Her breath hitched and her lashes fluttered. It was an invitation he couldn’t resist. When their lips met, the kiss was soft and hot, burning him up slowly from the inside out. How could one kiss be so damned good? Like drinking a glass of warm brandy by the fire while it snowed outside. He dined upon her lips, tasting her sweetness and reveling in the way she curled her arms around his neck to keep them close. It was a long while before they broke apart and had to catch their breath.
“Alex, I don’t know what the future holds, but let’s take it one day, one kiss at a time.”
Alex nibbled her bottom lip and sighed. “One day at a time.” She nodded to herself and then straightened her shoulders. “We must get back to the house.”
They started walking again, and Ambrose’s heart was strangely heavy. He didn’t like the sad, distant look in her eyes. He wanted Alex right there in that moment with him, not miles away. Tonight he would come to her, reclaim her attention and her heart for as long as he could.
*****
“Rachel!” Alex rushed to greet her cousin. Rachel laughed and hugged her fiercely.
“I’ve missed you,” Alex murmured, her eyes burning with tears. Sussex was too far away, and she missed her cousin dearly. They’d been as close as sisters once, before marriage and babes had separated them by time and distance.
Her cousin smiled, and then whatever they might have said was interrupted by the tugging of tiny hands on Alex’s skirts.
“Aunt Alex?” A cherubic little girl of five years was looking up at her with wide cornflower-blue eyes.
“Emma!” Alex bent and lifted the girl into her arms. “My goodness, you’ve grown.” The little girl smiled and clapped her hands.
“And Griffin, where is he?” Alex asked, searching for signs of Rachel’s three-year-old boy.
“Here,” a loud, cheery voice boomed. Randolph Brandon came in the front door, a tiny boy in his arms.
“Randolph!” Alex hugged him as well before kissing little Griffin’s cheek. The boy squirmed and rubbed at his face, scowling in the way little boys always did when they pretended not to enjoy receiving kisses. Randolph set the boy down, and he trundled on chubby legs over to where Ambrose stood, hanging at the edge of the room as though unsure whether he was part of the gathering.
“Hello,” the little boy chirped, tugging at Ambrose’s trouser leg.
“Er… hello…” Ambrose greeted the little boy, and Alex couldn’t help but giggle at Ambrose’s perplexed expression. He clearly didn’t spend much time around children, and had no idea how to act. Alex shared an amused glance with Rachel as Randolph exchanged introductions with Ambrose.
“Come, Alex, we must catch up.” Rachel’s green eyes were bright with mischief as they walked out of the entryway into the drawing room. The green-satin-walled drawing room was warm with the glow of the freshly- lit fire in the white marble fireplace. Alex led her cousin and little Emma to a settee. Emma settled herself firmly between her mother and her aunt, swinging her little booted feet, her tiny delicate hands folded in her lap.
“Well now, Alex. Who is that enchanting fellow talking to my husband?” Her cousin’s tone was full of teasing and curiosity.
“That is Mr. Worthing. He is the son of one of Father’s old friends, and apparently Father has known him since he was a child.”
Rachel played with her elbow-length gloves, her assessing gaze taking in Ambrose’s expensively tailored clothes and his fine physique.
“And he came to visit you from London?” she asked.
“Not exactly. He came to renew his acquaintance with my father. We’d never met before.”
“Is that so?” Rachel looked between her and Ambrose. Little Emma imitated her mother’s quizzical, analytical gaze, and Alex almost laughed. The child was growing up too fast.
“It isn’t like that, Rachel.”
“Oh? I thought perhaps that you’d found someone new, after Marshall…” She trailed off, and Alex winced at the little twinge of pain in her chest. She didn’t want to think about Marshall or how his betrayal of her young, foolish heart had hurt her so deeply. Those types of wounds didn’t simply heal overnight. They lingered, like a bad cough in the middle of winter, leaving one uncomfortable and feeling dreadful for months.
“My dear, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have mentioned Marshall. It’s just…”
“Just what?” Alex asked.
“Mr. Worthing hasn’t taken his eyes off you since we arrived, and well, a man doesn’t pay such a marked interest in a woman unless he’s truly smitten.”
Both Alex and Rachel glanced Ambrose’s way, and to Alex’s delight, she saw him showing his pocket watch to Griffin. The little boy was reaching out to touch the golden watch face when Ambrose pretended to shut the lid on his fingers and the boy shrieked in delight at the game. It was just as Rachel had pointed out—every few seconds, Ambrose’s gaze darted to her, then his cheeks reddened slightly, and he focused back on the toddler.
“How do you know?” she asked.
Her cousin smiled. “It was that way with Randolph. We met in the middle of a ball, and he couldn’t stop looking at me. I was flattered, naturally, but I was used to men looking my way since my debut. But when he tripped in the middle of a quadrille and sent an entire line of men falling down in the middle of the assembly room because he was watching me and not his feet…well…I knew it was more than simple attraction.” Rachel’s lips curved. “Sometimes two people are simply drawn to each other so strongly that it cannot be denied or fought against, only surrendered to.”
