Within seconds Silas was on her, having the advantage of longer legs and being unencumbered by feminine fashion.
He caught her around the waist with a shout of victory, and they stumbled in the tall grass together, laughing as they panted and gasped with exertion.
Honora gripped his jacket at the lapel, holding herself up as they came to a halt at the grassy embankment.
Feeling inexplicably playful, Silas tripped her up, rolling Honora to the ground with him until he lay half over her.
“I have caught you, madam,” he smirked, flashing his teeth as she stared up at him with pink cheeks and glowing eyes.
“Yes. And now what shall you do with me?” she asked breathlessly, her voice low, biting down into the plump curve of her lower lip in a way that sent all the blood rushing from his head.
As if gravity was exerting its force on him, his lips lowered against his will, his mouth crashing into hers for a heady kiss.
Honora gave a mewl of delight, wrapping her arms across his shoulders and pulling him down flush against her.
Their tongues and lips melded together, sucking and nipping as the kiss burned through him like wildfire.
Honora was arching against him, his thigh notched high between her legs as his erection made itself painfully known.
“Silas,” she moaned, writhing beneath him, as he came to his senses with his lips pressed to the hollow between her breasts, his hands already tugging her bodice lower so he could taste the dusky pink of one pert nipple.
Sucking the taut bud into his mouth, he felt a possessive rumble gather force in his chest, growling against her skin as he dragged his mouth across to the other, lavishing it with equal attention.
Her hips bucked against his, and he knew she wanted more. Knew Honora was as greedy for his touch as he was for hers.
It was undeniable, the inferno of desire that burned between them, hot and scorching, even as his hand rucked the calico gown up with sharp tugs until, with a groan of satisfaction, he buried his hand between her thighs, finding her as soft and slick as he remembered, her essence coating his fingers with slippery need as he stroked and petted her towards a frantic release.
“You feel so good,” he muttered against her skin, licking up the salty taste that lingered there after their exertion. Her face and chest were flushed pink as she convulsed against his hand, an answering spurt of arousal dampening the front of his breeches as if he were a green boy in the throws of his first tumble.
With a cry of abandon, Honora clamped her thighs tight around his hand, a flood of wetness announcing her satisfaction as Silas slowly caressed her through her crisis.
He valiantly ignored the hard ridge of his cock as it pleaded for release.
This was not about him, he wanted it to be all for her.
When Honora lay limp and replete on the fragrant grass, her eyes closed in drowsy satisfaction, he carefully withdrew his hand, smoothing down her skirts and fixing her bodice.
A smile crossed her beloved face, her hand twitched where it lay across her forehead. She blinked open her eyes, staring up at him with kiss-bitten lips.
“That was…Oh my,” she whispered, reaching up to run her fingers through his hair.
Silas shivered under her touch, carefully lowering himself onto the ground beside her, his face inches from hers as they breathed together in unison, the entire world at a halt around them.
Slowly, painfully, reality intruded.
With a sigh, Silas raised his head, checking that their horses had not wandered too far.
“We should go back.”
Honora pressed her eyes closed again, her hands tugging him closer. “Not yet, please.”
With a sigh of defeat, Silas propped himself on an elbow beside her, taking advantage of the moment to stare at her.
How was it possible that this woman, whom he had known all these years, was still able to surprise him?
Could it be that she really enjoyed just being in his company, as it seemed? Or was this just a girlish infatuation that she was taking the opportunity to indulge in?
The last thought didn’t sit right with him though, as he remembered the bewildered disappointment he had noticed in her eyes on more than one occasion in the past two years when he had deliberately kept himself aloof.
