she moaned loudly. “Oh… oh my…”

She was coming undone at such a rapid rate, her head tossing from side to side as he plunged himself into her slick, hot passage. He could feel her release coming, could feel her clenching around him in the most pleasurable manner possible.

“You can let go, my sweet,” he urged her, snapping his hips against hers as he felt himself hovering over the edge of his own release. “I am right here with you.”

“Daniel…” she moaned. “Oh my God… ah!”

He felt her walls spasming, grasping him tight as he roared in one final thrust. Gathering her into his arms, they hurtled over the peak together as he spilled into her endlessly.

They lay together intertwined, their harsh breaths the only sound that filled the room after their intense lovemaking.

Lovemaking.

He had certainly never thought of it that way before.

He gazed down at the woman in his arms, and when she looked up at him with slumberous eyes, he let out a groan.

Evie was looking up at him with all the affection in the world.

She was spent—utterly and deliciously so.

She felt as if her bones had melted away in the face of the passion that raged between her and Daniel.

Somehow, as she lay there on his bed, in his arms, he had managed to untie the silken ribbons that had bound her to his bed.

Not that I would ever want to leave anytime soon.

She turned towards him with every intent to snuggle into his chest when a sudden soreness between her legs caused her to let out a slight gasp.

“Do not move,” he ordered her softly. “This is but your first time, and you will be feeling sore.”

She smiled up at Daniel, noting the tense lines of worry that marred his forehead.

“Have you been sore before, too?” she asked him.

He let out a slight laugh and shook his head. “No, Duchess.”

She smiled happily.

Duchess—I think I like the sound of that.

She felt the bed dip and sway a little as Daniel got up.

“Where are you going?” she called out to him.

He cast her a glance over his broad, muscled shoulder. “I will be back soon. Behave a little for me, my sweet.”

His voice was a low growl, hinting at dark pleasure.

Evie felt herself becoming hot and aroused all over again. Was it possible to want a man as much as she wanted her husband? All the other married ladies she knew did not seem to feel the same way she did.

She could have asked Alice, but her brother had whisked her new sister-in-law off to France the moment they were wed.

Maybe I should ask her when she returns…

She saw Daniel coming back to the bed with a basin of hot water and a soft cloth in his hands. For a moment, she admired the way the candlelight cast shifting shadows on his shoulders, on the muscled planes of his abdomen… and on the length between his legs.

“You keep looking at me like that and I might forget that this is your first time and punish you for your insolence,” he warned her.

The threat in his voice was unmistakable, but instead of feeling frightened, she felt desire coil low in her belly.

“I told you to behave, did I not?” he muttered, wringing the excess water out of the cloth. “Lie down and do not move.”

Evie obeyed, closing her eyes with a soft sigh when she felt him gently wiping her thighs with the warm, wet cloth. Although she wanted him to… do those things to her again, she had to admit that she was feeling a little sore.

“How are you feeling right now?” he asked her gently.

Evie smiled as she looked up at her husband—her husband—with his eyebrows drawn together in a dark frown.

“I feel like a wife,” she said simply and happily. “The most fortunate of all brides.”

He shook his head and finished cleaning her up before returning to the bed and drawing her into his arms once more. Pressing a soft kiss to her forehead, he murmured, “I always knew you were trouble from the very first moment I met you—but you are my trouble.”

“Yours and no one else’s,” she agreed.

“Damned right,” he muttered, his arms tightening around her.

She laughed and nuzzled into his chest. “What happened to us keeping our own lovers?”

The sound that reverberated in his chest was a low growl that promised violence.

“You had better not consider it, Duchess,” he warned her. “If you do not want the blood of another man on your hands.”

Evie grinned as she threw her arm over his chest and snuggled into his embrace. “I would not even dream of it, husband.”

As they lay there together, Evie felt her eyes grow heavy as sleep slowly crept over her. With Daniel gently stroking her hair, it was not long before she drifted off to sleep.

And dreams of the life that now lay before them…