When he stroked her tongue with his, she froze before tentatively echoing the movement. Tilting his head, he deepened the kiss, sucking her lower lip into his mouth.
Kissing Lady Caroline in the dark garden was the single most sensual, tantalizing thing he’d ever done, despite having tupped his share of light-skirts.
Hearing her small sigh of pleasure, for a moment of complete insanity, he considered going farther into the darkness, a mere few yards toward the brick wall. There, if she were willing, he could at least touch her skin.
Just the thought inflamed him, and he nibbled a hot trail down her neck, making her arch away and give him access to the curving upper swell of her breasts with a searing open-mouthed kiss.
“Dear God!”
Chapter Four
Aunt Cordelia’s shocked voice was like a splash of frigid water. Lord Diamond released her so quickly, Caroline stumbled forward until he put his hands out to steady her.
At the same time, she opened her eyes as lamplight destroyed the sanctuary of their dimly lit embrace.
“You are in dreadful trouble,” her aunt said. And then she added, “And so am I.”
It was true. Caroline’s mother would smite them both with her wrath. And who could tell what her father might do if he caught wind of it?
Next to Aunt Cordelia was their evening’s hostess.
“Most unacceptable,” said Lady Plain de Ville. “Shocking, in fact.”
“Hardly shocking,” Lord Diamond said. “It was merely a kiss.”
Caroline wished he hadn’t said anything. The lady’s eyes widened.
“Notmerelya kiss,” pronounced their outraged hostess. “Your mouth wasnotupon her lips when we found you.”
For a moment, Caroline didn’t know what Lady Plain de Ville meant. Within seconds of Geoffrey touching her, she’d known nothing but excited, sizzling sensations. Her other more discerning faculties had all but shut down. And then she recalled his lips on the curve of her breast.
Looking at him, he appeared unrepentant, and she wished he wore an expression of chagrin at the very least.
Caroline decided to plead for them both. “I beg of you, my lady, not to think badly of us. We are two people who are not pledged to others. We were causing no one any harm, simply sharing a kiss, albeit perhaps a little something more than a chaste one,” she added, glancing at Lord Diamond, “and therefore undoubtedly ill-advised.”
Perhaps he didn’t understand the dire circumstances. He made a sound of exasperation before addressing their hostess and her aunt.
“We arenotchildren, and I, for one, find this snooping and spying to be beyond the pale.”
Caroline wanted to clamp her hand over his mouth, but stood staring, aghast, as did her aunt and their hostess.
“We are trying to decide whether we have enough interest in one another to bother beginning a courtship,” he continued. “Or at least that’s what I was doing. What about you, Lady Caroline?”
Is that why they kissed?She already had quite an emphatic interest in the man, or she wouldn’t have gone outside with him, but all she did was nod in agreement.
“Thus, you see, ladies, now that Lady Caroline and I have come to an understanding, we can face the rest of the obstacles of which we’ve been told there are at least four.”
Caroline thought he summed it up well. Four parents, all determined to keep them apart.
“Aunt Cordelia, Lord Diamond and I merely wanted ... that is, oh, please don’t tell Mother and Father.”
Her aunt fixed her with a stare that reminded her too much of her mother’s, making Caroline shiver. But it was Lady Plain de Ville who brought it all to an end.
“I do not approve of my party, nor my garden, being used for such behavior. However, we shall say no more about it since we caught you before anything too egregious occurred.”
“Then you will say nothing?” Aunt Cordelia asked.
“I don’t want anyone to know of such reprehensible behavior, either. My home isnotVauxhall!” With that, the older lady turned heel and walked away, taking the oil lamp with her.
