Sutton turned her around. “I have a carriage. I’ll give you a ride back to the club.” A footman hopped down from the back and opened the door when he saw them coming. Sutton handed her in. “Why didn’t you hire a hackney, woman? It must be seven miles to The Black Rose.”
“Hackneys cost money.” Colleen tucked her feet under the bench seat, trying to hide her new boots under the hem of her short skirt. “I’ve been saving up every penny I can.” Sutton settled next to her, and she scooted to the wall, placing the daffodils on the seat between them. Best to head temptation off where she could. “I guess that doesn’t matter anymore.”
Sutton pounded on the roof. He took off his hat and tossed it on the seat across from them. “Why does it no longer matter?”
Turning on her hip, she glared at the man. “Is that a serious question?” She didn’t wait for a response. She poked his biceps. “It no longer matters because of you. You broke your word to me, and now Mr. Ridley will most likely sell his flower shop before you give me my premium.”
For emphasis, and because she liked the contact, she poked him again.
Quick as a snake, he locked her finger with his own. “Won’t Mr. Ridley wait a bit longer?”
“Says the man with pockets as deep as a grave.” She pulled on her finger, but he refused to let it go. “To men like you, waiting a couple of months for five hundred quid isn’t of great concern. But for people like Mr. Ridley and me, it matters.”
Bringing her finger to his mouth, he pressed a glancing kiss to the back of her knuckle. His beard tickled her skin, and she repressed a shiver. His lips were as soft as she’d imagined.
“Forgive me, Mrs. Bonner. I don’t mean to make light of your situation.”
“Colleen,” she told him, her gaze trapped on his mouth. A small dent creased the center of his bottom lip, and she licked her own. “And if you feel badly, you can pay me what you owe and we’ll call it even.”
He was silent a moment. “You wish me to call you by your Christian name?”
She faced forwards, a move made awkward by her trapped hand. Their carriage rolled past Parliament, and her stomach rolled with it. She shouldn’t have opened her mouth. He was her employer, not an intimate.
But once she’d heard her given name on his lips, returning to Mrs. Bonner seemed a shame.
She jerked her head up and down.
He lowered their hands to his lap. “Well then Colleen, tell me, if I were to give you your premium now, would you stay at the club until this matter is resolved?”
“Or course not.”
The skin around his eyes crinkled. “Most people would lie, tell me what I want to hear and then take the money and run. But not you.” He rubbed his thumb on the back of her hand. “I’d be honored to call you Colleen.”
Colleen had never been so happy that she hadn’t put on her gloves that morning. His hand was bare, as well, and he circled the tip of his thumb on her skin until she felt the pattern imprinted down to the bone.
The caress was so small, so innocent. But as the seconds dragged on, a low hum started deep in her body, a heat that pulsed with every swirl of his finger. Her mind blanked of rational thought, and all she could contemplate was the softness of his lips. The scratch of his beard. Of how her whole life she’d behaved as she ought, as society dictated.
Molly had thought her adventurous enough to take a lover, and Colleen wanted to live that, if only for a day.
She took a deep breath. Two. Her desires were sinful, but she couldn’t find it within herself to care at the moment. Gathering her nerve, she crawled onto the seat on her knees and dug her free hand into Sutton’s beard. His mouth rounded in surprise, and she took full advantage. Closing her eyes, she crushed her lips to his.
Warm. Sweet. And a little scratchy on her cheeks. Altogether quite nice. A marked improvement on Mr. Bonner’s kisses, God rest his soul.
But not the fireworks she’d been expecting.
Sutton drew back. “Are you certain you want this?”
Was she? Not entirely. But she was sure she didn’t want to go through the rest of her life abiding by all the rules. She wanted to be able to look back and say that she’d stepped off the expected path once or twice.
Holding her breath, she nodded.
He circled her ribs with his large hands and lifted her into a straddle across his thighs. With one palm at the base of her spine, he wrapped the other around the nape of her neck and pulled her close.
The carriage rocked beneath them, and her sex rubbed against something hard and long. “Oh my,” she whispered, their mouths inches apart.
His breath feathered across her lips an instant before he closed the distance.
This kiss was nothing like their first. Angling her head, he took her mouth, sucking at her bottom lip, sending sparks racing to her center with each pull. He bit down, tugging at her lip, creating an opening. When he swept his tongue inside, Colleen jolted in surprise.
