She tilted her face to his. “Do not walk away, Edmond.”
Eyes filled with raging emotions glared at Adel.
“Tell me what you meant about me dying.”
His muscles tensed, and she tightened her hands at his nape.
“My wife died in childbirth.”
Adel bit into her bottom lip, hard enough to draw blood. “I am deeply sorry,” she said hoarsely.
His mien grew even colder. “She was much more voluptuous than you but even so she forfeited her life.”
The mad duke killed his wife. She remembered the vile whisper. How could society blame him? She wanted to ask, but the question lodged in her throat. “It does not stand to reason I would suffer the same fate, if that is your concern,” Adel whispered.
He flinched. Then he closed his eyes, and tipped back his head to rest against the wall baring the corded column of his throat. The move forced her to lift herself more on her toes so that she could maintain her hold on his neck. What was he thinking?
“Edmond, I—”
His eyes snapped open and the raw torment in his gaze strangled her words. Her heart pounded ferociously, and it was as if his will pressed in on her, encouraging her to release him. Slowly, she slid her hands from around his neck and fisted them to her sides.
His dark eyes never left hers and the distress in them swelled, and spilled forth crashing over her senses. Her limbs trembled. It was as if she could feel his raging pain. Impossible.
Later, she would never be able to say what had possessed her. It could have been the need to wipe the grief from his eyes, or to just offer comfort, or maybe she just wanted to kiss him. Either way Adel reached up and pressed her lips to his.
The fleeting touch of his lips to hers was devastating. Adel stood transfixed for a timeless instant. His taste, his scent… Shock exploded through her. She was no longer even slightly soused, so her reaction was beyond alarming. The intensity was nerve-wracking. Good Lord. Then he shifted, cradling her cheeks into his large palms, and his lips parted. His touch was sinfully alluring.
He used one of his thumbs to part her lips. Then Edmond took her lips in a kiss that was at once domineering and tender, with a seductive ruthlessness. Adel helplessly responded. She gasped, and he swallowed it as she sagged against him. His mouth settled more possessively over hers, his tongue urging her lips to part wider to his wonderful assault. On a moan she surrendered and he plundered.
Glorious heavens.
Pleasure dark and stormy filled her veins. His hands stroked her jaw, over to her collarbone, down to the underside of her breast and around to her back and down to her backside, which he gripped tightly in his large hands…and squeezed. His touch wasn’t considerate of her innocence, and Adel shivered in his embrace.
He drew her closer, and she gasped into his mouth at the hard length that pressed in through his trousers and branded her stomach.
“Wrap your legs around my waist,” he whispered harshly, pulling his lips from hers.
She tried to comply, but the length of the nightgown tangled her legs. With a muttered curse, he swung her into his arms, his rapid stride taking them over to the massive bed in the center of his chamber. What was happening? Was he forgoing all he’d just said?
Before she could foolishly question him, he took her lips once more, tumbling with her to the massive but lush bed, careful to keep his weight on his forearms.
Oh! Her heart jerked in trepidation and excitement. The drugging kisses he pressed to her mouth were scrambling her brain. Who knew kisses could feel this wonderful? She fisted her fingers through the thick strands of his hair, and melded her mouth to his. Their teeth clinked, and he pulled from her with a rough pained chuckle.
“Easy,” he whispered, dragging his lips roughly down her cheek, then neck, where he nibbled. The firestorm of sensations that peaked in the low of her stomach were surely unnatural, wanton, and gloriously unladylike.
She inhaled, trying to control the chaotic hunger that had erupted in her body, and the nerves determined to rear their head.
There was restrained power in the touch that gripped her nightgown and pushed it to her waist. His thumb dragged against the inside of her thighs creating little sparks of sensations that shot directly to the throbbing flesh between her legs.
Adel breathed raggedly. Edmond kept his face buried in her neck, his body tight with tension. What was he thinking?
The confusion bubbling inside her was enough to have tears prickling behind her lids. She parted her lips to speak and then he shifted, cupping the most intimate part of her. The breath puffed from her mouth in a painful burst and then she stilled.
It took her a few seconds to realize they were both frozen, and the furious pounding against her breastbone was not only her heart.
His hand moved and one finger slid through her alarming wetness.
He groaned, and she swallowed. Then with a virulent curse, he leapt from her. “Forgive my lapse in control, it will not happen again.” Then he turned to stride from the room.