She had everything she could ever want.And yet she still wanted something else.
“God, you’re perfect.So sweet.Fuck.Scarlett.You’re going to make me come.”
“Yes!”She gasped.“Yes.”
“Fuck.Darling.My darling.I love you.”
He said the words in a rush—but she still heard them.
And she had only one response.“I love you too,” she panted.
It took no more.She was gasping above him, her core working his cock furiously, as he poured himself into her.
Chapter Thirty
The morning afterthe most intense erotic encounter of her life, Scarlett Perkins sat in the quaint little Parkhorne church.
Her core was still sore from riding Malcolm the night before.And her heart felt, if not bruised exactly, then tender.They had exposed so much in their assignation.She was not sure what his professed love meant or what her own even meant.She only knew that, in her own case, it was true.And that in his, she hoped it was.
After they had finished on the chaise last night, they had righted themselves, resolving that they must return to the festivities before they were missed.
Scarlett had stopped at the retiring room to make sure she did not look as wrecked, as crazed with lust and feeling, as she felt.
Besides a few mussed curls, however, she looked much as she always did.It had almost disappointed her.
And, as it turned out, they needn’t have worried so much about their absence being conspicuous.When she reentered the ballroom alone, where dancing had recommenced after supper, no was looking for her.
Tilly was on the dance floor with George.Vera had gone to bed.And who else would be particularly concerned about her movements?It had been a relief to realize that no one would discover her absolutely indecent, personally ruinous behavior.But it did make her wish she hadn’t been so hurried in her private goodbyes to Malcolm.
Now, she sat in church, and he wasn’t here.Of course, it was perfectly reasonable that the morning after a ball, a young, single gentleman would not come to church.Men had more leeway in such matters than women like herself.The marchioness was not here either—rank buying her similar leniency.But still, part of her felt slightly deflated in the face of his defection from a ritual that he had not neglected the three Sundays previous.
She was glad, however, for the time to turn her—their—circumstances over in her head.
After last night, the prospect of parting felt excruciating.
Could it be possible—if they really loved each other—for them to marry?
He had proposed twice before.She knew that he would marry her as a matter of honor.That she had a claim on him if she wanted to use it.And she believed that now, of course, she was more to him than just that.Even if his confession of love had only been said in the heat of lust, she knew he cared for her to some degree.She did not think that, in marrying her, he would only regard it as a sacrifice to honor.
No, what gave her pause now respecting a potential union was much more quotidian.And yet, it was the most common thing keeping couples apart.
Money.
She had none.And he seemed to have little, if any, of his own.
Would the Salisburys consent to have her and Malcolm live together in the hunting lodge as man and wife?She tried to imagine that future.Surely, when Tilly married George and was living in the hall, they would do what they could to help her and Malcolm wed.
She glanced over at Tilly, who sat beside her in the pew.Her sister certainly looked tired, although that was hardly surprising after an evening of dancing.Nevertheless, she was still worried about her sister, especially after the scene yesterday before the ball.
After she had witnessed TillykissingSevern, she had been prepared to tell her sister that she needed to end her engagement with George.But Tilly had broken down in tears, sobbing and apologizing to Scarlett.Alarmed, she had consoled Tilly, who had insisted that she loved George, that she wanted to marry him, and that what she had just witnessed happen with Severn wasnothing.
Of course, Tilly had also taken this opportunity to accuse Scarlett of having fallen in love with Malcolm.She even insisted that Malcolm had fallen in love with Scarlett.She said she wasn’t a fool and could see it with her own eyes, and that she, Tilly, wasn’t the only one of them hiding things.
She wasn’t wrong, of course.But Scarlett couldn’t reveal the truth to Tilly.So she had admitted she had some feeling for the man, yes, but she doubted his own feelings.Luckily, Tilly had been so overwrought over her interaction with Mr.Westmore that she hadn’t pressed much further once Scarlett had relented a little.
After this confrontation, Scarlett hadn’t known what to do.She didn’t understand what was happening with Mr.Westmore and her sister.But she also knew that sometimes, in these matters, young ladies had to make choices, and those choices weren’t always easy.It was evident that there was something between the rake and her sister.But it did not appear to be the sort of connection that led to matrimony.
She knew something of that herself, after the past few weeks.
