Lady Vivian Defies a Duke - By Samantha Grace Page 0,76

that she wanted him.

He nodded reluctantly. “You may do as you wish.”

Lifting her from the desk, he carried her to the settee and sat with her on his lap. She wiggled around until she was on her knees straddling him. She unfastened the front fall of his breeches. Her slender fingers circled and stroked him. He jumped and she jerked her hand back. Her wide eyes were filled with uncertainty.

“It’s all right,” he said then tried to kiss away her worries.

Her moist, warm skin touched him and he swallowed a groan. He wanted to be inside her. He moved against her, sliding along her slick flesh, fighting the urge to plunge deep. Taking her hand, he curled her fingers around him again and moved her hand up and down his length. She allowed him to guide her until she learned the rhythm and hold he preferred then he gave up control.

Every caress erased the day’s worries until all he could think of was her. Her flushed cheeks, parted lips, and seductive gaze held him in a suspended state he never wanted to leave. Yet he wanted her hovering there with him.

He swept his fingers between her thighs, stroking over her hardened pearl. She gasped and stopped moving for several heartbeats. Her breath came out in shallow rasps as he continued to coax her toward completion.

Pressing her hips forward, she made contact with him again. He hissed through clenched teeth. How easy it would be to end this torture and make her his, but he held back. Her hand began its pleasant teasing again, bringing him closer to coming just as he carried her toward her climax. Several more passes of her hand over his flesh and he surrendered. His eyes closed and he arched his back, his release hitting him hard. He moaned softly and laid his head against the seat back.

His fingers still played over her dewy skin. Vivian’s nails penetrated his lawn shirt, holding fast to his shoulder as she too neared her release. She sucked in a sharp breath and held it a second before it burst from her on the most alluring sound. The cries of a woman in ecstasy made even more beautiful because it came from the woman he loved.

As their breathing slowed, he brushed the hair from her eyes and cradled her face between his palms. A thousand thoughts raced through his mind as he gazed into her silver-blue eyes.

How much she meant to him.

How blessed he was to have found her.

How grateful he was that she hadn’t turned away from him when she learned of his weakness.

But the words that formed on his tongue seemed trite. There were no words to express the depth of his feelings for Vivian, so he told her the only way he knew how.

He kissed her again.

10 September 1818

Dear Duchess of Foxhaven,

I had the good fortune of making His Grace’s acquaintance recently in Dunstable. Clearly, he is an honorable gentleman. Despite my close friendship with Lady Ashden, my conscience cannot allow me to hold my tongue when an upstanding member of the nobility is in danger of being duped. It gives me no pleasure to inform you, Madame, that your son’s betrothed is a lady of loose morals. I have personal knowledge of her involvement with a servant once under the employ of Lady Vivian Ashden’s cousin, Lady Brighthurst.

I would be happy to journey to Irvine Castle as a witness to the lady’s immoral behavior and bear testimony. His Grace should not be held to a promise given without sufficient knowledge of his intended’s reprehensible habits. I could set out for Northumberland immediately once your invitation arrives. I am certain we shall get on quite well once we have met.

Your humble servant,

Mrs. Virgil Honeywell

Twenty-three

Luke entered his mother’s chambers with a mixture of elation after his night with Vivian and worry for his mother. He hadn’t doubted Miss Truax’s account of Mother’s cause for insomnia, necessarily. He simply needed to see his mother for himself.

When Mother had found his father the morning after he had passed, it had shaken her badly. Father had slipped away sometime in the night after retiring to bed early with complaints of a stomachache. She had blamed herself for allowing him to sleep alone that evening, but there would have been nothing she could have done to save him. Likely she wouldn’t have known anything was amiss, for the doctor had said he’d gone peacefully in his sleep. This did not stop Mother’s