Breathless fire burned through her at the raw sexual tone of his voice. Gravelly rough, explicit, and bone melting.
She wanted every inch of her body beneath his mouth. His perfect, wicked, ravenous mouth. Her pulse raced at the thought. Her sex ached.
No, she didn’t just want it, she craved it beyond reason.
“You need it, too,” he murmured thickly. “I see it in your eyes. In the pulse at the side of your throat. The way you stare at my mouth. Are you imagining where I’ll kiss you first? No doubt the truth will shock you.” His lips tilted. “But I promise you’ll love it.”
She believed him.
Emotions could be managed. Just because she felt certain things didn’t mean she had to express them. Or indulge them. She could have this. A few hours in the dark privacy of her bedroom. Just for pleasure. Just for her.
“This is a terrible idea,” she muttered.
“It’s a bloody brilliant idea,” he argued. “Let me in.”
Chapter Twenty-five
Katherine pushed the door open wide enough to admit his large form as she backed into the shadows of her bedroom. Keeping her eyes on him, she didn’t stop until he closed the door quietly behind him.
And there he was, intensely present in her candlelit bedroom. As though he belonged. As though it were his. As though she were his. His stare devoured her. For a moment, she felt like a lamb facing the jaws of a starving wolf. But instead of frightening her, the raw violence of his desire excited her.
Yes. She needed this. Him. The closeness and strength of him. The surrender and the claiming.
She lifted her fingers to release the tiny buttons at the neck of her nightgown and was surprised to realize her hands were shaking.
His low sound of satisfaction thrilled her and she smiled.
In rough, rushed movements, he shed his coat and waistcoat, tossing them toward the vanity bench without looking to see if they made it. Then he reached behind his head to grasp a fistful of his shirt, pulling it off over his head in one swift action, baring his body from the waist up.
Katherine stilled, once again dumbstruck by the sight of his muscled form.
How could a man be so hard? She allowed her gaze to travel leisurely over his fascinating body. Across his chest, down his rippled abdomen. Every inch of him was an enticement, begging her to run her hands over him. Those lines angling over his hips drew her gaze downward. To the long, thick swell of his erection.
Her heart stopped at the sight. Her belly swirled. As she stared in astonishment, it swelled even more, until the broad tip of it extended past the waistband of his breeches.
A heavy groan brought her gaze flying back up to meet his. “See what you do to me with just the touch of your eyes? To have your hands on me...” He stopped, breathing hard through his nose. “You could destroy me so easily.”
Destroy him?
She didn’t believe it possible. But the words still sent a rush of power through her. She tugged at the neck of her nightgown, which had been loosened enough to draw down past her shoulders, then lower.
The moment her breasts were exposed, his gaze fell to them. Her nipples puckered painfully, readying for his mouth.
“Ah, duchess,” he growled softly. “You’re a dangerous woman.”
She felt dangerous then, seeing how she affected him. How his hands fisted at his sides and his breath expanded and contracted his wide chest. The way the muscles of his stomach tensed and tightened and his eyes flashed with hunger.
She freed her arms from the nightgown and it fell to the floor in a cloud of soft cotton.
“Fuck.”
She didn’t mind the crudeness of his whispered word. That her naked body could draw such an unfiltered expression from his lips was nearly as exciting as the way his low-textured voice formed the word.
In three long strides, he reached her. Wrapping his arms beneath her buttocks, he lifted her high against him. She gasped at the heat and smoothness of his skin against hers, touching her from her breasts to the tops of her thighs.
Looking down, she watched him take one of her breasts fully into his mouth and suckle. Hard. Her head fell back and her spine went soft as she braced herself against his wide shoulders. The luscious tug and the wicked edge of his teeth on her nipple made her mindless.
She didn’t even know he’d carried her to the bed until he lowered her upon it, releasing her as soon as her back hit the mattress. His strong hands gripped her thighs, parting them wide as he settled his shoulders between them. Tensing in surprise, she lifted her head to see his harshly handsome face drawn taut with a look of reverence and animalistic hunger.
“Gorgeous.” The heat of the harshly breathed word bathed her sensitive flesh a second before his mouth covered her with an open kiss.
The sensation was unbelievable. The wet and the warmth. Then the hot flick and thrust of his tongue, the gentle suckling. All accompanied by the demanding sounds of pleasure he made deep in his throat. As though the act aroused him as much as it did her.
She didn’t know how that could be possible.
His mouth was pure magic.
She never would have guessed this was what he meant when he’d suggested she’d be shocked to know where he wanted to kiss her.
But he was wrong.
There was no opportunity for shock when every lush glide of his tongue along her sex sparked such delicious sensations. Every suckling, demanding tug on her soft, swollen folds sent molten heat through her center. His large hands
