“You ask me to continue pretending to be in love with you, ready to marry you. I imagine that to carry off such a facade, there will need to be much contact between us,” she said in a husky whisper.
“Much,” he agreed, gliding his hands down to her hips.
“I will need to be in your company continuously.”
“Continuously.”
“There will need to be holding of hands.”
“I suppose.”
“Kissing?”
“Mandatory.”
“Touching...”
There was a catch in her voice as she said this.
“A lot of touching,” he chuckled lowly.
Her lips brushed his so softly it was as though he had imagined it. He pushed for a longer kiss, and she grazed his lips with her fingertip instead. His mouth promptly enclosed it. He sucked it, and she giggled.
“It is an arduous assignment, but I will undertake it. ForAmelia’ssake,” she emphasized.
She removed her finger from his mouth and kissed him thoroughly. When they broke apart, both breathless, he grinned.
“I admire your self-sacrifice, milady.”
She put her forehead to his, arms going about him and holding tightly. “We should make our appearance, Sir Knight. The Regent may be expecting to see us.”
They left the room and began making their way back through the palace towards the sounds of revelry and merry-making.
“I take it you have attempted to contact your sister since you and she began your little game,” he began.
“I have, and received no reply. If you take my meaning, I have now considered writing to my Aunt and Uncle Nightingale asher, seeking news of myself... of Charlotte. They may tell me where my ultimate destination lies if she has indeed moved on from Scarborough. Well, Amelia’s…”
She trailed off and looked at Seth. He appeared as confused as she herself was.
“I think I follow,” he laughed.
“That is well. Could you explain it to me?” she asked.
His laugh deepened. His hand found hers, fingers intertwining. He supposed that anyone who saw them would take them to be young lovers. Controversial to be unaccompanied, but not so much in this place, given who its royal master was.
Rounding a corner, they found themselves looking out through a colonnade onto a quadrangle of neat grass. Targets had been set up at one end, and gentlemen lined up with longbows. It was an anachronistic sight for the nineteenth century.
“Ah, our missing Duke makes an appearance. I hope you are not spent, Bellmonte. There is an afternoon of sport ahead of you!” called out a man dressed in an ornate military uniform. His large nose and haughty disposition contrasted sharply with his loud, bombastic voice.
Seth bowed to him.
“Your Royal Highness. Forgive me, this is my first time here at Hampton Court, and I found it quite the labyrinth.”
“You became lost, did you?” the Regent bellowed, approaching. “I can see what you were lost in… a pretty pair of eyes, eh?”
Charlotte dropped into a curtsy, seeming somewhat awkward as the Regent directed a ribald grin at her. A woman had followed him. She had curling dark hair that was shorter than Charlotte’s. Her dress revealed milk-white shoulders and a full bosom, barely decent in its degree of exposure. She was grinning broadly at the Regent’s comments.
“May I introduce the Marchioness Conyngham,” the Regent started.
