“You would?”she whispered.
“I would.”He stepped to the side, turning toward her, and her head tilted back to hold his gaze.
The difference in their heights gave him a delightful view of her bosom as she sucked in a breath.He carefully slid one arm around her back, his other hand coming up to cup her chin and hold her in place.Had she ever been kissed before?Was he the first?
Not exactly questions he could ask a lady.
Matthew lowered his lips to hers.They were warm and soft beneath his, slightly parted, and he felt his desire stir at the tentative touch.In his arms, she felt even more fragile than before, so much smaller than him, yet when her hands came to rest on his arms, it felt as though her palms seared him through the fabric of his coat.
Her lips pressed more firmly against his.
She was kissing him back.
When his grip on her tightened, she gasped, and he slid his tongue between her lips, claiming her mouth with his own as a pulsing need for her awoke in him.He wanted her—badly.More than he thought he would, considering this was a marriage of convenience on both their parts.
But she was a beautiful woman.Thin, but soft against his body as they were pressed together.Her tongue was hesitant but willing.She tasted like sugar.And Matthew had not been with a woman in far too long, ever since he realized any woman in his bed might start getting ideas about staying there now that he’d inherited his title.
Johanna was going to be his duchess, though.
He was going to marry her the day after tomorrow.
Would it really be that bad to anticipate their vows…
The feeling of being watched crept along Matthew’s skin, raising the little hairs on the back of his neck and dashing cold water over his growing desire.
Lifting his head, he held Johanna upright as she gasped, shivering against him, and looked over her shoulder at the ghost-like waif standing at the end of the hallway staring at them.
Johanna
Reeling from the duke’s kiss, her body on fire with a thousand new sensations, it took Johanna a moment to realize he was no longer focused on her.His body stiffened, his arm still holding her up but no longer with the same kind of grip.She turned and saw Charlotte at the end of the hall, standing silent witness to Johanna’s first kiss, and heat bloomed in her cheeks.
“Charlotte!”Her voice sounded strange to her ears.Shriller than normal, certainly.But different in an ineffable way.The difference between a woman who had never been kissed and a woman who had just experienced a first kiss that had sent her senses flying.
Without saying a word, her youngest sister glided away, back out of sight.
Johanna groaned, turning back to the duke but unable to look him in the eye.She rested her forehead against his shoulder, closing her eyes.She’d dreamed of her first kiss—what young woman had not?—but she’d never expected it to be like that.With his body so hard and strong against hers, his lips demanding but gentle—and his tongue in her mouth!She also had not imagined what might come after, nor had she anticipated having it witnessed by her youngest sister.
“Is she always like that?”the duke asked hesitantly.He still had not stepped away, his arms were still around her, and Johanna had to admit she rather liked it.Especially as her body throbbed pleasantly, feeling as though her senses had awakened from slumber.
The sensations coursing through her made it difficult to focus on what he was saying.
“Like what?”she asked.
“Ah… she is a bit…”
“Creepy?”
“Well…”
The answer was yes, she could tell, but he was too much of a gentleman to say so.Johanna let out a long breath, straightening up.To her surprise and delight, he did not let go of her when she did but continued to hold her close against him.She could not escape his arms, and she did not want to.With her own hands still on his biceps, she could feel the strength of them beneath her fingers.Her breasts felt as though they were swelling against him, aching and needy, and there was a pulsing in her core that went along with the throbbing between her legs.
Johanna shivered as their gazes met.There was something hot and needy in his dark eyes, the same thing she’d seen right before he kissed her.
“Yes, she has always been that way,” she murmured.
“Ah.Well.”Rather than answering, his gazed dropped to her lips.Johanna leaned in.She desperately wanted him to kiss her again, but she did not know if she should say so.If she could say so.
Thankfully, that was all it took.
