“Show them to me,” Darius commanded, his dark tone full of hunger.
Meredith knew what he meant. Feeling a mixture of shyness and excitement, she unfastened the ties of her chemise. The thin fabric gaped open, hinting at her breasts more.
“Show me.” His growl sent her hands flying to her chemise, both desperate to obey and wanting the same thing just as much.
She pulled the neck of her chemise open further, exposing her breasts to his view.
“They are magnificent,” he rasped before he dipped his neck to nuzzle the swells. Meredith gasped. Her breasts grew achy and heavy from Darius’s attentions. He kissed his way to one nipple, tasting the pink peak between his lips and sucking. She dug her hands into his hair, holding his head to her breasts as a wild pulsing started between her thighs. She began to murmur the word yes over and over again, just as he predicted.
He chuckled against her skin, the rich sound of his sensual delight healing her lonely soul in a way she’d never imagined.
“Never hide these from me, my darling.” Darius breathed before he gave her other breast his undivided attention.
She vowed she never would. Not from him. The feel of his mouth, the pressure of that sucking sensation was so wicked and oh so wonderful. She knew little of lovemaking, other than what the maids had mentioned in passing over the years at Uncle Ben’s house, but she trusted Darius to be a masterful lover. One who would teach her what she was supposed to do. He gently bit one nipple before licking away the sting, then raised his head to look at her.
“I wish you could see yourself the way I do, Meredith. You upon my lap, breasts rosy from my mouth, cheeks flushed and your hair a wild, colorful tumble down your shoulders. You are an erotic dream like no other.” His words shot straight to her heart. How could she be a dream for this man? He was her dream.
“I want to touch you.” She bit her bottom lip, hoping he would not deny her. She couldn’t forget the feeling of him lying atop her in his bed. She wanted to know that gentle weight of his body once more, to have the freedom to feel him and touch him.
“Then undress me,” Darius said, his smile encouraging.
She tried not to hesitate, fearing he might come to his senses and change his mind. She worked her hands in the fold of his coat and pushed it off his shoulders. He shrugged the garment off, then settled her firmly over his lap so that she straddled him. Her skirt spooled around her waist as she reached for his waistcoat. Her excitement at seeing him without his clothes only heightened the clumsiness of her fingers. She threaded the buttons through their slits with trembling fingers, all the while feeling his heavy gaze upon her.
Meredith lifted her eyes as she pushed his waistcoat open and he slid his arms out of it. Her hands moved down his chest to his breeches. She curled her fingers in the white lawn fabric of his shirt and tugged it free from his pants. Then she lifted it over his head.
There. He was bare skinned and so was she, at least above the waist. She leaned against him, her soft breasts brushing against the hard planes of his chest. She touched her lips lightly to his, making him chuckle.
“Open your mouth and I shall show you how a wicked man kisses,” he said, his tone low and husky.
She parted her lips, and he slid his tongue inside, thrusting in and out. She could feel her body respond to that rhythm on a purely instinctual level. As wicked as he was, there was infinite tenderness in all of his actions toward her. This was what she had been waiting for since she had first met him. This connection, this passion. She had just never imagined it would feel so overwhelming. Kissing Darius slowed her world to a stop. Even the rain seemed to hang suspended in the air. For a moment, she and Darius existed in a sacred realm between worlds.
“As much as I could kiss you like this all night … I made a vow to do wicked things to you.” Darius feathered his lips over hers once more, then placed his hands on her waist and lifted her up. He set her down on the settee and knelt on the ground at her feet, his hands on her knees.
“Wha…what are you doing, Your Grace?” Meredith asked, more than a little nervous as he pushed her skirts up to bare her thighs and nudged her legs apart.
“Hush and lie back, darling.” He spread her legs even further and placed one of her calves over his shoulder. His hands were gentle, but his palms were slightly rough. She wondered how it was that a duke acquired calluses? Lord, those palms felt good on her sensitive skin. He moved closer, his warm breath coasting along her inner thighs. She realized he could see her there, that part of her body that he shouldn’t see.
“Hush,” he soothed. “I’m going to kiss you again, right here.”
Darius placed a soft, tender kiss on her inner thigh, which felt wonderful. For a moment, she forgot that he could see the most secret part of her. But then his mouth moved and his tongue swirled around the sensitive bud of her arousal. She jerked and moaned as he tasted her with his tongue.
“Oh … oh my …” Meredith panted, trying to process the rush of sensations that Darius’s mouth had given her. She wanted more, she?—
Stars burst across her eyes as an unexpected burst of pleasure exploded inside her. She slumped against the back of the settee, relaxed, and utterly pleased in the most silly, scandalized way she could imagine. She stared at the roof of the gazebo above her, lost for words.
“That’s it, my gorgeous girl,” he said as he kissed her thigh again, then lightly sank his teeth into the flesh there in a playful bite that made her gasp. Aftershocks rippled through her, and Darius, damn him, only laughed, knowing full well what that playful bite had done to her.
“You, sir, are most wicked,” Meredith protested.
Darius spread her legs wider as he moved up her body so that he now rested on the settee between her legs. He reached down to unfasten his breeches and slid them down just past his hips before he settled into the cradle of her thighs. She didn’t have a chance to say anything before he stole her mouth in a raw, ruthless kiss that drove all other thoughts from her mind.
“It is London’s mistake for thinking me a gentleman, when I am anything but.” He bit her bottom lip, tugging on it lightly, then released it. She could only look at him in wonder and arduous longing.
“Are we … finished?” she asked, uncertain of what should happen next.
“Far from it, my dear.” He slanted his mouth over hers again, with another mind-numbing kiss that left the rest of the world behind them. Her legs spread wider, her skirts bunching beneath her breasts. Darius broke their kiss, and he pressed his forehead to hers as he shifted closer to her. Something hard began to nudge at her sex.
“I’m sorry, love,” he murmured.
