Chapter 25

Three Weeks Later

“Everyone is waiting for us downstairs,” Alice whimpered, melting into his arms.

Duncan pressed another sensual kiss to her throat as his hand wrapped around her neck and the other pulled her back into his chest. He let his teeth sink a little deeper as he let out a hungry groan, and suckled at her exposed flesh.

She was right. They had guests. But… he was having the hardest time letting her go.

“It took me over an hour to get into this dress,” Alice pleaded helplessly. “I don’t have time to work my way back into it after you take it off.”

Disgruntled by this reality, Duncan softened his bite, ran his tongue over his teeth marks, and then planted a warm kiss on the new wound before he let her go.

“Why are we having this party?” he asked, unhappy with how quickly she fled his embrace.

“Because, as you put it, we have to put on a show,” Alice answered, going to the mirror to check her hair and dress one last time.

He didn’t know why. She looked perfect.

“A show?” he echoed, appearing behind her as she smoothed her bodice. “And what show are we putting on tonight? Certainly not our old one.”

“No, darling.” She laughed, then inspected the teeth marks on her throat in the mirror. “You left a mark.” She pouted, looking up at him in the mirror.

“All the more reason to cancel the party,” Duncan said with a shrug.

Alice rolled her sea-foam green eyes at him, and he felt his heart swell with affection.

“You know we cannot do that,” she retorted, rising from her seat.

She turned on her heels and stretched her arms up to wrap them around his neck. Dutifully, he bent down so she could reach him better.

“All of our friends are downstairs, plus some important connections of yours, four musketeers. We must make an appearance.”

“Four musketeers?” Duncan smiled down at her.

She nodded. “Morgan told me about the little remark you made about them at the cabin. I found it rather witty,” she told him with a smirk.

Duncan’s smile immediately dropped. It seems his friends were ratting out all of his little secrets to his wife these days. It was a shame he had brought it upon himself.

“I’m going to wallop him in the ring on Saturday afternoon,” he stated gruffly, rolling his eyes.

“As long as you wallop me Saturday morning,” Alice whispered playfully, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before walking away from him.

“Wicked,” he stated accusingly, his smile spreading from ear to ear as he watched her walk toward the door.

“You behave tonight like a good duke, and I’ll give you much more wicked things when the party is over,” Alice promised, turning to him with a look so seductive that it made him hard immediately.

“Not fair,” he grunted, adjusting himself uncomfortably in his trousers to hide his embarrassingly obvious excitement.

“It’s a promise, darling,” Alice retorted, winking at him. “Come on, then, let us go. We have kept our guests waiting long enough.”

“Wait one more moment,” Duncan implored, immediately ceasing his playful attitude.

He had been waiting two weeks and six days to give this to her. He had the design drawn up and sent to the goldsmith the day after she agreed to come home. The first piece arrived three days later, but Duncan had been nowhere near satisfied and sent it back. He sent four more back, all of them too underwhelming. The one that arrived today, though, was pure perfection.

“Duncan, we really must go,” Alice sighed. “With everything that happened, Lydia and Barbara are probably most anxious over the fact that we are late.”

“This won’t take long,” he promised her, taking her hand and leading her back to her bed—their bed now.

Alice looked at him curiously but did not protest as she sat down on the bed and waited for him to come back to her. When he returned from his old room, her eyes widened in awe as he held out the forearm-length plum-purple leather-wrapped box containing his gift.

“The day I brought you back home, you said you’d tie me to you as punishment,” he began, gently setting the box beside her. “But I told you that cuffing myself to you would be an honor.”

Alice nodded as she looked up at him, a fond smile spreading across her lips. “I remember.”

“I understand that, in many ways, only time will prove my devotion to you,” Duncan continued. “But in the meantime, I hope this will suffice.”

He opened the box carefully, and he felt emotion well up in his throat as Alice gasped his name. The two gold bangles engraved with delicate vines were connected by an arm’s length of tiny, delicate gold links, creating a glittering chain. Duncan picked up the piece reverently, snapping the first bangle on his wrist and pushing down the small locking mechanism.

He then held out his hand patiently, not needing to wait long before Alice slipped her hand into his palm. He kissed the back of her hand tenderly and rubbed his bare cheek against it before he brought it down to the second, smaller bangle. With care, he unlocked it and clasped it around her much smaller wrist.

Her bangle fit perfectly because he’d taken measurements. She just happened to be asleep while he was taking them.

“How does it feel?” he asked, stroking the locked bangle on her wrist with the pad of his thumb.

“Perfect,” Alice breathed, her eyes focused on their new piece of jewelry. “It feels as if it was made for me.”

“It was,” he promised her, adoring the way she was reacting to her present. “Shall we wear it downstairs?” he asked, smiling down at her.

Alice’s eyes shot up to his, full of lust and alarm. “We couldn’t,” she breathed, glancing back down at the piece. “What would people say?”

“That I am obsessed with my wife,” Duncan offered, using the new chain to tug her closer. Her smile grew mischievous as she stepped toward him. “Which I am.”

“My sister will kill you.” Alice laughed, desire shining in her eyes.

Duncan smirked, already seeing that she was open to showing off the new piece. “She can try,” he replied, giving the chain another tug.

Alice was forced to take another step toward him, and he leaned down to give her a languorous kiss.

“I think I shall like this new piece,” she sighed when he let her pull away.

“I already do,” Duncan replied, going back to stroking her cuff reverently as he looked down into her eyes. “I suppose we should not keep our guests waiting any longer.”

“We really should not,” Alice agreed, lacing the fingers of her cuffed hand through his. “Together?”

“Always,” he promised, pressing another kiss to her lips.

“A bit much, isn’t it?” Ambrose muttered, throwing their new shared piece of jewelry a disapproving glance.

“I like it, old boy,” Morgan chirped, taking another sip of his drink before getting a bit too close to inspect Alice’s bangle. “You must tell me where you got one of these. It is a positively wonderful contraption, and I must have one.”

“I agree,” Ezra mused, his eyes also fixed on the piece. “I can think of quite a few ladies who would love to slip into something like that.”

“It is so pretty,” Helena gushed by Ambrose’s side.

“The hell it is,” he grunted, glaring down at his little sister as he gripped her shoulders. “Barbara? Take Helena and Juliet for some punch, would you?”

“Stop treating me like a child!” Helena hissed back at him, turning into Barbara’s arms.

“Don’t worry, darling,” Barbara soothed, shooting him a haughty glare over Helena’s shoulder. “I’ll be sure to get you both a dreg of brandy. Come on!”

“That is not amusing,” Ambrose called after the three ladies as they walked away from his overprotective temper tantrum.

“I told you we would cause a scandal.” Alice giggled, looking up at Duncan.

He looked back down at her with pure love, and she felt her heart swell with happiness.

“This is a particular scandal I happen to love,” he told her, a seductive smirk touching his lips as his eyes raked over her body. “The princess chained to the beast. It’s rather… erotic, don’t you think?”

“Certainly not conventional,” she agreed, feeling her cheeks grow warm as his gaze made her stomach do little flips.

Suddenly, Alice had second thoughts about forcing her husband downstairs. She wanted them back in their quarters. Naked and alone with nothing between them but their new piece of jewelry.

“I thought your father and sister were going to go into apoplectic shock when they saw it.” Duncan snorted, mischief gleaming through his desire.

Alice smiled back, rolling her eyes.

It was true. Her father had turned six different shades of red before muttering an excuse to return to London immediately. Lydia’s reaction was only slightly more tame. She had not fled, but she had paled considerably as she saw the golden chain connecting them, and she could not hide the blatant look of disgust on her face when she glared up at Duncan.

She had made it about three minutes through a stiff conversation with them before she excused herself, so flustered that she’d forgotten all about Juliet.

Like Barbara and Helena, Juliet had loved the piece of jewelry. Though, perhaps, in a more innocent way than her older sister did.

“I think my father will be happy to go back to not caring about another daughter,” Alice replied with a shrug. “And my sister will recover in time. Though, you may need to be extra nice to her for a while.”

“Whatever it takes,” Duncan promised her, pulling her into his arms.

Though they were not on the dance floor, his hands slid into the correct positions, and he began to lead her through the slow steps of the waltz. Alice followed his lead with ease, feeling their surroundings grow fuzzy and distant until it was just the two of them in the room.

“I have decided to start a new hobby,” Alice confessed as they danced.

“I cannot wait to hear it,” Duncan replied, his tone serious.

“Since I love reading those little erotica novels so much, I thought I would try my hand at writing one or two myself.”

Duncan stopped as heat flared in his glittering blue eyes, and he tilted his head tightly to the side.

“I am deeply intrigued,” he told her, glancing around them as he backed her up a step.

“I would write about us,” Alice told him, her heartbeat quickening as he looked at her hungrily.

“Would you now?”

“It would be just for us,” she assured him.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Duncan mused, backing her up another step. “I think such a novel would sell quite well in some circles.”

Alice felt her grin widen as she let her husband slowly back her out of the ballroom and toward one of the lesser-known hallways of the manor. They could not be gone from their guests long, but just a few minutes would not hurt.

“What scene would you write first?” he asked, pulling her into a quiet, dark room.

“Us on the swing,” she replied, feeling his warm, muscular arms wrap around her in the darkness.

“Mmmm. You liked that?” Duncan murmured, pressing feather-light kisses to her lips.

“Yes,” Alice breathed, pulling him closer to her.

He obliged, letting her hands undo the buttons on his trousers until she freed his already stiff member. Though she could not see as far a finger length away from her eyes through the thick darkness, she did not need light to lead her to what she wanted.

A muffled moan escaped Duncan’s lips as he braced his hands on the wall behind her and let her touch him as she wished. She was sure that her level of obsession was nowhere near her husband’s, but when it came to his body—his cock, in particular—she could not get enough of it. She reveled in the way he reacted to each different sensation, his manhood pulsating in an almost begging fashion as she touched him the way she wanted to.

Starting first with light strokes of her fingernails across his mushroomed head, she teased him until his breaths came out in short, desperate bursts, each little sound arousing her more as he let her play with him. When she felt the small, warm beads of his pre-cum starting to well up from the tip of his cock, she slowly rubbed the pad of her thumb over the wetness, gently spreading the warm liquid over his head and shaft before taking him into her palm. Her hand wrapped possessively around his thick length, and she began giving him small, firm squeezes in a slow, pumping rhythm.

Duncan’s breathing quickly changed, going from quick, needy gasps to slow, deep inhales as she worked him slowly and thoroughly, making his cock so hard that his veins began to protrude, as if they too were starving for her touch. Wanting to please him more, Alice slid her hand down all the way to the base of his turgid member and then slipped it under to cup his heavy ball sac.

Her name spilled out of his mouth in a raspy moan as she began to massage his sac with one hand and continued to stroke his cock with the other. More delicious drops spilled from the tip of his cock as she began to stroke him a little faster, and she was rewarded with a mumbled mess of incoherent words filled with deep need as his entire body began to tremble.

His head fell to the crook of her neck, his forehead pressing into her tightly as his hands clenched into fists by her ears. She could tell he was straining so hard to let her pleasure him, and it only aroused her greatly to sense the exchange of power.

“I want to taste you,” she whispered, her voice dripping with ache as she felt his shaft swell in her hands. “I want to feel you explode in my mouth and run down my throat.”

Another needy moan rumbled in Duncan’s chest as she whispered her wicked words, and his hands delved into her hair in an instant.

“Is that what you want?” he asked, his voice so strained with need that it made a rush of juices trickle down her thighs.

“It is what I need,” she whispered, her hand now a tight fist around his cock as she pumped him rhythmically.

Duncan’s lips pressed almost messily against hers in a desperate kiss before his strong hands clamped around her arms and guided her to her knees in front of him.

“Take what you need then, love,” he told her, leaning back against the wall, with his palms pressed flat there, his hips thrusting forward into her open mouth.

Alice swallowed him hungrily, relaxing her throat and taking him in until she felt the base of his cock touch her lips. She sucked at him like her favorite sweet, addicted to his taste, then drew him out all the way before swallowing him whole again.

Duncan’s body tensed up violently as his release took hold of him, and just before he exploded into her mouth, he twisted the chain that tied them in his fingers and yanked her as tightly to him as he could.

His attempts at keeping his pleasure quiet were futile at best, and his erotic, ragged moans filled the silent, dark room, before echoing through the safety of the manor’s thick walls. Long moments passed as he worked at catching his breath and keeping himself upright while Alice stayed latched on to him, working his cock gently with her throat until she was sure she had wrung every drop.

After feeling one more small rope of seed shoot from the tip of his cock and hearing one last primal groan of release, Alice felt his hands squeeze her arms, and she released him as he gently pulled her to her feet.

He kissed her passionately, his breathing still erratic as he pressed his lips possessively against hers, and then he drew back to rest his forehead on hers, his hand slipping to the nape of her neck.

“That certainly has to go in your book,” Duncan panted, laughter lacing his deep voice.

“You liked that one?” Alice asked sweetly, nuzzling into him so that she could turn her lips to his cheek.

Duncan let out a primal sound of approval as he nodded slowly. “There is no question,” he answered in an absolute tone.

Alice giggled softly as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his lips.

“Then it shall be Chapter Two,” she promised, grinning against his lips.

They kissed one last time, and then Alice withdrew from his arms and started running her hand over the dark wall to find the door.

“Where are you going?” Duncan asked, forced to follow her thanks to their chain.

Alice pressed her lips together to stop her laughter, finding the disappointment in his voice incredibly attractive and adorable.

“We have to get back to the party,” she explained, her hand finally finding the doorknob.

“Oh, no,” Duncan protested, tugging on the chain to bring her back to him. “I am not done with you yet.”

“And I am certainly not done with you,” Alice replied boldly, letting him capture her waist again. “Which is why we are going to move to the second part of the party—the outdoors part.”

“I did not know this,” Duncan replied, approval ringing in his voice as he pressed his lips hotly to her neck.

“Seeing as how both of us can’t stand Society for too long, I thought it beneficial to plan an early way out,” Alice explained with a sigh, leaning into his sensual kisses. “We shall go back out, have another drink with our friends, be seen socializing, then you shall announce the fireworks display and the party’s movement into the gardens. We will thank everyone for coming, appear as if we are making our way outside with the rest of our guests, and then slip quietly back up to our rooms.”

“My little genius. You have thought this through,” Duncan praised, his voice full of pride as his hand slipped beneath her dress and corset to cup her left breast.

Alice gasped as he squeezed firmly and then rolled her nipple between his fingers until it grew taut and sensitive. A sound of approval rumbled low in his chest as she went limp in his arms and did nothing to stop him as he bent his head and captured her freed breast in his mouth.

“You have to stop!” she gasped, even as she leaned into him.

She could feel their exchange of power start to shift again as Duncan’s dominance rose and her submission had her begging to give in to him. When he took possession of her body like this, there was nothing that could stop him from doing exactly as he pleased.

Alice was ready to accept defeat, to let them be late and risk being looked for, when Duncan obeyed and tucked her breast back into her bodice.

Slammed with relief and sexual frustration, Alice stomped her foot aggressively as she pounded on his chest, letting out her own little version of a growl.

A deep chuckle erupted from Duncan’s throat as he let her pummel her little fists into him.

“What is this?” he asked, clearly amused by her little temper tantrum.

“That was wicked!” She pouted.

“No more wicked than what you did to me,” Duncan replied, his voice dipping an octave as he slapped her backside, only heightening her arousal. “Now come on, you little minx. Let’s get this over with. I have better things to attend to.”