To Desire a Wicked Duke (Courtship Wars)

“You don’t really want me to stop, angel, do you?” he observed in that provocative tone that never failed to rile her.

He was daring her to prove her dispassion, Tess realized; indeed, he was almost taunting her.

She should have been vexed, except that his caresses were driving any thought of anger from her mind. With her senses

on fire, she couldn’t seem to care that he was conducting his scandalous offensive in a dark cave, or that at any moment a band of smugglers could come storming in—although in that event they would likely have a warning.

She most certainly didn’t want Ian to stop, however.

“I didn’t think so,” he murmured with amused satisfaction. When he urged her to spread her legs wider, she whimpered. “You have to be silent, Tess,” he reminded her.

His wicked caresses were somehow even more erotic because she couldn’t scream, and because his mouth joined in the seduction. His tongue swirled around the shell of her ear, then slipped inside, reminding her how he had thrust deep into her body just last night.

He continued stroking her through her gown, knowing just where to touch to increase her need. Soon her hips were rising and falling at the delicious friction he created, but Ian only increased the rhythm of his caresses.

Tess bit her lip hard, but when the fire mounted higher inside her, she couldn’t stifle a sob of pleasure.

“Remember, you can’t cry out when you come,” he whispered huskily in her ear.

To make certain she obeyed, he grasped her chin and turned her face back to his. As her body shuddered and began to buck in his embrace, he captured her mouth with a deep, hot kiss to silence her scream of ecstasy.

When her climax finally was over, his magical hands remained where they were, lazily soothing her.

Panting and weak, Tess sprawled back against him. “You are a fiend,” she muttered in a hoarse voice. “I cannot believe you did that.”

“Did what?” he asked innocently. “As I said, I was only helping to warm you. Are you warm now, love?”

Yes, she was warm. She was feverishly hot.

Before she could answer, Ian echoed her thoughts. “I think you are hot for me.” Catching her wrist, he guided her hand down to his loins so that Tess could feel the hard bulge beneath his breeches. “I know I am hot for you. I want to be inside you, sweet Tess.”

Her thighs clenched at his suggestive tone, while her stomach contracted. “This is why they call you the Devil Duke, isn’t it? Because you are utterly wicked.”

“No doubt. But it is hardly wicked to pleasure my own wife.”

“But I am not a real wife to you,” Tess pointed out breathlessly.

“Even so, when our shift is over, you are sleeping in my bed for the rest of the night. We are legally wed. There is no reason we must endure this sexual frustration any longer.”

Tess didn’t reply at first, although her body was aching shamelessly for Ian. The damnable truth was, she wanted to spend the entire night with him, making passionate love to him, getting lost in his strength and his heat.

And what was so wrong with enjoying a sexual liaison with her own husband? She had yearned for passion to fill the emptiness inside her, Tess reminded herself.

Perhaps Fanny was right. She could have Ian as a lover without involving her heart. Indeed, for the past few years, she had shut out emotions in her life as self-protection. She could continue doing so if they slept together as lovers, surely.

She could remain cool to Ian, in complete control of her feelings.

“Very well,” Tess agreed after a moment. “I will sleep in your bed tonight and ease your sexual frustration.”

He laughed softly and pressed a kiss against her hair. “How kind of you, darling, to pretend you are granting me a favor. But you will enjoy sharing my bed as much as I do, I promise you.”

Connubial relations do not necessarily lead to more intimate feelings, do they?

—Diary Entry of Miss Tess Blanchard

To her gratification, Ian made good on his promise that very night. With no sign of either smugglers or thieves, he turned duty for guarding the cave over to his secretary and servants and escorted Tess to his bedchamber. There, he spent the remaining hours till dawn showing her precisely what he’d meant when he pledged to see to her enjoyment, rousing her to depths of passion she never knew were even possible. They fell asleep entwined just as day was breaking.

It was nearing noon when Ian awakened Tess by pressing arousing kisses all over her body, culminating with a tender kiss on her lips as he slid into her. The beauty of it—the exquisite feel of his hardness molding to her softness—stole her breath.