* * *
Georgiana,burrowed deepin Andrew’s bed, slept soundly.Her naked back, curled away from him, held him captive.Her arm caressed the place where he had been lying moments before, and it took all the tattered remnants of his self-control to keep from slipping back into bed to make love to her again.
He had just enough light before the lamp sputtered out completely to dress and grope in a drawer for his timepiece.The night was far gone, but he thought they had enough time to get her back to her own house before her staff stirred—assuming they hadn’t already been found her gone and sounded the alarm.It was too late to worry about that in any case.For now, he wanted to get her back where she belonged and quickly.
He caressed her with one last longing stroke and pulled the soft coverlet over her.He knew it would be a shock to her system to wake up naked in a man’s bed.
“Georgiana, my love, wake up,” he said softly.
“Mmm?”
“The night, I fear, is disappearing.We need to get you home.”
Her eyes blinked open, and confusion gradually gave way to awareness.Her lips parted a fraction, and she smiled up at him.
“She whom Aphrodite has loved.”She reached her arms up for him.There was no shock.
“Now you know why they are dangerous works,” he murmured as he surrendered to her kiss.
“Enough,” he said a moment later.He said it several times into her mouth.“Enough.We don’t have much time.You are going back where you belong.”It almost killed him to rise up, his body fully ready to take her again.
She started to protest, and he silenced her with a tender hand.“We can talk later.I have to hitch up the horse.”
“Yourself?”
“Do you think I’m some aristocratic fribble who can’t hitch his own chaise?Besides, Harley would be very unhappy if we woke him up.”
She looked skeptical but let go of him so he could put on his jacket.
“Quickly now.It will take me but a few minutes.”
Andrew walked round to the public mews behind the lane.The cool air made his bones ache; they were too old for sneaking around at night.And yet he felt more alive than he had in months, perhaps years.There was no going back, of course.That much was radiant in its simplicity; a clear path opened up before him.He had no idea how they would manage the thing, but family approval or not, they would marry.He needed her too much to live apart.Eros—the longing of one soul for union with the other.Quick sex in the dark would never be enough.
* * *
“I could stay.”She hoped she sounded more confident than she felt.They whispered, heads bent toward one another, while he walked his horse to the public thoroughfare as quietly as he could.He was hatless, his jacket thrown on haphazardly, his shirt fastened crookedly.She thought him altogether adorable.
“I could stay,” she repeated, “and?—”
“No.”Her confidence didn’t matter.His “No” was immediate and emphatic.
At the turn, he reached to hand her up.
“I wish to stay with you.”This time she said it firmly, and he rewarded her with a smile.
“Good,” he said, and he climbed up next to her with some effort.He used strength in his arms to compensate for lack of it in his left hip and leg.She thought about those strong arms around her in the night and felt heat rising.“Good,” he repeated, but he didn’t look at her.He took up the reins.“I wish you to stay with me also.”
“That’s settled then.”
“I don’t think so.There is a good English name for what you want, Georgiana.It is called marriage.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”Georgiana’s heart plunged in horror and began to beat in panic.The word marriage terrified her.
“Is the thought of marriage distasteful to you?”She could feel the tension in his body.
“Marriage is, it is...something arranged.”
“Dynastic contracts?”
