Slanting his mouth sideways, he sought to devour her, and she let him. Their tongues were already stroking before he’d even realized he’d gained access between her sweet lips.
How long they kissed, he couldn’t say. He knew only relief that she was giving as much as he was. Moreover, they were taking from one another with equal vigor.
When he drew back, he waited for her blue eyes to open.Would he see outrage creep over her face like the sun’s fingers over the sill at dawn?
She sucked in a deep, shuddering breath.
“We ought to return to the other guests,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
He grinned at this novel experience. “You forgot to slap me.”
Her eyes widened. When she raised both her hands that had remained hanging on to his jacket, he flinched. Yet she merely slid them up his chest before lacing her fingers behind his neck.
“Kiss me again,” she invited. “Maybe I’ll remember to slap you this time.”
Matthew bent his head and did so, tugging at her lower lip, making her moan. The sound was the most sensual thing he’d ever heard. Releasing her rear end with a firm squeeze, he put his hands to her trim waist and lifted her high against him.
To his delight, she laughed softly. He wanted to make her laugh every day for the rest of their lives.
Victory was sweet. He had done it at last. He had won her over. Matthew was sure of it. If she freely allowed his kiss and even asked for another, then she was all but accepting they would get engaged. For that was how Purity’s brain worked. Her dear, wonderful, fastidious brain!
Letting her slide down the front of him, his arousal throbbing, he could imagine their wedding night already. And they would wait until that night. He was determined to honor her as a husband who wouldn’t deflower his innocent bride ahead of time. Although he would be sorely tested, even by the shortest of engagements.
Tilting his head, he leaned in for another soul-searing kiss.
“What have we here?” came a male voice. “Lovers about to have a flyer?”
“Or perhaps they just had one,” said a female. “Did you hear her laughing as he groped her?”
Purity froze in his arms. It was too late for jumping apart, but they separated anyway. Matthew’s heart was pounding so hard, he could hear it. By the look upon her stricken face, hers was also beating an erratic tattoo.
Slowly facing their discoverers, he recognized Varley and the blonde-haired Lady Tupmoure with whom he’d dallied in the month before he went to France. He’d seen them together before at Lady Tisendale’s ball. All at once her given name — Emilia — came to him along with her excessive ire when he had left her bed for the final time, after announcing he was leaving the country by week’s end.
Taking a step forward, he hoped to shield Purity, who remained deathly silent. She was undoubtedly terrified of the repercussions. He could only hope they didn’t know her name.
“Varley,” Matthew said. “What are you and her ladyship doing out here?” Turning the tables was the best way to disarmthe issue. “Being out here together, if you’re discovered, people will talk.”
A moment of silence followed, and then the two intruders started to laugh.
“Foxford, that is rich! I say, have you met my wife?”
Varley’s wife!Met her? She’d ridden rantipole atop him more than once. And worse, Lord and Lady Varley could be outside for as long as they wished and do everything except strip off and dance in the fountain. No one would care. Only he and Purity were at risk.
“I have been out of the country. I didn’t realize you two had married.” He was making normal, polite conversation, hoping Purity would understand he was trying to smooth over the situation.
However, with the pair’s interested expressions, particularly the cunning set to Emilia’s mouth, Matthew could think of only one way to make this any better.
“Have you and Lady Varley met my fiancée?” He was careful not to give Purity’s name, just in case they were unaware of it. If so, then escaping unscathed was still a possibility.
To her credit, Purity didn’t gasp or gainsay him, and he fervently hoped they could manage the calamity.
“Yourfiancée?” Emilia asked, sounding incredulous. “Lady Purity Diamond has captured a thundering buck of the first head. Can it be true?”
Dammit all!Lady Varley knew who Purity was. Worse than that, she was annoyed. Matthew could tell by her tone. Her pride was pricked that he hadn’t offered his hand in marriage after they’d danced the blanket hornpipe over the space of a fortnight.
Taking a breath, he turned and reached for Purity’s hand, drawing her forward as the clouds finally opened and the showers began. She kept her glance averted from all three of them.
“How could I not ask Lady Purity to be my wife? I might have once been a buck of the first head, as you say, but she is clearly a diamond of the first water.”
