Any Duchess Will Do (Spindle Cove #4)(27)

She pushed her bottom lip forward, considering. “I don’t know that I’ve ever suffered flutterings, your grace. Perhaps they’re unique to ladies of the higher classes. I don’t possess that sort of delicate feminine nature.”

He slid his hand to the back of her head, plunging his fingers through the raw silk of her hair. “Now that’s bollocks.”

And then he pulled her into a kiss.

Ah. So these were flutterings.

And this, Pauline gathered, was his idea of a proper kiss. An embrace with heat and purpose, and one that remained entirely in his command. He controlled the angle of her neck and the closeness of their bodies—and the slow, maddening rhythm of his tongue, sweeping between her lips again and again.

He kissed her forcefully, relentlessly, as though he were meting out some punishment she deserved. Twenty lashings with a strong, wicked tongue. Little could he suppose it was exactly what she wanted. What she craved, with every bone and sinew in her small, slender frame.

Yes. Thank you. May I have another.

Those few moments after she’d kissed him had been among the most miserable of her life. He’d acted so horrified and disturbed. She didn’t know what she’d been thinking to try it. Only that she was so grateful to him for opening this vast, invaluable library to her, a common serving girl. For listening to her most secret dreams without mocking them—and what’s more, perfecting them by giving her that brilliant, naughty idea.

He couldn’t know. He couldn’t know how much it meant.

And then he’d performed that dashing, heroic maneuver to break her fall.

When she saw him up close, a flash in his eyes gave her the strangest notion. That this was scarcely the first night he’d spent haunting the corridors, staying up much too late and far too alone. That he wasn’t nearly so put out by the interruption as he would have her believe.

That he might need a kiss—and a little rescuing, too.

Of course he’d walk a bed of nails barefoot rather than admit such a thing. She ought to have guessed how he’d react. All men had their pride, and dukes worst of all. “Admitting weaknesses” must rank with “tickle fights” and “slug hunting” in his list of least-favored activities.

So he’d struck back at her with this. A kiss that was controlled, masterful, possessive. And Pauline couldn’t say she minded in the least.

He held her to him so tightly, twisting one hand in the linen of her shift and making a snarl of her hair with the other. Later, she’d be brushing it until her arm ached, but it would be worth every last stroke. The sensations racing over her scalp danced on that delicious edge between pleasure and pain.

His chest was a solid wall of heat, inflaming her and bringing her ni**les to tight, needy peaks. Nothing separated their bodies but a few tissue-thin layers of linen, but still she couldn’t get close enough. She rubbed against him, hoping to soothe the ache. Pleasure arced straight to her core.

When she stretched her arms around his back, he growled in encouragement. The deep, vibrating sound traveled through her body and settled as a seductive hum between her thighs. She nestled closer still.

“That’s it,” he murmured against her lips. “That’s right.”

It was. The way they fit together felt so, so right.

He wasn’t kissing her any longer. They were kissing each other. Taking pleasure. Giving comfort. Learning one another’s taste.

His mouth gentled over hers, and his movements grew languid, playful. Their tongues partnered in a slow, sensual dance. She gripped the skin-warmed linen of his shirt, letting it glide between her fingertips. So supple, with so much strength beneath. A wild, feral curiosity seized her. She wanted to know everything about him. Was his body bronzed to match his face, or pale like carved marble? Did he have hair on his chest, or was it smooth?

What powered that fierce, drumming beat of his heart?

She told herself to stop the inquiries there, struggling to tether her imagination before it ventured further downward.

Apparently, he had no such concern.

He swept a bold, exploratory touch down her spine. A pleasant shiver chased his caress, skipping over her vertebrae. When he reached her bottom, his hand found a curve she didn’t know she had, and he claimed it with a possessive squeeze. She savored his moan of satisfaction.

How wonderful. She was used to thinking of her body as all points and angles, but he made her feel soft.

She’d never felt like this, not in all her life. So wanted, so desired. So needed, and by a man who shouldn’t need anything.

When he finally broke the kiss, he left her lips swollen and aching. The corner of her mouth was rasped raw by his whiskers, and she touched her tongue to it, coaxing the hurt. She’d be feeling this kiss for hours.

Possibly years.

He released a ragged sigh. “Simms. That was badly done of me.”

Pauline laughed a little. “If that was badly done, I’m not sure I’d survive your best effort.”

“No, no. It was badly done of me as your employer. I shouldn’t like you to think I make a habit of chasing the help.” He turned aside, scrubbing a hand through his dark hair. “When I want companionship, I have no difficulty finding it. I never need to s—”

“Sink to this?” Stung, she reached for the discarded counterpane. “If your aim is to let me down gently, you’re failing.”