Gerard grabbed Harriett’s hand again, and they left the shadows to dart across the lane. They paused at the edge of the meadow in amongst a copse of beech trees. “They’re coming this way.” Gerard pulled Harriett behind a trunk.
Kyle helped his companion over the stile. A giggle carried in the night air. As they came closer, the girl on Kyle’s arm threw off her hood and spoke softly to him. In the light of the lantern, Harriett saw her fair hair.
“Yea’re a hussy.” With a gruff laugh, Kyle drew her down onto the grass. They lay together and murmuring and kissing sounds followed.
“The deuce,” Gerard cursed. “It’s Mary, from the farm over yonder.”
“Can we slip away?”
“Better not risk it. Don’t watch.”
Harriett did not intend to miss it, but Gerard sheltered her with his body. The lovers’ passionate cries rose in the air. Gerard’s hand closed firmer on her arm, his breath warm on her neck. “God, I’m sorry, Harry,” he whispered against her hair.
Kyle’s groans and his lover’s moans reached a crescendo, and Harriett’s body responded with warmth and a heightened awareness of the man beside her. Her knees grew weak and she sagged against him. She was glad his arm held her up. “Your hair smells nice,” he said. “Lavender.”
“I like your soap. Sandalwood isn’t it?” she whispered.
“It is yes,” he said, sounding as if he thought her remarkably clever.
Harriett swiveled in his arms. They stood face to face, a whisker away from one another.
“You’re familiar with men’s soap?”
Mama bought it once for my father,” she said her voice unsteady. “He didn’t care for it.”
“Oh? Not everyone’s taste I suppose.”
His voice sounded strained. The gap between their bodies could be breached if she took one step. This was the perfect time! If the lover’s behavior so affected her, then Gerard must feel even more overwhelmed by it.
Mary’s throbbing moan shattered the air. She sensed Gerard’s body tense, like a violin strung too tightly.Kiss him now! But she hesitated. Would he be shocked by her brazenness? Trouble was, she didn’t want to do the seducing, not the first time. She wished for Gerard to make the first move. If left to him, though, there probably wouldn’t be a first time, and certainly not a second.
Gerard put a hand under her chin and tipped up her face. They were at kissing distance, so close she could feel his warm breath on her cheek. “That’s the girl, don’t look,” he said, his voice hoarse. No matter how she willed it, he made no attempt to kiss her.
She managed a quick peek before leaning her head against his chest. Within the circle of his strong arms, she could feel his heart pounding as fast as hers. “What’s happening?”
He cleared his throat. “I’d rather not say.”
Finally, the couple rose from the grass and adjusted their clothes. They wandered away over the meadow, arm in arm.
Gerard looked down at her, his face in shadow. “I am ashamed to have exposed you to such a thing, Harry.”
“I saw nothing.” She yearned for Gerard to draw her close again, and kiss her with passion and intent. To lie down in the meadow and do with her, what the lovers had done that caused them to cry out in such delight.
“You didn’t look?”
“It was too dark.” She had actually glimpsed Kyle’s naked bottom moving rhythmically between his lover’s white thighs, like the swing of a pendulum, but she would rather die than admit it.
Gerard’s tight, disbelieving laugh made her aware he was as disturbed by what they’d witnessed as she. She put up a hand tentatively on his arm. “You mustn’t feel bad about offering me an adventure. I’m rather enjoying it.”
He stepped away from her. “I didn’t plan to increase your education in the ways of the world, not now, and not in quite that way. Most girls would be moaning and weeping by now. You’re made of sterner stuff, Harry.”
It wasn’t what she wanted to hear, but a compliment of sorts. Harriett realized suddenly that her real reluctance came from the knowledge that this wasn’t the right time for a seduction. She did not want their union to be a sordid tryst in the dark following the one they’d just witnessed. Although, how she could devise it to be other than a midnight assignation, she was unsure of at this point. “We must get back to the house before I’m missed.”
“Yes,” Gerard sounded relieved. Come on.”
They made their way back without speaking, and paused at the steps near the rose arbor.
Gerard turned her to face him his hand on her arm. “Are you all right?”
