Chapter 13

Duncan was not quite sure about the idea of him and Alice being “friends.” The word felt foreign and wrong on his tongue. And, yet, with what few titles left to choose from when it came to their mysterious relationship, what else could he call her? Still, he had never thought about his friends the way he’d started to think about Alice.

At first, it was just occasionally, his lust sneaking up on him every few hours or so to interrupt his concentration. Now, it was several times an hour, completely throwing off his focus and leaving him with the most awful ache in his groin. It had gotten worse since his soul-baring talk with Ambrose the night before and the events that followed.

It was not just the way she had let him sleep with her. It had been the tender way she had tended to his bruises. The way she seemed to understand when he could not find the words. The way she had so tenderly kissed his mask directly above his temple, where Ezra had knocked him.

Then, when Alice was in his arms, he hadn’t felt so much as a stitch of pain all night long. It was not until he had to let her go that it all came barreling back. Not just in his bruises, but in his core. It was an ache to get back to her.

“Friends,” he said begrudgingly, then nodded. “I shall accept this term, if we can go.”

The look of relief on Alice’s face was both blatant and beautiful, and it worked to create another deadbolt on his inner beast’s cage. His fear rumbled in agitation from its prison, and Duncan almost smirked at it. He was gaining control again.

“We have shown our happy faces enough?” Alice asked as they ended their dance.

“I believe we have,” he agreed. “Come, let us say our goodbyes and head home. I hear Helena will be arriving for tea tomorrow.”

“Yes,” Alice answered, sending a shot of happiness through him as he saw her face light up. “I am most looking forward to it. She is just so lovely! We both have a love for books, and I cannot wait to show her my newly redecorated library.”

“Indeed, she is, and I am sure she would adore that,” Duncan agreed as they rejoined the group.

He shook hands with his friends, still laughing as the ladies hugged, but when Morgan drunkenly scooped Alice in a tight embrace, his vision suddenly went red, and his possessive instinct rose strong within him. Luckily, Ambrose and Ezra caught this intensity, and when it was their turn to bid Alice goodbye, they took her hand with polite bows and kind words, nothing more.

“Don’t do that again,” Duncan whispered to Morgan threateningly as soon as he had Alice back by his side.

“Still saying you’re not jealous, are we?” Morgan boldly murmured back, shifting his gaze back to Alice. “What a fascinating perception you must have.”

Duncan felt his temper spike, but he held it in check. Now was not the time. “We will speak tomorrow in the ring,” he stated quietly, holding Morgan’s drunken gaze.

“Let’s make it noon, old boy,” Morgan answered, his eyes glittering with challenge.

Duncan gave him a curt nod and turned back to Alice. To his relief, she had gotten distracted by Helena again.

“Ready to go?” he asked her, putting his hand on her lower back.

Her body felt warm beneath his palm, and he itched to move it up higher, where the back of the dress dipped just a little down her spine and gave a peek of her bare flesh.

Alice smiled at him, completely unaware of the effect she had on him. “I am,” she said, letting his hand guide her.

“Oh, wait!” Helena called suddenly, reaching into her reticule as she stepped in front of them. “I almost forgot to return this.”

Duncan watched curiously as she produced the book Alice had been reading in the carriage, and the two women looked at one another with red cheeks and smirks.

“I read the pages you suggested, and you were right,” Helena whispered excitedly to her new friend. “Absolutely wonderful.”

“I discovered hundreds of them,” Alice gushed, tucking the book back in her purse. “I’ll show you tomorrow. You can borrow as many as you like!”

Duncan waited patiently until he got Alice back to the carriage, thinking to ask her about the book when they got there, but then, to his amusement, she pulled it back out as soon as she was seated.

Unable to take it any longer, Duncan finally gave in to his curiosity.

“What is that you have there?” he asked, leaning forward to try to see the words upside down.

Alice snapped the book shut immediately as her cheeks turned a crimson red. “Nothing,” she said quickly.

She attempted to tuck the little book back into her purse, but Duncan’s reflexes were quicker, and he snatched it out of her hands in seconds.

“Don’t!” she exclaimed, scrambling for it anxiously.

Chuckling at her rather adorable attempt, Duncan easily held it out of her reach as he let her climb over him in a desperate attempt to get it back. He’d done it to tease her, but as she leaned forward and inadvertently pressed her breasts into his face, he quickly, miserably, realized he’d teased himself. Still holding the book away with one hand, he wrapped his free arm around her waist and turned her around. Then he caught her waist again and brought her down into his lap, pressing her backside against his groin.

“You’re not getting this back until you tell me,” he told her, his lips against her ear as he tossed the book to the opposite seat.

Duncan could feel the sexual tension fill the carriage like a humid cloud as Alice looked longingly from the book to his face. It was clear that she was struggling with telling him the truth, which only made him more intrigued about what was inside.

“Friends?” she asked, her voice raspy, nervous.

Duncan nodded, steadily holding her gaze.

“I believe they are called Eroticas,” she confessed, her eyes flicking to the carriage floor. “I found a multitude of them in the library I’ve taken over.”

Satisfaction washed through Duncan as his assumption was proven correct, but it was immediately swept away by pent-up arousal. His wife had asked for instruction, and she had literally taken it upon herself to find out when he had refused her. It was scandalously clever. But it also made his possessive urges spike higher.

“You’ve read all of this one?” he asked.

Alice nodded, still not looking at him.

“More than once?” he murmured, feeling his already thick shaft harden further.

When Alice nodded again, he couldn’t take her looking away from him any longer. Carefully capturing her chin, he tilted it slowly until her bright green eyes were fixed on his blue ones.

That’s my good girl.

“What act has you most fascinated?” he asked, his voice dipping into a seductive tone as his fingers began to tighten around her waist.

He felt her shiver and relax in his arms as her eyes glazed over with need. She tried, the poor darling, to pull her eyes away from him before she confessed, but he held her gaze, his silent dominance compelling her into submission.

“My sister told me of marital relations,” Alice confessed, her voice trembling, “of what it takes to make a baby. But these books describe something else… something that men can do with their tongues.”

Duncan braced himself as yet another wave of arousal hit him with force, and what little resolve he had left to keep his innocent wife safe from himself was shattered. Alice gasped as he whirled her around again, making her legs straddle his lap and her skirt ride high on her thighs. Feeling his primal need take over, he let his hands glide down to her dangerously biteable, creamy, thick thighs, and he squeezed them possessively as he captured her mouth with his own.

Alice’s gasp of surprise quickly turned into a whimper as his lips and teeth caressed and nipped her lips possessively. She then melted into him completely when he swept his tongue into her mouth and began to stroke hers. With one arm around her waist, he moved off the seat slowly, until Alice was seated on the opposite side of the carriage and he was on his knees before her.

“Grab the book,” he commanded, his voice so thick with need that it sounded more like a growl.

Alice looked back at him pleadingly, as if to speak the words aloud was the most horrid thing she could do.

“Now,” he ordered, his voice dropping an octave.

He trailed his fingertips hungrily down her inner thighs, stopping at her knees only to push them apart.

Not close enough.

He slid his arms under her legs, his hands possessively cupping her plump backside, and dragged her forward until her tailbone rested on the edge of the seat.

“I want you to open the book on your favorite scene and read to me.”

“I cannot!” Alice gasped, looking down at him as if he were insane.

Duncan smiled devilishly as he brought his hand to the apex of her thighs and softly brushed the pad of his thumb against the now-moist fabric covering her mons. Alice’s eyes immediately rolled to the back of her head as her breath hitched and her back arched. He truly adored how sensitive she was. It quenched a dark longing that he was not proud of, but one he was happy to feed nonetheless.

Suddenly, the carriage drew to an abrupt stop, propelling Alice forward. Duncan caught her waist with ease, preventing her from getting hurt, but as her hips bucked forward, he couldn’t resist clamping his mouth on the dewy wet spot in her undergarments. A feminine whimper escaped her lips as he groaned out his pleasure. Even through the fabric, she tasted as good as she smelled.

“Your Graces! Are you all right in there!” Germaine, the carriage driver, called, rapping his knuckles on the carriage roof.

Duncan’s hand clamped down on Alice’s mouth, stilling her whimpers, and he drew a steadying breath.

“Fine, Germaine,” he called back, sounding surprisingly normal. “What’s the problem?”

“A carriage overturned up ahead, Your Grace. The road is a mess, and we have many carriages behind us. I am afraid we may be stuck for a while.”

Duncan smiled wickedly, pleased with this news. “Very well, Germaine. You take a break. We’re just fine here,” he called back. “Now, back to your reading,” he then instructed, turning his full attention back to Alice.

“But there’s people outsi—oh!” Her argument was cut off as he gripped the sides of undergarments and ripped them apart.

His mouth watered as he finally laid eyes on what he’d been craving for weeks, and before he could help himself, he was burying his tongue deep between her deliciously soft, wet petals.

“Read,” he growled into her folds.

Duncan was rewarded with a fresh gush of her juices as she finally obeyed and began to stammer out the first words of her favorite scene, his tongue matching the flow of her words in a sinfully teasing fashion. Eventually, she realized his game, and as her words came out more accurately, his tongue went from hectic and possessive to slow and steady, following the seductive rhythm of her voice.

“Just when Isabella thought she could take no more of D’Artagnan’s deep tongue strokes, he stopped, making her feel empty as he slid the tip of it up between her dewy petals and toward the tiny stigma nestled above them. D’Artagnan waited, letting his breath spread heat over Isabella’s sensitive, quivering flower twice before his tongue dipped back toward the tiny bundle of nerves, and he attacked with abandon.”

Now following the storyline of the book, Duncan did exactly as his wife read, and was rewarded with a strangled cry that cut off her next words and made her fling the book away. Both her hands free now, her fingertips delved into his hair, wrapping tightly around his locks. Duncan’s hands came around her wrists quickly, forcing them back down onto the seat cushions as he warned her to be quiet.

“Duncan, wait,” Alice whispered, her voice pleading and full of need as she looked down at him desperately.

Duncan dragged his eyes up to hers, growing annoyed at how frequently his meal was being interrupted.

“You read this book before?” he asked, keeping his eyes on her as he slowly licked from the bottom of her sex all the way to the top.

“Yes,” Alice breathed, her eyelashes fluttering as her back arched in time with his tongue.

“Good,” he rasped, slowly thrusting a finger between her quivering petals, “then you know what happens next.”

Alice gasped as her head fell back and her hips bucked needily against Duncan’s finger. His tongue was making her fall to pieces, each flick and thrust coiling every tendon and nerve in her body tighter and tighter until she felt they were all about to snap. Then, when she thought she couldn’t take any more, he thrust his finger into her tight, wet sheath and began to flick his tongue mercilessly against the tiny bud of nerves nestled at the top of her mons.

“That’s it, sweetheart,” Duncan moaned, sounding deeply satisfied.

Her sensitivity heightened as she heard his praise, and before she knew what was happening, she felt her inner walls begin to tremble and tighten around his finger, suckling at him needily before a sudden release was triggered deep within her belly. Her eyes fluttered shut, and her breath hitched as pleasure, unlike anything she’d felt before, coursed through her like a pulsing wave, spilling through her petals and onto her thighs.

“Yes,” Duncan groaned, dipping his tongue back to her center so he could lap at the dewy drops there and on her thighs. “Yes, Alice, that’s it. Mmmm.”

Something about the way his voice lowered when he praised her like this released something dark and exciting within her. After a few more steadying breaths, Alice found the strength to open her eyes, and nearly moaned when she saw the look of raw need written all over her husband’s face.

He looked so devilishly handsome at this moment, his hair mussed, his jacket wrinkled, full lips panting and parted, his bottom lip still glistening with her juices. His blue eyes were immediately on hers, letting her know he’d been waiting for her to open them. The only thing she wanted to change was the mask. She wanted it off, but she was not going to risk ruining this much-needed moment.

“What do you think?” Duncan asked, dragging himself back up onto the opposite carriage seat.

Alice was immediately disappointed in the distance between them but was elated when he reached for her and pulled her possessively back into his lap.

“I think that was the most wicked and wonderful thing I’ve ever done in my life,” she confessed, feeling all sorts of emotions and sensations.

Duncan chuckled as he nuzzled the bare side of his face into her breasts, then groaned with pleasure when he freed a nipple from her corset and captured it with his mouth.

Alice’s eyes fluttered shut once again as she cradled his head to her. Leaning back, she gave in to him, letting his mouth and hands explore her as he saw fit. Outside, she could hear the sounds of traffic moving again, and soon their carriage began to move once more.

“We will be home soon,” she panted, cupping his jaw and bringing his lips back up to her mouth.

It was the first time he’d let her control the kiss, and another gush of arousal trickled down her thighs as a sound of approval rumbled in his throat.

“So what,” Duncan rasped, taking control of the kiss by wrapping his hand around her throat and pulling her forward.

Alice whimpered and moaned as he broke the kiss to run his tongue down her throat, and her mind went blank as he took full control. He’d tried to hide it for so long, but he finally proved to her what she had always hoped for—her beast hungered for her.