Readers of her books can begin to understand how a woman can be feminine yet possess a feminist’s attitude. She is one of those writers who allow readers to get swept up in the social, cultural, and political events of the 1800s. It was a pity for Miss Lucas’s welfare that no gentleman could be found here, after all.The Duke, part of the “Devil’s Duke” series by Katharine Ashe is part mystery, part historical, and part romance. She slipped her tongue alongside his, gasped a little whimper of pleasure, and he coaxed her lips open and showed her more than how to breathe. Rule #9: A gentleman must always place a lady’s welfare before his own. But he feared that if he enjoyed much more of Diantha Lucas he would be in a very bad way when it came to giving her over to her stepfather and subsequently her intended. He could press his face against her neck and remain there simply breathing her. He wanted to run his hands over her body, to pull her to him and make her know what a real kiss could be. She made sounds of surrender in the back of her throat. “Now, breathe,” he whispered against those lips, then he sought her deeper. He’d wanted no one, yet here he was with his hands on a girl he could not release, his tongue tracing the seam of sweet, full lips that she parted for him willingly. If he’d gone seeking an innocent with more ready hunger he could not have found her. Her mouth opened to him as though by nature, offering him a sweet breath of the temptation within. She held back at first, and then she gave herself up to it.

Her lips were warm and still, and then not still as he felt her eager beauty, tasted her, and made her respond.

To her soft gasp of surprise, he took her waist in his hands, bent to her mouth, and kissed her in truth this time. “Through one’s nose, perhaps,” he said, because his only refuge was to continue speaking or to walk away.Īnd so, because her skepticism suited his need to have her lips beneath his again, he showed her how one breathed while kissing. Her lips twisted up in that manner he both dreaded and longed for. Very unsteadily while those eyes gazed up at him.

The Earl by Katharine Ashe