Lily and the Duke (17 page)

“It will be all right. No one will come out this way. I promise you.”

“How can you make such a promise?”

His eyes twinkled at her. “Because I have servants on the perimeters of the vineyards, standing guard.”

“I see. So it was your intent to bring me out here and seduce me,” she said coyly. “And now I suppose you expect to get what you want.”

“I don’t expect anything, my love,” he said, kissing her neck and fumbling with her bodice. “I only wish. I want nothing more than to make love to you right now.”

How she wanted him! If she couldn’t have his love, she would take whatever he could offer. Soon she would be his wife, and she would not be able to deny him then.

“Yes, Daniel. Make love to me. I want to feel your body against mine. I want to feel your arms around me. I want to feel you inside me. Please make love to me.”

“God, Lily. I’ve missed you so much.” He opened her bodice and freed her breasts, lavishing them with kisses and caresses. “You’re so beautiful.”

He tugged at one nipple and then the other, her body shuddering. She grasped his cravat, untied it quickly, and began to unbutton his shirt. When she could get no farther, she clutched his jacket at his shoulders, trying to remove it.

“I want you naked, Daniel. Naked on me, while I’m still clothed. Like this morning.”

He smiled naughtily. “You liked that, did you?”

“Yes, I liked that a lot. You said you’d do anything for me.”

“I did, at that.” He pulled away from her, removed his shoes, his trousers, his jacket and shirt, and came back to her. “Is this what you wanted?”

“Oh yes.” She sighed, running her fingers across his rippling back, down along the smooth contours of his buttocks. He gasped. “Your body is a work of art,” she said. “I love to touch you.” She reached under him, found his hard arousal, and grasped it.

Daniel sucked in his breath.

“Did I hurt you?”

“God, no,” he said. “But I’m aching so badly for you that I’m liable to spend myself like a lad if you keep doing that.” He pulled her hand upward and kissed it. “I don’t know how long I can hold out, Lily. I need you to be naked under me. I want to feel every part of you. I want nothing between us. Nothing ever.”

He gently undressed her and threw her clothes into a heap next to his.

“Open your legs for me, love.” He kissed down to her opening. “So sweet, so wet.” He slid his fingers into her, stroking and teasing. “You feel amazing.”

He licked and probed until the familiar jolts rippled through her body, crashing her into euphoria. She wept his name, arching into him, and kissed him when he came back up to her.

“Have you missed me, Lily?”

“Yes,” she said breathlessly.

“My God,” he said, “you’re so much to me. Not just a fuck. Tell me you know that. Tell me.”

“Yes, Daniel. Yes.”

He rolled over so she was on top of him. He positioned her over his cock.

“What are you doing?”

He lifted her gently over his shaft, nudging her open, and slid her down, impaling her.

“Oh!”

“Ride me.” He gently moved her body up and down over him, until she caught the rhythm and took over. “Yes, love. You’re so beautiful, so tight.” He took her hand and led it to her clitoris, showing her how to stimulate herself. “Touch yourself there. Yes, that’s it.”

Lily warmed with embarrassment, but she wanted to please him, so she touched herself, finding the spot that made her convulse. “Oh my. That’s so…oh my!” Another orgasm struck her.

Daniel reached behind her and rubbed a finger over her most private place. She widened her eyes, but allowed it, as she had previously. His touch made her sizzle, and the sensitivity of her anus still surprised her.

“Did you know, love, that I can take you there?” Daniel said, massaging her lightly as she continued to ride his cock.

“I never…”

“For another time, of course.”

He removed his finger and grasped her breasts, squeezing her nipples. Her pussy pulsed, on the edge of another orgasm, when suddenly he released her breasts and grabbed her hips. He thundered into her, pulling her down onto him until she could swear he nudged the edge of her womb.

“I’m going to come, Lily. I’m coming for you. Only you.” He plunged upwards, his eyes squeezed shut, his abdominal muscles tense and taut.

Lily collapsed on top of him, kissing his face, his neck, his lips. Inside her head she shouted,
I love you! I love you!

But she didn’t say it aloud. She was afraid.

L
ily found Rose
, Sophie, and Alexandra on the terrace with some of the other women when she returned, and she couldn’t resist showing them her amazing engagement ring.

“You look very happy.” Rose smiled. “Have you resigned yourself to this marriage yet?”

“Almost,” Lily said. If only she could be sure Daniel loved her and would be faithful to her. “I’m done fighting it, at least.”

“I would trade places with you in an instant,” Ally said. “If only a man would look at me the way the duke looks at you.”

“Someone will,” Sophie consoled her sister. “Someone will for all of us, someday.”

They chatted until Crawford interrupted them. “My lady,” he said to Lily. “Please pardon my intrusion. Her Grace would like to see you in her private sitting room.”

“Her Grace? Whatever for?”

“I don’t know, my lady. But please come at once.”

“All right. I’ll see you all later.”

She followed Crawford into the house. He led her up the double staircase to the third floor, to the duchess’s suite of rooms in the west wing.

“My dear Lily, do come in,” the duchess said.

Lily curtsied politely. “I do hope you’re feeling better, Your Grace.”

“Quite a bit, thank you, dear.” The duchess motioned for Lily to be seated. “What do you take in your tea?”

“Nothing, thank you.”

“Like my Daniel.” She smiled. “Here you are.”

“Thank you.”

“I’d like you to accept my gratitude for accompanying Lucy on our errands yesterday. It was a great help to me.”

“It was my pleasure. I enjoyed it.”

“I’m very glad.” The duchess set her teacup down on the tray, a serious expression on her graceful face. “Now, tell me, why don’t you want to marry my Daniel?”

“Pardon?”

“My dear, I know a girl who’s being forced into marriage when I see one. I was that girl myself once. Don’t you care for Daniel?’

“Yes, I care for him, but… Well, he didn’t ask me what I wanted. He arranged everything with my father.”

“Yes, I’m aware of that. I thought he would know better than to mimic his own father in that regard.” She sighed. “But you should know, Lily, that the duke and I had a happy and successful marriage. We grew to love each other very much. I can’t imagine having married any other.”

“But it doesn’t always work out that way.”

“No, it doesn’t. But Daniel cares for you, and you care for him. I can tell by the way you interact with each other. Lucy and I both agree we’ve never seen Daniel happier. You have that advantage over my marriage.”

“Your Grace, if you don’t mind my asking, how long did it take you to grow to love the duke?” Perhaps it wouldn’t take Daniel long to grow to love her.

“Not long. He was kind to me, and he was interested in my opinions. I became pregnant soon after we married, and he insisted on naming our first son after me. He was named after both of us, Morgan Charles. Lord, how I miss them.”

“I’m so very sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you, dear. I appreciate that. It’s been harder on Daniel than on me, I’m afraid.”

Lily nodded. “He told me he wasn’t close to either of them.” Then, “Your Grace, may I speak frankly?”

“Of course.”

“I don’t believe that Daniel has ever allowed himself to grieve for his father and brother. I believe he keeps his emotions locked inside himself. I…worry about him.”

“You are very perceptive, Lily. And you are correct. I don’t believe he has grieved. And it isn’t true that he wasn’t close to them. He no doubt told you that to convince himself, so he could hide his hurt at their passing. But it isn’t easy to be a second son.”

“How so?”

“Morgan and Daniel were not quite a whole year apart. They were the very best of friends. I think they knew each other better than they knew themselves.”

Lily nodded. “I understand what you mean. Rose and I are less than a year apart also. We are close in that same way.”

“Then imagine, dear, if Rose had been snatched away from you when you were not but seven years old. That is what happened to Daniel.”

Lily raised her eyebrows. “What?”

“Morgan was Charles’s heir, Lily. When the boys were small, Charles was devoted to both of them. He played ball with them, took them fishing and hunting, taught them how to ride. But when Morgan turned eight, Charles decided it was time to start grooming him into the next Duke of Lybrook. He was no longer allowed to play with Daniel. Charles monopolized him, taking him to business meetings, estate affairs, the like.”

“But what of Daniel?” Lily’s heart ached for the sad little boy. “Surely it would have benefited him to learn about the affairs of the estate, especially considering how things turned out.”

“Yes, hindsight is always clear, isn’t it? With Charles, everything was either black or white. Morgan was the heir, and Daniel was not, so Daniel was left to flounder. He lost not only his father’s time and devotion, but also his best friend in the world. Charles and I decided to send Daniel away to school, while Morgan stayed on the estate and studied with private tutors. We hoped being with other boys his own age would ease his loneliness for Morgan.”

Lily gasped. “You sent a seven-year-old boy away?”

“Don’t judge us too harshly, dear. Had I the chance to do it over again, I would not allow it. When you have your own child, you’ll know a love like no other. It tore my heart out to lose Daniel. But Charles insisted, and I’m afraid I wasn’t strong enough to fight for my son. I live with that to this day. Not only did Daniel lose his father and brother to the dukedom, he lost Lucy and me as well when we sent him away.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound judgmental.”

“It’s all right. And Daniel did enjoy school. He made some lifelong friends, and he excelled in his studies. He especially loved the arts, and he was also quite gifted in the sciences. He’s very bright, my Daniel.”

“Yes, I know. I think he’ll be a fine duke.”

“I know he will, especially with you by his side. He is learning, and he is trying. But he has been thrust into this position with no preparation whatsoever. Charles put everything into Morgan.”

The duchess paused, stirring more honey into her tea. “Daniel eventually made peace with Charles, although they were never as close as they once were, but I believe he loved his father, and I know he loved Morgan. And I believe he loves me and Lucy. But he never allowed himself to love anyone else. After he finished his schooling, he had nothing to do. He could have been a huge help to Charles and Morgan, running the estate. I tried to talk to Charles about it, but his response was that Morgan was the heir, and it was his responsibility.” The duchess cleared her throat. “My Charles was a great man and a loving husband, but as I said, everything was either black or white with him. Consequently, Daniel, with nothing to occupy his appreciable intelligence, and a great fear of loving, embarked on a decade of indiscriminate affairs, of which I’m sure you’ve heard.”

Lily nodded. “He’s quite well known.”

“I know. Not my proudest moment as a mother, of course. But I do adore my Daniel. He has so much to offer, and now, for the first time, I believe he is trying to open his heart.”

“To me?”

“Yes, my dear, to you.” The duchess smiled. “You see, I know that the two of you have been…seeing each other.”

Lily’s face warmed. She wanted to disappear into the plush rug under her feet.

“I couldn’t be happier with Daniel’s choice,” the duchess said. “I hold both your parents in the highest esteem. I’ve known your mother since she was a babe.”

“Yes, I know. She told me that your sister and my Auntie Iris were best friends as girls.”

“All four of us were close, actually. I’ve tried to get Flora to use my Christian name over the years, but she won’t hear of it, insisting upon calling me ‘Your Grace.’”

“That’s just Mummy,” Lily said.

“Yes, I know. She’s a fine woman. We lost touch over the years. But I had a good life with Charles. It wasn’t easy to watch Daniel engage in so many meaningless dalliances.”

“I understand.”

“When Charles and Morgan passed on, Daniel became the seventh Duke of Lybrook.”

The duchess’s eyes shimmered with tears, and Lily offered her handkerchief.

“Thank you, dear. Imagine, for a moment, what it was like to lose a father and a brother, and then be plagued with new responsibilities for which you were completely unprepared. So what did Daniel do? He ran.”

“To the continent,” Lily said.

“Yes. I didn’t try to stop him. I don’t think I could have anyway. I understood his need for escape. I let him go. Luckily, our solicitors and bankers took care of the estate while he was gone, and our holdings are secure. Then, a few months ago, I received a letter from Daniel, telling me he was returning to resume his responsibilities. He apologized for leaving me when I needed him, and he vowed to do better in the future as a son, as a duke, and as a man. Lucy and I planned this house party to come out of mourning, but I had an ulterior motive. I wanted you and Daniel to meet again.”

“Did you know that we had actually met before?”

“Yes. He told me the day he found you in my little alcove. He mentioned your talent and what a pretty child you were.”

Lily’s heart jumped and her lips curved into a smile.

“I couldn’t think of a better match for my son than one of Flora and Crispin’s daughters. I intended to formally introduce the two of you, but somehow that took care of itself. I was elated when Daniel arranged for you to sit with him at dinner. I don’t know how the two of you managed to get together, but I thank God for it.” The duchess laid her hand on Lily’s forearm, squeezing gently. “You are Daniel’s savior, Lily. Please don’t abandon him.”