Chapter XX 17+

The morning light filtered through the tall windows of the Duke's study, casting a gentle glow over the room. Adelaide paced anxiously, her thoughts troubled by Jenna's sudden disappearance. She had spent the morning with her husband, Luca, in the study, and now, as the day wore on, her worry only deepened.

Luca noticed her distress and moved to her side, placing a comforting hand on her back. "Adelaide, come here," he said softly, guiding her to a comfortable chair. He sat beside her, rubbing gentle circles around her stomach in an attempt to soothe her.

"I just can't shake this feeling, Luca," Adelaide confessed, her voice trembling. "Everything seems so off. Jenna's disappearance is unsettling, and I keep thinking about that letter she received."

Luca's brow furrowed with concern as he continued to rub her back. "You're right to be worried, but we don't know anything for certain yet. We'll find Jenna soon, I'm sure of it."

Adelaide's mind raced back to the letter she had seen Jenna reading. It had been cryptic and troubling, but she had dismissed it at the time, thinking it might just be a misunderstanding. The fact that the servants who had been sent to search for Jenna found nothing but an empty home only heightened her anxiety.

"I'm scared, Luca," she admitted, her voice barely above a whisper. "What if something terrible has happened to her?"

Luca leaned closer, pressing a reassuring kiss to her temple. "I promise you, we'll get to the bottom of this. We're doing everything we can. Trust me."

Adelaide managed a small, grateful smile, though her mind remained clouded with worry. The day seemed to drag on as she tried to calm her racing thoughts.

In the late afternoon, the Viscount and Viscountess Sinclair arrived at the manor, their visit announced by the sounds of their carriage approaching. Adelaide and Luca greeted them warmly, though Adelaide's heart wasn't entirely in the occasion.

The Viscountess, visibly pregnant, stepped out of the carriage with a mixture of determination and weariness. Her condition was surprising given the challenges she and Father had faced over the years. Though Adelaide felt a tinge of happiness for them, her concern about Jenna overshadowed her ability to fully embrace the moment.

"Oh, Adelaide, you're looking well," Anne said, though her tone held a hint of concern. "We've been eager to visit and see how you're faring."

Adelaide managed a polite smile. "Thank you, Mother. It's good to see you both. Please, come in and make yourselves comfortable."

As the family settled into the drawing room, Edward joined them. He looked at his daughter with a mixture of pride and concern, but also a hint of weariness from the long wait for a son.

Anne, still a picture of perseverance despite her evident fatigue, continued to show concern. "We're delighted to see you, Adelaide. It's been too long."

Anabella's eyes were sharp as she observed Adelaide closely. She noted the dark circles under Adelaide's eyes and the hickeys on her shoulders and neck.

"What on earth is happening here?" Anne asked, her voice tinged with concern. "You look exhausted, and those marks on your neck—are you alright, Adelaide?"

Adelaide's face flushed with a mixture of embarrassment and frustration. "Mother, it's not what you think. I'm just tired, and the marks are from—well, nothing to be concerned about."

Anne's gaze remained skeptical. "Are you certain? It's not uncommon for marital tensions to manifest in such ways. Are you being treated well?"

Adelaide shook her head, trying to keep her voice calm. "No, Mother, it's nothing like that. Luca is kind and loving. The marks are from—"

Before she could finish, Anne cut her off. "If you say so, dear. But remember, we must be vigilant."

Adelaide's patience was wearing thin, but she forced a smile and tried to change the subject. "We're actually quite happy here, Mother. And yes, we've been talking about starting a family."

Anne's eyes brightened slightly at this. "Oh, that's wonderful news! I'm glad to hear it."

Adelaide glanced at Luca, her smile softening with genuine affection. "Yes, we've been discussing it and are looking forward to what the future holds."

Her parents' visit was filled with the usual pleasantries, but the undercurrent of tension was palpable. Anne and Edward had been working hard to conceive a child, hoping for a son who could inherit the family's title. Anne's pregnancy, while a joyous development, had not entirely dispelled Adelaide's worries.

As the conversation shifted to the excitement of Anne's pregnancy, Adelaide's mind remained troubled. The mystery of Jenna's disappearance and her mother's insinuations loomed over her, casting a shadow over what should have been a joyful reunion.

The afternoon sun filtered through the large windows of Luca's study, bathing the room in a warm glow. Edward and Luca sat across from each other at the polished mahogany desk, the atmosphere more relaxed than it had been during their earlier discussions. Luca leaned back in his chair, a contented smile on his face as he looked at Edward.

"Luca, I want to thank you again for marrying Adelaide," Edward said, his voice earnest. "You've saved us from a great deal of distress. I can't express how grateful I am."

Luca inclined his head, his own smile widening. "And I want to thank you for giving me the chance to be with Adelaide. She's a remarkable woman, and I feel fortunate to have her."

The two men shared a moment of mutual appreciation, the tension of their previous negotiations now replaced by a genuine camaraderie.

Edward's expression grew thoughtful as he broached a new topic. "Have you and Adelaide been considering starting a family soon?"

Luca nodded, his expression softening. "Yes, we've been talking about it. We're both looking forward to it."

Luca's tone grew more serious as he confided in Edward. "There's been something troubling me, though. Adelaide has been quite anxious lately. She's worried about Jenna's disappearance and has mentioned feeling uneasy about some cryptic letter Jenna received before she vanished."

Edward's brow furrowed with concern. "I see. It's understandable that she would be unsettled by such an event. You must protect her, Luca. She's been through a lot, and it's important that she feels safe and supported."

Luca nodded solemnly. "I'm doing my best to support her. But if anything else comes up, or if you notice any further signs of distress, please let me know."

Edward leaned forward, his gaze intense. "Absolutely. I'll keep an eye out. If you need any assistance or if anything happens, don't hesitate to inform us. We must ensure that Adelaide remains safe and that any threats are addressed promptly."

Luca's expression showed his appreciation for Edward's support. "Thank you, Edward. It means a lot to know that you're watching out for her."

The two men shared a final nod of agreement, their bond strengthened by their mutual concern for Adelaide's well-being. The conversation shifted to lighter topics, but the underlying commitment to ensuring Adelaide's safety remained a clear and unspoken understanding between them.

The grand dining room of the manor was dimly lit by the soft glow of candles. The Viscount and Viscountess had just taken their leave, leaving Adelaide and Luca alone. The remnants of their lavish dinner still lingered on the table, but the atmosphere between them was light and filled with affection.

Adelaide, her cheeks flushed from the warmth of the evening, leaned back in her chair with a contented sigh. Luca, sitting opposite her, couldn't help but gaze at her with a playful smile.

"That was quite a dinner," Adelaide said, her eyes sparkling. "Your parents seem so excited about the baby."

Luca chuckled, leaning forward with an affectionate look. "Yes, they do. It's hard not to be a little envious, though. Imagine you, heavily pregnant, just like Mother."

Adelaide's laughter filled the room. "And what, you're imagining me waddling around the manor?"

Luca's eyes twinkled with mischief. "Exactly. I can already picture it: you, glowing, and me trying to help with every little thing you need."

Adelaide smirked playfully. "Well, we're not exactly there yet. I thought we were already working on it."

Luca's expression turned more serious, though his tone remained light. "True, but I think we need to try a bit harder. I want us to have the family we've been dreaming of."

Adelaide's laughter was a soft, melodic sound that seemed to lift the room's ambiance. "Oh, is that so? Well, we wouldn't want to disappoint, would we?"

Luca stood and moved to her side, extending his hand. "Come on then, let's go to our chambers. We have a lot of work to do."

Adelaide took his hand, allowing him to pull her to her feet. He swept her up into his arms with ease, his strong arms carrying her effortlessly. She nestled against him, her earlier worries forgotten in the warmth of his embrace.

As they made their way through the softly lit hallways, Adelaide rested her head against Luca's shoulder, feeling safe and cherished. The trials of the day seemed to melt away in the comfort of their shared moments.

Luca carried her with a sense of purpose and affection, his heart full of joy at the thought of their future together. By the time they reached their chambers, Adelaide's anxiety had dissipated, replaced by the soothing presence of her husband.

They entered their private sanctuary, and Luca gently set Adelaide down, their smiles and laughter mingling as they settled into the intimate space of their room.

Yet instead of taking her to bed, he led her across the chamber to the dressing table. Leaning down, he dragged her sturdy, padded rectangularseat several feet away until it rested directly in front of the full-length looking glass.

Then he carefully lowered himself onto it. Adelaide bit her lip in confusion.

"Aren't we going to bed?"

"No. You're going to lift your gown, petticoat, and chemise. Then sit on my lap. Facing the mirror."

"What?" she replied, startled.

Surely he couldn't mean… "Quickly, Wife," he added in that commanding tone, and a pulse started beating wildly between her legs.

Good heavens.

They were really doing this. Slowly, Adelaide lifted her pink-striped gown, linen petticoat, and fine lawn chemise to her waist, shivering as cooler air danced against her overheated, damp center, stifling a moan when her nipples hardened painfully.

Then she turned around and settled on his lap, her back to his chest, and her thighs spread wide by his. Oh. In front of the mirror like this, her private parts completely exposed, she could see everything.

The thatch of tight curls, glistening with juices. The pink of her secret flesh.

Cheeks burning, she looked away from the too-carnal sight.

"Um, Your grace—"

"Excuse me?"

"Luca," she said softly.

"Better. Yes?"

"What should I, ah, do now?"

His hands stroked up and down her arms in a soothing motion, then one brawny arm curled about her waist, and the other came to rest on her thigh. "Keep your gown high. And tell me what you like.

If I understand…I can make you come. But you must watch. If you stop watching…I stop touching." Adelaide whimpered and eventually dragged her gaze back to the mirror.

It was altogether too wicked, sitting here on her husband's lap with her gown raised and her legs spread, in the daytime. And yet he was holding her. His huge, hard chest a warm wall at her back, his arm securing her. Never had she felt so safe. So protected.

Adelaide quivered in anticipation. If she teased him, provoked him a little, would he take her for the second time?

Only one way to find out.

"I like it when you touch me. Down there," she said demurely, deliberately vague.

Luca shook his head. "I'm afraid I don't understand. How can I do what you enjoy…if I'm not sure what it is?"

"You know," Adelaide practically purred, batting her lashes.

"Down there." With a low growl, he secured her wrists in his hands, pushing them up so they rested on her breasts. Then he leaned down and kissed her neck, before nipping her earlobe with his teeth.

"Minx."

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean, Luca."

He pulled back, his eyes glittering jet. "I like hearing my name…from your lips.

But you are a disobedient duchess." he finished sternly, in that delicious commanding tone, and she squirmed with excitement.

Taking a deep breath, she shifted a little on Luca's lap to get more comfortable.

"I like being stroked. Between my legs."

"Very well," he said, trailing his fingertips along her sensitive inner thighs. Up and down. Back and forth. Teasing and teasing and yet staying far away from the place that ached for his touch. Her hips tilted in supplication. "Please."

Luca tsked

"No. I can see you want to come. Your clitoris is swollen. Your cunt is dripping wet. But you'll get nothing…until you ask. Specifically." Such a strict husband, insisting she submit fully like this. How did he know that was exactly what she wanted?

"Stroke my clitoris," Adelaide whispered, arching against him like a kitten wishing to be petted.

"Can't hear you," said her husband, the hot glint in his eyes making a lie of the words.

Not to mention the bulge of his cock pressing against her bottom. She moaned in frustration.

"Stroke my clitoris."

"Louder," he commanded, his mouth creating sensual havoc as he gently nipped her neck, then flicked his tongue against the slight sting, the muscled arm draped across her breasts rubbing her taut, tender nipples through her gown.

Her body screamed at her to obey. All at once, the fantasy of the moment descended over her like an erotic cloak, blocking out the world apart from Luca.

Allowing her to be free. Adelaide took a deep, shuddering breath. "Stroke my clitoris. And…and put two fingers inside me. Inside my cunt. I am the duke's woman and I need to come. Please. Please let me come."

His arm tightened around her, and the lustful approval on his face made her squirm in his lap. "Very good, Wife. Very good indeed.

Now. Remember to watch." Seconds later his big, bronzed hand slid down and cupped her mound. The warmth of him felt like a brand, a mark of ownership in itself, and the contrast of his size, the color of his skin against the pink and white of hers, had her trembling in delight. Then his fingers parted her nether curls and began to caress her soft folds, while his thumb circled her clitoris.

"More" she said

Only whores enjoy the act

She flinched at the memory, looking back and staring into her husbands eyes, he seemed to enjoy her hot blood so far, why stop then?

Just when she was ready to shriek her displeasure, he pushed his fingers inside her.

A gasp tore from her throat as a jolt of pleasure raced from her core to the tips of her toes. But Luca remained ruthless and utterly in control, not allowing her to buck away or retreat from the ferocity of the sensations as he plunged his fingers in and out, and his thumb pressed against her aching clitoris.

Hotter and hotter, tighter and tighter, the tempest coiled inside her, and Adelaide groaned in frantic need as the orgasm she wanted so desperately hovered tantalizingly out of her reach.

"Please, please," she begged.

"Luca…"

"Come,Love. Come all over my fingers."

Her hips circled, grinding against his hand to prolong the intense ecstasy, and as if he understood, his fingers and thumb kept moving, kept coaxing wave after delicious wave to surge throughout her body.

Oh God. Oh God. Oh God!

~^~

NOTHING BROUGHT him greater satisfaction than guiding his wife to a violent orgasm.

Transfixed by the erotic play occurring in the mirror—his fingers buried deep in her soaked cunt, the restraint of his arm across her breasts, her flushed cheeks and glittering eyes as she arched and screamed—Luca stroked and rubbed and drank in every moment of her pleasure.

Because she liked this.

He did also.

Hell, the warmth of her pressed against his chest, the way her lush backside moved against his engorged cock, her orgasmic cries…it made him feel strong. Capable rather than weak. And yet it was safe, too.

And then she peeked at him over her shoulder and spread her legs, teasing him with the pink of her wet cunt.

Minx.

Groaning, all fingers and thumbs, Luca tore the buttons from the waistband of his trousers as he attempted to undo the flap and release his painfully hard cock.

Thankfully the dressing table stool wasn't too low, so he could brace his good foot on the floor and get to his feet without too much bother. "Are you ready?"

Adelaide shivered. "I am. Ready to be, um…fucked." He stalked toward her, his cock bobbing against his stomach. His wife had barely whispered the word, and yet he'd heard it like a shout.

A Siren's call.

He wanted his tongue coated in her honey. Dropping to one knee, he spread her cheeks, pressing his face between her legs, and darting his tongue out for a taste. Adelaide moaned loudly as he took his time, licking her up and down, and side to side, but she couldn't move, not when he held her so firmly.

Again and again he teased her, lapping the spicy wetness from her labia and pushing his tongue inside her for more. Yet from this distance, and with her so open and on display for him, he couldn't resist the lure of another part of her. Very, very carefully, he flicked his tongue over her back entrance. she gasped.

"What are you doing?"

"Licking you," he replied, repeating the action.

"But you c-can't. Not there. It's wrong. F-forbidden."

"Is it?" Luca mused, stroking her labia with his thumbs.

"Oh dear." And then he licked her a third time, slower than he had before, dragging his tongue across the little pink rosette and penetrating her ever so slightly. "Luca," she choked out, her breathing harsh pants.

"You want me to stop?" There was a long, long pause, and she shifted against the dressing table. His wife, like so many of the ton, truly did not like direct questions, or providing direct answers.

"It's wrong."

Luca's lips twitched at the non-reply. "Some might say. Does it feel good?" Adelaide peeked over her shoulder, her gaze a little wild. "I…ah…"

"Answer me," he said sternly. She shuddered, and more juices trickled onto his thumbs.

"It feels strange. But, um, nice."

Pleased, he lapped at her center, coated his tongue in her honey, then licked his way up to her back entrance again. Using her juices to assist, he penetrated her more fully, darting in and out and in and out, fucking her ass with his tongue the way he would be shortly fucking her cunt with his cock.

His wife cried out, tilting her hips to assist him, and on another day he might have kept going until she came. But his cock was too hard, and he wanted Adelaide's next orgasm to be when he was buried to the hilt inside her.

On his feet again, Luca took his engorged length in hand and rubbed it against her slick folds, smiling when she mewled like an angry kitten.

"What is the matter, sweet?" he said, surprisingly evenly considering he would soon lose his mind.

"I told you I'm ready."

"That you did. Ready to be fucked." Adelaide wriggled against him, going up on her toes as though trying to lure him inside her.

"Then do it. Rough and hard. Please, Your grace…oh!" A roar burst from his lips as he plunged deeply into her cunt.

His wife was so wet there was no resistance at all, just a perfect slick, hot glide, and he thrust again and again, in unison with her cries of pleasure. The dressing table creaked with his frenzied movements, but he knew he didn't have a great deal of time before his foot began to cramp. Panting for breath, he gripped her hips in his hands and fucked her harder as her inner walls clamped around his cock like a velvet vise.

Soon, far too soon he felt that sweet ache, that coiling pressure at the base of his spine indicating he would soon come. Then his balls tightened, and he climaxed hard, his seed erupting inside her pulsing warmth as she screamed his name. Boneless, he collapsed down onto her back and brushed a kiss against her shoulder.

"Sweet Wife." "Mmmm," she mumbled, reaching back to stroke his hand. "I like that." And for the first time in forever, a wildly unfamiliar emotion overwhelmed him.

Hope.