Chapter
Fourteen
Her eyes were the deep blue of a thousand oceans at once, the morning sun behind her lighting up her fair hair like a golden halo, and it was everything Cass could do not to fall to his knees for her.
But Hattie was no angel, and neither was she the child from his memories. She was a living, breathing woman, one who needed to be kissed.
Often, and only by him.
But not yet, when everything remained unresolved between them still, and not here in the middle of Lady Fosberry’s rose garden, not when her ladyship or Hattie’s sisters might come searching for them at any moment.
He sucked a frantic breath into his lungs, his heart dancing wildly behind his ribs, and waited for her to decide his fate.
“I lied to you, Cass. I didn’t come to London for the lecture or for Sir Joseph, or for the season.” She took a step toward him and rested her hands on his chest, over his heart. “I came here for you.”
He’d guessed it, but to hear the words from her lips was everything he’d ever needed. “Thank you, Hattie.”
If she hadn’t been so close, with the honeysuckle scent of her hair teasing his senses and the warm drift of her breath against his cheek, he might have been able to keep from touching her. But resistance was impossible in the face of such temptation, and logic and reason were no match for such overwhelming desire.
“I love you, Hattie.” He brushed a golden tendril of her hair away from her cheek, his lips hovering over hers. “I’m yours, heart and soul. I’ve always been yours.”
“Oh, Cass. I love you, too.” She curled her fingers into his waistcoat, her blue eyes soft as she gazed up at him. “I thought…when you stopped writing to me, I thought you’d forgotten about me.”
“No.” He brushed his fingers over her lower lip, closing his eyes at the soft whimper that escaped her. “Never, Hattie.”
“I…” She swallowed, her gaze dropping to his lips. “I missed you, Cass. When you left Kent, and every year afterwards, I missed you so much.”
His hand drifted from the rosy silkiness of her lips to the white column of her neck and throat, his control slipping with every inch of her skin sliding under his fingertips. He wanted her, more than he ever thought he could want anyone, and for this one stolen moment, they were alone, and she was gazing up him at with sleepy blue eyes, as if she were waiting for him to kiss her…
One kiss. One kiss only, and then they’d go in search of Lady Fosberry.
Her lips parted, her kiss a gift for him alone. He took her mouth gently in a sweet, chaste kiss, but it wasn’t enough. Nothing was ever enough with her.
“Hattie.” He dropped an open-mouthed kiss behind her ear before trailing his lips lower, his tongue slipping out to taste thesoft skin of her neck and teasing the fragrant hollow at the base of her throat.
“Oh, my. That’s…it feels…” A soft, pleading sound left her throat as she twined her arms around the back of his neck, her fingers toying with his hair. “It makes me feel all shivery.”
He chuckled, his lips brushing her earlobe. “Shivery is good, isn’t it?”
“Yes, very good.” She grasped his shoulders, her head falling back and hectic color blooming in her cheeks as he pressed another lingering kiss behind her ear.
“Look at me, Hattie.” He caught her chin in a gentle grip and turned her face up to his, gazing down into blue eyes so wide and trusting he was overwhelmed with a tenderness that made his throat ache. “Let me see you.”
She cast him a shy glance from under her lashes, her lower lip caught between her teeth, and God, he wanted to touch her everywhere, to stroke every inch of her soft skin until she was aching for him, writhing for him, her slender body taut in his arms. He wanted to pull every pin from her hair until those thick curls spilled into his hands like a golden waterfall.
He wanted toseeher, to learn every alluring curve and hollow of her, to lay her across the smooth silken sheets of his big bed, kiss her sweet pink nipples and taste the damp folds of skin between her legs until she was crying out for him, her hips undulating against his mouth as he brought her to climax.
He wanted to take her, here and now among the roses, their heady scent clouding his head and Hattie’s cries echoing in his ears. She’d fall apart for him so sweetly, his name on her lips as she reached her peak with her hips moving in rhythm against his.
She was so soft, her mouth so soft and hot and open for him…
Just one more kiss. A final stolen kiss, then he’d take her back to the house.
He dropped damp kisses down the side of her neck until she was trembling for him, her eyelids heavy and her lips parted on a gasp, and it wasn’t enough—no matter how much he had of her it would never be enough.
“We should return to the house, Hattie.” Now, before he forgot he was meant to be a gentleman. “Lady Fosberry will be wondering where?—”
She sank her fingers into his hair and gave a sharp little tug.
