They didn’t speak as they danced, and they didn’t need to. The dance was one of passion, of desire, and they both felt the heat between them. As they moved about the floor, Annabelle fantasized about what the man would look like naked, and how he would feel, guiding himself into her between her legs. She desired to learn, and once she stepped too close to him. She felt his manhood through his breeches, engorged and pushing against her belly since she was so much shorter. It was nice to know Bertram was thinking similar thoughts.
The song ended, and Annabelle desired nothing more than to dance again. But the Duke led her from the dance floor, to a secluded offshoot from the main hall, quickly, before Anna’s chaperon could catch them.
“Forgive me for being so forward,” he said, and then he bent at the knee, and his lips were pressing against hers. He tasted of a liqueur, and his tongue pushed passed her lips to dance in her mouth. Annabelle groaned against his mouth, running a hand up his back to his hair, where her fingers brushed through his locks. Both of his hands were on her waist, and he pushed against her, and once more she felt his penis, hard and yearning for her young, lithe body.
“We should be married,” he said as he broke the kiss and pulled away.
“This is not the first time you have asked me,” Annabelle said.
“And what say you this time?”
“My father agrees finally, I am of an age to be married,” Annabelle said.
“So, is it a yes?”
“Let me think on it, just for the night,” Annabelle said.
“Very well,” Bertram said. “May I have another dance?”
“Perhaps.” Anna left the Duke and returned to the ballroom alone, making sure no one would notice she had been unchaperoned with a gentleman.
Immediately another gentleman approached. “Excuse me.”
The man was a few years older than Duke Sutherland, and shorter. He was broader at the shoulder, and almost just as handsome. He had long sideburns, which reached almost to the point of his chin, his blonde hair otherwise cut short, a stark contrast to Duke Sutherland’s.
The newcomer was also a Duke, one that Anna knew well. He was an acquaintance of her father’s. His name was Christian Blackburn, and he was a rather sought after bachelor. He had seemingly resisted other women’s advances, and he had seemed interested in Anna for the last couple of years.
“May I have this dance?” Blackburn asked the young woman.
She smiled and nodded, noticing Duke Sutherland watching from afar.
Annabelle took Duke Blackburn’s arm, and he led her back to the dance floor. They danced to a considerably slower tune, and where Bertram had seemed keen to press against her body, Blackburn was quite the opposite. He seemed respectful almost to a fault. Still Anna enjoyed herself, and she found herself having some of the same thoughts she had had about the other man. They were both attractive, they both excited her.
When the song was over they didn’t leave the floor, but they did move to the side.
“I must admit, I’ve thought you beautiful for some time,” the Duke said.
“I know you have,” Annabelle said truthfully.
“It seems I am not the only man who thinks such things.” He glanced over at the first Duke. “I saw you dancing with him earlier.”
“You perhaps would not want to know what Duke Sutherland thinks,” Anna said. And that made Blackburn laugh.
“I think not. I know him of course. Not well, but he certainly has a reputation. Is that the kind of man you are interested in?”
“I do not know him well. He has proposed to me.”
“I seek to do the same.”
“You would have me as your wife?”
The Duke nodded. “I would.”
“Then I have a decision I must make.”
“It seems that you must.”
“May I have the night? I must confess, I don’t know either of you well enough to pledge myself to a lifetime of marriage. My father trusts me to be happy and will want me to decide. You are both men of great standing.”
Duke Blackburn nodded his head and took her hand to kiss it. “I will appreciate any decision you may make.”
“I think I will speak with Duke Sutherland first, since he proposed first,” Annabelle said. “I trust I will be able to speak with you later?”
“You will,” Blackburn said, and then, after another kiss of her hand, he left her at the edge of the dance floor.
Before finding the other Duke, Annabelle made her way to her mother. The woman was speaking with an older woman, but she broke of the conversation to speak with Anna in a secluded corner of the room.
“Two suitors?” Anna’s mother asked. “And I would say I think you may get more as the night wears on.”
“I don’t think I should need more. Both of them men would be a proper match.”
“Duke Sutherland has a reputation, however,” Anna’s mother warned.
“I expect he is a passionate man,” Annabelle said.
“There is more to marriage than passion, my dear daughter.”
“I will speak with them both. Get better acquainted.”
Chapter 4