Colin jerked his head, indicating that Ilona should come to him, but Ilona only shook her head with a sassy smile and waved him off.
“For Heaven’s sake, Ilona.Go to him.You know you want to.”
“I shall always want to,” Ilona agreed with a blissful sigh.“But if I surrendered to that inclination each time it struck me, I would simply have no life outside my own home and nary a friend left in the world besides him.”
That sounded just divine to Fiona, though she refrained from saying so.
She saw another man join her brothers from the corner of her eye.“That must be Harro—” No, that was black hair curling beneath that black derby, not blonde.“What is he doing here?I invited Harrowby to join me.”
She shot a fierce look at Ilona, who merely shrugged with a sunny smile.
“Let me guess.”Fiona scowled at Hobbes.“The post was somehow misplaced?I’m going to have to telephone my requests from here on out personally, aren’t I?”
“Don’t be angry with Hobbes,” Ilona said.“It was my idea.I’m a foolish romantic and just wanted you to be as happy as I am.Especially today.”
Fiona raised a brow at her sister-in-law.“Why especially today?”
“Oh, Fiona!Shall I tell you a secret?”Ilona looked ready to burst no matter what her reply.“If I do, you must be happy for me.Truly happy!”
Unable to resist the joy that was radiating from Ilona, she was already smiling.“What is it?”
“It has happened,” Ilona whispered with barely contained excitement.“I am finally to have a baby of my own.”
“Really?”Fiona gasped, grasping both of Ilona’s hands excitedly.“Are you certain?How wonderful,” she cried and embraced Ilona, only to have her sister-in-law shush her with a merry grin.
“Now, you mustn’t tell anyone,” Ilona reminded as they parted.“I haven’t told anyone yet.”
“Not even Colin?Oh, but you must.He’ll be over the moon.”
“As am I, but I did want to be sure before I said anything.Don’t worry, I’m certain he suspects.But there!Have I given you something to be happy for, my darling friend?”Ilona asked with a broad smile.“I simply must have your happiness right now.”
“I am.I am happy for you,” Fiona rushed to assure her, telling herself that the tightening in her chest and the burning behind her eyes was the result only of her overwhelming joy.
“Blossom!Come along already,” Connor called.“We want to be off.”
“There’s not a lick of patience among them,” Abby complained, leading the rest of the ladies down the stairs.There was a rush of activity in the foyer as footmen and maids brought in hats, gloves, and parasols for Abby, Eve, Moira, and Kitty.
Chatting merrily amongst themselves, one and all ignored the impatient calls from the street.Coline came dashing down the stairs, calling apologies as she hurriedly gathered her things from Hobbes and herded Fiona and Ilona out the door.
The men all turned, the married men casting loving smiles on their wives while the younger, unmarried lads nodded and leapt impatiently into the last of the four carriages lined up and waiting at the curb.
Aylesbury swept off his hat with a bow and broad smile that set Fiona’s heart racing and a blush warming her cheeks.It was almost too much to bear, facing him again after he had wrung such impassioned cries from her.
No doubt, he would be unforgivably smug, triumphant.
Glancing back over her shoulder for some assistance from Hobbes, the butler only nodded his approval and closed the door.It was a bloody conspiracy.
* * *
She was extraordinarilyexquisite, Aylesbury thought as Fiona inched her way hesitantly to the carriage.Only a smile on her face would have made her any more tempting.From the way she was eyeing him so warily, she hadn’t known that he’d been invited for the day.It was a lowering thought as he’d hoped she would have given up her reservations about him after their love play the previous night.
There had been no doubt in his mind that she would be a passionate lover.Her temper, that touch of fire in her hair, told him that.What he had never imagined was how deeply it would affect him.He burned with satisfaction for pushing her to heights he knew she had never reached.Apart from a simmering dissatisfaction for not being able to seize the opportunity to bury himself within those scalding depths and find his own release, he was eager to drive her to ecstasy again and again.
He'd thought she might be just as keen to do the same.
Given how she avoided his eyes, that was clearly not the case.
The other ladies were far more pleased to see him, greeting him merrily.The devil inside drove Aylesbury to drop a kiss on Moira’s cheek and Abby’s, too, under the glowers of their husbands.He might have done the same with Eve and Kitty, but Eve tended to strike him as too proper to accept it, and he simply didn’t know Kitty that well.The four of them moved off to the front two carriages with their spouses, and Aylesbury turned, holding out his hand to help the two Mrs.MacKintoshs get into the third carriage.He returned their greetings with a smile before turning to Fiona to do the same.
