Mad for Love: Even Gods Fall in Love, Book 2 (2 page)

She’d learned this measure in the schoolroom and danced it any number of times. Just as well, because her memories scattered. She had to let her body take control and follow the remembered paces by itself. In the same way she pasted on a practiced smile for the ten minutes or so they were on the floor.

When she had to take his hand to “thread the needle”, she looked everywhere but at him until he said, “In answer to your question, the answer’s yes. Sometimes.” He paused long enough for the dance to take them apart again and give her the moment she needed to recall what she’d said ten minutes before.

The music came to its natural conclusion and somehow they ended at the other side of the ballroom. In the usual confusion of couples leaving the floor and more moving in to replace them, then forming sets for the next dance, Lord Stretton seized her hand and drew her in the direction of the exit. God help her, but she went.

The grand salon was on the first floor, but a few rooms on the ground floor were open. “Let’s find something to drink,” he suggested, as he guided her down the stairs. Aware her mother would expect her back directly, that only proved as an incentive to go with him. Besides, when would she ever get this chance again, to enjoy the company of a man like this?

Her behaviour was a little daring, but not too much. Made more when he procured them each a glass of white wine and then took her not back upstairs, but to the open door that led to the garden.

Gardens in London were more spacious than they appeared from the front, but this one contained a greater number of people than it was used to, so Aurelia assumed she’d be reasonably safe. Until he turned to her and she realized she’d never be safe anywhere. Not with him.

His eyes gleamed in the moonlight, seeming to take on the silvery hue. Transfixed, she let him take her glass and set it down on a nearby parapet before taking her hand to lead her along a path to a small pavilion set by the wall to the next house. “We’re in luck,” he murmured. “We have the place to ourselves. But who knows for how long?”

He gave her no warning before he took her in his arms and kissed her. No sweet kiss of friendship either, but a sealing of something, a taking, though what he took she had no words for.

Except maybe he stole her heart.

Aurelia lifted her hands, pressed them against his chest with every intention of pushing him away, but somehow she ended up flattening her palms against him. His arms banded around her, dragging her close, forcing her hooped skirt to crush between them. Not close enough, but closer than she’d been to any man.

She’d never felt this way before; safe and yet in the greatest danger. She was in danger of losing everything to this man.

He kissed her sweetly, but deeply, touching her lips with his tongue so she opened her mouth and gasped as he deepened their embrace. He licked the inside of her lips and she shuddered. She’d never realised that was such a sensitive area before. Then he withdrew and gently sealed their mouths.

After he finished the kiss he didn’t release her and she didn’t force the separation. He gazed down at her and cupped her cheek. “You feel it too.” It was a statement rather than a question.

“Do I?” Felt what? She wouldn’t admit what she felt. She was too vulnerable to allow any more than he’d taken already.

“I needed to kiss you more than I needed my next breath, Aurelia.” He murmured her name like a prayer. “Don’t look at me that way.”

With a groan, he kissed her again. His lips moved over hers with soft insistence while he held her close and ravished her senses. He smelled of pure male, overlaid with a sharper scent, akin to an exotic fruit. She breathed it in while he kissed her with a command she was powerless to resist.

He stroked the bare skin exposed above her gown, the slopes of her upper breasts. She shivered, arching into his touch. One part of her stood back, lifting a warning finger, telling herself she should not do this, but the rest of her didn’t care. Warmth enveloped her inside and out, as if he’d thrown a protective shield around them, one created for them alone.

When he moved his mouth slightly, she followed, and that opened her lips enough for him to plunge his tongue inside her mouth. She responded by stroking her tongue against his, letting instinct be her guide, for he had now moved her into a place she’d never been before. A feverish moan reverberated in her mouth and throat—his. Even the notion of him tossing her down to the stone floor and throwing up her skirts didn’t alarm her. She trusted him, something reason told her she should never do with Lord Stretton.

His body rocked as he shuddered and drew a sharp breath in through his nose before he withdrew and finished the kiss with a gentle caress. Planting his hands firmly at her waist, he pulled back quickly, the movement shocking her from her trance. She jerked back, her breath coming in short gasps, and lifted one hand to her heated cheek.

“I need to—” She turned, intending to race from the pavilion, but he stopped her with one outstretched hand, palm up.

“Stop. If you rush from here in a distressed state, people will see you and assume all manner of things. Do you want that?”

Blinking realization back into her confused brain, she understood what he was saying. Bringing other people into this would force events neither of them wanted. Or at least, they shouldn’t want. She’d only just met him, for heaven’s sake.

At a cautious distance, she watched him. He glittered, the myriad buttons on his coat catching the light of the full moon, the sapphire pin at his throat gleaming with insouciant wealth. His waistcoat was embroidered with silver thread—even that caught the light when he moved. She wore soft satin and pearls. She wouldn’t glitter like that. Besides, he stood in clearer light, between her and the exit.

“I’ll take you back.” He spread both hands now in a gesture of appeasement. “I’m sorry. I meant to kiss you, but not go that far. Just initiate. And it’s your fault, you know.”

“How do you work that out?” All she’d done was—well, if to accompany a man to a quiet place in a garden was provocative, then she had been so. “I’m not experienced in this—kind of thing.”

“I know. I can tell,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. The low tones increased her sense of intimacy, and she repressed the urge to step forward, back into his arms. “You’re lovely, Aurelia. More than I can express. The moment I saw you I wanted you, and I still do. However, I’ve forced civilized behaviour on myself, and I have enough control not to do anything you don’t want me to. Barely.” He smiled, a gleam of teeth in the gloom.

“Sir, what can come from this?”

“My name’s Blaize. I’d like you to use it. After all, I’ve made free with yours.”

“You have a terrible reputation,” she said. As she’d told him, she was too high-minded to listen to gossip.

“Well earned, I assure you.” He said it as if he didn’t care one way or the other. “It doesn’t mean I’m not capable of being reformed by a good woman.”

Although her mother would have reprimanded her for unladylike behaviour, that didn’t suppress her snort of derision. It made him smile. “If I believed that, I wouldn’t just be innocent. I’d be a fool.”

“It could be true.” He moved toward her, but only to offer her the support of his arm. “If you’re feeling better, we should make our way back. I won’t apologize because I don’t regret a moment of having you in my arms. It will be my fervent ambition to repeat that experience.”

“But I couldn’t help myself—” She broke off, aware of revealing a weakness he could well take advantage of, should he wish.

“I know. I felt it too. I know what I want. Precisely and in great detail. I know all the ways I want to pleasure you. To touch your bare skin, to leave no part of you unkissed and uncaressed.”

She caught her breath, startled by his frankness, but pleased he didn’t hold back, as so many men did. They assumed she’d faint or something equally ridiculous if they told her the truth, in detail. Stories of roses and princesses had ceased to enthral her many years ago. These days she longed to experience the real thing. That, she had to admit, had driven her out here with him tonight almost as much as her desire for this man. A desire she couldn’t allow to get out of hand again. Already people would notice her absence, and if she wasn’t careful, word would spread. Such behaviour had led to society condemning a young woman out of hand and forcing an issue neither party wanted.

“I won’t let it happen to you,” he said, as if she’d spoken her fears aloud.

Alarm spiked through her. Occasionally her mother had done that, answered unspoken questions. Aurelia had accepted her explanation, that her mother knew her well. But this man? “Did you read my mind?”

His half smile demonstrated his amusement. “How could I? Of course not. It’s merely I guessed what you were thinking because I was too. We have to avoid scandal, for your sake.” He began to walk, careful to guide her down the two shallow steps before the pavilion.

Then he took her in the opposite direction. “If this garden conforms to most I’ve seen, then we should have an exit by several better populated areas. We will claim we have been in that vicinity all along. We were gone barely ten minutes, by my reckoning. It should be enough to calm your mother’s fears.” He gave her a mischievous smile. “The pavilion was a lucky chance. They are often situated in such places, but I had no guarantee it would be there. We should pass this off as a stroll in a well-populated garden.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me.” They walked by a group of trees, the foliage bursting out in green abundance. “I want to see you again. If I’m in disgrace with your family, I can hardly do that, can I? Do you think your mother will receive me?”

“With your reputation, sir, I’m not sure. Mama is very protective of me.”

He nodded. “You’re a prize, my sweet. Any fortune-hunter would be glad of your hand.” The evening was crisp and invigorating. Despite her inner turmoil the small diversion was helping Aurelia regain her equilibrium.

“Are you a fortune-hunter, then?”

He gave a crack of laughter. “Hardly.” They strolled into a better-lit area, flames from torchères illuminating the broad paths, and the house came into view. Other people strolled around, and a few glanced in their direction. Stretton nodded to one or two, his movements unhurried and easy. Graceful. “I have fortune enough for two. Or twenty, come to that. If your mother should enquire, she’ll find my estate in good order.”

That sounded alarmingly like intent to serious courtship. She needed to get a grip of herself first and control this wayward emotion that could lead her into so much danger. “Why would she enquire? We only just met.”

“And kissed. Tonight we must keep our meeting brief.” He turned, facing her, and she let her hand drop away from his arm. “If you tell me to go to perdition, I will. But if you give me any encouragement at all, I will come back.” An impression of complete sincerity shaded his grey gaze. No teasing smile, no polished society mask. She sensed that few people had seen that expression, as if he’d let his mask drop for a bare moment. Just for her.

“I don’t know what this is.” A kiss meant nothing. She hardly knew this man, except, deep down, she did in a way she didn’t begin to comprehend. It was a foolish notion. It
had
to be. It could not signify a thing. She had to think of her future, who would make her happy and in what ways, not succumb to instinct and emotions.

“We’ve met before, surely.”

“No, I’ve lived in Scotland all my life. This is my first visit to London.”

“And my last visit to Scotland was a very long time ago. You wouldn’t have been out.” He gave one of his short laughs, as if momentarily distracted, but returned to his point. “I will take this as slowly as you need to, Aurelia.”

“As slowly as we both need to.” As a peer of the realm, he needed more than instinct too. He needed a wife who could hold her own in society. And approaching someone like her, well-connected, wealthy, protected and a spinster, he could only mean one thing: she was a prospective wife. He could dally with her for a while, but not too long.

The next measures of the dance she knew well, although she’d never trodden it herself, only seen it in others and watched. She was relatively sheltered for her age, but her father’s long illness and the surety that she could, unlike other less well-born and wealthy females, take her time, made her secure in her desire to wait.

He leaned a little closer. “We’ll take as long as you like. But don’t take too long, sweet Aurelia, or I fear I’ll never last.”

“You’re fickle?”

“Not when I’ve seen what I want.” His voice turned grave. “Once that happens, nothing will deter me from my course.”

Would she like that? With an inward shudder of desire, she knew that she would. Any attempt to fool herself otherwise would be futile.

Back in the ballroom, little had changed. People still danced. With a shock, Aurelia realized their absence had encompassed barely twenty minutes. The pretty gilt clock set above the cold fireplace told her so. However, her absence wouldn’t have gone unnoticed.

As soon as she set foot in the room, her mother was on her, her glare asking her where she’d been without words. Aurelia felt the force of her mother’s anger like a strong breeze blowing over her cheeks.

Blaize took a small step forward, partly sheltering her from her mother’s fury, but he didn’t know how she reacted. Aurelia had learned that resistance only made her mother worse and more determined to have her way. She found it much better to docilely agree and then take her own path anyway. The few times she’d been forced into doing something she didn’t want to had proved worth all the times she’d done as she wished.

Not that Blaize would know this. Aurelia could only try to warn him off. If her mother took against him, their opportunities to meet again would be severely curtailed.

Almost as if he could hear her, he glanced at her and stepped to one side, performing an elegant bow. “It has been my privilege to escort your daughter to the refreshment room, ma’am, and for a brief foray into the gardens.” He gave her another glance, but none of the intimacies they’d exchanged showed in his gaze, friendly at the most. “Many others were doing the same. I trust I didn’t outstay my welcome?”