“I hope so.” He turned them to her mirror. “You are so beautiful. How will Sir Amery be able to restrain his impulses?”
“The only thing he wants from me is Wolfbridge. My beauty, such as it is, has nothing to do with it.”
“You are wrong.” His arms slid around her and she watched him touch his lips to her shoulder. “Your beauty can inflame and inspire a man to do rash things…”
She fought with herself—and lost. “Like what?”
His hands moved, curving, shifting upward until they held her breasts, lifting them.
“Like this.” He cupped her, then let his thumbs brush over the tender peaks, budding beneath her bodice.
“God,” she kept her cry muffled, but it was a cry nonetheless. Her nipples had taken on a life of their own and were sending darts of lightning arrowing down through her body to the centre of her desire between her thighs.
“Jeremy,” she choked, “that feels…ahh…”
Her head fell back as she pushed her breasts further into his hands. Behind her she could feel his hips, pressing his hardness into her bottom. It was erotic, arousing and she wished with her entire being that she did not have to make this damned visit.
She wanted to stay right where she was. In her bedchamber. With Jeremy.
Sadly, it was not to be. Jeremy’s chest rose and fell with a sigh and he slowly withdrew from his daring caress of her breasts.
“Your beauty is unsurpassed, Adalyn. Do not ever underestimate the power you have over mere men.”
She struggled for breath. “Jeremy…I…”
He put a finger on her lips. “Hush. Time to go to your party, my Lady.”
“I…I don’t want to go…” Realising she sounded like a petulant child, Adalyn shook her head. “But I know I have to. I’m sorry.”
“Do not apologise. I cannot apologise either. You have stolen my heart, Adalyn. Your beauty, your charm, your innocent and giving nature…you’ve brought light back into my soul. There is nothing I can say or do that will ever come close to matching what you’ve given me.”
She turned and touched his face. “Dear Jeremy. You and the others surround me with such deep affections. There are no words to thank you for that. ’Tis all I could ever want.”
“Then let us brave your dragon, my Lady.”
“With my weapons to hand,” she reached for her cane.
“There is your sword. Trick will be your shield.”
She nodded. “I am ready. But I could wish it were already over.”
He touched her hand briefly. “As do I.”
“Will you help me when I return?”
Jeremy’s face flushed. “It will be up to Giles. But if I can…”
She knew what she was asking, and trembled inwardly at her outrageous suggestion. But her time spent at Wolfbridge had already awakened a side of her that craved the touch of a man’s hand, a man’s lips…
And now that craving was growing to a need, a desire that could not remain unfulfilled for much longer.
Trick helped her into the gig, then leaped onto the seat next to her as Giles tucked a blanket around her knees, and she wondered if the other Wolfbridge women had been treated to such a display of kindness, attention and sensual affection.
If so, had they chosen just one of their gentlemen or had they, as Mrs. Barnsley so aptly suggested…tried them all?
It was a question that kept her thinking during the short journey to Fivetrees.
But upon their arrival, she pushed it to the back of her mind. The drive up to the house was quite impressive, given what she could see in the faint light of dusk. Lights blazed, and the square solid facade of the building was accentuated with tall columns nearly reaching the roof.
