Dallas turned to Ember, extending his hand for her to take.
"It would be only a few minutes, I promise."
Ember was hesitant before she took the Duke's hand and allowed him to lead her through another door that burst into a hallway.
Before she disappeared into the door, she had caught her friend, Lauren, giving her a wink and a thumbs up.
Ember remained silent as she let Duke Dallas lead her down the hallway and stopped before the first door by the right turning. When he threw the door open and led both of them inside, shutting it with a soft click behind him, she gulped down a bile when she realized they were in an enormous room.
It had paintings, dusty and covered in cobwebs. Also, it had a king-sized bed at the center of the room.
"This was my father's."
The Duke informed, scrambling around to find a candle to lit as the room was dim due to the closed curtain.
"It was the nearest place suitable for our conversation."
"W-what conversation? I thought we were through that night?"
She was well aware that they weren't. Somehow, she believed the Duke wouldn't back down like that, but she liked to play dumb.
"The days I gave have elapsed."
He reminded, still scrambling for a candle in the dark room.
"Your Grace, I can not and will not grant your request."
It flew out of Ember's lips before she stopped them, and when the Duke halted his search and turned around to face her in the dim room, she knew she was in deep trouble.
"Why is that? You love him?"
"No, Your Grace! I do not love him."
She countered.
"Then why is it a difficult request to follow? Don't you like me?"
Ember swallowed.
"I assure you that I've liked you long before the marshall ball."
"Then what, pray tell, could be the problem?"
"I believe I made myself quite clear the previous night. This match is not something I want. It is my father's wish, and I must obey it."
Ember provided in one breath, resting against the wooden hall to support herself.
The little altercation she had with the Duke had already gotten her feet all jelly, and she feared she might lose stance in a few minutes.
"Fine. What must I do? What must I do to ensure you don't get married to him?"
The Duke suddenly sauntered towards her, trapping her between the wooden wall of the dim room and his towering height.
Ember drew in a breath, watching the Duke's figure in the dark.
She also craved for him as much as he did her, but she was certain her brother would have her head if she dared mention a hint of canceling her engagement with Bryne.
She had hoped she would warm up to him and fall in love with him along the line. However, she never thought the Duke would come running back, crashing its possibilities.
Right there, in the dim bedroom, something suddenly came to her mind.
"Compromise!" she quickly proposed. "I don't know what that is, but I heard that it should never be done with anyone outside your fiancè or fianceè. I don't know if it would work, but I believe—"
She hadn't seen him making a move. She only felt it cold and bare on hers, swallowing her words into his mouth.
He had kissed her. And, it was tender and soft. It had made her weak to her knees, and her belly twisted.
What this what Lauren had explained to be heaven? Because it was certainly more than that.
He broke the kiss and pulled away, cupping her face in his palms.
"Are you sure? You want me to compromise you?"
She nodded.
"We can't do it here and now. You have to come back. Maybe tomorrow evening when there is no one."
Ember gulped.
"So, it would just be you and I?"
"Yes, my love. Don't worry, you are safe with me. I will never do anything to harm you."
Somehow, that was enough to convince Ember, and she adjusted her stance. But, she had more questions as she stayed perched against the wooden wall.
"I-is it bad? The compromise?"
Duke Dallas had a hint of a smile playing at the corner of his lips when he said, "Not quite frankly. It's just—well, consider it as me taking something meant for your husband."
He whispered hoarsely.
"W-what's it like?"l
{Warning: Explicit scene ahead}
Dallas drops his fingers from her face, letting them settle on her bosom. He runs his hand smoothly around it, giving it a careful massage. She was full. He desired to strip her out of her dress and touch her bosom bare, but as he had said, it wasn't the place and time.
"Something like this."
His hand squeezes smoothly, causing Ember to moan softly. Ember pushes into his palm, her body begging for his touch.
It was just like that night at the ball when he had run his finger along her lips, but it was even more intimate. And, more heavenly. It made her feel things. Things she couldn't even put into words in explanation.
"Is that it?"
Ember asked into the dim room. Duke Dallas nodded in the dark, taking his hand off her bosom. Ember wanted to ask him to proceed with the caress, but those words were quickly replaced by a tiny gasp of moan when Dallas lifted her dress and ran his hand up her thigh.
"You'd have to be bare."
Ember's eyes widened, almost bulging out of its socket. Was it okay to go naked before anyone but your lady's maid?
"And, I'd as well be bare."
Ember swallowed, feeling the Duke's hand slowly swerve her undergarment.
"And…?"
"I'd touch you here."
Ember gasped slightly when she felt the Duke's rough hand stroking her inner thighs, his knuckle rings chilling her to her bones.
"Do you want an instance?"
Ember didn't know what instance he was about to give, but she nodded anyway, hoping it would be something like how he caressed her inner thighs.
"Wrap your legs around me."
It was an odd demand that had Ember slowly slightly as she lifted herself off the floor, wrapping around the Duke's waist.
The Duke received her gracefully, nudging her closer and pulling up her dress.
A soft moan parted her lips when she felt him press his hood beneath his breeches against her, rubbing himself.
He was so huge, and even though she couldn't feel it bare - yet - she felt behind his breeches that he was huge.
The Duke held her gaze in the dark and cupped her jaw, rubbing his thumb tenderly against it.
He starts moving slowly, thrusting his clothed groin into her womanhood behind her undergarment.
She clutched onto his shoulder, threw her head back, and let a soft moan escape through her lips into the air.
"H-how long will be in this position?"
Ember suddenly asked between his slow, sampled thrusts.
"No, love. You'd be below me on the bed, and I will slide into you. This is just an instance."
The color drained off Ember's face. He would slide into her? His huge bulge would enter her?
Duke Dallas seized thrusting when he realized her pale face, and he set her down.
Ember's gown fell freely, and she almost lost her stance from her legs going weak from the just-concluded indirect sex with the Duke.
"Are you quite alright?"
The Duke asked, pressing his palm to her cheek.
"No, I—"
Ember halted herself.
"Please, tell me the matter. You seem disturbed."
Ember blinked at Duke Dallas, struggling to gather words in her lips.
"I—Y—You will enter me?"
She finally voiced her worry.
"Yes. It is how it is done. And, if you do not want this, we can as we—"
"No," She interrupted. "I do. Please. I want you to enter me."
She had worded it quite innocently - or intended to do so - but it caused Dallas's groin to twitch at those words.
"But, I worry that it might—"
"Why don't we delay this worry till tomorrow when you come? I will send a carriage by evening when the day is almost through. Now, let's return you to your brothers, shall we?"
The Duke had adjusted his breeches, proceeding to lead Ember out of the room when Ember suddenly pulled him back by the forearm.
"I-I can't."
Duke Dallas frowned.
"What, why? Did I do something wrong?"
"Not that," Ember quickly said. "I-I can't wait till tomorrow. Can we do it now?"