For whatever reason, she was not here out of cold desire, out of a wish to simply increase her coin. No, shelikedhim, somehow. She was ready for this. For him.
She did want this…him. And he was not going to stand in her way. Enough men had stood in her way.
Garret wrapped his arms about her, holding her tightly to him. He stroked her hair back from her face and again took her mouth in a fierce kiss. She breathed a moan of pleasure against his lips, and he allowed his hands to wander to her back, tracing over her shoulders, down to her waist.
And he knew that this was a moment of his life he would not forget nor go back from, for he had never taken a young lady outside of wedlock.
But he was not misleading her.
He was not doing anything that he should not. She’d offered herself freely, and he was taking. And he found, bloody hell… he found that he had not felt so much hunger, so much desire or so much intensity in years.
Every moment was a revelation, unlike anything she’d ever experienced before. As it should be.
After all, she’d never seized her entire existence in her hands before. Her fate had always been laid out before her, without any acquiescence to her own desires.
She’d always been instructed on what needed to be done, but in this moment in his chamber, she felt powerful.
Catherine stood before the fire.
The duke turned her slowly to face the flames, slipped her cloak from her shoulders, and quickly undid the back of her gown and stays. He worked the pins at the front and slid the fabric all the way down to her ankles.
He then knelt before her, his linen towel barely clinging to his sculpted waist. Slowly, he slid his hands to her stockinged ankles. He met her gaze and the heat that flickered there made her breath catch in her throat.
Something liquid, like hot honey, melted through her in that moment. He slid his hands oh so slowly up her ankles to her calves. He massaged them gently, then he stroked upwards, his fingertips skimming her inner thighs and dancing over the ribbons which tied her stockings to her legs, and then again upward.
He trailed his hands under her chemise before he stood slowly, bringing the garment up with him.
In one gesture, he whipped it over her head. He let the thin but practical garment whoosh to the Axminster carpet, leaving her in nothing but her stockings before the fire.
The warmth from those flames teased over her body, matching the heat growing within her.
Desire… this was desire. And she loved it.
Her nipples hardened as he stroked her back.
Garret closed the distance between them, standing behind her.
She felt his linen towel fall to the floor in a soft ripple of fabric.
His strong thighs pressed against her bottom, and she felt the hard evidence of his desire pushing against her lower back. Hard and strong and hungry for her.
The duke wrapped his arms about her then and kissed the nape of her neck softly, slowly. He palmed her breasts, teasing her nipples as he slowly pressed open-mouth kisses down her shoulder.
As each touch evoked more and more need, he stroked his hands along her waist and over her hips.
To her shock, he slipped one hand between her thighs, cupping her most intimate place, and she gasped with astonishment.
And then his fingers, his clever fingers, began to work some unknown magic on her.
They circled and stroked, causing the most wicked feelings to dance through her. She could barely hold still as he circled those fingers, finding moisture, teasing it over her slick folds.
She dropped her head back against his chest, and he did not relent until, with his free hand, he reached up and cupped her chin, turning her head up toward his.
Garret devoured her mouth with a slow kiss.
And as his tongue teased hers, his fingers pressed between her legs. She gasped against his mouth as ripple after ripple of pure pleasure coursed through her body. He swallowed up her cry then, but he held her upright with his hard form.
Before she could say another word, he lowered them to the ground before the crackling fire. He parted her thighs, gazed down into her eyes, and said, “This is what you want?”