Henry stared at her as if he found her story hard to understand. “And nobody else knows about this? You are sure of that?”
“Marsh’s insistence on secrecy makes it hard for me to imagine he would have shared the information with others, and I have never told anyone else. To be honest, I wasn’t going to tell you either.” She hazarded a glance in his direction. The sympathy there was like raindrops falling upon her parched soul. Encouraged, she straightened her spine and adjusted her position. “But I recently started to realize how serious things are getting between us and knew there was no other choice.”
“You could still have kept it from me,” he murmured. “Judging from what you have just told me, I never would have discovered the truth.”
“But I would have known, Henry. I would have had to live with the guilt of keeping this from you, and that’s not something that I’m prepared to do.”
His hand came up to cup her cheek. “I’m sorry that this was so hard for you to confide. There’s absolutely nothing for you to be ashamed of, no reason for me to think ill of you because of who your mother was or how you were conceived.”
“I know, but people have been shunned for less.” She pressed her cheek into the palm of his hand and savored the feel of his fingers stroking her skin. “I have always disagreed with Society’s readiness to condemn a person for something that’s not their fault.”
“Is it strange that I am grateful to your mother for being the woman she was and selling an evening of pleasure to the man who fathered you?”
Viola smiled in response to the humor in his eyes. “Not at all, for I am grateful to her as well.”
His expression grew pensive as he gazed back at her for a long, drawn-out moment before saying, “You’re everything I’ve ever wanted, Viola. Don’t ever doubt that again.”
Undone by his honesty, his affection and his deep consideration, she allowed every reservation that bound her to melt away into nothing, because the truth was she needed him, more than she’d ever needed anyone else in her life. Holding his gaze, she let her hand seek out the nape of his neck and her fingers slide through his hair.
His eyes darkened as she raked the windblown locks. “I don’t know what to say,” she whispered, her body humming with increased awareness.
“Don’t say anything then,” he murmured. “Just show me how you feel.”
Thunderous heartbeats echoed in her chest. She wanted to with the kind of desperation that threatened to kill her if she denied it. So she pulled his head closer, so close she could feel his breath stroking her jaw, and then closed the distance between them, settling her mouth against his.
Henry could not resist any longer. He reached out and grabbed her and pulled her up onto his lap. She gasped and he swallowed the sound with his mouth while holding her firmly in place. Drawing back slightly, he ran his thumb over her plump lower lip, dragging it down until her mouth opened. “Stay, just like that,” he murmured, loving the heavy-lidded look on her face as he pressed her to him and slid his hand down from her face to her thigh, “so I can taste you.”
She sucked in an audible breath and he smiled as he lowered his mouth over hers. She remained as he’d asked, granting him entry. When she whimpered slightly, he almost forgot himself as a new elemental power took over. She tasted so sweet, and the way she responded... Dear God, she was growing increasingly hard to resist. Especially now with her arms winding tight around his neck as if she were clinging to life itself. He could feel her heartbeat echoing through his chest as she pressed up against him.
If he wasn’t mistaken, she wanted the same as he and with equal fervor. “Viola...” He breathed her name against the corner of her mouth before trailing a series of kisses along her jaw. “You can’t possibly imagine what you do to me.”
“I can feel it,” she whispered, and he grinned close to her ear.
Finding her mouth once again, he kissed her as if it would never be enough, as if his life depended on this particular kiss. Her body leaned further into his embrace, seeking more, and when he lost his balance and fell back against the grass, she followed him down, landing against him with a gasp.
“Viola.” Her name fell from his lips once more as he gazed up into her gorgeous face. She smiled in response and words failed him, the wonder of what was happening between them like a dream he feared waking up from. Unable to resist her beauty and completely unwilling to try, Henry brought her mouth back for more.
He wasn’t sure how long he kissed her this time, but when she finally pulled away and leaned her forehead against his, his heart was calmer, his mind more at ease. “I think I could happily kiss you forever,” he told her, and pressed his lips to her temple. “You taste divine, like fresh air and sea spray.”
“So do you.” She smiled a little before shyly adding, “This day together is—”
“Better than you expected it to be?” he asked while stroking her jaw in reverent adoration.
“Yes.” She sighed and angled her head to grant better access.
He laughed into her cheek until she vibrated from head to toe. “Just imagine how good it will be when we finally make love.”
“You speak of it as if it’s an eventuality.”
Rolling her onto her back, he gazed down at her without bothering to hide the hunger her kiss had evoked. “Coming here with me today, confiding your secrets and kissing me as you just did, says it all.” Brushing a stray strand of hair from her cheek, he tucked the errant lock behind her ear. “You are mine, Viola.” His lips brushed her forehead. “And I am never, ever letting you go.”
Viola stared at the letter on her desk, sighing as she reread the missive from Mr. Steadford. Her stomach clenched. She’d been able to forget about Robert for a fleeting moment while she’d been away at Hastings and had hoped to continue doing so for a while longer. But that was not to be. She was back in London, where problems continued to plague her.
A solid knock at the door made her flinch. Looking up, she saw Henry standing in the doorway. A smile graced his lips and his eyes shone with pleasure. “Good morning,” he said, stepping inside the office and crossing the floor to one of the empty chairs. His smile slipped slightly when he met her serious gaze. “Everything all right?”
“Robert and Hayes want to see me. I’m to meet with them at Tremaine House tomorrow together with Mr. Steadford, but the thought of having to go there again and face Robert’s condescension is not something I relish.” She set the letter down on her desk and removed her spectacles. Distressed and worried, she didn’t even care that she’d been wearing them when Henry walked in. “Will you please come with me?”
“Of course,” Henry said. He didn’t sit but remained standing instead, one hand loosely resting against the chair’s back. “I can also insist that we hold the meeting at my town house, if you prefer.”
