Chapter 19

CHAPTER19

Violet was sure for a second that she was imagining it. Xander had ignored her so much during the wedding breakfast, so how was it possible he was now kissing her? She tried to pull back.

“Xander—hmm!”

She didn’t manage it, for he crushed their lips together again and curled his hands around her waist, in the way he had the habit of doing.

She melted into him, powerless, as she always was when he kissed her.

He parted her lips with ease and took her tongue with his own. Violet found herself opening to him, allowing him to dominate the kiss as her hands rose up his chest and she found the lapels of his tailcoat, clinging to him.

He backed her up, and she ended up colliding with the breakfast table. All the crockery and cutlery chinked, though she hardly cared. All she thought about was getting closer to Xander.

It was a culmination of everything that had happened between them. All the want, all the desire she had felt since the first day of seeing him in that bookstore.

There is no reason to stop now.

This thought made her bold, and she undid one of his waistcoat buttons, wanting to be closer to him.

He lifted her onto the table suddenly. They broke apart in their kiss as the crockery all jolted and chinked once again. Some of the wine glasses fell over, but, fortunately, none broke. He steered her toward the edge of the table, directing her hips against his own, causing friction.

A breathy moan fell from her lips at the pressure. It was a need filling up inside of her, and judging from the look on Xander’s face, he felt that same need. It had to be sated, and it had to be soon.

He started pulling at the skirt of her gown and the heavy train, gathering them together as fast as he could, pushing them up onto the table so her legs were bared, and then he parted her legs, moving her so that he could reach her center.

“Xander, oh!” she moaned in surprise as he took her center.

There was no hesitation this time, only bold touches as his fingers found that wet bundle of nerves.

He toyed with it, looking her in the eye as he pleasured her, circling his fingers in such a way that she could scarcely believe they had come to this so quickly.

Had he been thinking about this through the wedding breakfast, too? Had he been unable to think of anything else, just as she had struggled, too?

“Tell me you want it,” he pleaded in her ear, moving his lips to kiss down her neck. “Vi, tell me,” he begged.

“I want you,” she whispered.

With these words, he plunged his fingers inside her. She gasped at the sensation of pleasure that started to rock her body as he set up a rhythm. He growled into her neck, kissing her repeatedly, then tugging at the neckline of her gown, trying to get more and more access to her.

Somehow, Violet wondered what would happen if some of the servants came upon them now doing this, but no servants were anywhere to be seen. She half wondered if they’d been banished from the house, then all thoughts of the staff flew out of her mind as he not only worked her with his fingers but his thumb on that bundle of nerves again.

Violet tipped her head back, straining her legs wider around Xander’s hips. The way she curled her toes made her shoes fall off her feet and hit the hard floor with a clatter.

Neither of them cared enough to look, nor did they flinch at the sound. He just kept working her body, pleasuring her, as one of her hands gripped his bicep and the other clung to the table beneath her, trying to keep herself steady.

“What do you want?” he asked again, moving his lips to hers. This time, he kissed her fast on the lips, tauntingly, and she whimpered at how fast it was. “Tell me, Vi.”

He takes pleasure in me saying the words.

It somehow gave her a sense of power, to know that she could have such an effect on him.

“I want you, Xander.”

He growled once more, then his hand left her body. She whimpered once more at the loss of his touch, then he pulled her off the table and onto the floor.

“Trust me,” he whispered. It wasn’t so much a question, as more of a command.

She nodded, for at that moment, she did trust him.

Suddenly, it didn’t matter that they had barely talked all morning, or even that week. All that mattered was sharing this moment.

“Good.” Then, he bent down. He put his shoulder into her waist, and she yelped as she was lifted off her feet and over his shoulder.

“What are you doing?” she cried in surprise as he wrapped and arm around her legs and carried her away, the train of her gown flung over his shoulder.

“Getting you to my bedchamber as fast as possible, without this ridiculous gown getting in the way.”

“Don’t you like it?” she teased, pulling at the back of his jacket as she saw they were walking up the stairs.

“I do. Too much,” he said in a deep tone. “But I’ve had enough of it for one day.”

She giggled as they reached the landing. She wondered if this was what their marriage would be like—not full of awkward silences, after all, but this heat, this passion, this excitement!

I can live with that…

She giggled once more as he kicked open his bedchamber door. The fact that he had brought her to his bedchamber felt even more personal, as if he was opening a window into his private world.

Lifting her head, she tried to look around the room, to learn more about Xander from what she could see. Unsurprisingly, it was decorated in dark colors, with rich mahogany furniture, an ancient coffer, and a long rococo-style settee that was embroidered in black damask.

Before she could observe the room any more, she was tossed backward.

“Ah!” she yelped in surprise, falling onto the bed.

Sitting up as quickly as she could, she found herself on a bed as dark as the settee. Xander had marched back toward the door and locked it, then hurried back toward her.

He shrugged off his tailcoat, throwing it to the side, where it clattered with a vase he knocked over, though he didn’t stop to right it. He threw off his waistcoat next, then grabbed his shirt and pulled it over his head, too.

The way he revealed his torso to her had her freezing like a statue in wonder. His chest was carved in muscle, perfectly visible in the sunlight that shone through the window. Her eyes danced over the rigid muscles of his stomach, the V shape above his trousers, and the strong arms where she could see the sinews of his muscles.

“Xander…” she moaned, the breathy noise sounding not like it came from her at all.

He moved toward her, kneeling on the bed, and he grabbed her legs and pulled her down. She loved the fierceness of his movements, reaching up and wrapping her arms around him, pulling him down to kiss her.

He molded his body to hers, and she touched every part of him she could reach, curling her hands across his shoulder blades and down his back, then reaching for his arms and holding onto them, too.

He started to pull at her gown again when they heard a ripping sound. They both froze, pulling apart from their heated kiss and looking at one another.

“Did you just—”

“I ripped it.” He smiled, a delighted sort of smile that thrilled her and made an excited shiver race up her spine. “I’ll buy you a new dress.”

Then, he reached down and pulled at the skirt, tearing it again.

She gasped in wonder at the sound, startled at the effect it had on her. She could feel the rushing wetness between her legs again, only this time, an ache accompanied it. She was begging to be touched by him, longing for it.

He pulled at her legs and moved down her body, his lips finding her core. When he kissed her in her most sensitive area, she cried out his name loudly this time, making no pains to be quiet.

Digging her hands into the black bedsheets beneath her, she thought only of what Xander was doing with his tongue, how he was plunging it into her, trying to pleasure her as much as possible.

If only I had known in that bookshop what he could do…

She might have been tempted to walk up to him and offer herself to him then.

He drove her to the edge of climax. She was shivering, her legs trembling over his shoulders as he slowed his kisses, making them more and more taunting on her center, and then, abruptly, he stopped, and she whimpered.

He knelt up, a satisfied smirk spreading across his face. Any other time, she might have hated that look, but not now. At this moment, she loved it.

“Take the dress off.” He nodded to the dress now gathered around her torso.

She moved up a little, pulling at the laces and then tugging it over her head. He got off the bed and removed his trousers, kicking them to the side.

She was so busy trying to undo the laces of her stays that it took her a minute to notice his length. When she saw it, she jerked around to stare at him twice. It was hard and standing to attention, much bigger than she had expected.

“Vi…” he whispered, moving toward her. “Off,” he reminded her and then went to help her with the stays. They were soon off her body, joining his clothes on the floor. She was pulling her chemise over her head when he grabbed her stockings and peeled them off her legs.

Soon, she was wearing nothing, completely bared to him. He looked over her as he moved over her body, and she flattened herself to the mattress.

She felt a hint of danger. The Dark Duke, the one she had fantasized about for so long, was now completely alone with her, with not a stitch between them.

His eyes appeared to drink in the sight of her. He paid particular attention to the mark at the top of her breast that he had left there before but had mostly healed, before he looked down at her body again.

“Hold onto me,” he urged. “The first time—”

“I know.” She nodded.

She and her friends could not read as much as they did without learning something of what happened in these moments. She had read of how it would hurt.

He bent down, resting his weight on one of his elbows by her head as he captured her lips with his own and kissed her. It was a long, languid kiss. He toyed with her tongue, nipping her lower lip and making her body writhe with wanting him.

Sweat started to bead between her breasts as one of his hands took hold of her knee and he shifted her legs apart, creating room for him to kneel between her legs.

When his length nudged her entrance, they pulled apart from their kiss, and he moved his lips to her neck. She held onto his shoulder blades, preparing herself for the feeling, both wanting it and feeling nervous about it.

Then, he entered her. She wasn’t sure which thought came to her first—was it the pain? Or the fact he had distracted her by nipping her neck at the same time? Perhaps it was that he was inside her at all.

He moved at once but slowly, almost… gently, rocking his hips against her own in such a way that his length only moved a little inside her.

Then, the pain began to subside. It faded as fast as it had begun, and in its place was this sizzling, low pleasure. Her hands left his shoulders, moving down his back and to his rear, which she squeezed playfully, urging him on.

He growled in her ear and then shifted the two of them, driving his hands down into the bed on either side of her head before he thrust into her.

The wild abandon with which he made love to her was intoxicating. She could not stop staring at him, marveling at the pleasure and the heat in his expression. Those blue eyes were anything but icy now. There was an intensity in them as he looked at her—every part of her.

At one point, he sank back on his haunches, taking hold of her knees and holding her legs apart so he could watch what they were doing.

Violet’s moans grew louder, at that point. The fact he wanted to watch what they were doing, to see it, somehow made the moment greater for her. She felt so desired. She grabbed the bedsheets above her head, bracing herself against them as his movements grew faster.

She could feel every part of him inside of her, the pleasure somehow greater and more intense than what they had shared before, then he shifted their bodies again. He moved over her, urging her to bend her legs higher as he planted his palms on the bed and rocked fast into her. Every part of what he was doing was athletic, making her marvel at the muscles in his body and at the way his chest was shiny with sweat.

“Xander…” She started to moan his name, unable to stop herself with this new position.

She could feel something building. It was a tightening of her body, a little like what he had introduced her to that night on her bed, only greater.

“Xander!” she moaned again, her eyes fluttering shut as her hands found his biceps. She held onto him tightly, feeling that wall of pleasure crush her.

Her toes curled behind his back as he thrust into her again and again, riding out that final wave she was basking in. He didn’t stop moving and even began to moan himself, at last making sounds a little like what she was making. She saw stars in that blackness, her body writhing in pleasure as she concentrated on his sounds.

“Yes…” he moaned, then suddenly buried his head in her neck. “God, Vi!” he groaned loudly when he thrust into her one last time.

The suddenness of it showed her everything she wanted to know. He too had reached his end, and he was basking in it, finishing inside her. Such warmth spread through their connection that she shifted her hands, holding onto his back, having no wish to release him.

They were both panting heavily, neither one of them pulling back as they maintained their connection, holding onto one another, then, all at once, Xander moved—only, he didn’t pull back. He kissed further down her neck and across her collarbones, then down the center of her breasts before he took one of them in his mouth and sucked playfully.

She rocked her hips against his, startled at the pleasure she could still feel, even after they had found their release.

“We’re not leaving this room today,” he said, almost a pleading tone in his voice as he kissed down her waist and toward her belly button. He pulled his length out of her now, and she writhed, still feeling pleasure.

“Thank God,” she whispered, glad that he suggested such a thing, for she had no wish to leave this room either.