What Desire Demands, My Duke: A Steamy Historical Regency Romance Novel

by Olivia T. Bennet

  Though it would have been much easier to explain that, Elizabeth’s throat tightened to a knot. Holding herself still was fast growing difficult.

  Within the silence, she almost thought he would not budge. But, before long, William cracked under the weight of her stare.

  “It was the same man who’d almost assaulted you that night,” he said slowly. He watched her carefully as he said the words, as if he expected her to break down into tears.

  But crying was the very last thing that came to her mind. As realization hit her squarely in the chest, taking her breath with it, Elizabeth acted without thinking.

  She got to her feet and bridged the gap between them. William didn’t take his eyes off her, a deep, worried frown on his face. “Beth...”

  Elizabeth raised a hand and slapped it on his chest. It was light, not strong enough to move him. She raised another, curling her hand into a fist before she beat it against him. “Are you insane?” she murmured.

  Hysteria building within her, she kept beating her hands against him, pain spreading through her fists. But she didn’t care. She didn’t care how unladylike she appeared, how violently she was acting, she didn’t care about the tears streaming down her face. All she could think about was the fact that William was like this because of her.

  “Are you out of your mind?” she screeched. The force of her blows forced him back a step, but he held his ground, accepting each hit to the chest. “You could have died! Because of me, something bad could have happened and you could have...”

  “The knife barely nicked me,” he said softly. “I’m completely fine.”

  “There was a knife?” Elizabeth gasped. Impulsively, she whirled and grabbed one of the pillows on the bed, hitting William with it over and over again. “Why didn’t you run? Why did you stand there and let yourself get stabbed by a knife? How many times did they hit you to make your face like that? Are you trying to kill me too, William?”

  A chuckle broke through her haze. Elizabeth stopped hitting him, watching through her blur of tears as he laughed again. Her jaw dropped with surprise. “Is this funny to you?”

  “Not at all,” he said, still chuckling. “In fact, I’m in quite a lot of pain. I’d almost forgotten that you’re capable of landing such heavy blows. You could take on those men without issue, I reckon.”

  “Oh, goodness.” The strength fled from her legs. Elizabeth dropped the pillow, tilting on her feet. William wrapped an arm around her waist to steady her. “You could have died tonight, and you have the strength to laugh.”

  “How can I not when I see how worried you are for me?”

  “Did you think I would not be?” she murmured. It felt nice being in his arms, even when the strength returned to her legs. Elizabeth wished she could stay there, could curl into his side and remind herself that he was safe, and he was healthy, and that nothing else mattered other than that.

  “No,” William murmured. He didn’t seem to want to let her go, either. “I knew you would be worried, which is why I was afraid of letting you see me like this. But I did not think that you would attempt to worsen my wounds yourself.”

  “A few blows from a maiden will not do you any harm, William.”

  “You do not give your strength the recognition it deserves, Beth.”

  Laughter sprang from her lips, feeling odd and out of place considering everything she’d just done. An unusual sense of relief took hold of her and Elizabeth let out a shuddering breath, trying to bring herself back to normal.

  “I want to see it,” she stated. “You say you were nicked by the knife and that it is nothing but I want to see it for myself to be sure.”

  “If it means I might be subjected to your assault again, then I’ll do whatever you ask of me.”

  She resisted the urge to laugh again, trying to make him see that she was serious. She watched as he reached for the buttons of his waistcoat, popping them free one by one. As he shrugged out of it, Elizabeth felt slow heat crawling throughout her body. She ignored it to the best of her ability, but she could not stop her heart from pounding when he tugged his shirt up over his head and tossed it to the side.

  His chest was…quite muscular, just as she’d expected. For a moment, that was all she could see. The rippling planes of his midsection, the defined chest, and the dark curls stretched across it. She didn’t even see the red line, not until he twisted his body to the side.

  “Do you see?” he asked. “It’s nothing.”

  Taken by surprise, Elizabeth glanced up at him to see that he was watching her carefully, his eyes dark—as if he could tell exactly what she was thinking.

  Elizabeth cleared her throat and approached him, taking a closer look at the wound. It was just as he’d said. It was rather small, the slice in the skin barely bleeding. It shouldn’t hurt him much. She straightened, feeling a rush of relief.

  Suddenly, William took her by the hand and pulled her into his chest. He wrapped his arms around her, cradling her head to his chest. Heart pounding, Elizabeth heard him breathe in deeply. “Just give me this moment,” he murmured into her hair.

  She was more than willing to. She rested her head on his chest, letting out a long breath. After a moment, William did the same. “I’m sorry, Beth.”

  “You shouldn’t be apologizing to me,” Elizabeth whispered, trying to quell her pounding heart. Fear dissipating, all it left behind was the thickening yearning spreading throughout her. Suddenly, Elizabeth realized that she was once again in her nightgown—and that they were alone in his bedchamber. Heat rushed through her, enflaming her cheeks and filling her mind with the memory of their kiss.

  “No,” William said, shaking his head. “I must apologize for my actions and my words these past few days. I know I have done nothing but confuse you, but it was only because I was confused myself.”

  A hand snaked up to cradle the back of her head, somehow pulling her closer to his body. She could feel his breath on her neck, each puff sending shivers through her. Her thighs throbbed with need and she discreetly tried to push them together as if that would quell the feeling.

  Elizabeth tried to remember how to speak, to forget the fact that her pebbling nipples were undoubtedly protruding through her nightgown, to keep from wondering if he could feel it. “Surely, you will not tell me to go home again? Not after you’ve provided all those gowns for me?”

  “I won’t,” he told her. His lips brushed her shoulder through the fabric of her nightgown. “Actually, I want you to stay. I don’t want to ever lose you again.”

  A shudder went through her. His finger stroked the curve of her back, his slow movement sending shivers up and down her spine. He kissed her gently on her shoulder again, then said, “I’ve been fighting this urge for so long but I don’t know how much longer I can hold on.”

  He didn’t have to say it, because she could feel it herself. She felt him trying to hold himself back, to keep from kissing her. And the happiness that he couldn’t fight it was too much to ignore. Elizabeth let out a panting breath when his lips tenderly brushed the side of her neck.

  “I want you, too,” Elizabeth rasped, not caring to hold the words back any longer. She’d bared her heart to him so many times, that telling him that her body wanted him just as badly was easy.

  For a moment, she could have sworn she felt his smile against her skin. And then, his lips inched their way up to the bare skin on her neck, nuzzling her gently. Elizabeth wanted to tell him that she was happy, that she’d never been so happy in her life, but her mind went blank when she felt his tongue against her heated skin.

  She went limp in his arms, but he held her up, keeping her tightly against him as his tongue continued its slow exploration up her neck and towards her ear. He licked her there, once, and she shuddered. She could almost feel him smile.

  “I take it, you have no objections?” he asked her, continuing his gentle kisses.

  Elizabeth opened her lips, a sigh slipping out. “I should,” she managed to say. “But
I cannot think straight right now. I shall voice my complaints tomorrow.”

  William chuckled deeply. “That’s fair.”

  Suddenly, she felt his hand. It crept up her other side, a lone finger tracing the outline of her breast before he palmed it completely. He was pushing her backwards, just as his lips captured hers.

  Passion exploded between them the moment their lips touched. His hand was rough, desperate, as if it longed to slip beneath the fabric of her nightgown to feel the flesh underneath. And his lips were fervent, eager, moving against hers with untampered lust, driven by a force that transcended them both. Elizabeth lost all her senses in that moment. The bruises on his face, the pain he was in, the guilt she felt knowing that she’d been the cause of it...all faded into nothing but smoldering yearning.

  William broke the kiss suddenly, lowering her down to the bed behind her. As soon as she was on her back, he found her lips again, their tongues tangling with desperation. His hand was on her thigh this time, creeping underneath the hem of her gown until he found her hip. She trembled, thinking he would touch her between her thighs, but he only glanced over the spot before palming her bosom once more.

  “I’d like to see you without the nightgown,” he murmured against her lips. “May I?”

  “Of course,” Elizabeth murmured without thinking.

  It wasn’t until he began to pull the nightgown over her body that she realized what that meant.

  Elizabeth jerked away from him, scrambling over to the other side of the bed. She quickly checked to make sure her nightgown was covering all the places that it should, not looking at him.

  “Beth?”

  “I...” She didn’t know what to say. She wouldn’t run again; she refused to. But no explanation came to her mind, none that sounded decent.

  William straightened and made his way around the side of the bed, sitting next to her. Gently, he took her hand in his. “What is it? Why do you always shy away from me? Do you not trust me?”

  “No!” she answered quickly. “No, it isn’t that. I simply...I simply do not want you to see me without my nightgown.”

  “Why?”

  The softness of his tone broke her into pieces. She wanted to trust him, to show him every part of her. She wanted to continue what they’d started and truly give herself to him. But she could not deal with the possibility that he would turn away from her, that he would see her scars and deem her to be ugly. An English lady should never bear the sort of scars she had but her smooth skin was marred by the past she could not put behind her. Elizabeth didn’t know if William could accept that—and she was afraid to find out.

  “I’m here, Elizabeth,” he murmured. “You can tell me anything. I promise you.”

  How can I know if he’ll accept me if I do not try? I have to do this.

  Elizabeth closed her eyes briefly, steeling her resolve. Then, she looked him in the eyes. “Do you recall when I’d told you about the day I’d been attacked by a thief?”

  He nodded slowly, his green eyes dark with an unnamed emotion. “I do.”

  “The scars on my wrist are not the only ones he inflicted.” Taking a deep breath, Elizabeth stood and tugged the nightgown over her head. Pimples rose to her bare skin as cool air wafted over it. Elizabeth held her breath, not looking away from William’s face for a second. It was not the fact that she stood naked before him that made her heart pound with such nervousness, but the fact that he could see her other scars in full view.

  Slowly, he stood, his eyes running up to the scar that lay on her upper arm. He raised a finger, tracing the outline of the puffy skin before moving it over to the one that lay on her collarbone. His silence stretched on even as he dipped his gaze to the worst scar of them all—the one that laid on her side.

  “The physicians that saw me did the best that they could,” she tried to explain, her anxiety rising. “But my skin could not heal properly. Rather than smooth scars, I was left with this puckered skin. I…I did not know what you would think of me if you were to see them. I was afraid that you might—”

  She didn’t get the chance to finish when he cupped her chin and captured her lips with his. It was a gentle kiss, one that served to quiet her words and her thoughts at the same time. When he pulled away, his eyes were filled with nothing but tenderness.

  “You are still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on,” he whispered, as if they were the only two people in the world. “Scars or no scars, I love you all the same.”

  And then he kissed her again, this time with far more intensity than before. He cupped her backside, drawing her into him as their tongues tangled. Elizabeth hardly had any time to feel relief at his words, taken as she was by the hand that was slowly coming around to the thatch of hair that lay between her thighs.

  He slid his hand between the lips, finding her slick and ready. He smiled against her lips, gently pulling her back down to the bed without removing his hand. Elizabeth was grateful for the support, knowing very well that her legs could no longer keep her standing while his hand continued its slow torture.

  A lone finger slid over the sensitive nubbin, making her squirm underneath him. Even though she could not keep herself still, he continued to swirl his finger around, continued to leave biting kisses against her cheek and neck as he incited desperate hunger within her. She craved more of his touch, craved more of his kisses, even though she could feel a tension building within her with every move of his finger.

  “William...” she panted but he didn’t stop. He kept moving his finger, quicker and quicker as her squirms grew more desperate. Matching her move for move, William didn’t stop until the tension broke and her body exploded into nothing but pleasure.

  The room spun. For those too brief moments, her soul felt as if it had left her body and when it settled back into place, Elizabeth remembered where she was and what had just happened.

  “William, what...” She couldn’t get the words out, sated yet still filled with longing as she was. She managed to sit up, watching as the man who’d inflicted such pleasure grinned from ear to ear.

  “I must say, that was most certainly the best thing I’ve seen in a long time,” he said as picked up her nightgown.

  Elizabeth flushed, sitting up to snatch the nightgown from his hands. She quickly pulled it over her head and let it settle down around her hips. “You seem to have enjoyed yourself,” she mumbled.

  “Not as much as you clearly did,” he teased, watching her.

  Her cheeks went red, though she couldn’t understand why. She felt no shame letting William see her like that. If anything, she wanted more, to have every inch of him.

  She opened her lips to suggest it and he stopped her with a kiss. “No more,” he told her. “I may not be the best of gentlemen, but I at least wish to preserve your innocence.”

  Elizabeth folded her arms. “How oddly considerate of you,” she grumbled.

  That made him chuckle. William got into the bed and patted the spot next to him. “Come here.”

  Elizabeth tossed her pouting aside and happily curled into his side. William wrapped an arm around her shoulders, letting her tangle her legs with his as they settled under the covers together.

  “Will you not get changed?” she asked him, only after she’d rested her head on his chest, listening to his racing heart.

  “I should, but I do not wish to let you out of my arms just yet. I suppose I can sleep like this. I will not die.”

  Elizabeth slapped him lightly on the chest. “Do not talk about dying,” she chastised. “I still have not recovered from what you did at the tavern tonight.”

  “It is I, Beth, who will take a while to recover. You should pity me a little more.”

  “I shall only do so when you promise to stop going to that tavern.”

  “It’s a promise.”

  “Very well.” She slapped him on the chest again, which earned her a surprise laugh from him. “You have my pity.”

  “Ah, such a tough woman
to please,” William chuckled. Elizabeth smiled at the way her body reverberated from the sound. “It is no wonder you would not leave when I said you should.”

  “It is a good thing I did not, since you so clearly wanted me to remain.” Grinning, Elizabeth looked up at him. Even with the bruises on his face, he was still so devastatingly handsome that it made her insides twist. “I seem to recall you saying that you love me.”

  “Did I now?”

  “I would not imagine such a thing.”

  “I would not be so sure about that.”