Wrapping his arm around her, he pulled her into his side.
She stiffened for a moment, then buried her face in his shoulder and wrapped both of her arms around his waist. A soft sob escaped her lips.
Henry kissed the crown of her head. “I’m sorry, Katherine.” Instead of comforting her, some of her despair seeped into him. She would be married off to a person of quality, and he would live the rest of his life wondering about what could have been. It was the way of the world. And for the first time, he resented it.
And when she raised her face, her breath caressing his jaw, it seemed the most natural thing in the world to lower his head and press his lips to hers.
It started out as a kiss of comfort. An acknowledgement of all the things that must remain unsaid between them. A goodbye.
It didn’t last that way.
The kiss was salty from her tears, her despair clawing into his body, raising his ire. His body tensed, his fingers digging into herflesh. It wasn’t fair. Some other man would get to hold her like this. Taste her. If he ever met the man, Henry didn’t know that he would be able to stop himself from thrashing the bloke.
She opened for him, sweetly, her fingers clinging to his shoulders. Her eagerness cooled some of his anger, but made him no less demanding.
He was losing his mind. He knew it, but seemed unable to stop his actions. Not his tongue from tasting every inch of her mouth, not his hand from skimming up under her skirts.
His body knew. In another time, in other circumstances, this woman would be his. His mind mocked his body. They weren’t in other circumstances. They lived in a society, one that wouldn’t condone their union.
Katherine tentatively lapped her tongue against his, and his mind lost the battle. Rational thought abandoned him, leaving only sensation. He reveled in his mindlessness. If he only allowed himself to feel, to act, he might just be able to forget that she would marry another man.
*
It was mostunfair. She should have never met Henry. Never have known what true passion felt like in the arms of someone she loved. Not before marrying an earl or viscount’s son. If she had entered into her marriage without knowing, she might have been able to find a sort of contentment.
Now all she could hope for was that these memories would sustain her.
Henry gripped the back of her thigh, tugged, and she gladly followed his direction and straddled his lap.
This was better. Knowing what it was like to be touched by the man she loved, it had to be better than going her whole life without ever experiencing this feeling. So when Henry releasedhis falls and guided her hand to his member, she let him, reveling in the pleasure she saw etched on his face.
When he tore at the opening of her pantalets, his fingers starting a fire as they moved against her, she let him do that, too.
And when he guided her to seat herself upon him, God help her, she let him do that, too.
They moved as one, staring into each other’s eyes, and Katherine thought nothing in the world could ever feel so good.
And then it got better.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Lady Mary
“It is asad commentary that we are always able to find ourselves alone in this room.” I took my usual seat by the fire and examined the rows of books in the library. How many had Perrin read? How many had his wife? The books had a lonely feel to them now, as though they were abandoned, never to be opened again.
“Dinner will be served soon.” Katherine tugged at the edge of her fichu. “I should go clean up beforehand.”
“Yes, Lady Mary,” Henry said. He rocked up onto his toes. “Pouncing on us right as we came through the door is hardly the thing.”
“It was hardly pouncing.” I narrowed my eyes. “And how much cleaning up do you need to do? It isn’t as though you were rolling around in the dirt.”
Katherine burst out in a fit of coughing. “Excuse me.” She cleared her throat. “Yes, you are right. Now what did you want to speak to us about?”
“The new tariffs being imposed on goods from the East Indies.” I jabbed my finger at the chair across from me. “Sit. Please.”
Katherine sat.
Henry leaned against the mantel. “Have you learned something new about the murders?”
