Hold Your Breath 01 - Stone Devil Duke (24 page)

Devin
went silent, his body still.

Aggie prayed for
lightning, she needed to see his face. Excruciating minutes passed, but when the light flashed, she took in every line of Devin’s face reflected in the glass. He stared straight ahead into the rain, a set mask of hardness. He was waiting for judgment.

Judgment she had no right to entertain.

As still as possible, she took a deep breath, struggling to gain control of her emotions, to quell the shards that ran through her stomach, to stop the flow of tears staining her face. Her tears would not be seen as lamenting all a young boy had lost. No, Devin would see the tears as pity. And she would not give him a reason to believe she pitied him.

After long moments of s
ilence, Aggie regained control. She turned around, balancing on her knees between his legs. She placed a hand on each of his thighs.

Aggie watched
Devin’s averted eyes, waiting patiently. After a few blinks, he dropped his gaze to her, meeting her eyes.

“You cannot forgive
yourself, can you?”

Surprise crossed his face
and, after a few seconds, he shook his head.

“And you cannot forget either, can you?”

Devin closed his eyes for a long moment. His chest rose and fell in deep breaths. Breaths that harbored the weight of unyielding demons. He shook his head again, giving a tortured exhale.

Aggie near
doubled over from the anguish she saw etched on his face.

S
he lifted her right hand and laid it gently along his jaw. “Then I will watch the rain with you.”

Without waiting for him to o
pen his eyes, without asking for answer, Aggie turned back around, tucked her feet under her, and wrapped her arms around Devin’s leg.

She set her head on his thigh
, and watched the rain hit and roll down the glass before her.

~~~

She was asleep now. Her head, lighter before, was now heavy on his thigh, but her arms still gripped tightly about his leg. Her breathing was light, even.

Devin
mindlessly caressed her hair as he stared down at her. He had looked at nothing else but her since she had turned back around several hours ago.

She hadn’t pitied him.
She made no demands for him to forget all he had been through. And she hadn’t branded him a coward or a monster. Not as so many others had done.

She had simply accepted what he had said, and stayed.

The only other person who had ever accepted him and what he had been through, without judgment, was Killian. And he would not think twice about doing anything for Killian, including death. But Devin also knew Killian would never abuse that loyalty.

Devin
’s chest tightened. Here was this slip of a girl, who took the truth and then simply accepted him. She was either in love with him, or was the best actress in the world.

It was the latter that had
been holding him hard against letting her into that hollow spot in his chest. Even as she scratched, day after day, to get in there.

Damn.
What she could do to him. What his mother had done to his father.

Mind firing, he couldn’t stop the unknowns. What if she grew tired of him? What if he turned into
a decaying, raging shell like his father? Unbearable. What if she took on a lover? The last question hit him hard, and a large lump formed in his throat as anger he could barely suppress gripped him.

Devin
looked hard at the top of Aggie’s head, willing her to wake up and promise over and over that, no, she would never have another man, and no, she would never leave him. He stilled his hand in her hair, shaking as he fought against grabbing her shoulder to wake her and demand the oaths from her.

He
r breath caught with a tiny twitch through her body, and Devin froze. She shifted, arms tightening around his leg as she nuzzled her head in his lap. Back to sleep. Back to peace.

She had given everything to him. Her b
ody. Her heart. Her trust.

All he had to do was give her a chance.

The defining moment in Devin’s life, and all the horror of it, slipped from his mind.

He was staring down his new
defining moment.

T
his one he wasn’t going to screw up.

Devin
leaned down and gently picked Aggie up. He stood, walking out of the study with Aggie still sleeping in his arms. A sudden crash of lightning made him pause and look back at the windows.

It was raining harder than ever. And he didn’t care.

He had a wife to wake up and make love to.

He was on top of her, his body hot, his flesh pressing into hers. Mouth on her neck, attacking. Aggie’s eyes flew open. This was nothing like what
Devin had done to her a few hours ago. Or what she thought he did, she couldn’t be sure if that had been dream or reality.

She remembered falling asleep
in the study, watching the rain, but then waking up in bed, naked, his lips on the small of her back.

In and out of
lucidity she slid, arching against his mouth, his fingers on every part of her body. Gentle, exploring, worshipping each morsel of her skin. Tongue on her belly. Stubbled chin on her inner thigh. Fingertips massaging the muscles in her back. No skin left untouched. Devin deep in her. Slow. Savoring. Even at orgasm, she couldn’t tell if she was awake or not, and she didn’t dare find out, just in case it was a dream.

It could have been a dream.
It could have been reality.

No. T
his was nothing like that. This was Devin demanding she wake up. Demanding she meet him, touch for touch, scream for scream, no reservations. Demanding she be fully aware to everything he was going to send coursing through her body.

This was carnal, and she was ready for it.
After all the emotion she had to squelch last night, she ached for it. She needed it.

Her hands slid down his
bare back, cupping his already tense muscles.

She could feel him smile on her neck. “Awake?”

Aggie arched her chest to him, letting the sensations roll. “Can you wake me up like this every morning?”

“Request noted. But you are lucky I let you sleep this long. I have been watching you, hard and waiting
, for hours. It has not been easy.”

He pulled up from her, hovering for a moment above her face, taking in her eyes. The look sent shivers into her core, traveling down her belly and collecting, building a
pounding throb between her legs. She saw it in him. He wanted to possess her, and she needed him to.

Hands leaving his backside, she clasped them around his neck, pulling herself upright as she pushed him
flat back onto the bed, straddling. She met his mouth, on fire, tongues instantly in duel, thrusting for control.

Writhing
her hips down against him, she tried to connect their bodies. He was more than ready, hard against her folds, but he wasn’t going to pass control that easily. His hands held her hips hard, thumbs pressing into her belly, holding her just beyond her need to have him in her. Agonizing.

Aggie pulled from his mouth. “Cruel. You wait for hours
, then do that to me?”

He smirked.
“My pain is yours, Aggs.”

Her instant groan turned into
a wicked smile as her eyebrow rose in challenge. “Then your pain, your grace, is about to get extreme.”

His smirk widened. “You will accomplish that how?”

She didn’t answer, instead, bent down to his chest, her lips ravaging his skin, trailing downward. The hard ridges along his stomach got harder as she teased the area with her tongue. She moved slow, taunting with every touch of her mouth as she moved down, until her chin hit his protruding member.

Devin’s
rumbling grunt when her lips met the tip of him was worth the trip downward. And the blasphemous yell that exploded from him as her tongue traveled wantonly up and down him, secured her power, but also sent her own throbbing into a frenzy.

But she wasn’t done with him. His hips already in motion against her
lips, she wrapped her mouth fully around him. His hands tangled in her hair as she took him deep, her tongue flickering on the muscle as she dove repeatedly, reveling in every gasp she elicited.

“
Damn, Aggs.” The harsh growl matched Devin’s hands as he untangled them from her hair and grabbed her by the shoulders, ripping her mouth off of him and smashing her back onto the headboard.

Teeth on her neck, Devin
shifted her sideways until she hit the bed post.

Aggie heaved a breath
, her back on the hard wood giving no room for her lungs. Taking him in her mouth had done just as much damage to her own need for him, as his for her. Her hands went down to his waist, pulling at him. “I need you in me now, Devin. Now.”

He grabbed her wrists, bringing them bo
th above her head, latching her fingers around the post.

“Grab it, because I
am going deep into you.” His hands went down to her hips, lifting her and impaling her in one fluid motion.

With a screaming shudder,
she wrapped her legs around him, and her fingernails dug into the wood as she arched, taking him full and long. Nine searing thrusts, and she twisted uncontrollable, agonizing in her peak. She lost grip on the wood, crumbling against Devin in spasms, but then he slid one hand under her bottom and used his other to push her back up against the headboard.

His hand on
her collarbone pinned her to the wood, and his mouth went to her ear. “You’re not done, Aggs. You have more. No walls. You are giving me everything.”

Spasms ebbing, she nodded
, her voice breaking. “God, yes. Everything. Do it. Everything.”

His hand went under
her thigh, and he pulled out of her, crashing into her again and again. This time, her hands gripped Devin, fingernails deep into his skin, begging, urging every thrust onward. Her legs held him deep in her every time, until he fought his way free, only to dive deeper back into her.

He wasn’t wrong, and the build
in her core hit fiercely. She could only cry half words at the onslaught, demanding he not stop. Demanding he take her even deeper. Harder. Contort her flesh and make it his.

He came, su
rging into her, expanding and filling her so completely her body had no choice but to join his in a screeching, blinding light.

She was splayed on him, cheek in the crook of his chest, muscles jelly, when conscious thought came back. And the first thought she had, she said
breathless, without thought, without defenses.

“
I love you, Devin.”

“Aggs…”

She tilted her head to look at his face. He didn’t waste a moment before he slid her body upward and kissed her hard and long.

The kiss held everything he didn’t say, and i
t didn’t bother Aggie there were no mirrored declarations from him. She said it for herself. Said it to honor what she recognized deep in her heart. This man was her breath. She wasn’t going to deny that. Nor would she ever have him doubt it.

As for him uttering the word “love” to her—s
he wasn’t sure she would ever hear that word from his lips. Not with what he had gone through as a child.

S
he didn’t need to hear the words to know what was in his heart. Everything he did for her, to her. What he had shared last night. It wasn’t even a question in her mind that he loved her. He did. That, she was sure of. Words would not make it any more or less true.

She pulled from his li
ps, nuzzling her head under the rough whiskers on his chin. “You woke me up only to exhaust me, you rake.”

His chest
rumbled under her cheek, and then he kissed the top of her head. “Go back to sleep, Aggs. Your everything needs replenishing for tonight. No, make that this afternoon.”

~~~

Hours later, Aggie woke up to find Devin had already disappeared into the day. She snuggled into her cocoon of warmth under the sheet, reliving every moment of what had happened last night. Her soul had lifted tenfold, and she couldn’t help the grin that was pasted on her face.

After getting dressed and making her way downstairs, t
he lightness in Aggie’s step fell flat as she walked by the study, her ears catching conversation and a voice she didn’t recognize.

“
I have been following the lead on her brother, and I think I have something.”

Aggie yanked
the door open, crashing into the room without thinking.

“My brother? You found him?”
She jostled in front of Devin, pinning down the man that was just speaking.

Behind her
, Devin sighed and grabbed her shoulders. “Killian, you remember my wife?”

“Oh.
Lord Southfork, I apologize.” She gave him her most humbling half smile. “I understand I was rude when we were first introduced?”

“All is forgiven, d
uchess. I know you were under a great amount of stress that day.”

“Nonetheless, I was rude. And I am going to be rude again right now. What have you found of my brother?”

Killian laughed. “You are right. That was an abrupt change of subject.” He looked past her to Devin with a raised eyebrow.

Aggie knew exactly what that meant. He wasn’t going to tell her a thing without Devin’s approval.
Aggie looked over her shoulder at her husband. “What about Jason? Tell me.”

“
I did not want you to know, because I did not want to give you false hope,” Devin said. “He has not been found. But after you told me how the leader was convinced you had something he wanted, I asked Killian to explore what work Jason was doing for the crown in case there was a connection.”

She turned back to Killian. “And was there?”

Killian shrugged, still looking at Devin. “The lead is vague and can go in several directions.”

“
I understand you are talking in very ambiguous terms, all at the behest of my husband, I imagine.” She took a step away from Devin so she could face the two of them. “If you still have no real leads to find this man, I have a way to find him.”

“You do?”
Dread was already on Devin’s face.

“Bait.”
She looked back and forth between the two men.

“No.”
Devin grabbed her arm, spinning her fully to him. “Do not even dare to utter the insanity you are thinking right now, Aggie.”

“
Devin. Please. I have been really thinking about it. It is a way. Maybe the only way. He will come after me. You know he will. You know he is waiting. Watching. Let me go back to London. He will come after me again.”

She could see
Devin struggling for control against anger, but she didn’t care. She needed to get on with her life. To live with Devin in peace. And if her being bait was the only way, then she would do it.

He leaned in on her, his voice harsh.
“Aggie. Please do not be stupid. Promise me you will listen to me. You will not go back London.”

“
Devin—”

“No, Aggie
, no. I will gather up your mother and your sister, and your aunt and uncle if need be, and sequester them here, if that is what you need. Just promise me you will not do anything stupid. Promise me. Please.”

Aggie
clamped her teeth onto her tongue. Devin wasn’t ordering like he usually did. He was asking, near begging. His grey eyes pleading with her. It unnerved her. And it made her instantly relent. “Fine. Yes. I promise. It was just an idea.”

His eyes closed and he let out a
n audible breath of relief.

She moved her free hand to his jaw. “I trust you. I do.
You will find him.”

He opened his eyes to her, but didn’t let her arm go. He didn’t believe her. She could see that in his face.

She looked over Devin’s shoulder at Killian. “Will you please excuse my lack of decency, Lord Southfork?”

“Whatever you need, duchess.”

She nodded, then twisted her arm out of Devin’s grip. She bent, hiking up the skirt of her dress until she had access to the pistol strapped to her thigh. Removing it and dropping her skirt, she went over to the desk and set the pistol down.

Stepping back in front of Devin, both hands went to his face, each word punctuated harder than before. “Devin, I trust you. You are the one that keeps me safe. You. I do not need the pistol to put my mind at ease
. I need you. You will handle this. I trust that you will.”

Her hands slipped from his skin.

As much as her mind screamed at her to stay. To demand answers. To concoct a plan. Her heart told her to leave the room.

It was the only way
Devin would truly believe she trusted him.

Taking the biggest breath of her life, she turned and walked
out of the study.

And let go.

~~~

Aggie looked
down at the apple she had a knife half buried in. After the scene in the library, she needed to get out of the house to clear her head, so she stopped to talk to cook, then grabbed an apple and walked down to the small stream that ran past the great lawn at the back of the main gardens.

The north woods started along the area
, manicured greenery giving way to nature, and she found a tree next to the water and sat, leaning against the oak. She started to carve the apple, but stopped. Minutes passed, her mind so overwhelmed it was blank. A red squirrel ran across the bank opposite her, jarring her from her own stillness.