Page 35 of The Season of Lady Chastity

Or at least the hope of it.

Her breaths turned to shallow pants. Bastian’s labored gasps were erotic music to her sensitive ears.

His finger came to rest under her chin, and he tilted her face up to his.

Though her eyes remained closed, she could feel his lips close to hers.

Overwhelming need, longing, and desire sent a quiver through her.

A delicate tremble.

Bastian wrapped his arm around her waist, holding her to him upright.

When his lips still did not touch hers, Chastity longed for Bastian to be a little less noble and a bit more caught up in the need that had driven her recklessly into his arms.

Had this been what had pushed her mother away from the man she knew as her father and into the arms of Cam? If so, Chastity did not only feel the power of it, she also allowed the sensation to seep into her until it seemed to become the nature of her essence.

A new understanding coursed through her, enthralled her, riveted her to the spot they stood.

She not only felt the need to have Bastian’s mouth pressed to her lips, as the moments passed, a part of him burrowed deep within her, and their combined need resided within her.

Feelings and natures became one.

Tentatively, Chastity leaned forward until her lips met his.

Instinct took over as her body pushed to be closer to Bastian, their lips locking together as naturally and uncompromisingly as their stares had held earlier. The frigid wind no longer chilled her exposed flesh as Bastian’s warmth suffused her.

Her first kiss.

There could be a thousand embraces to follow; ones stolen in darkened halls outside crowded ballrooms, ones given and received in private chambers, ones lasting only for the blink of an eye or lingering long into the night. But this kiss, with Bastian, would be forever seared into Chastity’s memory.

She could be held in the arms of a powerful, wealthy duke, or in the embrace of a blacksmith, and neither would compare to the gentle but firm hold of Bastian.

His lips parted, but he did not pull away, only paused to fill his lungs with precious air before dragging his tongue across her bottom lip. Not to be outdone, Chastity licked at his bottom lip before sucking it gently into her mouth.

Bastian inhaled sharply.

She feared she’d done something wrong, but Bastian claimed her mouth again, a new and increased need—one that matched her own—seeming to thrum within him as he drew her ever tighter into his arms.

Riotous, male laughter cut into the silence of the night, pulling Chastity from Bastian’s embrace as the cold air swirled around them.

The spell was broken, despite their lingering mutual need.

“Lady Chastity,” Bastian said with a gulp, his stare holding hers, refusing to let it go, though his hands fell from her waist to his sides. “Forgive my—”

“Do not beg forgiveness when there is naught to forgive.” She brought her gloved palm to his cheek, and he turned his face toward it, placing a kiss on her wrist as she’d done to him before. “If forgiveness is needed for anything, it is because our time alone has been cut short—far too soon.”

She smiled up at him as the sound of heavy footsteps moving down the path toward the moat invaded the night. Male chuckling and jests preceded the party’s arrival.

“We should return to the manor.” Bastian took a step back, his eyes downcast. Even in the dim light provided by the moon high overhead, Chastity could see his cheeks turn pink. “It is late, and the cold will soon be unbearable.”

Chastity wanted to tell him the entire world could freeze over, but as long as he held her, she’d find the warmth she needed.

Light from a lantern flared across the path leading back through the garden to Oxburgh Hall beyond. There was little doubt who the men were now coming their way: Comstock and his friends, likely sloshed on Roderick’s imported port wine and anxious for a rowdy evening.

Neither she nor Bastian would provide the rakehells with their evening entertainment.

“This way,” she whispered, dropping her voice low. “I discovered a hidden trail that will lead back up to the manor. We can enter through the library.”