He pressed on toward the river, still running, though he had no idea if he was moving closer or farther from his prize. A great crack broke the sky, drowning out his calls.
A woman’s shrieks filled the silence that followed the thunder,and he finally saw the ladies rushing toward him. By this point, the rain had formed a curtain over the earth that shrouded their forms in a blue-gray haze.
“Here!” he shouted, holding the blanket out for Hannah to use as an umbrella, for she reached him first. He should have brought a second blanket. Hannah snatched it up and flung it over her head without breaking stride, running back up the hill toward the priory. He pulled off his frock coat, already so wet that it clung stubbornly to his body, and draped it over Jane’s shoulders as she drew near. Together, they turned and followed his sister.
By the time they reached the ruins, their clothes were so wet that it had become difficult to run. Jane’s skirts were muddied and tangled about her legs, the crinolines bunching up and tripping her. Eli gripped her waist to prevent her falling, and she clung to his shoulder, the uneasiness between them giving way to necessity.
He pulled Jane under the first archway they reached, as it was thick enough to shelter them from the downpour. Hannah never stopped, and any words they might have tried to call out would be lost in the clatter of a thousand drops on stone. A moment later she was gone, presumably to the warmth and shelter of the carriages. Eli couldn’t even see the yew through the sheet rain.
“It should pass soon.” Eli was obliged to raise his voice to make himself heard. “Unless you’d rather press on to your clarence?”
“I don’t think I can run any farther like this.” Jane frowned at her ruined skirts, drawing his coat tighter around her shoulders as she shivered.
“We can wait out the rain here—”
Sweet merciful heaven.
Eli forgot whatever he’d been about to say, struck by the sight before him. Jane had leaned forward slightly to fuss with her skirts, and his coat had fallen open, revealing every detail of her form beneath.
When they’d set out this morning, her cotton gown had been a light, buttery yellow. Drenched as she was, the fabric was plastered to her like a second skin. The boning of her corset provided something of a barrier between her naked waist and Eli’s view, but above that, her breasts were covered only by the gown itself and a chemisette beneath. Both were so light as to become practically transparent when soaked to this degree. The dark circles of her nipples were visible through the fabric. It was very, very close to seeing her half-naked.
His cock began to swell at the sight.
No. Unacceptable. Get yourself under control, man.
He tried to think of unpleasant things. Memorizing sonnets for his professor at Eton. That time he’d nearly been shot when some pressed men tried to escape theLibertas. The shipwreck.
It wasn’t working. Probably because it was physically impossible to pull his eyes away from Jane’s tits.
She took a deep breath as she tugged her skirts free of a spot of mud, straining her bodice tight against her chest.
To Eli’s utter horror, a sound escaped him. It wasn’t quite a moan, but something not far off. It certainly wasn’t restrained.
Dear God, please say she didn’t hear that.
The rainfall still roared around their ears. Maybe she hadn’t noticed.
Jane stopped tugging at her skirts and looked directly at him.
What was that?
When Jane raised her eyes, the expression on Eli’s face nearly stopped her heart. Something halfway between pain and hunger. He tore his gaze away immediately, turning so sharply to look out upon the hillside that he practically set his back to her.
She was so shocked by his reaction that it took her a moment to piece together what was happening.
Jane looked down at herself again, trying to see what Eli had. Her gown, once a light poplin, had transformed into gauze somewhere along their flight uphill.
Oh no.
She spun away, too humiliated to face him. Her heart was pounding in her ears, harder now than when they’d run from the rain.
Jane pulled Eli’s frock coat tight across her chest, but it was a good five minutes too late for that. He must have seen everything. She might as well be nude. She wanted to run back down toward the riverbank and find a nice bog to sink into until she was never found again.
They passed several very long minutes this way, the silence punctuated by the rain and thunder.
Why hadn’t she realized what would happen when this fabric got wet? If only she’d thought to hold Eli’s coat shut, she would’ve been fine. He must have been appalled.
But then there was the matter of that moan he’d made.
