“Impossible to say,” Stephen demurred. “He has not offered public access to his financial information.”
Elizabeth snorted. “The fact that it’s close enough that you’d have to compare ledgers to determine a winner… Reddington knows not with whom he has picked a fight. He should’ve held out for three times the castle’s worth.”
“I’d prefer nobody knew my financial state,” Stephen said. “London is not the town in which to be an independently wealthy bachelor, unless you want every matchmaking mama in Christendom knocking upon your door.”
“With axes?”
“Battering rams, more like. I would not know a single moment’s peace.”
“Then why are you tellingme? Are you attempting to lure me into the parson’s mousetrap? Because I must warn you that I am an heiress in my own right, and do not require the financial aid of any man. When Bean passed away, he left each of us a considerable sum. It is the reason we rarely accept payment from our clients. All my siblings are self-sufficient.”
“I’m telling you because you asked,” Stephen replied simply. “You’re not ‘most people.’ You’re Elizabeth Wynchester, full-time sword princess and part-time berserker. We’re friends. You can ask me anything.”
“Is that what we are?” she asked. “Friends?”
Stephen plucked her champagne from her hands. He set both glasses a safe distance from the blanket, then pulled her into his arms and crushed his mouth to hers.
He tasted like expensive champagne. Like a man who could have literally anything he wanted. A man who had looked around and decided what he wanted was Elizabeth. If only until they turned up the missing will. Part of her wanted to never solve the riddle. That way, she could stay right here in Stephen’s arms indefinitely.
Once the case concluded, so would these kisses. The holiday would be over.
Stephen would return to his laboratory, and Elizabeth would go wherever the next case took her. There would be no more machines, no more taking meals together, no more castle to defend. No more moments like these, locked in each other’s arms. No more softness of his lips, or warmth of his embrace. No more Stephen.
So she kissed him now with all she had. A kiss for every moment they had enjoyed together. Another kiss for every moment they soon would live apart. A kiss for every marble and playing card and domino in his contraptions. Another kiss for every stone in the castle, whose strong ramparts kept them together, instead of forcing them apart.
Stephen’s hands slid up her sides, exploring all the dips and valleys of her curves. So she ran her own fingers over his shoulders, his arms, his chest, his mouthwatering abdomen… which, come to think of it, really ought not to be covered up by so many restrictive layers. Muscles like these deserved to be set free.
Still kissing, she unbuttoned his coat and pushed the flaps aside. She did the same with his waistcoat. The soft cambric beneath was so thin she could feel every hard plane of his taut abdomen, but it still wasn’t good enough. Even linen was too great a barrier to have between her palms and his skin.
She tugged the hem of his shirt up from his waistband. The wind caught it, fluttering the fabric against his chest. She slid her hands beneath and splayed her fingers against the heat of his flesh. He wasted no time exploring her as well.
She gasped as Stephen’s hand cupped the front of her breast, trapping her nipple between two of his fingers. That was it. She was absolutely going to make love to this man straight away, here on top of this castle. Who cared about the bloody picnic? They were friends who did naked things likethis.
All right, sure, Stephen might not currently be considering full-on consummation. But she would unsheathe her dagger and slice her own garments from her body just to be closer to his. The tryst needn’t lead tomarriage, so long as it led to pleasure. She would kiss him, stroke him, ride him… anything and everything so long as he responded in kind.
Elizabeth sucked his tongue. The next battle she fought was the one called Win Stephen. It might not happen today, but by all that was holy, before she left this castle—
“Densmooore,” came a distant yell.
Oh, very well. The next battle would be with the nodcock screaming at the foot of the castle. But before this mission was over, she and Stephen would find pleasure in each other’s arms. This she swore.
“Unbelievable,” Stephen murmured against her lips. “Every time I kiss you.”
She waggled her brows. “Next time, we can jump straight to the good stuff.”
“Kissing is good stuff,” he protested. “It’s all good stuff. We can—wait. Did you just suggest that you’d like to—”
“Densmooore!”
“I’mcoming,” Elizabeth yelled. At least, she might have been coming, if Reddington’s men had left her and Stephen alone for a fewmore minutes. She lumbered carefully to her feet, minding her hips and joints, then straightened her bodice. “I must retrieve my sword.”
He handed her the cane with confusion. “Isn’t there a blade hidden in here?”
“Yes, but not the right kind. I need one of my dueling swords.”
“You have multiple dueling swords?”
“I have a collection of hundreds. I only brought a handful, because I hadn’t dared to hope… And now look what’s happened. From now on, whenever I leave the house, I’ll be traveling with the whole set.”
