In the darkened carriage, she couldn’t see his eyes too well, but she could see enough to know she had truly shocked him. “You are the first man in a very long time that I have wanted to kiss. No, it’s more than that. I long for your touch.”
“You make a very strong case, Susannah.”
“I would never pressure you to come to me.”
“Susannah, please, I feel no pressure except the heaviness in my trousers. I am desperate to have you beneath me, have no worry about that.”
“And I have no innocence to protect. I have no young maidens looking to me as an example for behavior. I have lived an exemplary life for twelve years. And now after meeting you, even with the unsettled issue we have between us, I want to be with you the way a woman wants to be with a man she desires.”
His eyes were inquisitive as he asked, “Have you had no lovers since your husband?”
“There’s been no one.” Her gaze fluttered down his face. “I have never wanted one until now, until I met you.”
“I will come, but what will you do about your maid and Mrs. Princeton? That woman watches you like a hawk.”
Susannah laughed lightly. “She does take her job too seriously, sometimes to my detriment. My bedchamber is on the first floor. They sleep on the second floor, the opposite side of the house, and they are both sound sleepers. If we are careful, no one should know of your presence. There are stairs on the east side of the house that lead to a door on the first floor.”
Race opened the carriage door and then looked back at her. “I saw the stairs when I was there the other day.”
“Once inside, take the door on the left. It will lead you to a hallway. My room is the first door on the right.”
“Make sure the door is unlocked, Duchess. I will be there.”
Race stepped out of the carriage and shut the door.
Susannah’s heartbeat danced with expectancy, warming her as she tucked her cape tighter about her shoulders. Her decision to invite him to her bed was rash, and perhaps she shouldn’t have asked him until she understood her feelings for him. But when she was with him, she simply didn’t want to deny herself his attention. The instinctive reaction Race aroused in her was the response of a woman wanting a man’s touch. She knew he wanted to be with her as much as she wanted to be with him.
She had never desired her husband’s touch, though he was a good and kind man and she was an obedient and faithful wife. She had accepted his attentions whenever he came to her bedchamber, but she had never been pleasured by him.
In her youth, she had wanted Lord Martin Downings’s touch; but now, unlike with Lord Martin so many years ago, she was experienced enough to know Race wasn’t promising love, marriage, or even tomorrow. He simply wanted to enjoy her tonight, and she intended to enjoy him.
* * *
Susannah had said good night to Mrs. Princeton and dismissed her maid as soon as her dress and undergarments were unfastened. She had no fear that either of them would wake during the night.
After unlocking the outside door so Race could enter, Susannah was filled with wonder and anticipation. She went to her room and lit a candle on her dressing table and one by her bed. There would be no need for the brighter lamplight tonight. She was nervous yet excited; she was calm yet eager. And she had never felt saner in her life. Race had captivated her like no other man ever had. She believed with all her heart that what she was doing was the right thing for her to do.
With trembling hands, she stripped to her white cotton chemise that fell in length to just above her knees, and then she sat down at her dressing table. She was taking the pins and ribbons out of her hair when she heard a soft, brief knock.
From the mirror, she watched the doorknob turn and the door ease open. Race stepped inside and slowly closed the door. She heard the lock click behind him. He was still handsomely dressed in his evening clothes. She turned on the stool and then rose to face him.
“That didn’t take long,” she said.
“Fear that you might change your mind, and my eagerness to be here with you, made me hasten.”
Susannah smiled and opened her arms to him. Race rushed to her and picked her up in his arms and buried his face in the warmth of her neck.
“Hmm, you smell so damn good,” he said, breathing in deeply as he crushed her to him.
“I’m glad you didn’t wait. Dawn will be here before we know it.”
He set her feet on the floor. She reached up and untied his neckcloth while he shrugged out of his jacket. She took off his collar as he unbuttoned his waistcoat and threw it aside. He yanked his shirt from his waistband and pulled it over his head. Her hands roved up the warm, firm skin of his back and shoulders. She loved the feel of the solid wall of muscles. Her hands moved around his sleek, wide chest and Race unbuttoned his trousers.
Susannah touched her cool lips to the crook of his hot neck, and he groaned. She smiled when she felt him shiver at her touch. How wonderful that she could do that to him by simply placing her lips against his skin.
“Susannah,” he whispered huskily. His hands cupped her small waist for a moment and then moved lower to mold his palms over her shapely hips to draw her more snugly against the hardness beneath his open trousers.
He bent his head, and his mouth sought hers in a kiss so tender it was heavenly. He then lifted his head just enough so he could look into her eyes. Though he didn’t say a word, she could see that he was giving her one more chance to change her mind, to throw him out of her room, to say she had made a mistake. But Susannah had no such feelings. She had never been more sure of anything in her life. She placed her fingertips to his masculine lips and slowly moved them gently over his chin, down his throat and chest, past his flat stomach, to the bulge beneath his clothing. She let her hand mold and then close firmly around him.
