She hesitated, stilling completely, but then she slowly nodded.
He pulled her back to him, situating her where she straddled his lap, her knees resting on either side of him. He gently pushed the hood of her cloak back to reveal her dark hair falling around her shoulders. It was the first time he’d seen it unbound, and the sight stirred his blood even more than the most practiced courtesan. He slipped his hand into those silken locks and urged her forward to meet his waiting mouth.
It hadn’t beenAraminta’s first kiss, but it was the only one she would ever remember henceforth. While a couple of eager village boys had attempted to coax her with their attentions when she’d been younger, she had easily rebuffed their advances. It was clear that they had been terribly inexperienced, for the way Lord Somers kissed her was nothing short of…enthralling. His mouth moved across hers with a knowledge born of practice and she could tell that he’d had plenty of it.
When his hand slowly lowered to brush the underside of her breast, she gasped. She’d left the house on an impulse, but it wasn’t as though she would have called for her maid to assist her into her stays. She’d thought that her chemise, gown, and cloak would have been enough for a quick escapade, but now she realized how dangerous that had been, for as he slipped a hand beneath her cloak and cupped her through her gown, toying with the taunt nipple, she didn’t want the sweet torture to stop.
She’d waited years for this and she found that she didn’t want to wait any longer. What if something happened and she couldn’t meet him on Christmas Eve? She might never have the chance to experience such passion ever again.
“Grey, please. I don’t want this to be over yet.” It was the first time she’d dared to use his Christian name, but she prayed he would sense the urgency in her voice.
He drew back to look into her eyes. “It’s not Christmas Eve,” he said huskily and she knew that he was just as affected as she was.
“I don’t care. I changed my mind. I want this and I want you.Now.”
She could tell that he wavered. “You should have a bed and roses and candlelight—”
She put her hands on his rough cheeks with a slight hint of stubble. “That doesn’t matter to me. I only want tofeel.”
He hesitated for a moment longer and then he kissed her with even more heat than before. His tongue swept inside of her mouth, and she moaned at the slick sensation. When he delved beneath her skirts and began to stroke the aching bud between her thighs in the same manner, she gasped at the intensity. Above and below, it was all beginning to turn to molten fire that spread throughout her limbs, until she gave a muffled cry against his lips and burst apart.
While she was still coming down from the heavens, he reached between them and undid his trousers, freeing his engorged manhood. With one last look at her, both of them panting heavily, he seemed to be waiting for her final consent.
“Yes.” It was all she had to utter for him to lift her hips slightly and set her on top of him. She tensed slightly at the intrusion, but when he began to fondle her breasts once more, kissing the side of her neck, she was soon lost to the pleasure and relaxed.
He eased inside of her, inch by glorious inch until he thrust upward and entered her fully. She bit his shoulder at the sudden sting, but it quickly faded as he began a rhythm that had her wrapping her arms around him. By the time he found his release, she was sobbing his name as she crested once more.
As he went still, Araminta shut her eyes tightly. She wasn’t sure what to say, or if words were even needed in this moment.
He pulled back and pushed her chin upward with his knuckles. “Look at me, Araminta.”
She lifted her lids and gazed into his handsome face. In that moment she knew that, whatever else she did in this life, she’d made the right choice by giving herself to him.
“I know you still don’t want to marry me, but I hope that someday I can convince you to change your mind.” He smiled. “For the second time.”
She smiled. “Let’s just content ourselves with this moment right now and leave tomorrow where it belongs.”
He reluctantly nodded his head, and she slipped off his lap. As he put himself to rights and fastened his trousers, she pulled the hood of her cloak back over her hair.
Before she departed, he grasped her hand and kissed the backs of her knuckles. “I hope that I can still see you on Christmas Eve.”
“You will,” she returned evenly. “If you attend the Gravesend ball.”
Araminta returned to the hackney that had waited for her return, and although the driver didn’t smirk, she had the feeling he knew what had just happened. Her cheeks burned with sudden embarrassment as she instructed him to drive her home.
He dropped her off in the mews behind the house and she let herself in through the servants’ entrance near the kitchens, the same way she’d taken her leave.
However, the moment she shut the door behind her and shoved her cloak back, a light flared to life in the room. “I wondered if you were coming back tonight.”
Araminta put a hand to her pounding heart at the sight of Isadora sitting in her nightdress and robe at the simple table, her dark hair in a simple plait falling over her shoulder. But it was her eyes, that condemning expression on her face that made Araminta bristle. “I wasn’t aware that I had to answer to you. I am a woman grown, am I not?”
“Indeed. Which is why I wish you would start acting like it, rather than some tart who must sneak out for a late night tryst.”
Araminta gasped. She’d never heard her sister speak like that to her. It hurt, but more than that, it infuriated her. “What I do isn’t your concern.”
“Isn’t it?” Isadora countered with a raised brow, as she stood and walked around the table to confront her directly. “If you are caught cavorting with your lover, your sordid reputation not only affects you, but the rest of us. Would you condemn Callie and Livy? We came to London to start a new chapter in our lives as independent women, not for you to have the chance to spread your legs for the first handsome earl to stroll along.”
Araminta’s hand flew out before she could think better of it, and she struck Isadora across the cheek. The sharp contact resounded throughout the otherwise silent room. “Howdareyou!” she hissed. “You are not speaking to me as though you are a concerned sister, but someone who is jealous. I’m sorry that Lord Osgood didn’t pay any further addresses to you, but that is no reason to lash out at me!”
