“Are you setting me a challenge, Lady Charlotte?” he asked with unflinching resolution.
His uttering of her name was soft, almost sibilant. It was intensely exciting, like he had lingered over the syllables, caressing them with his tongue. It almost felt as good as the actual touch of his tongue against her skin.
“Prove yourself worthy,” she murmured and glimpsed the widening of his eyes, a telltale sign of his own arousal.
She bit her lip, feeling her breathing become ragged with excitement.
Seth looked at her flatly for a long moment. Then he grinned. It was a smile of wild abandon, the smile of a rogue—or a lunatic. Suddenly, he was on his feet. In one bound, he had leaped onto the balustrade separating the box from the rest of the auditorium. He spread his arms wide.
“My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen! Your attention momentarily before this fine company of players takes the stage. I want toannounce that a ball will take place at Hillcrest before the end of the month. And you are all invited!”
Charlotte clapped her hands to her mouth, laughing in both intense astonishment and delight. From below, there came some cheers and a smattering of applause. There were also gasps and the rumble of astonished, murmured conversation. Seth leaped back into the box.
“Well?” he asked.
“Well? Well? Well, I think you have given us a short amount of time to whip your home into shape. Staff will be needed, and the house will need to be cleaned, dusted, and aired,” she began listing off.
He resumed his seat, looking somewhat crestfallen.
“Ah, that would be entailed in hosting a ball, wouldn’t it? I had not considered that.”
“Fortunately, I am well-versed in the art of organization! I helped my Uncle with the management of his household and estate, modest as it was, back in Yorkshire. I can apply the same expertise to Hillcrest.”
“And all of the ton will see us as a couple,” Seth grinned, taking her hand once more.
“Which is what you want?” she asked.
“Of course, why do you doubt it?”
“Because you have not always seemed to desire it.”
“But that was before I realized how different you are from your sister. Before I knew that she wanted to marry someone else, freeing me to make my own choice.”
Seth’s earnest look soothed Charlotte’s heart. At the oddest times, she wondered if Seth would run the moment he fulfilled his father’s will’s marriage clause.
Once Amelia publicly confirms she wishes to be freed of her obligation to him, he might still drop me and return to his life as a rake—free as a bird.
“I once thought that the goal of my life was to be free. To be beholden to no one. It was what I yearned for as I chafed under the chains I lived in under my father’s rule. He controlled who I saw and spoke to, what I did, and where I went. Everything.”
“And once Amelia comes forward, you will have your freedom again,” she whispered.
“Though I do not despise this particular form of freedom that I have been afforded as of late.” Seth put his arms around her waist and drew her from the chair. The box was carpeted, the pile thick and plush. It was soft and warm beneath Charlotte. She glanced up at her lover and marveled at the word.
Seth kissed her, caressing her breasts gently but with a strong touch. Charlotte put her arms around him, wanting to touch his body and feel it pressed against hers. There were a couple of hundred people gathering in the auditorium just a few paces below where she lay. They might be overheard. Or caught in the act by a servant. The very idea sent blood rushing to her head, making her giddy with desire.
CHAPTER 21
“Did you enjoy your evening at the theater, my lady?” Marie asked as she opened the curtains of Charlotte’s—Amelia’s—room at Prescott Estate.
Charlotte stirred from a dream of Seth. She felt far too warm beneath the bedclothes, her nightgown twisted and clinging. She stretched, aware of her body as she had never been before.
Can I still feel Seth’s hands on me? His mouth? Or is it the memory of the dream?
The evening and the dream had blended together. Charlotte had felt as though she walked a tightrope, a knife’s edge of desire. One slip, and she would have given herself entirely to Seth. She still yearned to. They had stopped short of that at the theater, but Seth’s skill had led to Charlotte writhing with hands clamped over her mouth, while below them, the actors decried and proclaimed. This time, she had made Seth show her how his generosity could be reciprocated.
She sat up in bed, blushing furiously at the memory of the intense pleasure she had derived in the moment she had taken Seth to the point of glorious climax.
“Are you too warm, my lady?” Marie asked.
