The Earl Claims a Bride (23 page)

“You are sensual, Angelina,” he whispered softly against her ear. “You cannot deny that. I know you feel desire deep in your soul. I long to bring it to life and release it for you to enjoy and savor.”

“No, my lord, I’m sure that’s not true,” she answered, but gave him no hint she wanted him to stop his kisses and caresses.

“One day, I will prove it to you.”

His hands slid down to the small of her back, and then around her lean narrow waist. When she made no protest he continued his exploration. He moved his hands over the firm roundness of her buttocks and felt their firm shape beneath the thin fabric of her gown. She was slender, yet very womanly. His hands roved up and down the sensuous curves of her small waist, the gentle flare of her shapely hips and bottom. She allowed him the freedom to touch her supple body as he desired without protest.

He stopped kissing her and looked down into her blue eyes. “I’ve been waiting to kiss you and touch you like this, Angelina,” he said in a voice husky with desire. “I’ve wanted to show you how much I want you.”

Her eyes searched his. “But we shouldn’t be doing this. We shouldn’t kiss like this.”

“You told me you had made no commitment to Captain Maxwell. Is that still the case?”

She moistened her lips. “Yes.”

“Then we are hurting no one. And I don’t know about you but this feels too wonderful to stop.” He lifted her bottom and pressed her gently against his hardness. “I’ll stop anytime you say.”

He waited.

She remained silent, her eyes searching his.

“So should I continue?” he asked.

“Please,” she whispered, closing her eyes and lifting her lips to his.

Harrison quickly covered her mouth with his before she had time to change her mind. Her lips were warm, sweet, and pliant beneath his. The slow exploration of her body caused a rampant hunger inside him. He deepened the kiss, letting his mouth cover hers more fully, more frantically.

He cupped her bottom again and pressed her against the hardness hidden by his trousers. She sighed into his mouth when he brought her tightly against him. Excitement surged inside him when she matched his eagerness, as if she had been hungry for his touch the way he had been for hers. His hand moved up her rib cage to settle over the deliciously soft, tempting fullness of her breast. His hand massaged, caressed, and teased. Beneath his hand, her chest heaved with determined breaths, and each skillful caress. A hot dizziness of sensation whirled in his head, making his body ache for more of her.

His lips left hers, and he kissed his way down the cool, taut skin of her neck. His tongue played in the hollow of her throat before he kissed his way down to the bare swell of her enticing breasts. A soft whimper passed her lips, and her arms tightened around him. Her fingers dug into the fabric of his coat.

Harrison had to taste her.

He pulled on the neckline of her dress and slid it off one shoulder while kissing the smooth skin of her chest.

“I want to look at you,” he whispered. “But you have to say yes. You have to want it, too.”

“Yes,” she murmured.

He dipped his hand beneath her stays and gently lifted her breast from its hiding place. Shaded moonlight glistened off her lovely pale skin and dusky rose-colored nipple.

He swallowed against the torture of wanting her so desperately and knowing she couldn’t be his at this moment. “You’re beautiful,” he said huskily, wondering if it were possible to be any more aroused than he was at that moment. “I knew you would be.”

Bending his head, he covered her cool, firm nipple with his warm mouth. She gasped with delight. He tugged on it, nipped it with his lips, and sucked gently. It puckered invitingly. He loved the thought of making her feel deliciously good. All he could think was that this must be what heaven tasted like.

“We mustn’t do this,” she whispered but made no move to push him away.

“How can we not when it gives us such pleasure?” he whispered against her soft skin.

“It’s not proper. You’re not following the rules,” she insisted as her head fell back, giving him greater access to her gorgeous body. She cupped his head to her breasts and moaned with sweet, satisfying pleasure. A tremor shook her body, making him want to risk more liberties. She was enjoying his touch as much as he hoped she would.

Somewhere, at the back of his mind, he heard talking and laughing, but the sounds were from inside the house. They were just outside the back door. He’d had no intention of taking things this far with her. A few kisses was what he’d had in mind, but he couldn’t stop when she became so responsive and so willing to have him touch her, taste her, and mold his body to hers. Desire was raging inside him and he was having a hell of a time putting restraints on it.

Her skin was soft and warm despite the chill of the evening, her breasts were full and firm, and he was lost to the way she accepted his kisses and caresses and allowed him to bathe her skin with his tongue. His insides quivered. His body throbbed with a deep, painful ache. Right now he was tortured. He wanted to give her all the pleasure she wanted. He desperately wanted to press her against the door, lift her skirts, and make her his without further hesitation. That would settle once and for all who she belonged to, who had truly won her heart. He made a move to do just that when sanity rushed in and took control. It finally filtered into his brain that he couldn’t treat her that way.

As much as it made his body ache with unspent desire, he reluctantly lifted his head, pulled her dress over her shoulder, and stepped away from her.

“It’s not easy turning away from you, but I must,” he said, sounding as breathless as he felt. “I hear voices. I don’t want anyone to see us here.”

“Neither do I,” she said, arranging the neckline of her gown. “I don’t know how or why I allowed things to go so far.”

“Passion has a way of doing that.”

She cleared her throat and admitted, “So I’m finding out.”

He wanted her more than he could put into words, and whether or not she knew it yet, she was hungry for him, too. But not here. Not like this.

“I must go before I change my mind. I will leave by the back gate. That way no one will suspect we were out here together. If anyone sees you and asks why you were outside, tell them you felt faint and needed fresh air. No one will dispute that.”

“How can they when it’s true? I don’t think I’ve ever felt so unsteady on my feet.”

He kissed the side of her mouth and then turned to leave, but she said, “Wait.”

He stopped and looked at her.

“When we were leaving Mrs. Vaughan’s house and were on that overgrown stretch of road hidden from everyone, you didn’t kiss me.”

“That’s right.”

“Yet tonight you—you kiss me and touch me so intimately where there is great risk of being seen. Why?”

Harrison smiled. He liked that she was questioning his motives. That showed she was thinking about him and how he made her feel, even if she wasn’t ready to admit it to him or herself.

“Though I’m seldom a gentleman, I do on a few occasions decide to be one. I wanted to let you know I can be a gentleman. I can, at times, follow the rules and do the right thing, but it is never as easy, enticing, or satisfying as doing what’s forbidden.”

He smiled before turning away and heading for the back gate.

Chapter 20

We cannot fight for love as men may do; we should be wooed, and were not made to woo.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream
2.1.241–42

Angelina didn’t know where he was. He was so confusing. Five nights had passed since she’d seen Lord Thornwick at any of the parties or balls.

Where was he?

Was she just missing him as she went from house to house each evening? Were they, as the poets wrote, two ships passing in the night? Or was he possibly deliberately avoiding her? But what was most confusing of all was why she should care. His kisses and caresses made her lose all rational thought. Whenever he kissed her, nothing else mattered. She didn’t know how that could be, only that it was how she felt.

One afternoon he introduced her to a beautiful woman who had a heart for helping dogs; the next time she saw him he kissed her lips, her neck, and her breasts until she thought she would faint from all the glorious sensations. He’d made her feel things no proper young lady should ever feel. He’d asked her to admit to things she should have never thought. He’d caused her to let him kiss her and touch her in a way that should only be done by her husband—and now it was as if he’d disappeared from the face of the earth.

He was maddening.

Why should she care that he was missing? She should be happy if she never laid eyes on him again in her life, because he was ruining Captain Maxwell’s homecoming. Angelina didn’t want to think or care about the earl. She wanted Captain Maxwell to be the only gentleman on her mind.

Angelina had washed the paint from her hands in the kitchen before heading above stairs to change and put up her hair before Captain Maxwell arrived. She was eager to spend time with the captain. She wanted him to completely wipe all thoughts of Lord Thornwick from her mind.

By the time she made it to her room, Angelina realized she was weary. Late nights at balls and early mornings of painting were sapping her strength. Several times during the day she thought she might have to put her brushes away and rest, but she’d pressed on. Bishop Worsley had sent her a note saying that Mr. Eyston was most impressed with everything she’d sent. He’d also mentioned that he had an appointment with the Dowager Duchess of Drakestone. But he hadn’t told her when that meeting would take place. His ending remark had been, “Keep painting!”

And so she had.

Her grandmother’s maid had laid out a light-melon-colored carriage dress sprigged with a dark-orange thread and a matching ruffled pelisse. She started to unlace her bodice and realized she heard a chewing noise coming from the other side of the room. Could it be what she was thinking? She walked around the foot of the bed and saw Mr. Pete chewing on one of her shoes.

“Mr. Pete!” she exclaimed, kneeling down to grab him. “What are you doing in here? And eating on my shoe as if it were a meaty bone. You naughty boy,” she reprimanded, trying to pull the shoe from his mouth. He growled and held tighter to the soft leather, thinking she was playing with him.

“No. Stop. You must let go. Shoes are off limits. How did you get up here anyway?” He released the shoe and immediately scrambled to take it from her again. She threw it up on the bed, picked him up, and rubbed his head affectionately. Mr. Pete licked her chin and she laughed. “You are a sly little mischief maker. You are not supposed to be above the stairs. I must be more diligent about knowing where you are in the house. Perhaps Mrs. Bickmore can help me keep an eye on you.”

At the sound of a knock she turned and saw her father leaning against the door jamb. His gaze had zeroed in on Mr. Pete, who barked a greeting to the master of the house.

“You aren’t letting him sleep up here, are you?”

Her smile faded. Her throat tightened and so did her arms around Mr. Pete. He squirmed. “You know better, Papa. I found him just now when I came up to change.”

Her father cut his eyes around to the wet and gnawed shoe lying on the bed and then back to her. His expression suggested he wasn’t sure he believed her. “All right,” he finally said. “Your grandmother is downstairs waiting for you. She said you were going for a ride in the park with Captain Maxwell.”

“Yes, Papa.”

He straightened his tall frame and asked, “Will you please tell me why you’re going for a ride in the park with the officer and not Lord Thornwick when he is the one you are supposed to be secretly betrothed to?”

She bit down on her bottom lip as she rubbed Mr. Pete’s back. “I don’t know, other than Lord Thornwick has a mind of his own. I haven’t seen him at any of the parties for several nights now. Have you?”

“Strange,” he said and crossed his arms over his chest as his brow wrinkled. “Now that you say that, I realize I haven’t seen him for a while, either. Odd for him to go missing in the middle of the Season. I think I’ll ask around and see what I can find out about where he might be.”

“There are so many parties, it could be that we are just missing him.” She paused and then asked, “Will you let me know if you find out anything?”

“Of course. I think I’ll do that this afternoon since you won’t need me to chaperone you today. In the meantime,” her father continued, “do I need to remind you that you shouldn’t encourage Captain Maxwell or any other young man? I agreed to not having an engagement announced until the end of the Season but it’s not fair for you to lead anyone into thinking you might be available for them to consider a match.”

Her father had already reminded her. More than once. Angelina hugged Mr. Pete’s warm body close to her chest, and he licked her chin again. “I know, Papa. I am careful not to encourage anyone about a possible future.”

He gave her a pointed stare. “You do remember what will happen if we don’t announce you’ll be marrying the earl in a little more than three weeks, don’t you?”

“Of course I do.”

How could she forget? She was working hard to make enough money to give to her father so they would both be free of those debts or at the very least pay them down enough that the lenders would wait for the rest. She had already delivered two new paintings to Bishop Worsley this week. What she painted was small, but the work was so tedious it took a lot of time.

Half an hour later Angelina sat under a light-gray sky on the padded bench beside Captain Nicholas Maxwell. She folded her gloved hands in her lap and smiled contentedly. It was just the way she had imagined it would be. Well, except for the patch covering his eye. That was on his right, and he had intentionally made sure she was seated on his left. She settled into the seat, opened her ruffled parasol, and prepared to enjoy the afternoon ride to Hyde Park with the most dashing army officer in the world.

She couldn’t count the times over the past year that she’d dreamed this day would happen. It seemed as if she’d always imagined herself alone with Captain Maxwell and free to explore feelings of happiness, excitement, and love. But now she knew there were other feelings to wish for as well. Divine feelings too joyous to put into words. Harrison had awakened her to such delicious delights she blushed at times just thinking about them, about the way he made her feel, the places she’d wanted him to touch her. And how she’d never even thought about him looking at her body, her breast, until he asked her if he could. Not only had she not felt any shame, she had wanted him to look at her. Look at her and find favor with her.