The Duke Identity (Game of Dukes #1)(60)

Tessa’s head whirled. Bennett had never been a disclosing sort, and his revelations only raised more questions.

“You loved her?” she burst out.

“Yes.”

Beneath her bottom, Tessa felt his muscled thighs quiver like that of a stallion readying to bolt, and she asked in a rush, “Do you still love her?”

Bennett stared at her. “Bloody hell, no.”

Relief percolated through her. At least he wasn’t carrying a torch for this mystery woman.

“I’m glad. Because she doesn’t deserve your love,” she said frankly. “Any woman who’d relinquish your heart is a feather-wit.”

He tipped her chin up, looked into her eyes.

“You really believe that,” he murmured.

She nodded. “If you were to give me such a gift, I would never let it go.”

“Tessa…I don’t want to lie to you.” His voice was raw. “I don’t think I can open my heart that way again. That I could love that way again.”

“Oh,” she said faintly. What else could she say?

“I want you, I like you, and, God willing, when this mess is over, I’ll do the honorable thing by you, if you’ll have me.” His gaze was steady. “I would be faithful, committed to your happiness. And I’d lay down my life to protect yours. That is what I can promise you.”

Her heart thumped at Bennett’s proposal. While she might not have his love, she’d have his passion and devotion. How many women had that from their husbands?

Optimism burgeoned alongside joy. Bennett wanted to marry her. He liked her as she was.

I’ll earn his trust. Determination filled her. One day, he’ll put his heart in my safekeeping.

“I’ll have you,” she whispered.

His eyes darkened with hunger and other emotions she couldn’t name.

He growled, “Then you’re mine.”





21





Shoving his spectacles into his pocket, Harry claimed Tessa’s mouth. Tessa, being Tessa, kissed him back with a generous ardor that lay waste to his brain.

The fact that he was concealing his identity, that he had no idea how he would convince Tessa to marry him once he told her the truth (and never mind how her grandfather was going to react), that he wished he could offer her more than what he had…all worries were incinerated by the passion of their kiss.

There was only now. How sweet she tasted. How soft she was.

How perfectly her pert bottom nestled against his bulging cock.

For once, he was glad that she was dressed like a lad for it gave him easier access to what he wanted. What he craved. He tore off her jacket and cravat, burying his face in her neck, nuzzling the downy curve while his hand roved beneath the hem of her shirt. His palm covered one soft breast, his fingers playing with the budded tip, and she whimpered.

“You’re so sensitive,” he murmured. “I’d wager I could bring you to climax just by petting your breasts.”

“I’d put money on it,” she gasped.

His lips twitched at her candor. At the same time, guilt stabbed him at his mistreatment of her. His knee-jerk reaction had been wholly unfair; of the two of them, who was doing the true deceiving? Worse yet, he’d compared her with Celeste. Tessa had broken her word, true, but not to manipulate or hurt him. Her motivations had been pure, born out of loyalty and…love.

I’ve fallen in love with you, Bennett.

God, he didn’t deserve it. Didn’t deserve her.

And he bloody longed for the day when he could hear her call him by his real name. Still, he had her in his arms, and he wasn’t about to let opportunity go to waste. He pushed her shirt up; in the dim light, her skin gleamed like the finest alabaster. Her nipples were tight, beckoning rosebuds, and he leaned to suckle them.

Her hands clenched in his hair as he laved her eager tips. A minute later, she was panting, squirming in his lap. A minute and a half later, he unfastened her trousers, shoved his hand inside—and groaned at how ready she was. He slid a finger through her wet petals, finding and diddling her slick bud, and, a minute after that, she came.

He swallowed her cries, her shivers tightening his stones.

Staring at her pretty, flushed face, he reckoned Ambrose’s driver could circle a while longer. It was worth the risk to make Tessa come again for him, and, besides, it wouldn’t take long. For his sprite was as generous in her passion as she was in everything else. She gave him everything and held nothing back.

The thought made him randier than hell. He kissed the corner of her plump, decadent mouth. “Ready for another go, sweeting?”

Even though he knew the answer, when she whispered, “Oh, yes,” in the sultry voice of a woman who’s been thoroughly pleasured, he thought he might explode on the spot.

But he’d rather do that with his mouth between her legs, her sweet juice on his tongue.

“Lie back, love,” he instructed.

He lifted her from his lap, intending to lie her across the bench, but she wriggled out of his reach.

“I don’t want to,” she said firmly.

Not that he was surprised…but he was surprised. “Well. All right, I’ll tell the driver to—”

He broke off as she tossed her jacket onto the carriage floor by his boots. In a graceful movement, she went to kneel on top of the garment, making room for herself between his thighs. When her fingers started working on the placket of his trousers, he found his voice.