Her Favorite Duke (The 1797 Club #2)(47)

She cut herself off and he turned to look at whatever had caught her attention in the room. When he did, he caught his breath. The chamber was lit with dozens of candles, there were flowers adorning each table, and a fire burned. There was a bottle of wine at the table next to the bed and two glasses.

Meg shook her head. “Emma.”

Simon lifted his brows. “You think so?”

“Yes.” She moved into the room, walking around to smell the roses closest by. “This will be the first time we’ve done this where we weren’t sneaking around.”

He shut the door behind him and turned the key in the lock slowly. “Yes. And since all the other guests are gone and my mother has been put in a chamber on the family side of the house, no one will be able to hear us, either.”

She turned to look at him, her eyes now lit with desire. “That sounds very promising,” she whispered.

He frowned as reality began to edge in. “Meg,” he said.

She moved to him in a few long steps. “Stop,” she ordered. “You will have a lifetime to tell me how wrong this is. How terrible you feel. How much we deserve to suffer. Tonight, just touch me. Please.”

She caught his hand as she spoke and gently lifted it, pressing it to her breast as she maintained focused eye contact. He looked at his fingers against the lacy pink gown, closing them around the globe of her breast beneath. Her breath caught and he smiled.

“Are you seducing me, Your Grace?” he asked.

She nodded. “Indeed, I am, Your Grace.” She turned her back to him. “Now unfasten me.”

His hands shook as he lifted them to the tantalizing row of tiny buttons that ran from the top of her gown all the way to where her bottom swelled beneath the fabric. One by one, he loosened them, his fingers fumbling in his haste to see her without the beautiful dress. His fingers brushed her chemise beneath and she jolted like an electrical charge flashed between them.

He smiled as he leaned in and gently kissed her neck. “I feel it too,” he whispered.

She rested her head back against his chest, pushing her body into his, grinding her backside ever so slightly against his cock. He caught his breath, for she was quickly becoming versed in what he liked, how to make him wild with desire. Of course, she always had, without even trying. Her effort only made it more intense and powerful.

He stripped the last few buttons open, but before he could push the dress off, she stepped away from him. Facing him, she met his eyes as she slowly shimmied one arm free, then the other. The silk glided down, inch by inch, until she was free of the dress and stood before him in just her chemise.

He could hardly breathe. The undergarment was the same soft pink as the gown, but it was so thin it was almost sheer. He saw the shadow of her hard nipples beneath and the triangle of her sex even lower. With a shuddering sigh, she pushed the chemise from her body and stood before him naked. He froze, just staring, just taking her in and reveling in how beautiful she was.

“Take off your clothes,” she ordered, her voice shaking.

He arched a brow. Somehow he’d never pictured Meg taking control like this. But he found he liked it. He watched her as he shrugged out of his jacket, then lifted his hands to his cravat, untying and unlooping the long sash of white silk until it dangled from his fingers.

“I have an idea about what to do with this,” he whispered.

Her pupils dilated. “So do I.”

He found himself grinning despite the heat between them. “What would you do?” he asked.

She swallowed. “You’re too…big.”

He wrinkled his brow. “You stopped complaining about that almost immediately, if I recall.”

She rolled her eyes, but she was laughing and suddenly everything was easy between them again. Even this. “Not your cock, Simon. You. It’s too easy for you to take over when we do this. And I want to…explore. So I suppose if you gave me that cravat, I would use it to tie your hands so you couldn’t take over.”

His eyes went wide at that idea, that Meg would be so bold as to tie him to the bed to have her wicked way with him. It was almost too erotic to bear. Slowly, he moved forward and looped the cravat over her, draping it down around her waist. He tugged, drawing her forward with the reins he had created.

When she was flush against him, her body trembling in his arms, he whispered, “Then do it.”

He leaned in to kiss her, drinking of her lips for what felt like an eternity. Then he stepped away and lifted the cravat up to her neck, leaving it there, the tails hanging down over her breasts and all the way to her thighs.

Seeing her dressed in only that thin scrap of silk made his cock throb. He made quick work of his shirt, then leaned on the bed to remove his boots and trousers.

When he stood, she caught her breath as she stared at him. “I shall never get used to seeing you like that,” she murmured. “Not for a hundred years.”

“I hope not,” he teased as he backed toward the bed. “I always want to see that look of pure adulation on your face when you see my hard cock.”

Her eyes went wide and then she laughed. The musical sound filled the room, and once again everything was easy between them, as it had been in all the years they had pretended to be just friends. In that moment, he saw how beautiful their marriage could be. Or could have been if it had not started so very badly.

But he didn’t know how to repair it now. How to fix what was already done. How to make what they’d done be acceptable in any form.