The kiss was short, but no less as potent than any of the others they had previously shared. It filled her with warmth – as well as exhilaration over the fact that she had made a man like Godric obey her orders.
She tugged him closer by his lapels, and he settled by her side, pulling her into his arms. Then he kissed her like a man starved, his tongue stroking hers as he sucked and nibbed her lips, clearly relishing in how quickly she was becoming undone next to him.
Nora did what she could to keep her head clear, fully aware that they had much to discuss, but as he kissed her, the feelings she was still getting used to resurfaced.
She wondered if he had truly missed her or rather, he felt annoyed that she was not in his line of sight to exercise his possessiveness over her. She wondered what they would do about the mess between their families. She wondered if there was a way to go back where the most difficult thing was how to move on with her plans to find a husband.
But in that moment, all she could think of was the way he gripped her waist, how hot his lips felt against her skin, how easily the deep rumble of his voice affected her as he said,
“You let all those men touch you. Those cretins and unworthy simpletons that you danced with, all of them eager to put their hands what is mine. Then again, it was you who approached them. Perhaps I need to remind you exactly who you belong to.”
Nora did not resist when he kissed her deeply, his hands gently raising the skirts of her dress to settle on her lap. His hands roamed over her stocking clad legs, spreading them apart so his fingers could easily make its way to the center where she was already beginning to thirst for him.
She pressed a hand to her lips in a bit to remain silent as he kissed and bit her neck, all the while working his fingers in and out of her at a madding expert pace. Nora felt as though she were expected to make things a tad tricky for him, unwilling to give him free reign over her pleasure. But there was not much she could do when he got on his knees and buried his face beneath her face.
The act seemed so ridiculous at first, she wanted to laugh at the sight of him nestled beneath all that fabric, but when his tongue lapped at her center, she found it increasingly difficult to speak. She inhaled shakily as he pressed closer, pushing his tongue further past her folds, until it took everything in her not to thrash around.
Nora desperately sought more friction, missed the almost cruel precision of his fingers. As though he could sense that she wanted more, he began to suck and lap at her wetness like a man starved, each time pressing closer and deeper. Soon she was breathless and gasping his name.
At the very last moment, he used his fingers to push her over the edge, so that he could kiss her as she fell, sharing with her the taste of herself.
Nora felt her heart shake unsteadily within her as he pulled her lose, licking into her mouth as he deepened the kissed. She wanted nothing more than for this moment to last, but deep down, she knew she was only delaying the inevitable. She allowed the feel his strong hands adjusting her dress bring her back to her senses and the moment the kiss broke, she said,
“A few nights ago… after you had taught me how to defend myself, I returned to my brother’s estate to speak with you. I did not expect you to have a guest… neither did I expect to hear you both planning to hurt my father because you believe he was responsible for the death of your parents. And… I have tried to understand what your word meant, but I know that I will receive no answers all on my own. I want to ask you outright and hope that all the trust that I placed in you was not misguided. What you and your guest said that day… is it true?”
Nora waited with bated breath, her nerves alight with nervousness as she realized that no matter what would happen henceforth, things would change permanently between them.
After what felt like ages, he parted his lips and told her,
“Yes. It is all true.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“My father would never do such a thing,” Nora argued fiercely.
Godric looked quite uncomfortable, but Nora was not done yet.
“My father is a lot of things – selfish, tactless, uncouth, greedy, irresponsible… but I hardly believe he has what it takes to claim the lives of two people. He could never have done that. The man is afraid to look me in the eye after years of neglect. He’s too much of a coward to have disliked your parents enough to want to end their lives. I need you to understand that – to know that you have made a terrible mistake somewhere.”
Jumping to the defense of her father was something Nora never expected that she would do. Not necessarily because she disliked him, but rather because she never expected that she would become embroiled in his life enough to want to save it. The man had done everything he could to make her question whether at all they were his spawns and as such, she barely even trusted him.
But she knew him. She knew that he was nothing greater than a small man who had made many poor choices and now did not know how to do otherwise as time passed. He was petty, narrow minded and lazy. It was hard to imagine that he could have orchestrated the death of Godric’s parents. She couldn’t see the rhyme or reason to it and did not want her father to be hurt without conclusive evidence.
Godric looked as though there was something on his mind, and in a bid to get him to tell her, she reached for his hand, her smaller fingers squeezing his tentatively.
“Please Godric,” she begged. “Please tell me that you understand what I am saying. I am not trying to shield him by default because he is my father. But he is still my father. The least he deserves a fair trial at least. You can confront him and take his account of events before you feel as though the most plausible thing that should happen is his punishment.”
With a deep inhale, Godric spoke up tentatively.
“In the spirit of being honest, I feel as though I need to inform you that the only reason I approached your family was to be near your father for when the time comes for justice to be served. That is the reason why I am here – the reason why I have a relationship with Cecil, why I agreed to watch after you. I have spent many years of my life preparing for this… preparing to bring my parents the retribution they deserve. I do not think I can just… forget all about that because you claim to be certain that your father is far too small to be capable of such evil. What Ido know is that all the evidence we have gathered points to him. And he must pay.”
Nora had thought that it was bad enough that he viewed her father as a murderer, but she would have never imagined that he had only drawn closer to her family in preparation for the day when he would need to…
She could not even fathom the thought. Yet the duke had said that he had simply approached them – befriended Cecil and agreed to chaperone her simply to be close to her father for when he was to end his life?
She thought of the moments they had shared, how much she felt about him, how much she had believed that his jealousy and possessiveness meant that he felt something her.
But in reality, he had viewed her as a means to an end.
