The Devil is The Duke

The two lovers stood in an awkward silence. “I only asked about you. I did send for you.” He said. As he looked at her, he remembered every moment of that night. Her shy demeanor told him she was obviously thinking of it too.

“How are you this morning?” He asked, for want of something to say.

“I am fine. I hope you slept well.”

It was his turn to gulp. She had never asked him that before. “I slept well indeed. Thank you. Emeera what happened between us last night-”

“Was a mistake that should never reoccur,” she quickly said.

The response surprised him. After all the thoughts that morning, he had finally seen he could not punish himself by staying away from her so he wanted to say it was the best night of his life and possibly ask her to be his mistress. It was a simple to organize. Every night when the manor was asleep, she would push aside the glass door and enter his bed. It would be their own little secret.

“Exactly,” he lied. “We were drunk.” She was not drunk, but she did not interrupt him. “It was just the impulse of the moment. I am very sorry for my part in it,” he said.

“No please. I was the one who came after you. It was nobody’s fault.” She said. He nodded. “if there is nothing else, I need to meet with the decorators for their balance,” Emeera added.

“No problem. I have some letters to write.”

“Bye,” she said.

“Bye,” he responded. When she was gone, the duke got up and punched the wall. Why was she so damn insistent on making it into a huge mistake that should not be repeated? He had been given a taste and there was no way a sane man could be expected to not want to devour the fruit and even the entire tree. He felt like a parched man who was given a small sip of chilled water to wet his throat then the whole bottle was grabbed out of his hands. What he had done with Emeera was not a mistake. It was what he had always wanted to do ever since the first day he saw her. Like a man fighting against the inevitable, he had told himself he would never touch yet he did it anyway. Now he wanted more but she was closing the door. No. She was slamming it shut.

That night, the duke could not sleep. He tossed in bed and twice, almost opened the glass door to beg Emeera that he would do anything, give anything and give up everyone else to make theirs a permanent affair. After Emeera, everyone including De Luca tasted like paper in his mouth. He needed Emeera like a starving man needed bread. After midnight, he prayed for sleep. He wondered how Emeera could easily call their intense lovemaking a mistake. Maybe sex was normal to her? He pushed those uncomfortable thoughts away from him. He did not need to know a woman’s past. She was his now. Or was she? A woman who called him a mistake? She was probably asleep, he thought. Not knowing that in her own room, Emeera lay in the couch with a book trying to lull herself to sleep but to no avail. She was awake and thinking of him. Of how her body felt warm where he touched and cold where he’d not. She had battled with thoughts of him all day and even the head decorator told her she looked flushed. If only they could look into her head and saw the images that snuggled in there all day and now, night. They kept her warm. Once, she toyed with the thought of opening the door in-between for another night of orgasmic releases. The sexual tension they had built up all day was too much, she needed a release. She needed him. She was never one to touch herself but that night, she needed a touch even if from her own damn hands which were nothing compared to his expert fingers. She went to bed, covered herself with her duvet and went to work. Her body was so ripe for release that she heard herself moaning within seconds.

The Duke lay in bed trying to sleep when he heard her. Before then, he was certain the walls were so thick one could not overhear anything from the next room but how he managed to hear this was a mystery to him. Maybe that was what happened when your heart was somewhere and your entire body quiet and listening for any and every pin drop from where your heart lay. It was obvious she didn’t know he could hear her. Her moans was soft but he was certain of it – she was moaning in pleasure in the bed next to the glass wall. Without him. He felt a rage he did not know he possessed. How dare she?? How bad was his lovemaking that she would rather resort to her fingers than let him near her? As his rage turned to excitement, he realized he wanted her more now. Before he could decide what to do, he heard the quivering “ha!!” that characteristically announced her orgasms. In her room, Emeera was done and immediately fell asleep. She did not know the duke entered her room and watched her sleep peacefully for some seconds. He envied her ability to sleep.

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The next morning, Emeera could not understand the Duke’s attitude towards her. First, she greeted him on the stairs but he snubbed her and walked away. She was afraid that Nancy’s foretelling that the duke would only sleep with her then move on dawned on her. Maybe Albert was tired of her already. She went about that day trying to make eye contact to no avail. Over the next few days, he avoided her. Albert left whenever she entered a room that even lady Blackhouse noticed. “Lovers’ quarrels, eh?” She said with a mischievous wink. Emeera was surprised at that because she thought nobody had heard them.