Her family and the business were safe. Jess’s gamble had worked, and the thought alone was nearly enough to make her run through the countryside, clad only in her nightgown, shouting her relief.
Yet there was a cost. There always was.
In all the ways in which this scenario had taken shape in her imagination, losing her heart to a duke had never entered her mind.
Yet she had, and tonight would be her last night with him before she disappeared from his life forever.
Moonlight spilled into the hallway from tall, diamond-paned windows. Her body moved of its own accord, following a silent call. To him.
Jess paused outside his room. Just beneath the door, light flickered. Her heart leapt into her throat as she raised her hand to tap on the wood.
The door opened before she could make contact with it, revealing Noel. Firelight cast a glow around him, and in his untucked shirt, his waistcoat undone and his coat gone, he was in beautiful disarray. It looked as though he’d dragged his hands through his hair many times as he’d waited for her. Dark stubble emphasized his lips and the angles of his jaw, and his eyes were dark as mystery as he gazed at her.
Her breath caught. He was so beautiful. Even his damned bare feet were beautiful.
He held out a hand to her. She stared at it before sliding her palm into his.
Gently, firmly, he tugged her inside. He shut the door behind her. Locked it.
As she leaned against the door, he stepped close to her. His chest brushed against hers, and he cupped his hands around her hips. Their rough breaths mingled in the narrow space between them.
“Wasn’t certain you were coming,” he said, his voice low and sonorous.
She closed her eyes as the heat of him penetrated every last corner of her being. “I’m here now. For tonight. And then—”
“No need to speak of then. Let’s have now. Jess.” He growled her name as he brought up one of his hands to cradle her jaw. A man with such large hands should not have been able to touch her with this reverence, yet he did. He tilted her face up.
She lifted onto her toes and, wrapping her hands around the back of his neck, brought her mouth to his. Their lips opened to each other. They kissed long and deep, each stroke of their tongues urging need higher. It was a kiss that felt both familiar and astonishingly new, as though she’d crossed a doorway she had walked through a thousand times, to find not an expected comfortable room, but a chamber of wonders.
Her breasts grew tight and sensitive, her nipples firming into points that brushed against the unyielding expanse of his chest. His hips pressed into hers, and she was branded by the length of his arousal as it curved along her belly. Instinctively, she rocked against him. Small flares of pleasure lit inside her.
“Been hungering for you all day,” he growled. “Wanted to carry you off into the fields and fuck you beneath the sun.”
She made a low, needful sound, because she wanted that, too. “Tell me what you want now.”
“You. In all the ways I can have you.” He reached up and threaded his fingers with hers. “Tell me what to do. Command me.”
Without relinquishing their hold on each other, she pushed against his hands, putting a small distance between them.
“You want my commands?” At his nod, she said haughtily, “Show me your cock. Take it out.”
His nostrils flared and his jaw went taut—with arousal.
He took his hands from hers, and they trembled slightly as he worked the fastenings of his breeches to free his straining erection. It was thick and full and reached upward in a luscious curve. Already a tiny bead of moisture glossed the slit.
“Here’s my cock, Jess,” he growled. “Hard and aching. What shall I do with it? Order me to fuck you.”
“Not yet. Touch it. Let me see your hand stroking yourself.” The command was outrageous and deeply arousing to speak, but saying the words was nothing compared to watching him wrap his fingers around his shaft and pump. “Look at me while you do it.”
His gaze flew to hers, infinitely dark. Watching his face contort with pleasure brought slick heat between her legs and made her breasts heavy.
“What pace?” he rumbled. “I could fist my cock slowly, imagining I’m deliberately plunging deep into you. Or I could go hard and quick, pretending I’m fucking