Epilogue

The door to Lucien’s bedroom closed behind Chastity, and she swallowed around a tight knot in her throat. The wedding breakfast had now finished in her brother’s London house. The guests, surprised by the change of the groom but delighted to see Chastity and Lucien happy, had left for their homes.

And Chastity had left with Lucien to her new home…

His London house.

Sweet Stella had fallen asleep in the carriage on the way here, and Lucien had taken her to the nursery chamber where she slept under the watchful eye of her nanny.

And now…for the first time…Chastity was alone with Lucien…as his wife. In his bedchamber.

He eyed her as he held her hand, still clad in a lace glove, and pulled her gently after him, his violet eyes a shade so dark they looked like the depths of an ocean at sunrise. “Well, Star,” he croaked as she followed him towards his huge bed, which stood against one of the walls of his vast bedchamber. “There’s no one who stands between us. Finally, you’re mine.”

His gaze flowed over her body lazily, leaving her skin awash with heat. “And finally, I can take this stunning dress off.”

His bedchamber had pale yellow walls with white panels and sensual paintings of naked Greek gods and goddesses. A vase with flowers stood on the sideboard opposite a large marble fireplace. She stepped on the softest red rug with patterns of interwoven lilies and leaves. Light filtered through the branches of tall trees swaying before the windows overlooking the square. A velvet settee and two comfortable-looking chairs stood by the window, with soft cushions. Everything looked to be sensual, lush, and inviting.

But it was the king of this place who had her breath quickening in her chest.

The boy she’d loved. The adolescent she never stopped adoring. The man who was now her husband, her future, and her best friend. The man whose touchhad awoken her.

The only one who knew her true self.

He pulled her to his chest, his arm wrapping around her waist in a steel embrace. His dear face close to hers, his full lips stretching in a wicked grin…one that was just for her.

His violet eyes glimmered with mirth as he took her face in. “Mine,” he said, his voice rumbling.

She couldn’t stop her lips from stretching. “As you are…all mine.”

His grin widened into a full, happy smile. “Never thought I’d feel such joy at a woman claiming me. But I suppose I never imagined you could be the one saying that.”

She traced his cheekbone with the tip of her finger. “Every day if you want.”

“Oh, I want.”

Then he leaned down and finally—Lord help her, finally!—claimed her mouth.

Their lips collided, his tongue intertwining with hers, the slight bristle on his chin scraping against her skin. She moaned as a torrent of sensations took her over and dragged her under. Finally, her mind, her heart, and her body were one. And the trio screamed just one thing in unison.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

And then…

More.

More of Lucien’s hands, gliding up and down her back. More of Lucien’s tongue, sliding against hers, more of his lips taking her and loving her.

More of his scent—leather, cloves, and sandalwood—and of his skin that felt like fire against hers.

She pressed herself against his hard torso as she felt his arms lock around her waist. Her breasts became so achy, so full, practically begging to be freed from her corset. Her sex ached, and she moaned into his mouth.

He began unhooking her dress. She was pressed against him so tightly she could already feel the bulge of his erection probing through the thin layers of her petticoat and her dress.

“Star,” he managed as he leaned back, his violet eyes hooded and dark on her lips.

He was as flushed as she must have been, with her cheeks burning hot like a winter oven.

“I want you. I want to take you. Fuck you. But I must warn you, I have not had a woman, or even my own hands for almost two months now. It’s been torture for me. So I…er…I cannot vouch for my self-control. I want this to be good for you. I want you to feel beautiful, loved, and to give you as much pleasure as you can take, but I simply don’t know if I can deliver… I might…uh…be quicker than I’d like… So if you do not wish—for any reason whatsoever—and would rather wait, I am happy to?—”

She put her hand on his mouth and stopped him, then smiled. “I do not wish to wait, Lucien,” she said, and saw his eyes crinkle with a smile. Her body was roaring. Her mind quite agreed. “I’m not a blushing debutante. I want everything, Lucien. And you’d better deliver.”

He chuckled, and she removed her hand.“Don’t you worry about that,” he rumbled as he kissed her neck, the vibrations of his voice sending a delicious shiver straight to her core.

He unlaced her gown as she unbuttoned his coat, then his waistcoat, then undid his high cravat, and he stood before her in his white shirt tied at his neck and his breeches, his huge bulge pressing against the fabric, which made her breath catch deep in her throat.

She knew exactly what it was.

And knew exactly where it went…in theory.

But as she remembered how wonderful it was to have his hands on her sex, she imagined how it would be to have his hard member plunged deep into her.

And she clenched at the thought, her walls tightening with an ache.

Her gown pooled around her feet on the rug, and then he turned her around and, faster than her maid, undid her petticoats and the laces of her corset, which he pulled down her hips. As she stepped out of the rings of her clothes, he dragged the thin fabric of her chemise up and over her head, and she was completely naked… She couldn’t see his face, but she heard his breath catch, and her nipples puckered, her breasts aching for him to touch them.

“What a magnificent posterior…” He pressed his hard bulge into the crease between her buttocks, and the sensation of his erection, hard and hot even through the breeches, had the most curious effect. His hands covered her breasts, which had been craving to feel his fingers, and played with her, massaged her. “What beautiful breasts.” He kissed the side of her neck. “What soft skin.” She gasped as he pinched her nipples slightly and teased them, pulling at them, which sent the most incredible pleasure through her. “My star.” He turned her to face him. His beautiful face alit from within, his eyes taking her in with adoration. “All mine.”

She pulled his shirt out of his breeches, and when he pulled down his breeches, she let out a gasp.

His erection… Long, pink, thick, with veins running along its length. She’d seen illustrations in medical books but never when it was erect like this…and never such a large specimen.

“Oh, Lucien…”

How would it ever fit inside her?

“Are you still sure you want this?” he asked, his voice hoarse.

“I’m sure,” she said. “I trust you.”

More than anything. It was such a freeing, wonderful feeling, to be able to trust…to rely on another human being.

On him.

To know he had her and would never let her fall.

He picked her up and laid her on the bed. Then he took her face in both hands and planted tender kisses on her lips, her face, her breasts. And down her body.

And when his mouth closed on her sex, she squirmed at first… Then he sent the most delicious feelings ricocheting through her body. She gasped as his lips closed around her aching folds, and as they began a gentle, sweet sucking, she trembled with pleasure. Her hands dug into his hair.

“Oh, Lucien!” she cried. “Oh!”

“Shh…” He resumed his wonderful sucking…licking…it felt like he had his own personal feast down there. “I must get you ready…”

Oh, she was ready.

He inserted a finger, gently probing her tight flesh, digging deeper and deeper.

She writhed as exquisite pleasure spilled through her like honey. He continued his teasing, both of her outer pleasure point and of her inner one, slowly spreading the slick moisture that his touch elicited over her sex, making her all hot and wet and ready for him to do anything to her…

He moved back to her to kiss her, while his fingers continued stroking her sex, moving in and out. She felt his member hot and hard against her stomach.

She wanted to give him pleasure, too. If she did the same thing to his erection as he had with her sex, that would please him, right?

She reached down with her hand and was met with a hard, hot rod. With satisfaction, she felt him jerk and give a moan against her.

“Star… Er?—”

“Did you like that?” she asked as she looked down her body at his golden head.

“Yes, yes, goddamn it, I liked it very much.”

She bit her lower lip in a strange sort of happiness that she was giving him pleasure…till now, he had been giving only her bliss. Did he not want to get some, too?

“Very well, then,” she said. “A wise man once said, every skill grows with exercise , so I will strive to get better.”

She kept stroking his hard flesh as he made some growls that sounded like something between pleasure and frustration.

She was at the verge of her own release when he rose, his cock sliding out of her hand, and hung over her, his face glowing with love and some kind of satisfaction she couldn’t interpret. Gently, he guided her legs to part, settling his hips between them, and she moved her hips to meet his pelvis…anything to get closer to him.

And then—heavens above—she could feel his large, hard head probing against her folds in such a sweet way… She was going to climax, just from him moving around…and then he pressed against her entrance, right where his finger had been…

She held her breath in anticipation, eager to move her pelvis and ease herself onto him, and have him inside, as deep as he could get…

But he didn’t let her and moved his own pelvis away.

His eyes were pinned to hers, so deep and so bottomless—blue and violet, stunning and devious, as breathtaking as all the stars in the universe. When she stared into her microscope and saw what no one else in the world saw—the secrets of life itself—that hitch in her breath, that light and monumental sense of wonder even her mind couldn’t deny…that was something like what she felt like while Lucien was holding her face and staring deep into her eyes.

Like he knew the secrets of life and universe, too, as long as he looked at her and she looked at him…

And then he entered her. Slowly, he stretched her in the most delicious pain that was so close to pleasure the sensations felt like two sides of the same coin. She gasped—full and complete and astonished at how right it felt to be conquered by him, stretched by him, one with him…

His eyes glowed with a soft light. “I love you, Star.”

She wrapped her legs around his waist, to bring him closer. “I love you, Lucien.”

He wrapped his arms around her as he buried himself deeper into her, bringing her a sensation more profound than she had ever felt.

She’d never been so close to anyone…not physically. Not emotionally. Not mentally.

He was everywhere around her, inside her, all at once, and she loved it. She was part of him, too.

As he began moving slowly, a tortured grimace ran through his face, and he shuddered.

The pain she felt soon became something else…an intense sort of realization—she had changed…grown…into her true self.

She moved her hips towards his gentle thrusts, and as his golden pelvic hair and the thick base of his shaft rubbed against her already aching and enlarged clit, she grew ever hotter, a wildfire burning out of control…

He was so big, stretching her to her limits, fulfilling needs she didn’t know she had.

Years of her life yearning for this man…

To have this…

And then she started to shake as Lucien’s thrusts, the pounding of their bodies together…the relentless teasing of her flesh…sent her to a height of ecstasy she had never imagined possible.

She felt herself clench around him in one furious wave, just as he tried to pull away.

“Chastity, I know you don’t want children. And I have never finished in a woman…not as far as I remember?—”

She clawed her fingers into his back, not wanting to let him go at the peak of their mutual pleasure. It was true, she had never wanted children. Neither had he. And yet, now they had Stella, and she was precious. What would their own child be like? A mix of herself and the man she loved more than anything in the world. “You can now, if you want to. I don’t put ‘never’ next to ‘having children’ anymore…as long as they’re yours. Do you want to?”

He breathed hard. “With you…yes, darling… I’ve waited only for you…”

He resumed his thrusting, and as she clenched and unclenched around him, he looked into her eyes so deeply it felt as if he could see all the way to her soul.

With a roaring groan, he buried himself deeper and pounded into her relentlessly, like an animal. She felt yet another wave come over her and arched her back so she could ride that second wave of pleasure around him.

He grunted and shuddered like he had no control over himself, and she clenched her arms around him as her climax subsided. He breathed hard, lying on top of her, his face hidden in the crease of her neck, his arms around her, her legs around him.

They were wrapped in a tight knot.

Dissolved together.

One.

“My guiding Star…” His voice was a tickle against her neck. “Finally mine.”

“Forever.” She looked into his violet eyes again.

One word that all parts of her—body, mind, and heart—could finally agree on.

They lay in each other’s arms, talking and stroking each other. “I’ve never felt the way I feel with you, Star,” he said softly, his eyes so deep and open. She felt her throat tighten and her chest warm with love.

She ran her index finger down the hard muscles of his chest. “It’s only because you haven’t been with a woman for weeks.”

“No,” he said as he planted a kiss on her shoulder. “It’s because I haven’t been with you before today. In the past, it was just about my body, a race to bring my partner and myself to release, a chase after oblivion. With you, I didn’t want to escape or forget. I wanted it to last an eternity. Unfortunately, it didn’t,” he added with a wry smile.

“Oh…” she said and kissed his chest above his heart.

His skin was warm and smelled so wonderfully like him: leather, cloves, and sandalwood.

“It’s because my heart is full for the first time in my life,” he said.

Happiness spilled through her like liquid starlight, and she buried her face in his chest. He pulled her even tighter to him. She turned her face up to his for a kiss, but his lips had barely brushed hers when they heard loud footsteps behind the door followed by a very insistent knock.

“Lucien! Lucien!” came a voice, and Chastity thought it must be Pryde.

“I am sorry, Your Grace,” called Lucien’s butler. “I informed his grace you are indisposed?—”

Lucien threw a furious glance at the door. “I am indisposed, Pryde. Have you heard of a wedding night?”

“It’s afternoon!” replied Pryde and pounded on the door again. “And it’s urgent! There was a letter!”

Lucien growled like an animal, and Chastity giggled. “It’s all right, Lucien. We have our entire lives to make love and talk and be in each other’s arms.”

Lucien grinned and kissed her. “You’re right. We do. Stay here?—”

But as he picked up his dressing gown, the door flew open and Chastity dove under the blanket with a squeal.

Pryde had his eyes covered with his hand as he proceeded into the room with a letter in his outstretched hand. “I am ever so sorry, Lady Chastity—er—Duchess… I am not looking.”

“What in the world are you doing?” roared Lucien, who put on his dressing gown and jumped to his feet. “My wife is indisposed! Leave!”

“I apologize profusely, Duchess,” barked Pryde, standing with his back to her, both of his hands on the sides of his face. “But this cannot wait. I wouldn’t have embarrassed you this way if it wasn’t threatening everything that I am. Lucien, I beg of you, read this and you’ll understand!”

Chastity, with her cheeks burning, watched Lucien throw a furious glare at Pryde and push him out of the room, scanning the letter while they walked. Pryde hovered near the doorway, his back still turned to Chastity.

Lucien’s face fell and he stopped reading and stared at Pryde. “Another blackmail attempt?” he asked, face pale. “They…know?”

Pryde nodded. “They know my secret. If I don’t go to that church in three days’ time and give them what they want, I’m ruined. I’ll lose my title…my money…my honor… Everything.”

Thanks for reading DUKE OF LUHST .