Her heart though was beating twice as fast inside her chest. What had she done by manufacturing this lie that they were married? It had made sense at the time so that she could stay with him and take care of him. But she should have at least told Miles the truth by now. How was she going to take him home to Marbury when he still believed that they were husband and wife?
What would he say when she told him the truth? He would be angry for sure. She lied to him when he was most vulnerable.Blast it all.It was too late now, no matter if she admitted the truth or if his memory returned, he would be upset with her. She would need to watch for the right moment to admit the truth.
The truth was that she wished her lie could be true.
Chapter Thirty
Miles reached outand threaded his fingers through Susanna’s as they walked along the grassy hill that overlooked the beach. He loved the feel of her long elegant fingers intertwined with his, and how when he gave a tug, she readily moved closer so that their shoulders brushed against each other. The breeze caught tendrils of her hair, lifting and swirling them briefly. She had pulled only half of it up in a loose knot at the base of her neck, the rest brushed against his arm as it spilled out from under her straw bonnet. He’d noticed that she never bothered to pin her hair up properly before their morning walks. He’d bet his last shilling she wished she could wear it loose all the time.
“It is a beautiful morning.” She filled her lungs with fresh air. Her pert breasts rose and fell and held his full attention.
“Yes, indeed.” He lifted his gaze to look out toward the water. Down a soft incline of tall grass waving with the breeze, the beach curved in a bold stripe of golden sand and disappeared into an outcropping of ancient rocks. The craggy outcropping was always their stopping point on their walks. Susanna said it made her think of a pirate’s hideaway. That perhaps there was a secret entrance to a cave filled with treasures.
“Come let’s sit for a bit,” she said.
“I know you are still babying me.” With a tug he pulled her to face him. “I assure you I am feeling fit as a fiddle.” To prove his point, he bent and kissed her. She melted against him and her lips slid against his without reservation. Her responsiveness was a gift. She tasted as good as she smelled, like honey and sunshine. Kissing Susanna felt like coming home. His frustration with his missing memories melted away when her lips met his. Even if he never regained his memory, he knew somehow, he was supposed to be in this woman’s arms.
He nibbled at her bottom lip and then moved to brush his lips along the sensitive spot behind her ear, gratified to hear her sigh of pleasure. “Why do I have the feeling that this is the most relaxed I have felt in years?”
Susanna laughed, low and throaty. She pulled back and brushed her fingers down his cheek. “You are never relaxed. You work more than any man of leisure I know.”
He frowned. “You make me sound very boring.” Then he went back to kissing her neck. The delicate skin there was smooth as silk. He flicked his tongue against her pulse. “I think I should work harder at relearning all the curves of your body. See if anything jogs my memory.”
“Miles, you are being a rogue.” She pushed at his shoulders.
It had been thus for the past several days. She enthusiastically returned his kisses but always pulled back from going any further. She said he needed to rest, that he was still recovering. But the only thing he needed after four nights of lying next to her hard and aching was to make love to his wife. “How can one be a rogue with one’s own wife?”
She sighed.
With one finger he lifted her chin until she had to meet his gaze. “Do we not have an intimate relationship? Do we have one of those marriage of convenience? Because if you say yes, I will hardly believe it. The desire I feel when you are near borders on all-consuming. I do not know how it could possibly be that I do not love you. Your wit and your laughter have filled the past few days with joy. I feel at ease just sitting next to you while we read or play chess. It’s like we have spent a lifetime together or like our souls are a perfect match.”
Her bottom lip trembled. “You are always annoyed by my interruptions and my crazy plans. You think I am reckless and foolish.”
He rubbed his thumb across her lip to soothe it. “Perhaps I am the fool then. Or maybe I just needed to relax.” He smiled down at her until her lips turned up as well. They grinned at each other for several moments like two fools in love. Perhaps there had been enough talking and not enough seducing. He captured her mouth once again, sweeping his tongue inside to tangle with hers. With an arm around her waist, he brought her flush against him, heartbeat to heartbeat.
His hands roamed down her back and cupped the lush curve of her backside. “Having your backside pressed against me every night has driven me wild with need. I ache to run my hands over your soft skin, to feel you go pliant under my touch. I want to spread your milky-white thighs and bury myself between them.”
He watched her eyes go wide at his confession. He slowly lowered them both to their knees in the grass. Then he kissed her again, pouring all of his pent-up lust into the kiss so she would be sure to know what he felt for her. He ran one finger along the neckline of her dress. The skin was flushed and so soft that he groaned and bent to follow the same path with his tongue. “Susanna,” he breathed out her name.
She raked her fingers through his hair, her nails scraped against his scalp. “Miles, I don’t want you to stop.”
He chuckled and laved his tongue along the top of her breast again. As much as he wanted to unwrap her and find out what color her pretty nipples were, he had another destination in mind that would bring them both much pleasure. He gently laid her down on her back. She was so beautiful with her red hair splayed out against the green grass. Her eyes were soft and unfocused with desire. He knelt by her feet and began to push her lilac skirts up exposing shapely calves. Taking one ankle in his grip he placed a kiss against the silk-covered hollow above her half boot. Then he trailed kisses up to her knee and scooted up in between her bent knees pushing her skirt higher and higher.
Susanna’s long legs seemed to go on forever. He ran his hands along the silky skin of her inner thighs admiring the lean muscle. She squirmed underneath him with a low moan as he brushed his thumbs along the sensitive skin of her hip bones. He had a primal desire to possess her with every fiber of his being. He tugged her hips up so he could cup the lush curves of her backside as he placed an open-mouthed kiss on each hip.
She gasped. “Miles, I thought you wanted to bury yourself between my legs.”
“Oh, I do.” He bent to lick languidly up the seam of her sex. Burying his nose in the auburn curls. He took a deep breath in of her sweet musky scent before delving his tongue between her folds, licking up until he found the sensitive bundle of nerves that made her moan his name. He roughly squeezed her supple ass. God, the tang of her nectar was like a drug in his veins. He feasted on her quim, every sigh and gasp feeding his obsession for her surrender. To hear her shatter with pleasure.
Her thighs which gripped his shoulders clenched tight and Susanna arched back with a shout as she came apart in his arms. He sucked hard on her clit to prolong her orgasm and watched her head thrash back and forth as she gasped with another shudder of pleasure. Lowering her gently he couldn’t resist one last kiss to the inside of her thigh. He sat back on his heels with a grin of satisfaction. She looked dazed, and deliciously rumpled.
It was not enough. His need for her had only been enflamed by tasting her. He stood and reached down for her hands. She immediately gripped his and he hauled her up and into his arms. Her mouth was greedy as she plundered his with her tongue. Her hands delved into his hair. She pressed herself against him.
“Susanna,” he murmured against her mouth. “I’m not nearly done with you. I need you naked underneath me. I need to run my lips over every inch of your skin. I need your hands on me.”
She just captured his mouth again, sliding her hands down his chest and to the front of his falls where his cock strained against the fabric of his trousers. Her hand gripped him through the fabric and his hips involuntarily thrust against her. He ripped his mouth from hers. “The things I want to do to you we cannot do out here on this hill. We need a bed. Or at least a room with a goddamn door to shut.”
Susanna’s laughter rang out. And even though he was aroused beyond reason, it made him laugh too. He grabbed her hand and they scrambled down the hill toward home.
