Perhaps the other women had not intrigued him because Octavia was here. They all paled in comparison to her. She was who he desired, wanted, and craved. Why couldn’t she be like the other widows who wanted nothing more than a night of passion? Yet, if she were like the others, perhaps he wouldn’t desire her.
Was it because she didn’t easily fall into his bed and had rejected him? Was it because she demanded something for herself?
Angelo truly didn’t know, but he was beginning to suspect that until he had satisfied his hunger for her that he’d not feel desire for any other woman.
He was just about to leave Vauxhall and go to White’s, where he intended to drink enough to make him forget Octavia, when he looked up to note her strolling toward him. She was also alone.
Had she seen him? Was she looking for him?
Had she changed her mind?
He had to find out what because he could not get her out of his mind.
With determined steps, Angelo approached until he was directly in front of her. Octavia glanced up and her eyes widened.
“Lord Bolton, I was not expecting to see you tonight.”
“Nor I you,” he replied.
It was then that he realized where they had stopped. “Walk with me.” He held out his arm.
Octavia frowned in confusion but took it. He then turned from the main walk and stepped onto a darker one.
“Have you forgotten my desire for discretion?” she asked yet didn’t pull away or make him stop.
Angelo smiled, waiting until they were further away and alone.
“I did not.”
“Yet you took me off the main walk and anyone could have seen.”
“Because of your first rule and what I did not want them to see.” He pulled her beneath a tree, then placed his hands on her face and lowered his lips to hers.
When Octavia gasped, he delved.
Any desire he feared may be gone from his life was renewed as soon as her lips were on his.
He should have pulled away and left their kiss just that, but he could not. She was intoxicating.
Her hands came up to his shoulders as she tilted her head just slightly and he slipped one hand into the curls at the back of her head while the other caressed her back and hips, pulling her flush against his body.
Octavia moaned and it set him afire as he trailed hot, open-mouthed kisses to her neck. Octavia’s head fell back, lost in passion and it was all he could do not to lift her skirts or caress her breasts. It was not that he didn’t want to, desperately, but if and when he was finally with Octavia, it would be in the privacy of a bedchamber so that he could slowly remove her clothing, seduce and then feast.
Chapter 15
Octavia had difficulty catching her breath after Bolton pulled away. Her entire body burned from the inside out, her breasts were heavy, aching and heat pooled in her nether regions. Even her legs were weak.
She had never been left achy with need following a kiss.
“Two weeks,” he whispered.
Octavia frowned. She was rather befuddled and not certain what he meant.
Bolton placed his hands against her cheeks, staring into her eyes while his were dark and intense. “Two weeks, instead of a month.”
Octavia nearly said yes because she wanted him now. If his kiss was just a sample of what they could share, she couldn’t begin to imagine the pleasure their joining might bring. But she had already given up her hope of a Season, did she wish to give up a month. Would two weeks be enough?
“Please, Octavia. I want you like I have never wanted another woman in my life.”
