by Lily Holland
He grits his teeth to my peaks in turns and, as a scream of delight passes my lips, his mouth travels back to mine and he kisses me at length. I struggle to get a hold over myself, but I dig my fingers into the skin of his back and he pulls back.
“Lucy…”
“Andrew…”
We gaze at each other, particles of love vibrating between us as we can’t move anymore, fascinated as we are by each other’s features. When I bring my hips up to grind against his and my hand settles on his cheek, something clicks in his eyes and the flame of eagerness and passion steals my voice. He sets on kissing me again for a long, delicious time and the world only exists in his eyes. My body wants more, more of him, and, when he rocks his hips forward and fuses our bodies in a soft, controlled move, I tense between his hands. My eyes shut close at the sensation, it unlike any I have ever known in my life.
After a brief moment, my eyes reopen and lock with his. We stare at each other and I bite my lower lip. He is so handsome, so perfect that my entire body burns and my blood boils in my veins. Brushing his nose to mine, he rocks his hips gently, his moves building a steady and increasing rhythm that my body matches. Our bodies fused, wellness fills my soul and I feel I could cry, but I don’t. Time isn’t to crying, it is to loving and my fiancé’s silky skin against mine is like a blessing of God. I smile and take Andrew’s lips with mine in a kiss of liquid fire as our hips grit together and we merge into one.
Pleasure builds inside me, waves of delight resonating from where our bodies meet and I close my arms tightly around his shoulders. My nails digging at his back, the rhythm of Andrew’s hips doesn’t mingle and a series of low, breathless cries escape my parted lips. I pull him closer to me, my legs circling his hips as our moves take the two of us closer to an abyss of love and my breath catches. His scent in my nostrils, the strong, sweaty smell of his skin is enough to make me lose myself in happiness.
He kisses me again, his tongue passing the barrier of my lips as I clasp my arms ever so tightly on his back. When my hand glide along his spine, goosebumps answer my touch and a groan of pleasure escapes him. The rhythm between us becoming too much to take, I twist under him, my nails digging at his skin, my legs clenching around his body as pleasure overwhelms me and steals my breath.
Sweat pearling on his forehead, I know I have never seen anything that beautiful in my life. A thrust of his hips makes a powerful cry pass my mouth as he groans against my neck. I tense around him and, as waves after waves of tingly bliss rush over me, stars explode behind my eyes and my entire body arches in response.
A loud groan leaves Andrew’s throat and, as pleasure breaks him apart, he moans my name over my fiery skin.
He collapses over me and his mouth finds mine to salvage the remains of love in a desperate, passionate kiss. My body is hot, my heart warm and my soul perfectly happy.
He shifts his position to fall at my side and closes his arms around me, drawing me in a tight embrace. A finger tracing a light trail over his sweaty chest, I smile thinking that soon Andrew will share my bed every day. As we bask in the tenderness of the moment, I smile at him and he tugs me closer, his lips finding my mouth in a slow, gentle kiss before gliding to my forehead for a smooth peck.
I close my eyes as his arms keep me safely close to him. This is everything I have ever dreamed of: this man loves me and I love him back, we are engaged, my parents approve of the match and I have just given him the only thing he can never give back. My wildest dream has indubitably come true: I am marrying for love and securing my position.
Andrew’s hands softly caressing my back as I keep my face nestled in his neck, a sense of accomplishment fills me. This is perfect, Andrew is perfect and our entire history, hating each other until we had to get to know each other, is perfect. I know if I ever have doubts about his true feelings, it will only take one look at his icy blue eyes. They cannot lie and, as long as I shall live, mine will never lie to him either.
Epilogue
Andrew Mirabeau, Duke of Peicester
I chuckle softly as Lucy chases a lady bug from her dress and takes back my arm.
“It is such a lovely day,” she says, her eyes closing as she inhales the fragrance of spring in this beautiful garden.
I acquiesce in a bob of the head and we keep on walking. I bring us to a halt and she turns to me with a surprised face.
“Are you alright, my love?”
I smile and bring my hand to caress her face shamelessly.
“Andrew,” she scolds with a smile, her eyes darting in every direction. “Someone could see us here, this is not appropriate.”
I chuckle as she shakes her head but loses her seriousness when a smile appears on her lips. We are to be married tomorrow. The banns have been called, the parson is ready and so are all of our guests we are hosting at home. For the occasion, Lucy’s father has accepted to go back to Cornwall three weeks before the time they were due. It only made Lucy and I more eager to be married as soon as possible.
Every day, her love for me is making me a better man. I can see her words having an impact on me, on how I see the world, how I think, how I love… She is everything I would have dreamed of and more. How happy I am to have her, how glad I am to be the man she has chosen and will pledge her life to tomorrow!
“I have something for you,” I say and start roaming my pocket.
Her eyes go wide and her pretty red lips part.
“What is it?”
I frown as I pat my pocket and close my fingers around the circular shape.
“Here.”
One of her eyebrows cocks up and she looks back at me, puzzled. I smile and she studies the object between my hands urging her to take it.
“You are giving me… a stone?”
“Not any stone, my love,” I tell her with a bright smile as her eyes detail the rock. “You are holding the first stone extracted from the Eastern part of the mine.”
“My father’s ground!”
I nod and she turns happy, loving eyes to me.
“You found something!”
My smile breaks into a wider grin and I kiss her forehead softly.
“We have discovered some very promising leads and I thought you would like to have this as a memory.”
She laughs as she studies the stone with her elegant fingers and she looks back at me.
“Well, well, Your Grace,” she starts in a teasing tone, “it seems you are definitely marrying me for business purposes.”
She laughs as I shake my head intently and lean forward to close my lips on hers. I kiss her until my heart beats fast enough for the blood to echo in my ears and I pull back, the taste of her tongue making me shiver in anticipation and recollection.
She smiles as I clasp my arms around her and brush my lips to her cheek. She sets on studying the stone as I keep her close.
“I have to admit I am quite disappointed,” she argues touching the small rock. “It isn’t gold.”
I laugh and she chuckles before shrugging and looking back at me.
“I suppose copper is good enough.”
As she looks at me that way, her eyes lost into mine and her smile directed only to me, I know I have achieved ultimate bliss. She is everything and more.
“You are good enough, my love,” I say and the smile spreading on her face is enough to convince me of kissing her again at length.
As soon as our engagement was announced, Ernest and Marc tried to convince me to have Lord Devinan join the mining venture we had tried to forget about for months. Yet, I refused, too fretful Lucy might see in it a reason to doubt the veracity of my words.
The offer to resume the deal actually came from Lucy herself. I didn’t even have to talk about it, she simply brought the matter back to life and worked with me in convincing her father. She is a great judge of character, my Lucy, and if there is something I know about her, it is that when she has an opinion on someone, she doesn’t let go of it unless someone or something proves her wrong. Funn
ily enough, it seems she took after her father. Getting Lord Devinan on board with the project wasn’t an easy task, but Lucy’s eagerness to see the venture revived touched her father enough to give us a go.
She admitted she loved her father but that he sometimes had a hard time acknowledging where the limit stands between the respect of ancestors and old traditions and progress to improve the economy of the region.
No matter how much she looks at this stone with the lost hope that it might contain gold, I know she believes the real profit in this venture was the ability to create employment in the area. She is good and smart, I suppose it is only a matter of time before she tells me she has found a new Duchy for us to claim.
I laugh at my thought and Lucy studies my face with a suspicious gaze.
“What is it?”
I brush my knuckles to her cheek as she smiles tenderly and tilts her head on the side for my hand to caress the skin over her collarbone.
“I was thinking… If I had to choose between you or a thousand business deals, you would always be my choice.”
She smirks and rolls her eyes but I cup her face tightly and compel her to lock eyes with me.
“I would rather be poor and landless for the rest of my life if it meant I could have you. You are worth everything that I possess, my love, everything that I own and everything that I am.”
I expect her to laugh at my raw feelings but she doesn’t. She closes the gap separating our mouths and fuses our lips into a deep and sensual kiss arousing all of my senses.
“I love you,” she says pulling back and contemplating my eyes. “I will never ask for anything more than your love, your trust and your attention, Andrew. I don’t care about the rest.”
As a smile stretches my lips and I lean forward to kiss her powerfully once again, my heart swells in delight. To think she was my despair not so long ago is making only too real the fact that, from now on, she is my joy.
The End
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About the Author
Lily Holland loves to write about love. She writes sweet, romantic romances. She enjoys all genres as long as there is some love involved and has a soft spot for Historical and Regency romance. No matter the time, she considers there is always a place for instant love stories and happy endings.
A Duke’s Despair is the third book in the Unforeseen Lovers series, a Regency Romance series.
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