“As you would to one who will quickly become known for her beauty. Leonora expects such attention, Harry.”
“So beautiful, she can have anyone she wants. And if she’s in her right mind she will want you.”
Gerard laughed and slipped his arm around her waist pulling her hard against him, causing what was left of her breath to desert her. His face was so close she could marvel at his thick dark lashes. “Leonora is in no way as beguiling as you, Harry.” His eyes roamed her face and centered on her mouth. “I was waiting until this business had been cleared up before I asked you.” He sighed. “You’ve been on my mind for some years, you know. You were such a little firebrand.” He fingered a curl. “Racing about the place with your red hair all a tumble, and your eyes flashing green as grass. Then, when I saw you all grown up, climbing that tree with your long, bare legs, I knew I wanted you in a very different way.”
He traced her mouth with his finger. “Such a nice bottom lip. And the top one curls so delightfully when you smile, I want to kiss it.” Gerard bent his head and carried out his threat. “You are the one I wanted from the first, Harry, but I had little to offer you except an old title, a farm and a string of debts, that is, until Harrison generously left me his money.”
She breathed in his sweet breath, as he nipped her bottom lip, sending a wave of heat rushing through her. “Marry me, please, Harry. I loved having you at my side, as we worked to solve the mystery. But you’ve been a dreadful torment. I love you to distraction. I can’t kiss you and not make love to you, it’s killing me.”
“Yes.Oh,yes.” Harriett gazed deeply into his eyes. She could hardly fathom that this gorgeous man, the subject of all her dreams, wanted her. Desire warmed her body and made her weak, and she fell back on the grass. “It kills me too, and I’m sure I don’t know half as much as you about…um.”
He leaned over her, his smile a sensual promise that made her senses reel. “You will, Harry. As soon as the bans are read, we shall marry. And I promise I’ll teach you all that I know. And pleasure you to the best of my ability.”
“We can risk a small kiss or two now, then, can’t we?” Harriett raised herself on her elbows and fluttered her lashes in invitation.
Gerard laughed softly. “Lady Harriett, how I do want you,” he murmured. He pushed her back on the grass and kissed her.
His kisses caused a lurch of excitement. She’d dreamed about such kisses yearned for them. His tongue gently probed hers and astream of warmth traveled down her throat to engulf her breasts, causing her nipples to throb. Her stomach clenched. She curled her arms around his neck, longing for him to touch her. And she wanted to touch him, to discover more of his hard body pressing against her most sensitive parts through her clothes.
His hand on her leg drew her skirts and petticoat up her thighs, exposing her garters, and his breath grew heavier. His lips left hers to nibble at her earlobe. Then he pushed away and sat up, leaving her panting, her body pulsing with need.
“Oh God, Harry.” He ran his hands through his hair. “Let’s call a halt to this. I need to ask your father’s permission to marry you.”
Harriett wrapped her arms around his neck and drew him down again. Now she had him she wasn’t about to let him go. “Kiss me.”
“Harry, have a heart!” he whispered, hovering over her resting on his elbows.
Harriett’s breathing quickened. She was sensually aware of everything, his sandalwood soap, the sweet smell of honeysuckle that climbed a fence nearby, the rasp of his chin when she pulled his face down to hers.
With a moan, Gerard’s mouth covered hers hungrily as his hands roamed over her bodice, rubbing her taut nipples through the material. “Your beautiful, Harry,” he murmured.
That he wanted her so much, made her feel powerful. She raked her fingers though his thick hair and swept a hand down his back to the strong curve of his buttocks. Not many men that she’d seen could claim such a physique, and certainly not Mr. Ducksworth. She gathered his shirt in her hands and pulled him against her, reveling in the evidence of his desire.
“Harry!” Gerard groaned. He swept up her gown, his fingers trailing over her skin. At the apex of her thighs, his gentle touch on that most feminine part of her caused a murmur of pleasure in the back of her throat. He continued to stroke the sensitive nub, making her moan. As sensation built to an uncomfortable pitch, she tried to push him away.
“No, sweetheart.” He continued to caress her, with drugging kisses, and she hovered on the edge of something urgent, that she began to yearn for. And then she didn’t want him to stop. She cried out, urged him, as her hips rose to press against his hand. She tumbled into an explosion of warmth and feeling. Her cry rang out as her body turned to warm honey.
“Oh, that was lovely.” She collapsed back on the grass. “I just want to lie here for a while in the warm sun.”
“Well, I’m not about to take you here on the grass, not your first time, my love. You’re a temptress.” His lips curved in an endearing smile. “I suspect you saw more the other night than you admitted.” He jumped to his feet and reached down for her hand. “That’s enough education for you today.” Pulling her to her feet, he kissed her nose. “There’s so much more to lovemaking for us to enjoy once we’ve tied the knot.”
With Gerard’s arm around her waist, they wandered back toward the house, Harriett trailing her ruined bonnet by its ribbons.
As they approached the house, Gerard stopped and framed her face in his hands. He kissed her again, a tender, loving kiss. “Do you want to live here at Pendleton? It is a very fine house.”
Her fingers tidied his curly black locks. “I will do what you wish, but I don’t much like the manor right now.”
“I’ll lease it for now. There are sad memories here, and Foxworth is my home.”
Harriett glanced up into his face, and found what she’d suspected, a look of relief. Her aspirations for their future matched his. The wife of a country squire, and Foxworth filled with the sweet voices of their children.
A very grand royal-blue carriage with a ducal crest on the door panel stood in front of the house. a liveried groom at the head of four matched greys. They found the family in the Red Drawing room, where Leonora, Aunt Georgina, and a gentleman dressed in the first stare of fashion, drank tea with her parents. Her mother’s face looked pink beneath her lace cap.
Leonora was holding court. “I know exactly the gown I want, Mama, I saw it inLa Belle Ensemble. It was silverlaméon net, over a silver tissue slip.”
“My dear, I don’t think that quite suitable...,” her mother began.
When Harriett and Gerard walked into the room, Leonora jumped up and danced over to them. She looked breathtaking in a new white muslin gown with Grecian patterning round the hem, her hair twisted in an artful Indian knot.
