She shook her head.
He released her arm and held her head between his hands. His powerful hands.
“Say my name.”
She tried to turn her head away, to shake her head no. He wouldn’t let her.
“Say my name.”
She was crying, sobbing. Lavinia was whining.
“Just say my name.”
“Ph-ph-Phineas Ed—”
He kissed her then, caught her trembling lips in his and sucked on her tongue for just a second. He released her mouth.
“Say my name.”
She started again. “Phineas—” He stopped her mouth even more quickly this time, again kissing her and sucking on her tongue. The kiss went on longer this time. She closed her eyes.
She heard him chuckle. “I have a confession, Caro. When you say a word with the letteressand I see your tongue, I just want to kiss you. I want your tongue in my mouth.”
She opened her eyes. He was grinning. She knew she was a horrible mess. Tears down her face, nose running, hair and clothes wet. And now he was teasing her about her tongue. She knew how ugly it was when she tried to sayess. He was mocking her. She tried to shake him off, but she couldn’t.
His voice became very gentle as his grip on her skull became stronger. “Say my name again.”
“N-no!”
“Yes.”
Suddenly, she was howling. It didn’t matter anymore. She couldn’t possibly be uglier. She couldn’t possibly be more at sea.
He released her head and his arms were around her, holding her tightly, lifting her, and somehow, her tall frame was sprawled across his arms and he was laying her down in the mud. He pressed her down, kissing her face and her neck. Everywhere except her mouth.
“Go ahead,” he murmured. “Go ahead. Phin has you.”
Why had she wished for her dog when meeting Lady Starling? She should have wished for her husband.
As Phineas kissed her forehead, her chin, the hollow at the base of her neck, she became much more interested in the kissing than in crying. She hiccoughed, and waited for him to come to her mouth, to touch her lips with his.
But he didn’t. He kept nuzzling her neck and dotting her face with kisses. And he was humming. Eventually, she turned her head and captured his mouth with hers. She could feel him grinning under her kiss.
“Now say my name.”
She was silent. Lavinia lay down in the mud next to her. She could hear the rain on the leaves of the trees, the burble of the stream. Phineas lay partially on her, solid, warm. He waited. He did not resume the kissing.
“We’re not getting up from here until you say my whole name.”
She licked her lips. “Phineas Edge, Earl . . . of B-B-Burchester.”Phineath.Burchethter.
There, she had done it. She expected a grin from him. There was none. She went to get up and he put his leg over hers and clamped her down.
“Not yet. Now with the middle names. And the other titles.”
“I d-d-don’t r-r-remember . . .”
“Phineas St. John Augustus Edge, Earl of Burchester, Viscount Romsey, Baron Telscombe.”
