When a Duke Loves a Governess (Unlikely Duchesses #3) - Olivia Drake Page 0,78

lips. Devil take it, he hadn’t spared a thought for her innocence. What knowledge could she have had of lovemaking with no female relatives to inform her?

Bracing his hands on either side of her tumbled curls, he reined in his urges with great effort while nuzzling her stricken features. “Forgive me, dearest. Are you all right?”

As she cautiously wiggled her hips, the bud of a smile began to bloom on her lips and the ardent fire again lit her eyes. “Yes, perfect.” She pressed a lingering kiss to his jaw. “I never imagined anything so wonderful, Guy … we are truly one.”

Truly one.

Those adoring words wrapped around his heart and intensified the scorching demands of his loins. Abandoning thought and reason to the irresistible allure of passion, he thrust into her slowly at first to ensure her pleasure. Much to his gratification, Tessa displayed an eager readiness, and her enthusiasm made his own excitement build to a fever pitch.

As she lifted her hips to receive him, he drove harder and quicker until she was gasping, begging, moaning as they moved in perfect rhythm. The delicious torture grew for timeless moments until her ecstatic cry of release hurled him to the edge. Only by a thread of awareness did he have the presence of mind to withdraw to spill his seed in hot spurts of rapture against her thigh.

The blissful pulsations waned, leaving him sprawled with Tessa in a haze of idyllic exhaustion. In unison with his, her rapid heartbeat gradually evened out along with her erratic breaths. She snuggled her cheek against his shoulder as her desultory fingers stroked over his back. He could not recall a time when he had ever felt so perfectly replete.

We are truly one.

No, they were not one, Guy knew with a pang. She had said that while in the throes of desire and must soon recall the impossibility of their situation. But he was feeling too good to spoil the moment with thoughts of tomorrow.

He raised his head slightly to give her a lazy grin. “I hope our tryst has met with Cinderella’s approval,” he said, brushing a spun-gold lock of hair from her cheek. “Though I fear you’ve fractured the story again.”

“How so?”

“I very much doubt,” he said, tracing her rosy lips with his finger, “that Cinderella seduced the prince. Not, of course, that I’ve any objection.”

Her eyes sparkled like stars. “It seems to me that we seduced each other. I merely helped by shutting the door.”

He chuckled. “Minx. So that artful stumble was done on purpose.”

Tessa regarded him with a flirtatious tilt of her head. “Naturally. I knew that you wouldn’t have closed it.”

Guy marveled at how often she managed to surprise him. It was one of the many traits that set her apart from other women. “Allow me to express just how thrilled I am that you did.” He lifted her hand to his lips and grazed a kiss across her knuckles. “Now, if you’ll wait here a moment.”

He disentangled himself and walked across the study to fetch a folded handkerchief from an inner pocket of his coat. On his return, Tessa reclined on her elbow while eyeing his naked form. There was a furtive quality to her scrutiny that stirred tenderness in him. For all her boldness, she could also display a natural shyness that wrapped silken threads around his heart.

Sentiment was a dangerous quagmire, he reminded himself. It was best to view this encounter as a moment out of time. An infatuation and nothing more.

Turning his mind to a more practical matter, Guy sat down beside her and gently wiped away the remnants of their union. “I took care not to spill my seed in you. So there shall be no consequences nine months from now.”

Her eyes widened, and she brought her arm across her bare bosom. “I hadn’t considered…”

“Passion has a way of overriding rational thought. I believe we both can attest to that.”

He also knew that was precisely why they could not continue to meet like this. It was unfair of him to take any risks with her future. In fact, by society’s standards, he should dismiss her from his employ. Yet he couldn’t—wouldn’t—do so. Tessa oughtn’t suffer for his own breach of conduct. And losing her was not something he wished even to contemplate.

As he leaned forward to lift her arm from her beautiful bosom, Guy’s attention was caught by a glint of gold. Her necklace had fallen to one side and hung suspended over the