“Did she also tell you she was the one who ambushed me and made me stumble over my words so as to make it sound like I was not in pursuit?”
Javenia frowned. Wrapping her arms about herself, she tried to stand. Algenon put a hand to her elbow to guide her. The fabric of her dress was soaked clear through, the layers clinging to her body and accentuating every curve. He glanced away, willing himself to think of anything but the picture of womanly health that Javenia made. Why did this year’s fashion have to be so blasted thin?
“Then you meant it?” Her left hand clasped his arm just below his bicep.
He thought he’d answered the question, but apparently he’d misunderstood what she asked.
“That you love me,” she said softly before ducking her head.
A slow, easy smile spread across his face. “Was there ever any question in that?”
She wrapped her arms tighter around herself and tried to glare, but it was halfhearted at best. “Yes. Many questions in fact. Especially when you gave compliments to other girls sothick a carving knife might never make its way through to anything of substance in your conversation.”
He chuckled, removing his jacket. The bottom half was wet, as were the sleeves, but he’d managed to keep the shoulders and back dry. It wouldn’t provide much warmth, but it would be better than the cold night air. He draped it on her shoulders, pulling up the collar to protect her exposed neck.
She gazed up at him, closely watching every movement. He needed to get them out of the fountain, but the water felt strangely warmer on his feet than the night air on his skin. A drop of water broke free from Javenia’s hair and traveled down the side of her face, passing her eyebrow, going over her cheek, and missing her mouth by only an inch or so.
Her lips were slightly parted as if she wanted to say something but had stopped mid thought. His gaze slowly rose to her eyes and she closed her mouth and swallowed. He let go of the coat collar and allowed his hands to trail over her shoulders and down her arms.
“We should—” she began, then stopped.
He should get her into the house and out of the cold, find a way for no one to see the mess he’d made of both their clothes, but he’d waited so long to claim another kiss from Javenia. To taste the lips he’d hungered for since his youth. He couldn’t wait one more moment.
Bringing a hand up, he slipped it around the back of Javenia’s neck and lowered his lips to hers. They were cold at first but warmed quickly as he moved gently over them. Javenia responded right away, her arms wrapping around his waist. The coat began to slip and he swiftly clasped his arm around her back to keep it in place.
Warmth erupted between them, as they clung to one another, their lips moving in a blissful dance of give and take. Javenia’s arms tightened around his middle and he melted into her. Thefront his shirt that had previously been dry grew moist, but he didn’t care. Kissing Javenia was the most exquisite experience of Algenon’s life. In all his years of imagining another kiss with her, he’d never once come close to realizing how gloriously whole and complete it would make him feel. Like he’d been made to be the other number of a fantastical equation, the perfect stick pin to match a well-tied cravat, the other half of Javenia’s world.
She was everything he’d ever wanted and more. Her body fit snugly against his like it had been made to be there, her lips moving with a hunger that he completely understood. They had waited so long, restraining themselves with a strength that made Hercules appear weak, and now at long last they could feast on the love they’d hidden.
A gasp filled his ears, followed by, “I told you I saw each of them sneak out here.”
Javenia broke the kiss, sucking in a breath. Algenon squeezed his eyes shut but did not release her. Why were these ladies everywhere at the wrong time?
Mrs. Cline’s irritating voice filled the night air. “Scandalous I say, completely scandalous. Why, she’s barely dressed.”
“And Mr. Roberts is not much better,” Lady Plum said.
“Roberts!”
Algenon’s eyes popped open and his gaze shot to his father who stood with Lord Falcross. Javenia pushed him away, so he stepped back. Quickly she slipped her arms into his coat and pulled it tight about herself, guarding her modesty.
“What the devil is this all about? How dare you go against my wishes? Do you know”—Lord Roberts’s hand came up to clutch the side of his head. “Do you know, but view…” The left side of his father’s face began to droop. “How could…”
Several more unintelligible words came out of his mouth. He grasped the side of his head until his arm fell away and he stumbled forward. Javenia lurched like she might try to catchhim, but Algenon was way ahead of her, jumping over the edge of the fountain before his father could fall and hit his head.
With arms wrapped around him, Algenon slowly lowered him to the ground. His father’s eyes were wide as he tried to say something, gesturing with his right hand, his left lying useless by his side. All Algenon could make out waspain,he knows, andmother.
“Somebody run for the doctor,” he yelled as a small crowd began to assemble.
A man in livery turned and ran back into the house. Algenon recognized Lord and Lady Upton among the few that had come to investigate the commotion. Lady Upton stared wide-eyed, first at him holding his father on the ground, and then at her daughter. A flicker of fear crossed her face before she rushed over and helped Javenia the rest of the way out of the fountain.
Once Javenia’s feet were firmly on the ground, Lady Upton slipped an arm about her daughter’s shoulders and guided her quickly through the garden and down a staircase that led to the servants’ door. Lord Upton followed close behind.
Algenon wanted to protest. It was his job to protect Javenia. He needed to declare his intentions to marry her, to save her from any further speculation. But his father also needed him, and unlike Javenia, he was the only one the mighty Lord Roberts had at the moment.
So he stayed.
It broke his heart, but he stayed by his side, waiting for the doctor.
