Her Favorite Duke (The 1797 Club #2)(63)

He smiled at her. “Having second thoughts?”

She thought on that question. It felt like it contained more power to it than just a teasing question about going into the lake. She held out her hand and shook her head. “No.”

He laughed as he kicked out of his trousers and she caught her breath at the sight of him, naked. It had been several days since the last time she saw him like this. Made love to him. Now all she could do was stare and marvel at his physical perfection. All that muscle, all that taut skin stretching across it. God, he was perfect.

When she bit her lip, his cock hardened and she jerked her gaze to his face to find him staring at her expectantly. “Swim or something else?” he asked, teasing and seductive all at once.

She slipped her chemise off so she was as naked as he was, and reveled in the way his pupils dilated with need. Her breath short, she moved closer and brushed her lips against his neck. “Both.”

He chuckled low in his throat, then surprised her by sweeping her into his arms and carrying her into the water. He tossed her in and she squealed in pleasure as she hit the cool water and submerged. When she paddled to the surface, he was waiting for her, already wet, his hair slicked back from where he’d dunked himself.

She splashed him as she laughed and he dove in her direction. She backstroked away just as swiftly, kicking as she laughed in a way she hadn’t allowed herself to do for years.

“Little minx,” he sputtered as she hit him square in the face with a wave of water. He lunged and caught her ankle, dragging her toward him.

She wrapped her arms around his neck as he flattened her to his chest, and suddenly her laughter faded. So did his. They bobbed together, her wet breasts pressing against his chest, his cock making itself known in the space between their bodies.

“I missed you,” he whispered.

She smiled. “I’ve been here all along.”

He shook his head. “But I haven’t. I admit that. All those years, we became such good friends, and I loved that. But I also pushed you further and further away because I knew you’d be taken from me. It became a habit to distance myself.”

“To protect yourself,” she suggested softly.

“Yes, I suppose so. And since we wed, I’ve done it even more. Out of some sense of guilt and disappointment in myself. But also out of fear that you would stop loving me. That I would let you down if you got too close. And I’ve missed my best friend.”

“Graham?” she murmured, her heart throbbing at all these things he said and admitted.

He cupped her chin. “My best friend was always you.”

He kissed her, his wet lips claiming hers, his tongue taking deeply and completely. She shuddered against him, her nails digging into his broad shoulders as he caught her legs and wrapped then around his waist in the water.

“And now I want to do things to you that are not something friends do,” he murmured, his voice rough.

She shifted and felt his cock pressed at her entrance. “Like this?” she asked as she slid lower and took him inside of her on smooth thrust.

He rested his forehead on hers. “Oh yes, most definitely that.”

Their panting breaths merged as they rocked their hips together. The slick slide of him, the water sloshing around them, the way his hips rubbed against her pelvis, stimulating her clitoris, it was all perfect. She lifted into him, kissing him deeply as the pleasure built and built and finally she spasmed out her pleasure.

He followed swiftly after, groaning out her name as he pumped his release deep inside of her. He kept her in his arms, their bodies intertwined as he carried her through the water, still kissing. Her legs were still locked around him as he exited the lake.

He set her on the blanket carefully and then moved the food so none would spill before he took a place beside her, laying on his back, both still utterly naked. The afternoon sun warmed her wet flesh as she stared up at him.

“I can only imagine the reaction if we’d done that at that picnic all those years ago.” She said with a laugh.

He didn’t join her in her laughter. “Life certainly would have been very different if I’d taken that chance.” He glanced at the water. “Well, perhaps not that one. But the chance to say something then.”

She sat up and kissed him. “Come on, I’m hungry. Let’s eat, yes?”

He nodded and they dove into the food before them, but she could see he was still troubled by all the talk about the past. And in truth, so was she. For there was more to discuss before they could move on to what the future held for them.





Meg was smiling as she and Simon approached the caretaker cottage together hours after their passionate encounter in the lake. He smiled, too, though he knew he had a long way to go still to earn Meg back. He’d made headway, of course. She had opened herself to him, allowed him in as they talked as well as when they made love, but he knew her hesitance remained.

He opened the door and they were met with warmth and delicious scents. The servants had done as he’d asked—a fire now burned in the hearth and a fresh basket of food was set on the table. She laughed as she looked at him. “Did you hire sprites to do these things and then disappear?”

He shrugged. “If I told you all my secrets, I would no longer be mysterious and you’d bore of me. Now, why don’t you go into the bedroom? If my sprites have done as they were asked, then you should have a bath waiting for you.”