Three Times the Scandal (9 page)

“
Come down when you’re ready.” He patted her knee, and gave it a friendly squeeze. “Shout if you require assistance.”

Fortuna struggled into her stays. Luckily, they were both short and front fastening else she’d never have managed. They didn’t sit entirely correctly, but the dress he’d brought was slightly big and hid the problem. She didn’t call Giles back to help, because while she did actually trust him just to do what he was asked, she didn’t entirely trust herself. The more she thought about it, the more she actually wanted to lie in his arms, but it was a big step and not without risk. Without his help and protection, she’d be forced to return home. She didn’t want to risk him losing interest because the chase was already won. Although, her heart wanted to believe his promises, and maybe allowing him his fun could be to her advantage. If he enjoyed her company, surely he’d want to keep her around.

She found him in the drawing room reading a newspaper, having been pointed in the right direction by his man, Leach. If there were any other servants about the place, they were keeping themselves scarce. Fortuna nosily perused the invitations he had lined up along the mantelpiece. There were many more than the Allenthorpes typically received.

“
You’ll be pleased to know there are no reports of your disappearance in here.’ He folded the newspaper and threw it onto the sideboard. “And, so far no one has beaten a path to my door seeking you either. I think it reasonable to say that you’re safe for the moment, though Darleston and Neddy have gone out information gathering.” He joined her by the fireplace, and picked up the card she was tracing the embossed edging of. “I’ll have to attend some of these. I can’t drop from the scene entirely without raising suspicions.”

“
Tonight?” she asked.

“
No, nor tomorrow.” He tossed the pretty invitation onto the smouldering coals in the grate. The card caught, and burst into flickering blue flames. Fortuna watched it curl into ash. Last night seemed fantastical now. Truly, had she watched Neddy and Lucy Darleston tumble before this very fireplace? What had possessed her to describe them in such detail to Lord Darleston? Heat crept into her cheeks again and on the pretence of desiring a breath of cool air, she sauntered towards the sash window that overlooked the street.

Giles grasped her arm, and drew her towards a chair instead. “Stay away from the window,” he warned. “If you’re seen here, news of it will spread fast, and you’ll likely end up married to someone far worse than Macleane.”

“
A country cousin? I have none.”

“
Does anyone? I think they sprout like mushrooms, when required.”

“
Where are the twins?” Fortuna asked.

Giles returned to the fireplace and heaped on another shovel full of coal. “They’re information gathering. Seeing if your absence is public knowledge yet. I expect they’ll talk to the countess, to find out if there was any sort of disruption after we left.”

“
Oh, Mother’s not the sort to cause a scene. I imagine she kept my absence very quiet, asked about discreetly, but she wouldn’t lapse into hysterics.” Although, she’d probably scorched holes in the furnishings once she’d arrived home, and raved at her poor father and all her sisters until dawn. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled to them under her breath. She wondered what they’d told Sir Hector when he’d arrived this morning, and if he’d accepted it with any more grace than he’d managed last night. Though what did it matter? Hopefully her absence would quell his ardour, and persuade him to look elsewhere for a wife. Within a week or two more folks would return to London, and there’d be plenty of fresh country girls to entice him. And she’d be free of him.

She let her attention stray back to Giles, still crouched by the fireplace. The position pulled his coat tight across his broad back and emphasized the narrowness of his hips. It also gave her a glimpse of his bottom every time he leaned forward and his coat tails parted. The cheeks were rather flat, but high and tight, and she liked the way the seam of his breeches formed a neat ridge between them. Her sister, Mae, was always looking at men, commenting on their calves and hands and bottoms. She tried to be more discreet, and covered her smirk with her clenched fists. Mae would laugh at her now. She had exactly the sort of man she’d been wishing would sweep her off her feet crouched on the floor before her, willing to do whatever she asked, and she was sitting here coyly peeking at him like a spinster aunt.

“
Do you often sit smirking to yourself?” Giles dropped the three of four twists of newspaper he’d rolled into kindling into the coal bucket and turned to look at her. “Do I have a black mark on my breeches?”

“
No.” He nose tingled as she stifled the urge to laugh.

“
Fortuna.” He crawled towards her. His green eyes glittered through the sweep of his messy fringe. “Were you staring at my bottom?”

“
No!” she spluttered.

“
You were.” He reached her chair, and propped his elbows upon the arm, so that he could gaze into her face.

Fortuna nervously drew her teeth over her lower lip.

“
I asked you yesterday, but I’m going to ask you again. Do you want me to?”

She immediately blushed and bowed her head away from him, unable to maintain eye contact. Of course she did. It wasn’t just a matter of expectation. Rakehells seduced. She’d expected him to pounce on her in the carriage. She also desired it, had done from the moment he’d kissed her on the snow-covered terrace. “I do,” she admitted and her voice trembled. “But…”

“
There’s always a but.” Slowly, he leaned forward and slid his hand behind her neck. Fortuna’s breath hitched. Her lips parted, but he just gazed at her as if in wonderment. “I think you should know that I’ve wanted you since Hallowe’en.”

“
Truly?”

“
Truly.”

“
Then why don’t you kiss me?”

His smile stretched enticingly wide. “I was just waiting for permission, since I’m being a gentleman.” He closed his eyes as he tilted his head, and Fortuna closed hers too. Their lips met. Unlike their previous kiss on the balcony, this one wasn’t aggressive, more exploratory and sweet. Fortuna parted her lips, letting his tongue dart into her mouth. The sensation roused an ache deep in her womb. After just a few moments of tasting him, the kiss grew deeper, less playful. Giles swept her up off the chair and onto his lap. His hands pushed up into her hair, and down into the small of her back.

Fortuna’s fingers in turn fluttered across the front of his coat. Her heart thudded as if she were in the middle of mad gallop. She hadn’t meant to do it so soon, but she’d made the decision. She’d have to trust him to keep his promise.

“
You should have called for me last night,” he said, as he took one of her hands in his. “I would have given you far greater pleasure than your candlestick.”

“
Candle,” she corrected.

Giles sucked her index finger into the heat of his mouth, the act so intimate, so carnal, she could only stare at him in wonderment, while her puss grew plump and moist, and her nipples steepled.

He released her finger, and instead covered the delicate swell of her breast with his large hand. “Oh!” she gasped, as the nipple further stiffened against his palm as he circled.

“
Fortuna.” He suddenly lifted her into his arms and stood. Surprised, she squirmed. Giles whooped in glee and swirled on the spot until he was staggering drunkenly and she clung onto the lapels of his coat.

“
Put me down, you crazy buffoon!”

“
I’m going to carry you to bed.” He managed as far as the door, where he let her slide from his grasp, only to neatly trap her against the wall and demand another kiss. “And I’m not crazy, nor a buffoon.” His solid thigh pushed between her legs, and brought more of their bodies into contact. Through his clothing, she could feel the rapidly rising swell of his cock. He rocked against her, as his kiss raised her onto her toes. “Actually, let’s forget about the bed.” He grasped at her skirt, and began to slowly bunch up the fabric, so that the hem inched its way up her leg until her stockings were revealed.

“
Giles.” She lifted her leg to show him the stockings, and his grip tightened around the garter.

“
Definitely more interesting on,” he whispered, the words peculiarly hoarse, perhaps from the same tightness that gripped her own chest.

This certainly improved upon her dreamtime fantasy. She hadn’t anticipated the rush she felt just from knowing he was aroused because of her. She had no real experience of male desire, how it affected them, how it made them sound or look. This changed all that.

“
Yes,” she coaxed as his hand moved up her leg and onto the bare flesh of her thigh. He urged her legs wider apart, making a space for himself as he cupped her mound. Desire speared through Fortuna’s chest. His middle finger pressed into her heat.

“
Yes,” she squeaked when his thumb brushed her clitoris.

Slick with need now, she drove herself against him. Her fingers opened and closed upon his back, dropped lower and squeezed his buttocks. Sir Hector was so very, very wrong. She did have needs and desires. They rode her now, as she abandoned herself to Giles’ touch.

Heat rushed all over her skin. Giles kept circling with his thumb, troubling her sensitive bead until she wanted to scream. When he pushed two fingers inside her, she bit into the velvety collar of his coat in order to muffle her cries.

“
Scream if you want to. Don’t hold it in.”

“
Oh, oh...” she stuttered, her voice rising to a wail.

“
That’s it. Let yourself go.”

“
Sir!” The doorknob beside them rattled.

Giles wedged his foot against the base of the door.

“
Master.”

“
Not now,” Giles growled at his servant. His fingers never lost their rhythm as he massaged her clit.

“
But you’ve guests. The Free Lovers, sir.”

“
What!” Giles snorted the exclamation through his nose.

Feeling him stiffen, Fortuna dug her fingers more deeply into his bottom.

“
Show them into the library.”

Half-heartedly, she pushed against his chest, wondering if they should stop, but not wanting to. Giles simply upped the tempo of his caress. His fingers glided over her slippery wet skin, while his kiss moved to the pulse point in her neck. He sucked, nibbled. Her puss clenched, driving her upwards, despite the flurry of footsteps on the other side of the door.

She crested, the moment consuming her as her body jerked, hips rocking to a precise rhythmic pulse.

Giles supported her weight, and pumped his fingers in and out of her puss as her inner muscles flexed around him. He kept pressing on her clit until the last pulse of her climax faded.

Fortuna gasped into his mouth. She kissed him hard. So hard, she left his lips ruddy. “Who are your guests? Can you get rid of them?”

He kissed the corners of her lips. “I don’t know.” His breathing still uneven and buffeting her cheek, he smoothed the wisps of hair that had escaped from her coif away from her face. “We’ll finish this...” He put his hand upon the doorknob.

Fortuna pressed two fingers to her lips and held them out to press to his mouth, but at the last moment, swept her hand downward instead and daringly pressed them to the thick bulge that lay diagonally across the front of his tailored breeches. What his guests would think of such an obvious sign of his arousal she couldn’t imagine. If they were ladies, perhaps they’d turn a blind eye and giggle about it in private later.

“
Don’t.” His jade-green eyes glittered with fire. “Or else I swear I’ll have you right here, upright, so everyone hears. God, Fortuna...” He seized another kiss. “Stay out of sight. I’ll be right back.”

He scuttled into the hall, closing the door behind him.

Fortuna slumped against the back of the door, a grin stretched across her face. She could just see her reflection in the gilt-edged mirror that was set above the mantle. How wild she looked. Her cheeks were a-glow and her eyes liquid and luminous. Lo! Why had she waited? She should have demanded that he bed her last night.

* * * * *

Darleston left Neddy climbing into Lady Tiverton’s carriage. The self-proclaimed matron of society gossip would certainly have heard if there were any untoward rumours circulating regarding Fortuna. He turned west and trudged back to Darleston House in the snow. He’d spent an uneasy night on Dovecote’s daybed with Neddy beside him, staring at the ceiling until well after six ‘o clock, furious at himself for having given in to Lucy, and still curiously infatuated with Fortuna. He couldn’t seem to get her out of his head, but considering the adventure they were embroiled in, that was hardly a surprise. Hell, he hadn’t had this much fun in ages.

There wasn’t much gossip going around. He’d caught a few remarks hinting at the soon to be announced engagement of Macleane to Miss Fortuna Allenthorpe, but not so much as a whiff of scandal regarding her disappearance. He almost mentioned her absence when he happened upon Mrs. Allenthorpe and the rest of her brood perambulating around the park, but thought better of drawing such attention.

In the chequered hall of Darleston House, he shed his caped greatcoat into the arms of the second footman and hurried upstairs. Last night’s decorations littered the airy ballroom. Darleston stopped in the centre of the room, the pack of maids having flown upon his arrival, and turned a slow circle to observe the wreckage, half expecting to find a few comatose young men beneath the swathes of fallen fabric. Time past, they’d have been naked and sore too. The countess had been notorious for her wild parties. Alas that she’d curbed her wantonness now the title was real.