To Catch A Duke (14 page)

At first, she thought that he meant
to continue to kiss her through her gown, but instead, his fingers delved beneath
the fabric and brushed the sides of her breasts, making her shiver.
 
"Let me see you."
 
There was a note of pleading in his voice.
 
"Dear God, Jules, let me see you for
myself."

As if she could deny him.
 
Slowly, she shifted so that the gown gaped a
bit, allowing him to pull her breasts free from the confining fabric.
 
She hadn't worn a chemise, since after
dismissing Meggy, there was no proper lady's maid to dress her.
 
Julia was thankful now, especially when
Benjamin slid the pads of his thumbs over her taut nipples, making them tighten
painfully.

She thought all he meant to do was
touch, but when he lowered his mouth to her breast and began to suckle her, she
gasped and felt a fire ignite deep inside of her.
 
A wetness grew between her legs, and she mewled like a
kitten.
 
At first she thought that
Benjamin was immune to her distress, but then his hand rose to stroke her other
breast, twisting the nipple as he did so and driving her higher with need.

Julia began to gasp, the pressure
inside of her growing stronger with each lap of his tongue across her sensitive
bud.
 
When he took her nipple between
his teeth and tugged gently, she thought she would surely expire.
 
Instead, the pleasure grew, swirling inside
of her until she was gasping, nearly crying from the sheer delight of it
all.
 
Then, when she thought she could
take no more, Ben pulled her close and kissed her deeply, settling himself
between her legs and pressing his hardened length into her softness.

Stars exploded behind her eyes and
she screamed, or would have were he not there to kiss it away and swallow her
cries.
 
Her body twitched and convulsed,
and she had no idea what had just happened, only that it was truly the most
exquisite moment of her life.
 
She clung
to Benjamin for she feared if she did not, she might topple over.

Eventually, she came back to her
senses and looked up, only to see him grinning down at her, a satisfied grin on
his face.
 
"That would, of course,
have been better in a bed, but for a garden, well, it wasn't bad, I suppose."

"Not bad you
suppose?"
 
Julia was
incredulous.
 
She had never known such
blissful pleasure could exist.
 
"I
could not imagine better."

"I could."
 
Without warning the duke pulled her to him
and he ground his cock against her once more.
 
"The next time, Jules, you and I will be in a bed.
 
And when you come for me, my cock will be
buried inside you, giving you more pleasure than you can imagine.
 
We will do that together, sweeting.
 
Make no mistake."
 
He swallowed hard and suddenly, she knew
that he had not found the release that she had.
 
"I had said I would court you properly, and I do still mean
to.
 
However, I think that we can move
certain parts of the courtship along, don't you?
 
Because I need you.
 
Repeatedly."

Julia knew what he was asking.
 
He wanted to bed her tonight, yet still
court her tomorrow.
 
Typically, the
bedding came at the end, but what he was offering?
 
Repeated interludes together while still appearing to chastely
court in public?
 
It was
scandalous.
 
It was flirting with danger,
especially if someone, say Henrietta or Landover discovered their secret.
 
She could be ruined.
 
She could be exiled from London.
 
And she did not care a whit.

"Say the word, Ben, and I am
yours."
 
She did not want to
wait.
 
Not any longer.
 
The end of the season was fast
approaching.
 
She did not want to wait
until it was almost at an end.
 
Not when
the promise of so much passion hung between them.

The carriage ride from the Deaver's
ball to Benjamin's London home was excruciatingly slow.
 
After their interlude in the garden, the two
of them had slowly worked their way back to the house.
 
Julia had, of course, been unsteady on her
feet and a little fearful that someone would notice the flush on her face.
 
Once they had reached the balcony, however,
no one had given them a second look.
 
In
fact, another debutante had appeared at the ball moments before, her hair
mussed and her gown torn, sending the assembled guests into near apoplexy.
 
It had been the perfect opportunity for
Julia and Benjamin to slip out unnoticed.
 
She had, of course, looked for her brother, but he was nowhere to be
found, and she didn't much feel like going to look for him.
 

Her heart was still pounding, her
blood rushing in her veins from her release, and the last thing she wanted was
for her brother to question her about her activities.
 
Julia was fairly certain that the gray-gowned chaperone provided
by Lady Berkshire knew what she was about, for the other woman's eyes followed
her closely, but she did not intervene.
 
In fact, she had tilted her head as if giving Julia tacit permission to
slip away from the ball.
 
Or so it had
seemed.
 
In truth, Julia did not
care.
 
As long as she was with Benjamin,
all was right in her world.

By the time the carriage rolled to
a stop in front of the duke's home, Julia was wound tightly, all nervous energy
and anticipation.
 
By contrast, Benjamin
looked to be the picture of relaxation, something she questioned him about as
soon as they were alone in the library.

"Ben, I thought this was what
you wanted," she sighed as she took the glass of scotch he offered
her.
 
"Me.
 
Naked.
 
In your bed.
 
Yet you act as
though you do not care."
 
That was
when she noticed his hand tighten on the neck of the decanter, and she was
afraid he might shatter the delicate crystal.

"Do not mistake my control for
lack of desire, Jules," he growled, picking up his own glass.
 
"It was all I could do not to strip you
naked right there in the Deaver's garden.
 
But I am a gentleman and you, my love, are a virgin.
 
I must be gentle."

Slowly, she crossed the room to
stand in front of him, plucking the glass from his hands.
 
In this moment, she felt like her old self,
the wild, powerful Julia that she had been in Sussex.
 
Where her scars did not define her, and she was mistress of
Seldon Park, if not in name then in actions.
 
"What if I do not want you to be gentle?"

Shaking his head, the duke backed
up out of her reach.
 
"You do not
know what you are asking."

"I do," she countered
moving forward, unwilling to let him back out now.
 
"I asked you for a seduction and while this is progressing
much faster than I had anticipated, it is still want I want."
 
She looked past him then, as if she didn't
see him for a moment.
 
"This
afternoon when Landover cornered me on the street and I discovered that Meggy
had betrayed me, I knew that my time here was growing short.
 
Whether they spout lies or not, it does not
matter.
 
Lies will damage both of us.
 
Me in particular."

Placing a hand on his chest, she
stroked her fingertips across the soft fabric.
 
"Nicholas, for all of his good qualities, is fighting his own
battle at the moment.
 
I do not know
what it is, only that he is distracted.
 
Extremely so.
 
He cannot save me
from whatever is coming, even if he was paying close attention.
 
And I think we both know that it is only a
matter of time before
someone
, be it Meggy or Landover, begins to
talk."
 

She slid her hand higher to caress
his shoulder and felt him shudder at her touch.
 
"I may be innocent, but I am not stupid, Ben.
 
It is time I stopped pretending, stopped
hiding from society.
 
In a few weeks, I
will never see them again.
 
But starting
now, I want them to see me - as I am.
 
Including
the scars.
 
For the first time in my
life, I am going to take what I want.
 
And at the moment, I want you."
 
Then she leaned up and kissed him again, much as she had in the
garden.
 
This time, however, there was
no hiding, no fear of being seen.
 

"Jules, I can't resist
you."
 
Benjamin knew he should do
the right thing, but with her soft body pressed against his, the feel of her
breasts against his chest, he knew his resolve was weakening.
 
Not to mention that she was right.
 
They had little time.
 
They might as well take advantage of it.

"So stop trying."
 
Her words were barely a whisper as she
kissed along the side of his cheek.

Without another word, Benjamin bent
down and in one swoop, picked Julia up in his arms.
 
He kicked open the library door and marched upstairs to his
bedroom, confident that his servants would leave them alone.
 
They were, after all, well trained.
 
Once there, he reverently placed Julia on
the floor, her delicate slippers touching down before he rose again so that he
could gaze down at her.

He should tell her the truth.
 
He should tell her the deep secret that he
had carried around with him for so long. Yet he could not.
 
If she knew, she would, in all likelihood,
despite him.
 
At the very least, she
would be angry and storm out.
 
At worst,
he would never have her.

Later.
 
He would tell her later, he promised himself silently.
 
By then, perhaps, she might even love him,
be more willing to forgive him for withholding the truth for so long.
 
But at the moment, well, she wanted him, but
beyond that, he wasn't certain.

"Last chance to change your
mind, my pet."
 
If she truly wished
him to stop, even now, he would, but he was quickly moving past the point of
all rational control.

Shaking her head, she moved to him
and quickly stripped off his waistcoat.
 
"No more waiting.
 
No more
words.
 
Not tonight.
 
Right now, there is only us.
 
No others."
 
Then she undid the first few buttons of his shirt and slipped her
hand inside.

Her touch was like velvet, and it
ignited something deep inside of him, something that he knew could not be
tamed.
 
With a growl, he tugged at the
laces on her gown, thankful that he'd had plenty of practice removing ladies
from their clothing.
 
With a few more
tugs, her gown was loose enough that she could slip it off, but he didn't urge
her to do so.
 
After all this time, he
knew she needed to feel secure.
 
What
she was about to reveal to him was an intensely private thing.
 
Something no other man had ever seen, and,
God willing, no other man ever would.

Instead, he stepped back and slowly
shed his own clothing until he was naked in front of her, his cock jutting out
from between his legs as if it was saluting.
 
Given her beauty, it might well have been.
 
He couldn't help but notice that she stared at him there, and he
knew that he was the first man she had truly seen naked.

Benjamin was so beautiful and
perfect that Julia almost forgot to breathe.
 
His chest was beautifully sculpted, with a body that seemed more like it
belonged to a god than a man.
 
His
thighs were enormous, well-muscled and clearly powerful.
 
All of him was powerful, it seemed.

"What you do to me,
sweeting," he said with a smile, moving closer to her.
 
"I am hard for you.
 
Only you."

Julia licked her lips, unable to
find her voice.
 
She had expected
Benjamin to be big.
 
She had heard
stories after all, but now, faced with the evidence of his arousal, she could
not stop staring.
 
"I do not
believe, Ben, that is shall fit."
 
He was enormous.
 
There was no
way his cock would fit anywhere inside of her, save for her mouth, and even
then, not all of him.

"We will fit," he told
her, reaching out to stroke her arm and tug lightly at the top of her
gown.
 
"This is a dance older than
time itself, Jules.
 
We were made for
this."
 
He slid his finger along
her shoulder.
 
"Now let me see
you.
 
Please."