“Are you jealous?” she asked suddenly. “Is that what this is?”
The side of Alexander’s mouth twitched.
“Because one can only associate this sort of behavior with a jealous man,” she continued. “I had my doubts but now I am beginning to think that this is yet another thing that I do not know about you. You get jealous, in secret, and then take it out on me without telling me the real reason behind what you feel.”
Penelope made a move to turn away, not to leave but just enough to reclaim her footing. But he reached out and caught her wrist before she could take a single step.
“If you think about going next to him again…” he started.
Him?He was still thinking of her brief interaction with Oliver?
“You’ll what?” She turned, challenging him now. She wanted to see how far she could push it, in order for his real feelings to come out into the open. “What will you do if I decide to go seek him out downstairs now, and laugh at what he says?”
She meant none of it, of course. It was only a way to get him to react. For a moment, he was impossibly still. She worried that she had said too much, and that it was actual fury that was consuming him now.
“You will do no such thing,” Alexander growled in a manner that was so primal that it made her shake. Without warning, he pulled her closer to him, roughly. And then his mouth was on hers.
He was kissing her. Penelope could not believe it. The duke was kissing her! There was no hesitation in the kiss either, his lips were moving with determination.
Penelope, who had never before been kissed by a man, had expected that her first kiss would be a gentle one. But there was nothing careful about the way that Alexander was embracing her. It was almost like he was trying to stake a claim.
You’re mine.His words ran through her mind, over and over. They seemed to match the kiss perfectly, which she now felt herself melting into. Her body reacted on its own accord, and kissed him back. Though his own intensity was difficult to match.
For a moment, she forgot why she had been angry at all. Or why they wasted so much time arguing when they could simply be doing this instead.
This was much better, and Penelope did not dare pull away.
It lasted only a moment, but it felt like an eternity had passed when they finally broke apart. Penelope noticed that Alexander’s breathing was coming out faster now, as was hers.
“You…” she brought a hand to her lips. “You kissed me.”
Alexander muttered something underneath his breath, and then rubbed the side of his temples.
“You provoked me,” he said. “I need to remind you that you are my wife, and that you belong to me.”
His words were so possessive that it sent a shiver down Penelope’s spine. Except, instead of growing annoyed by them, she found herself getting excited instead.
“I belong to you?” she repeated.
“Yes,” he did not miss a single beat. “You belong to me, and if you decide to do anything to challenge that… ”
“You will kiss me again?” she said, smiling now. The tension from earlier had broken, and there was a strange euphoria in the air. “Is that meant to be a threat?”
“It is,” he said, though he was smiling now as well.
“And what if I enjoyed it?”
His eyes darkened at the words, and for a moment, she wondered if he was going to pull her back in for a second kiss. She would not mind that, in the very least.
But then a small party of guests stepped out into the balcony, and their private moment was ruined. Alexander cleared his throat at this, straightening his back.
She noticed the front of his shirt had crumbled, and a blush formed on her cheeks as she realized that she had been the cause of it. It was from where her hands had gripped him tightly, pulling him closer to her.
“Your Grace,” she said to him, and then made a move to adjust the front of his coat. Alexander protested initially, and then caught on to what she was trying to do, his own mouth twisting into a smirk.
“Are you trying to hide evidence?” he asked her once she was done.
Penelope scoffed. “I am trying to make you presentable so that thetondoes not have a fresh round of gossip after you leave this balcony.”
