He staggered from the shock—then pulled her right along with him, pressing her tight, body against body. Guiding her into the shadows against the wall, until it was just her and him and a world that didn’t matter anymore.
Life coursed through him from head to toe. Vibrant and wild. So pure it ached. He’d kissed before, but never like this, with every nerve firing, every sense awakened and aware. Just as he’d imagined on many a sleepless night, she fit against him perfectly, as if Amelia Balfour were made for him—only for him.
And then he knew, a truth so simple yet so astounding. He’d never love another woman as he did this one.
“Graham.” She nuzzled her face against his, the touch nearly driving him to his knees. Her lips moved against his cheek. “Do you feel it? Tell me you feel it too.”
His only answer was a groan, one that would not be stopped—and if he didn’t stop now, there’d be no turning back.
TWENTY-ONE
“I cannot pretend to describe what I then felt.”
What a waste of time. All those years of striving for perfection, of behaving with the utmost decorum and propriety. And in an instant she’d tossed them aside for want of man’s kiss? But as Amelia breathed in Graham’s earthy scent, reveled in the strength of his arms and taste of his lips, for one glorious, insane moment, she didn’t care anymore.
She just didn’t care.
The second he pulled away, though, it hit her. Hard. She lifted a shaky hand to her mouth. What had she done? What hadtheydone? She peered up at Graham, searching for an answer to a question she wanted neither to admit nor cast aside.
“Amelia, I…” He turned in a tight circle before once again facing her. “Forgive me. I never should have taken advantage of you like that. I am as culpable as Peckwood. No, worse. I should have known better than to have pulled such a foolish act.”
She blinked. Here he stood, asking for pardon, when she was the one who’d kissed him! And the fact that he didn’t look at her with disgust only endeared him to her all the more.
“Oh, Graham, the blame is not on you alone. I should have stepped away, or at the very least rebuked you.”
“Do not think it. This was not your fault.” He reached for her, but his hand fell before contact. “I put you into a situation you never should have been in to begin with.”
Anguish strangled his voice, and for a moment, the strong, confident doctor transformed into a penitent schoolboy, with his hair mussed and cravat rumpled. The dip of his chin was wholly contrite and beguilingly handsome all at once.
Amelia couldn’t help but smile. “Well, I suppose you did prove a point.”
He angled his head. “I did?”
“Yes, that you were wrong, sir.”
His brow creased, and she clenched handfuls of her skirt to keep from smoothing them away. Such a move would only serve to reignite a passion she was desperately trying to douse.
“Wrong about what?” he asked.
“Your demonstration, this animal magnetism that you so heartily discredited.” She rewrapped the gauze shawl that had drifted off her shoulders, then lifted her face. “Clearly it worked.”
His head jerked back. “How so?”
“I am changed, sir, in ways I never dreamed possible.” She’d meant it as a lighthearted comment. A small attempt at humour, even. But the truth of the words sank deep into her heart. Shewaschanged, irreversibly so.
Graham stepped closer, and for one breath-stealing instant, she wondered if he might kiss her again. “As am I.”
And there they stood, lost in a gaze, toe-to-toe, heart-to-heart. It was madness, really, to be caught up in such thick emotion beneath the shadows of an asylum.
“So,” she breathed, surprised she could even speak for the ache in her throat. “Now what?”
The grind of wheels upon gravel shattered the moment as a black carriage pulled up and stopped on the drive. Graham jolted back a step, then offered his arm with a sheepish grin. “Now, I think, I bring you home.”
It was strange, this walk to the carriage. She’d never before been so overly aware of a man’s movements. How his coat shifted with each step. The fine, long line of his legs as they neared the coach. How infinitely tender yet iron strong his grip when he helped her up the step. She settled her skirts, glad for the darkness when he sat opposite her…though he still might see the burn in her cheeks despite the gloom.
For a while, the carriage rumbled and swayed, neither of them speaking. She caught him a few times, glancing at her when she glanced at him, and each time she couldn’t help but smile. Were they not both too old for such love-struck antics?
He shifted on the seat, his voice as low as the drone of the wheels. “You asked me what comes next.” Leaning forward, he captured her hands in his, his gaze too shaded to read his intent. “I leave that entirely up to you. What do you want, Amelia?”
