“I am too,” she said softly.
He lowered his lips and captured hers in a deep kiss. “It’s time for you to go.”
She sat up pulling the sheet around her body. “What time is it?”
“It’s nearly dawn and I thought it best to have you back before daylight breaks.”
“Yes, yes of course,” she said, scrambling up. The gravity of her actions hit her with the force of a falling brick. Avoiding his gaze, she looked frantically around for her clothing.
“Come here,” he said, pulling her into his arms. He discarded the sheet and settled her nude form onto his lap. Cupping her breast in his palm, he suckled first one nipple then focused his attention on the other. He raised his head and looked directly into her eyes before lowering his lips to capture and tug at hers.
His tongue swirled around hers, and he suckled her lips like the finest wine. When he drew away, he leaned his forehead against hers. “That’s in case you think I really didn’t want you.”
“Then why didn’t you...”
“There’ll be plenty of time for that later,” he said softly. “One thing at a time. And now you must be going if you are to make it back before you are missed.”
He pulled her from his lap and reached for her gown and underthings. “I’ll leave you to dress while I summon the carriage.”
He gave her one last lingering kiss then left the room, closing the door behind him.
Jenna sagged onto the bed, gripping her dress in her hands. Everything she’d done the previous evening came back in full force. She stared down at her garments for a long moment before she was galvanized into action. If she didn’t go now, she’d risk discovery, the one thing that would destroy her.
As she was pulling her dress on over her chemise, Gray strode back in. “The carriage is waiting for you out front. Here, let me help you,” he said, turning her around so he could fasten the buttons in the back. When he’d done the last one, he dropped a kiss on her neck. “It’s time.”
She turned back around, and he pulled her into his arms. “Be careful on your way home, my lady.” He raised her hand to his lips. “Until midnight.”
He ushered her out, and she hurried down the stairs where a maid met her at the door with her cloak. She threw it around her and ducked out of the house, looking cautiously left and right as she dashed to the waiting carriage.
Gray watched from the upstairs window as the carriage rode away and was swallowed up into the morning fog. A hollow ache plagued his chest. Jenna Wycliffe had inserted herself into his life in the space of a few hours, and he had no desire to usurp her.
For the first time in five long years, the icy layers around his heart were beginning to melt, and while it scared the hell out of him, he couldn’t staunch the yearning that simmered in his jaded conscience.
She was trouble of the first order, but he couldn’t deny her any more than he could stop breathing. Everything about her was enchanting. Her smile, her dimpled cheeks, and eyes that reminded him of warm cinnamon. How her nose wrinkled when she was deep in thought, and how when she blushed every inch of her skin reddened.
She brought sunshine to areas of his soul that had long gone without the light. But with sunshine came the threat of burn. Something he was intimately familiar with.
###
Jenna leaned against her bedroom door and closed her eyes in relief. She’d never been so frightened before in her life as she’d snuck in the back way to the house. Dozens of explanations had coursed through her mind in the event of discovery, and none of them seemed plausible enough to account for her absence overnight.
She looked longingly at the bed, but knew if she went to sleep now, she’d arouse suspicion and concern when she slept later than usual for the second straight day. A knock sounded at her door and she froze, the hair on the back of her neck standing on end.
“My lady? Do you have need of me?”
She slumped against the door in relief. It was only Margaret, her lady’s maid. No doubt she’d heard Jenna moving around. Thinking quickly, she tiptoed over to the bed and then called out in a sleepy voice, “No, Margaret, I had need of the chamber pot. I am going back to bed now. Could you waken me for breakfast later?”
“Yes, of course, my lady.”
Jenna smiled in relief and quickly started shedding her clothing. Not only had she escaped discovery, but now she could sleep a few hours, and Margaret would wake her in time to breakfast with Sebastian and Quinn. Burrowing into the lacy covers, she pulled them up to her chin and smiled dreamily as she relived her night with Gray.
A more delicious man never lived, of that she was positive. The reality of him far surpassed the idle gossip that had circulated the ladies’ groups. He’d known exactly where to touch her, kiss her, and caress her, though she was pretty sure there was a lot more they hadn’t done yet.
Far from a total green girl, she did know some of what went on behind the closed doors of the bedchamber. Enough to know that his...histhinghadn’t entered her body like it was supposed to. But maybe that was a good thing judging by its size.
A sudden thought hit her like a bolt of lightning. She hadn’t told him she wasn’t coming again. Though she had resolved that she would only spend the one night with him, she had never given it a thought once he began touching her. In fact she’d left fully looking forward to their next meeting.
How could she have forgotten what she’d so clearly decided? And did she send him word that she wasn’t coming again? Or should she try and see him in person? No, that wouldn’t do. She couldn’t chance another trip to his house in daylight.
