Surrendering to his need and hers, he pushed down with his hips at the same time she clasped her legs around his waist. The desire he had for her went beyond physical lust, and he ought to be scared to death by this. Because he had feelings for her. Affection. He’d hated what the damned ring had done to her finger. Knowing she’d suffered even a little, he’d wanted to rail against his uncle.
From the moment he’d met her, she was never far from his mind. He craved her body, but he also craved her presence, her smile, her opinions, her laughter.
It would not be easy to leave her, but he would.
She clutched at his back, so tightly that her fingers dug into his skin through his jacket. She gasped and he groaned.
She wasn’t a woman who shared herself easily, but she was willing to share herself with him.
He moved against her, excited but also pained knowing he couldn’t bury himself in her warmth. Not today. Not yet.
And so, aroused as hell, he imagined her lips encircling his girth, taking him deep. Her scent surrounding him.
He settled between her thighs, rubbing against the heat of her core, unable to stop.
“Maggie.” He was going to come in his breeches—like the randy youth she already thought that he was.
But she was right there with him, urging him closer, touching him all over. Her softness beckoned to be touched. He’d discovered the siren behind her façade.
With his face buried between her breasts, he reached one hand between them.
That was it. Damned if he didn’t spend the moment his hand touched the wet heat between her thighs. As waves of satisfaction gripped him, he pressed himself against her hip, thrusting and grinding until the pulsing subdued.
“Maggie,” he rasped, allowing at least half his weight to settle atop her, a boneless heap of worthless man. An army bigrade could charge at them from over the hill and he’d be unable to even move to defend the two of them.
“Ummm?” she answered.
“Just that… Just Maggie,” he mumbled against her face.
If this was good, how good would it be with neither of them wearing any clothing?
They’d left the manor just after dawn, but as he lay there with her, eyes closed, the warmth of the sun caressed his back. Birds squawked overhead, and the wind stirred her hair so that it tickled his skin.
“I ought to be somewhat embarrassed.”
She lifted her hands to his hair, gentle fingertips playing over his scalp and then onto his face. “But you are not,” she murmured, kissing his jaw.
When her mouth found his, she placed the most tender of kisses on his lips, so very different than those from only moments ago. Sebastian slid onto the ground beside her, relieving her of his weight.
He right away saw concern flicker in her eyes.
“If you cannot locate the ring, I will tell him you gave it to me and that I was the one who lost it.” He did not want her to worry, nor did he want her to draw George’s wrath any more than her change of mind already would.
“I won’t allow you to do that. Besides, we have a week left to look for it.” She snuggled deeper into his arms, sounding drowsy.
“Did you sleep at all last night?” He couldn’t remember what time she had come, nor what time she had left.
“Not a wink. My nephew is teething, and his mama needed some rest. But I am not complaining. I love my time in the nursery. I imagine you have a pounding head if you are anything like Hugh after he’s spent a night deep in his cups.” Her fingers trailed through his hair again. Something about her touch gave him comfort he hadn’t known for some time. Made him feel like he belonged. Like all was right with the world.
“It is. This is nice.”
“Ummm,” she agreed.
Which was the last thing he was aware of for some time. He drifted off to sleep, holding this woman on a hillside, in the sunshine.
* * *
Margaret came awake slowlyand pondered her situation before opening her eyes to face the reality of her most undignified behavior. She lay in Sebastian’s arms, out in the open beneath a warm autumn sky and did not know how long they had slept.
