The world outside faded to muffled irrelevance.The moment the wheels began to turn toward Devon House, she twined her fingers through his, savoring the feel of his wedding ring against her palm.
“How long?”she murmured, turning toward him asking again.
She noted the way he didn’t answer, rather drank in the sight of her like a man starved and on fire, all at once.
“Not long enough,” he said, his voice a low rasp as he caught her hand and pressed a kiss into her wrist.“Not for what I’m thinking.For what I’m wanting.”He exhaled a warm breath against her skin, causing her to shiver with delight.
Anna’s breath caught as he leaned in, his nose brushing her cheek, his lips grazing the corner of her mouth.“But I suppose,” he added, lips teasing just beside her ear, “you’ll make me wait.”
“Properly,” she whispered, her tone laced with mock sternness as her fingers slid to his cravat, “but not patiently.After all, I don’t think I’m any more patient than you.”
Henley groaned, his lips finding the hollow beneath her ear and kissing down toward the neckline of her dress.The silk stretched against her skin in velvet softness as she arched her back, giving him greater access.He nipped lightly, teasingly at her skin, blowing warm air against her collarbone as he placed a kiss and lingered there.“If I’m dreaming, I pray I never awaken,” he whispered.
Anna reached her arms down his shoulders, then up to his neck, savoring the hills and valleys of the muscles in his back before she gently pinched his shoulder.
Henley leaned back and regarded her with a raised eyebrow.
“Feel that?”
“Yes,” he answered then grinned.“Ah, yes, I’m awake, after all.”Then in one quick motion, he reached under her and shifted so that she settled on his lap, for once looking slightly down, rather than up at him.“Much better,” he whispered and closed the distance between them, searing his love on her lips with his kiss.
Anna’s breath couldn’t catch up with her heart as Henley’s lips danced over hers, making love to her mouth as his hands kneaded her back, spanning her hips and curving upward then freezing as the carriage came to an abrupt halt.
Henley’s kiss gentled and he leaned away, breaking the seal of their lips as he regarded her, a deliciously restrained fire burning in his gaze.Anna cupped his face, kissing him lightly, needing one final moment of privacy before they had to put on their public faces with all their social graces.
And her parents.
The thought sobered her slightly and she gave a half grin, utterly unrepentant.
“If you keep looking at me in such a way, we will never make it to this breakfast.I promise you that.”Henley kissed her once, twice, and then lingered.
“I’d apologize, but I’m not sorry at all.”
“Don’t ever be.I’ve waited for years to see you look at me this way.”Henley’s eyes studied her.“And since I’ve been given the great honor of calling you my wife, I suppose I can suffer for a few minutes being gracious to those who allowed me the opportunity,” Henley said, then winked.“But I guarantee I will be suffering, every moment, needing you and desperately wanting you till I finally can have you all to myself.Alone.So very alone,” he whispered, then with a groan, firmly shifted her from his lap and closed his eyes, head raised almost in a prayer.
“Henley.”
“Anna?”He turned his face to her, a grin playing along his lips.
“I love you,” Anna said, lacing her fingers through his.
“I love you more.”Henley squeezed her hand and then stepped from the carriage.
Anna took a deep breath and then grasped his hand, following him into the Allendale residence, counting down the minutes till they could leave.
The ballroom of the Devon house was transformed.For such short notice, the décor was astounding.White roses dripped from crystal vases and silk tablecloths clung to every table.The scent from the roses mixed with the honey of the beeswax candles was heady, inviting, romantic even, and Anna wondered if perhaps it was more than just décor.It was an apology.From Henley’s mother to her son.
Anna’s mother had explained the details of last year’s scandal.How Edwin had engaged in an affair with the now rusticating Lady Willson.Lord Willson only knew it was one of the Allendale brothers, not which.In a misbegotten scheme to protect her lover, Lady Willson had conspired with Edwin and named Henley as the blackguard.It had been a quick switch for the fighter in the match to make the duel more of a legal battle, and Henley hadn’t been the wiser, till it was too late.It had been a hard realization for Anna, since she’d been one of those lied to, and she’d be blind to it.But, thankfully, that was all in the past, and she’d made the right choice, the best choice: Henley.
Guests approached them as they held court, and they offered their thanks, while also satisfying the ton’s need to see the unexpected couple.Anna leaned back slightly, just enough to feel the pressure of Henley’s hand at the small of her back.Teasingly, his fingers tickled along her spine.She gave him a quick look, to which he raised an eyebrow and trailed his hand a little lower.Anna couldn’t help the blush that certainly bloomed on her cheeks as she welcomed yet another guest.
When that guest moved on, Henley’s voice teased her ear.“I love that color of pink on your cheeks, and I love even more that I’m the cause of it.”
“You’re usually the cause of it,” Anna replied with a saucy tone.
“I’m entirely too distracted by you; I can’t even remember who we just spoke to.”He looked down at her, and her breath caught.
Everything that simmered behind his gaze was the very reason she wanted to throw caution to the wind, and propriety, and leave their wedding breakfast unforgivably early.
