All she had to do was seduce him.
Percy turned, crossing the room until he stood before her, and removed her hand from her mouth. He smoothed his fingers over hers, lingering on the nail she’d bitten, and once again it reminded her of the book she’d watched him caress. The soft scraping of paper against skin. Heat rose in her core.
“Peace,” he said, smiling down at her briefly. But before she could say anything else, or perhaps even start a conversation, he wandered away from her again, returning to the window and his contemplation.
To her relief, or perhaps her disappointment, dinner arrived promptly, and they took their places at opposite ends of the table. Percy seemed disinclined to conversation after their conversation in the carriage, so dinner, too, was silent. After a glass of wine they drank—once again in silence—before the rather unnecessary fire, Percy offered her his arm and they summoned a servant to take them upstairs.
With every step, Cecily’s heart threatened to ricochet out of her chest. This was her moment. Perhaps it wasn’t the mostauspiciousof locations for a seduction, but when they entered their room, it was spacious and the bed looked neat, turned down with white sheets. To be sure, she could still hear the roaring men from the taproom downstairs, and the snorting of horses from the stables, the chaos of arrival from another patron, stableboys calling to one another, voices coarse and friendly. And there was no guarantee that the mattress was comfortable, or that they seemed likely to find much sleep.
But this was the first time they were to share a bed in quite some time, and if she waited until they arrived at Hollyhead, they might return to separate rooms. She could envisage pressing her body against Percy’s when they both occupied the same bed. Arriving in his room to enter his bed, and request the right to do so, seemed rather more of a challenge.
“I thought you might like a bath after the journey,” Percy said, and she turned away from the bed to see the screen before the fire. And the steaming bathtub filled with hot water standing in front of the coals’ glow.
A bath.
Her heart leapt into action, hammering against her ribs. This was it. She could ask him to remove her clothing—one had to be naked to enter a bath, which boded well for her plan—and surely things would progress from there.
“Was that presumptuous of me?” he asked when she said nothing. “I won’t be here, Cecy.”
“I—” She frowned at him. “What?”
“I wouldn’t wish to make you uncomfortable. Take as long as you like. I’ll give you plenty of time.”
“What about you?” she asked desperately. “Would you not like to bathe?”
“Tomorrow evening we’ll be home. I can last until then.”
Not knowing what she wanted to say or do, Cecily took a step towards him. Candlelight played over the lines and edges of his face, half gilding him in gold and half in shadow. In a begrudging way, she’d always accepted he was handsome—but now, for some inexplicable reason, he took her breath away.
Had he always been sotall?Sobroad?
How unreasonable of him to spring these realisations on her now.
“You don’t have to leave,” she said. “If—if you do not want to.”
“Oh?” He looked down at her, his expression unreasonable.
“If it would not be convenient, I mean. You must also be tired, from the journey, and I would not mean to keep you waiting for me outside somewhere when you could be—” Heavens, she was rambling. “I would not like to put you out,” she finished lamely.
More to the point, it would be exceedingly difficult to seduce a man who was not there.
“How considerate of you.” The very corner of a smile curled his lips before he tucked it away again, and she knew she had done something else to make him amused. It seemed to be happening all the time now, but she had lost the poise she had so painstakingly constructed over the course of their time together.
“Would you like me to stay with you, Cecily?”
“I asked for your benefit,” she said helplessly.
“I do appreciate it. But now, you see, I am asking for mine. What would you like me to do?”
A sudden vision assaulted her of Percy’s mouth on hers, his hands exploring her body with the same patience with which he did everything. The bed looked more inviting than ever.
Her fingers tightened in the material of her skirts as she blinked rapidly. Her throat was so desperately dry, but she had a sneaking suspicion that no amount of water would cure it.
“I—”
Howdidone seduce one’s husband? It seemed a decided oversight that she had not, until now, thought to ask.
Kiss me, every muscle screamed.
