Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

V ictoria was shocked not by the force of the Duke's kiss but by her body's response to him. She felt liquid flames roaring through her blood and didn't even know when her hands moved to bury themselves in his hair, pulling and marveling at its softness.

She moaned when he nipped her lip and opened when his tongue prodded her mouth asking for entrance. His tongue slid into hers and she could taste the whiskey he seemed to favor on his tongue.

He was a patient teacher, going slowly to help her adapt to something new and then increased his pace when she couldn't take his slow pace any more, chuckling deeply.

"You are oddly impatient." He laughed, kissing the corner of her mouth. "I find it odd because you do not even know what comes next."

"I know well enough she answered stubbornly." Folding her arms.

His eyes shot downward briefly as he admired her breasts then returned back to hers.

"Oh?" He asked with a critical brow. "I am not to expect to be the one claiming your maidenhead?"

She blushed but regained herself.

"That is not what I meant." She explained hurriedly. "I have never been with a man."

"Then how is it you know so much."

He pulled her gently to him, his hands running a slow tortuous path up and down her body.

She tried to speak but his hands were stealing the breath from her body.

"I..." She stuttered trying to recall what she wanted to say. "I read a lot."

"Is that so?" He asked teasingly. "So you also favor romance novels?"

"I...I do." She answered biting her lip.

He was teasing her with his questioning, visibly trying to distract her from the fact that he didn't want to consummate their marriage.

"Are you trying to distract me, Your grace?" She asked.

"Hmm. Why?"

"Because." She answered pouting. "You haven't taken me to bed yet."

He laughed long and low and her eyes widened at how beautiful he looked being so carefree. When last had anyone heard him laugh?

His eyes finally opened and met hers and whatever he saw there stopped him. He cleared his throat and fixed his expression.

"There's more to consummation than what happens on the bed, Victoria." He smiled. "Besides, the night is long. Would you rather have me rush the deed and be done?"

"No. I guess not." She answered honestly. "Thank you for being considerate of me. You're very kind."

His eyes widened in surprise then he nodded.

There was a pregnant silence between them that she wanted very much to break so she could come to know the man she had married but on the other hand, she still wanted very much to know what went on in the marriage bed.

Now that she was finally here, she would be damned if she let him go.

"So...may we continue where we left off?"

He laughed again and pulled her to him, kissing her soundly, hands reaching down to her buttocks. He squeezed then in one burst of strength lifted her. Instinctively, she wrapped her legs around his torso.

She was only vaguely aware of him moving before she felt him lower her to the bed. Now he was atop her, her heart thudded at a rapid pace as she felt the evidence of his desire at her most intimate place.

"You do not seem very bold again, wife." He whispered close to her face.

She opened her eyes and was startled by how close his face was to hers. She didn't even know when she had closed her eyes. Swallowing deeply, she tried to school her expression into an unbothered mask but he laughed at her.

"I am not afraid." She answered with a pout.

"I find that hard to believe." He smiled down at her. "You've gone as stiff as a day old loaf."

"That's not very romantic, now is it your grace?" She scolded playfully relaxing.

His weight sank her deeper into the bed and she found she didn't overall mind it. He was warm and broad and she found it almost comforting.

"I wasn't aiming for romance dear wife." He winked. "If I were, you would already be naked beneath me. Not that you are very clothed right now."

His eyes trailed a hot path down her body and she saw the areas his eyes stopped and studied longer. She had felt foolish when she had been gifted this night garment by her sister and cousin but now, under his appreciative scrutiny, she felt some bit of pride.

She had seen the way his eyes had drank her in when he had first seen it and if he were a man of little control, she knew he would have claimed her by now.

But her husband was a man of restraint which was one of the things she had added to her gradually growing list of things she liked about him.

"My sister and cousin thought it would make you pleased with me." She told him, not knowing why she did.

"Hmm." He answered kissing the side of her mouth then her cheek then her jaw bone.

Soon he nipped her ear and she gasped at the foreign sensation.

"Are you pleased with me?" She asked.

She tended to rabble when she was nervous and now she was in all ways anxious for what was to come. She had read about what it was to feel like and her cousin had told her a little but she still didn't know if she just lying still was enough.

"Very much so." He answered, meeting her eyes with his that had turned a dark shade of blue. "Why would you try so hard to please me?"

His eyes were vulnerable and she wondered why her answer would mean anything to him. Didn't he know how eligible a bachelor he had been?

It would be foolish of any woman to offend him especially when he could easily end the marriage.

"Because you're my husband."

"Is that all?" He asked.

"No." She answered honestly. "I also wanted to see if you would desire me the way a man desires a woman. The way I desire you."

She bit her lip and looked away from him. She had been very honest in admitting that she wanted him earlier and she knew it was no proper way to behave but she was already fully baked before him. What propriety needed to remain?

Besides their whole relationship had started with an improper conversation and then a kiss that had stunned her.

She had been unable to read the novels that she had once scoffed at without feeling unquenchable heat between her thighs and the painful hardening of her nipples.

There was no need holding back now, especially not when she was so close to knowing if he would be able to quench the fire that threatened to consume her.

Her answer seemed to set off something in him because when he kissed her, it was more tender than any they had shared. He cupped her face in his hand and pulled her up till she was straddling his thigh.

She was only vaguely away of his hands removing the scraps of what had been her night gown and then palming their way up her body.

One hand stilling her hips which had begun grinding into him of their own accord and the other moving to cup her breast. They groaned together and he squeezed her again, firmer, his thumb playing with the hard peaks of her nipple.

She gasped and her hips squirmed in his lap.

"Be still, wife." He told her.

"I cannot." She admitted.

He chuckled and kissed her again, pulling her hips to his.

"I know." He said against her neck.

He lowered her back onto the bed and kissed his way down her body. When his hot mouth closed over her nipple, she gasped and shot off the bed.

"Be still, wife."

"Your grace." She begged.

He didn't stop but increased the suction on her nipple, nipping her and then laving her with his tongue. The combined sensation had her writhing off the bed but he stilled her with a hand.

"Your grace." She moaned again, digging her hand into his hair.

She couldn't even marvel at the softness because he moved to the other breast, the other hand squeezing her firmly.

"Your grace."

He nipped her one last time and moved down her body till he neared her secret place.

"What are you..." She asked trying to sit up.

"I want to show you something new." He smiled, sniffing her deeply. "Your desire smells divine. I cannot wait to drink of your nectar."

Victoria reddened deeply and still tried to pull away from him. None of the books she had read had mentioned anything of the sort.

"I don't know what..."

"Lay back and trust me."

His eyes looked like they were laughing at her but he didn't push her. Instead, he patiently waited for her to relax, placing small kisses on her abdomen.

She remembered the conversation they'd had in that dark room when he could have taken advantage of her. He had instead stopped and walked away. She looked at him again and nodded, relaxing against the bed.

She felt him smile against her skin, his hot breath against her woman. She felt herself tense but the remembered to relax.

He kissed her once and then twice and then groaning against her, laved her in one long stroke that had her squirming. His tongue was hot and wet against her and when she felt his tongue slide into her, her hips moved of their own accord against his mouth.

When he bit slightly on the throbbing core of her, she screamed out her pleasure, gripping his hair in her hands.

He groaned against her, applying suction to the throbbing nub at a pace that winded her. It was altogether too much that no sounds could come out of her.

"You taste better than anything I could have imagined." He groaned against her as he licked her again in one long stroke. "Damn."

She bit her lip as he groaned again. He made her feel like he was actually enjoying the attention he was paying to her.

Soon her body began to buck as she felt her entire body light up.

"Your grace." She begged not knowing what she begged for but knowing it was only he who could give it to her. "Please."

He didn't speak but moved a finger to her entrance, sliding it in slowly and then increasing the pace.

The world grew in color and fell apart in a colorful stream that she wasn't sure she could survive and when it was over, she lay back trying to remember her name and where she was.

He kissed his way back up her body and lay beside her, with one hand thrown over his face. She tried to come up with an explanation for why he could be quiet but came up short but instead chose to enjoy the reprieve silence gave her.

She wondered if that would be all between them. Not that she would complain because she was already sore tired and struggled to keep her eyes open but she had promised him she would complete her duty.

It felt weird lying next to him fully naked when he was fully clothed but her body felt too sore for her to lift a limb.

She let her eyes roam down his body and when she noticed the bulge in his breeches, she gasped and turned away from him, her eyes trailing back of their own accord.

He looked big and she wondered if she would really be capable of performing her duty to him. She could trust him to not hurt her bit she still feared the pain she had heard would come with their consummation.

"Your grace." She started.

"Yes?" He answered.

"Are you..." She started, her eyes trailing down to his member and then back to his face. "Am I not going to help you with anything?"