The Mad, Bad Duke (Nvengaria #2)(52)

Behind her knelt another man, his face obscured by darkness. His hands were between Alexander and Meagan, holding Meagan’s breasts while he kissed her neck. Alexander had no idea who the other man was and was too far gone to care. The heat of their bodies, the scent of sex, and the intense feeling of losing himself in Meagan blotted out the rest of the world.

And then Alexander was standing, cold and out of breath, back in the dining room, his hands hard on Meagan’s shoulders. She stared at him in shock, eyes wide, red lips parted, and he knew she’d had the vision too.

“Oh,” she said. “So that is what they do.”

Alexander scraped her close, binding her flat against his body. “I do not want another man touching you. Not ever. Not ever. You are mine, Meagan, and I will keep every man away from you, even if I have to fight them all.”

She lifted her face, her eyes dusky. He smelled desire on her like night flowers. “But you just said that I should calmly discuss my lovers with you.”

She was smiling. Meagan knew what was in his heart, damn her. She saw straight through him, something no one, not even Sephronia, had ever done.

“To hell with what I said.” Alexander lifted her into his arms, and she looked quite pleased about that. “I will murder any man who touches you.”

Meagan pressed a warm kiss to his cheek. “Now that is much more satisfying.”

Alexander knew he should leave her and let the love spell play out and not risk stirring the beast lurking below his surface. But he wanted her and he’d been keeping himself from her, and she was warm in his arms.

He carried her to the table, sweeping away silver and crystal with his strong arm, not caring when things shattered on the floor. Meagan smiled, her eyes half-closed as he set her down, not in the least worried about what he would do.

“You are the only woman who has ever dared laugh at me,” he said as he skimmed her skirt up her legs.

“It was rude, but I could not help myself. Poor Alexander.” She touched his face.

“I love it when you laugh.” Alexander stroked his fingers up the softness of her stocking, finding the heat of her bare thighs above them. Her skin was smooth, soft, worth touching. “You may pour wine on me anytime, if it makes you look like that.”

Meagan threaded her fingers around his neck. “You are sweet.”

He firmed his touch. “And no woman has ever dared call me sweet.”

Meagan’s eyes grew soft. “Then you have not met the right women. You are the sweetest man in the world, Alexander.”

Alexander began to laugh. He remembered the looks on the faces of the English king and several cabinet ministers yesterday when they’d tried to slide in a clause to a treaty that said Nvengaria would sell England its gold at a ridiculously low price. When he’d spied it among the tiny print and made his feelings known, he doubted that rotund George would have called Alexander the sweetest man in the world.

He leaned down and touched a kiss to the tip of Meagan’s nose. “The love spell has rendered you a little bit mad, I think.”

“I know that. But you are sweet. You could have had your way with me and simply left me to my ruin.” Meagan’s touch on his neck, under his hair, sent fires curling down his spine.

“Instead I married you so I could have my way with you any time I liked,” Alexander growled.

“Mmm, that sounds nice.”

Alexander tugged loose the top of the silk bodice, the black net of which shimmered against her beautiful body. He skimmed the bodice down, baring her breasts that thrust over the top of her stays. He brushed his fingers over the cushion of her breasts then leaned down and licked from there to the hollow of her throat.

Meagan tasted like heady wine and the salt of warm skin. Alexander had always made love to women only to sate basic needs, but he’d never been elaborate. He’d returned pleasure for pleasure, but gone no deeper.

Now he wanted to do everything with Meagan he’d ever thought about or read about, the wilder the better. Alexander had learned many pleasuring techniques when he’d studied in the cult of Eros as a young man but had only ever used a fraction of them. He wanted to try every single technique on Meagan and have her try a few on him. He wanted to explore new positions … for instance, on the edge of a dining room table.

The love spell made his beautiful wife perfectly willing. She kissed him warmly as he pulled her skirts up to bare her hips and the beautiful warmth between her thighs. She sighed as his fingers found her opening, her honey flowing over his hands.

“Remember what I said in the gardens?” Alexander said, trying to keep his voice from shaking. “That if I ever hurt you, you say, Stop, Alexander, and I will stop.”

Meagan nodded, heat in her eyes. “I remember. And then you made me feel the most amazing things.”

Alexander let out a raw laugh. “I want to make you feel amazing things again and again.” His voice went savage. “Every day and every night for the rest of our lives. I want to give you so much pleasure that you will never think to take a paramour.”

Meagan’s eyes widened, and he saw teasing in them. “What about when the love spell wears off? Will you want to pleasure me every day then?”

Alexander rubbed his thumbs over the red curls between her legs until Meagan dragged in a sharp breath.

“How could I not?” Alexander asked, his heart in the question. He kissed the fiery line of her hair. “How could I not want you, my Meagan?”