“Won’t you join us, Amelia?” Lizzie laughed as she made her shadow fox run after Hugh’s shadow rabbit along the wall.
Amelia shook off her musings and got up to join them. “I’ve never been very good at this. I only know one animal,” she laughed as she wedged herself between the siblings. Immediately she was keenly aware of Hugh’s presence at her left. The warmth of him. The brush of his knee against hers.
“I’m sure you are as proficient at this as you seem to be at everything else,” Hugh teased, his tone suddenly thick with double entendre.
She shot him a look and then locked her fingers together carefully. On the wall a clumsy bird appeared and all three laughed as she swooped it toward Hugh’s rabbit and Lizzie made her fox flee.
“You two have made a meal of me, I think,” Hugh said with a smile.
Lizzie giggled as she leaned back against her palms on the carpet. “Oh, this was a wonderful day.”
Amelia glanced at Hugh and found him looking at her in return. She blushed as she said, “It was. Thank you for making your home so welcoming to me.”
“It’s your home now,” Hugh said softly. Those four words hit Amelia in the gut. Home. Could this be her home? Could this man become her home in some way? Was it possible to believe that after so short an acquaintance? After so difficult a beginning?
Lizzie nodded with enthusiasm, unaware of Amelia’s torn heart. “Indeed, it is. And you fit here so perfectly—soon it will be impossible to remember a time when you didn’t belong to our family.” She let out a happy sigh that turned to a yawn. With a shake of her head, she looked at the clock. “Oh goodness, it’s getting late. I should go to bed.”
All three got to their feet, and Amelia smiled as Lizzie stepped into Hugh’s arms and gave him a hug. Their bond was so lovely and pure, it warmed Amelia’s heart to see it.
“Goodnight,” Lizzie said, and turned to Amelia. They both smiled and then Lizzie grabbed her and tugged her in for a hug of her own. Amelia was stiff in surprise at first, but swiftly relaxed. There was no denying her new sister’s sweetness and kindness.
“Goodnight, my dear,” Amelia whispered.
“I’m so glad you are here,” Lizzie said in return, then drew back to smile at her. “I’ll see you both tomorrow. And I think we should go fishing if the weather is fine.”
“An excellent notion,” Hugh said as she moved to the parlor door. “Until tomorrow.”
Lizzie gave a last wave and left the room. For the first time that day, Hugh and Amelia were alone. Immediately, her heart began to pound just a little harder and all the ease she’d felt faded, replaced by anticipation and a flare of heat she could now identify as pure desire.
It must have reflected on her face, she knew it did, she could feel it there, for Hugh’s body shifted, his pupils dilated and he gave her one of those wicked half smiles before he strode to the door and quietly closed it. She heard him turn the key in the lock and shivered.
They were alone at last. No interruptions to come.
She faced him and watched as he tossed the key onto the sideboard.
“Drink?” he asked, motioning to the decanter.
She swallowed. “No,” she whispered. “I don’t need a drink.”
His eyebrows lifted. “What do you need, Your Grace?”
Her body tingled as she stepped toward him. He didn’t move, though she could see his hands twitch at his sides, his gaze track her like a bird of prey she had so clumsily created earlier in the shadows on the wall.
“I had a nice day,” she whispered. “But…”
She trailed off. She had been raised to be a lady, raised to squash down those twinges in her body that she had not been able to name. Now she was driven to speak them. To claim them, and it was still an awkward endeavor.
“But?” he encouraged as she reached him. They were inches apart now, so close to perfection.
“But I missed you,” she admitted with a shake of her head.
He smiled. “I was with you the whole day.”
He would make her say it, clarify it, and she glared at him. “I meant I missed…touching you. There were so many times today when I looked at you and all I could think about was…was…”
He stepped in and caught her waist, dragging her flush against him. His mouth lowered, inch by painful inch, and he whispered, “This,” before he claimed her.
Claimedwas the right word. His mouth crushed down on hers with a passion that had been bubbling between them all day. Immediately the tone in the room shifted. There was no more playful teasing or friendly games. The powerful physical connection between them took over, and she wrapped her arms around his neck to lift against him as he drove his tongue hard into her mouth.
