“Perhaps if I procure your favorite sandwiches, carefully made by our cook, I would get more chances in seeing you smile at me tonight.”
Gerald carefully arranged an assortment of sandwiches on the blanket, brought out plates and two glasses, and poured some wine. It was something so utterly unordinary for them, so simple and domesticated, that Arabella couldn’t help but soften her strict, tense expression.
For a while, all they did was eat some of the sandwiches and drink the wine, and miraculously enjoy each other’s company. She would not so easily admit so, but Arabella had almost forgotten the bitterness born out of last night’s situation.
“You must have really threatened the cook,” she suddenly commented. “She has really outdone herself.”
“Would it inflate your already extraordinary standing among my staff if I told you that all I had to do was inform the cook that you wanted those specific sandwiches?”
Arabella chuckled softly. It was quite true that most of his staff were partial to her. She did not take it as a personal victory, since the Duke was always fair to them but never friendly.
“I must reward the cook more,” Gerald added. “She just earned me a snort. Not exactly the smile I was hoping for, but close enough.”
“A lady never snorts, Your Grace,” Arabella protested. “It was a very elegant chuckle, I would have you know.”
“You must pardon me, Your Grace,” Gerald smiled. “I was never good at discerning indications of human joy.”
“That is something I believe.”
Arabella raised her glass to him, and he returned the gesture. For a few seconds, they held each other’s gaze, both perhapsrealizing that spending real time together was not utterly despicable.
It was Gerald who seemed to stir out of this first. He hid behind his glass before turning to her with a look that was a bit less casual.
“I just needed to warn you, Arabella,” he said, changing his tone again. “After all, we still have to attend my half-sister’s wedding.”
Arabella went somber quickly. If they had tried something so despicable during the engagement party, perhaps they would escalate their efforts at the wedding.
“They must know,” Gerald continued, “that they won’t get many chances to create situations where they could blackmail. After all, I do not intend to have any contact with them after this wedding.”
“You think they might target me again?”
“It would be imprudent to think otherwise. My siblings are not known for their restraint or their wisdom. Their last plan failing would not be perceived as a warning, but as a challenge to try harder next time.”
Upon hearing those words, Arabella was visibly shaken. He was talking about people who had no qualms using hired men to ruin a lady’s reputation. A shiver went down her spine, cold feargripping her soul. Distress must have been evident since Gerald pulled a little closer.
“Arabella?”
“I must tell you that I am afraid,” she decided to be honest with him. “We simply cannot fathom what these people have in store for either of us.”
“I completely understand how you feel,” Gerald said, “but you mustn’t think that you are in this on your own. I promise you I will not allow anyone to hurt you.”
His hands found hers again and squeezed in reassurance. Arabella found solace in his touch, the connection pouring some warmth into her body. She looked up to him to search his eyes and find reassurance.
What she found was so much more. He was looking at her through a mixture she had never seen on him before, as if she were some wonder he had to observe.
He raised his hand and cupped her face, his fingers caressing her jaw. Arabella’s body went aflame. They had been intimate before, but there was something different. That simple caress made her feel that things had shifted.
“Has anyone ever told you, Arabella, that you are extraordinary?”
“Not under candlelight, on a picnic blanket,” Arabella teased, but her body was trembling with anticipation.
“Allow me to be the first, then,” Gerald said and leaned close.
He gave her only one moment to stop him before his lips claimed hers. Their kisses before had been curiosity, tension, pure need. This was more like the maze around them, a carefully unfolded secret.
He was uncovering her slowly, his hands steady and tentative. She was lost in the kiss, in the way his tongue caressed her, the velvet feel of his lips against hers. So completely enraptured she was that she realized Gerald had pulled down her dress only when the cool night breeze touched her skin.
She didn’t even have time to react to the sudden coldness because his mouth abandoned hers to move lower. He used his teeth to pull down her dress to uncover her breasts. A deep moan left his lips before they wrapped around her peaks.
