by Merry Farmer
“Go away, Mr. Rossi.” Miss Sewett paused to tell him off. So she’d learned Gianni’s full name. Adrian chuckled over that. “I am not interested in being your anything.”
“But mia bella,” Gianni continued to follow her as she dodged around a group of young people picnicking on blankets, a bocce game, and a badminton court. “You are everything I have ever desired in a woman.”
“I most certainly am not,” Miss Sewett replied, pausing at a croquet set to pick up a mallet. She wielded it at Gianni with a scowl. “I am not for you, sir.”
“Ah, but you are.” Gianni tried to pluck the mallet from Miss Sewett’s hands, but she shrieked and ran away from him. “You cannot run from love, mia bella,” he called after her.
Miss Sewett let out a sound of frustration and picked up her skirts to run faster.
“He’ll end up with a broken head if he’s not careful,” Hattie said. The teasing was gone from her tone, and she’d moved on to eating her finger sandwiches with a real appetite.
“We should probably go after them,” Adrian said, eager to get her alone.
She seemed to understand what he was really saying and brightened. “Yes, I think that would be wise.” She started to stand, then paused, looking at her plate. “I might just take these with me,” she said, scooping the rest of her sandwiches and her tarts into the serviette at her place. “You never know how much of an appetite we’ll work up.”
Adrian stood painfully, adjusting his jacket as best he could to hide the evidence of what she’d done to him. “Quite,” he said, then cleared his throat.
She laughed and tossed him a flirtatious look.
Yes, Hattie McGovern was absolutely the woman for him, and he would have her engaged to him before the day was over.
Chapter 4
Lord Adrian Fairfax was simply delicious. Hattie wanted to nibble on various parts of him the way she nibbled on her sandwiches as they strolled across the lawn where the cousins were enjoying themselves and around the corner to the more formal garden. A garden filled with tree-lined alcoves and secluded ruins. Adrian was both devilishly handsome and clever enough to keep her interest. Though he still seemed to have the wrong end of the stick when it came to what she wanted from him.
“We have a garden like this at our Kent estate,” he said, walking stiffly and occasionally glancing down at his front, as though checking to be sure he wasn’t embarrassing himself with his masculinity.
“Is that so?” Hattie asked, finishing the last of her sandwiches and starting in on her final tart. Her appetite had long since been satisfied, but she was so tickled by the way Adrian seemed fixated on her mouth as she savored each little bite of her food that she couldn’t help but continue the teasing.
“Is it—oh, yes, it is,” he said, clearing his throat and adjusting his jacket.
It was hard not to laugh at Adrian’s discomfort. Hattie was certain her mirth wasn’t at his expense and that he would laugh right along with her, once he had the objectivity to do so. Otherwise she wouldn’t have bothered. It was one thing to tease a man to distraction when he was a willing participant and quite another to string one along out of malice. Hattie didn’t have a malicious bone in her body, but if she played the situation right, that was exactly where Adrian’s bone would end up before the end of the day.
“I used to spend my summers at our Kent estate when I was young,” Adrian went on, a genuine look of nostalgia crossing his handsome face for a moment. “I was quite an active child. My brother and I would leave the house at dawn and spend our entire days adventuring in the fields, climbing through the woods, and swimming in the pond. It drove our governess, Miss Merriweather, to distraction, but she never demanded that we be locked in the schoolroom. She even sent one of the maids out to find us at midday with a hamper of food to keep us going.”
Warm swirls of affection wrapped themselves around Hattie’s insides at the idea of a young Adrian leaping and bounding over fields and forests. It was the sort of affection she wasn’t used to when it came to her conquests, but it wasn’t unwelcome. Her mind instantly conjured images of young boys and girls that bore a resemblance to both her and Adrian, running through those same imaginary fields and getting into all sorts of trouble.
The shocking domesticity of her imagination startled her, though, and she pushed the dangerous thoughts aside. She wasn’t the marrying sort, let alone the motherly sort. That wasn’t what interested her about Adrian Fairfax. Or so she insisted to herself.
“Swimming in ponds, eh?” she said, finishing her tart and dabbing suggestively at her lips with the serviette. “I suppose you splashed about in the nude, then?” She added a suggestive smile with the intent of firing his blood and turning his thoughts where she wanted them to go.
Adrian nearly missed a step as they descended a small, stone staircase and turned a corner into a walk lined with fruit trees. He recovered fast enough to send her a flirtatious smile. “Of course. Why would one need clothing when cavorting in the summer sun? It can be such a hindrance to other enjoyments, don’t you think?”
“Absolutely,” she agreed, glancing sideways at him, her cheeks warming.
He shifted back to the annoyingly formal stance he’d started their walk with. “I believe I’m set to inherit that estate,” he said with the supercilious air that only a man intent on impressing a weak-minded woman used. “It would be a shame to live there all alone someday. An estate like that needs a mistress to take care of it.”
“Then perhaps you should find yourself a mistress, my lord,” she said, finding it harder and harder not to laugh at his lack of subtlety.
“The thought had crossed my mind,” he said, lowering his voice to a tempting register and swaying closer to her as they approached a gazebo overgrown with honeysuckle. “Though I was rather hoping to end up with a wife first.”
Hattie raised her eyebrows as she stepped up into the gazebo. The view across the rolling, Tuscan hills was breathtaking with its greens and yellows against the stunning blue of the sky, but she turned to Adrian, feasting on the blue of his eyes instead. “So you plan to find yourself both a wife and a mistress, then?” she asked, tilting her chin up slightly. “How very modern of you. I know which role I am best suited for.”
His jaw dropped, and for one adorable moment, he was speechless. Hattie’s grin widened. Good. A man was always more fun when he was speechless.
Once again, he recovered quickly, sliding close enough to her to rest a hand boldly on her waist. “I was hoping to find a wife who would leave me in no need of engaging the services of a mistress.”
She was certain he was going to kiss her. It was exactly what she wanted, but only on her terms. When he swayed toward her, she pulled back. “And where do you expect to find a woman willing to wear the shackles of a wife while performing the feats of a mistress?”
Adrian blinked at her as though startled his seduction hadn’t ended with their lips locked. He took in a breath and dropped his sultry demeanor for long enough to say, “I was hoping I plucked the right woman from an overturned carriage this morning.”
Hattie feigned surprised, unsettled by how hard her heart thumped against her ribs at his hint. “You couldn’t possibly mean me, could you?”
Her lungs didn’t seem to want to function properly. Butterflies rioted in her gut. And her sex throbbed with excitement over the prospect. It was pure madness that flew in the face of everything she believed about herself and everything she’d professed to want from her life. But she couldn’t deny the pull she felt between her and Adrian, in spite of the fact that they’d only known each other for a handful of hours.
“Let me be as open and honest with you as possible, Hattie,” he said, suddenly serious. “I’ve been in need of a wife for a while now. I cannot return to England without one, or so my father tells me.” A twist of offense burned her otherwise thumping heart, until he rushed on with, “But that hardly matters in the face of the instant attraction I feel for you. I have never
met a woman who challenged or excited me as much as you have this morning. I don’t believe that I will ever meet a woman that holds a candle to your beauty or wit for the rest of my life. It is as if we have been together in every lifetime before this one, as if we did not meet this morning, but as if I have known you forever.” He took a half step closer to her. “I know you feel it too,” he said, sliding his hand to her waist again.
Prickles of pleasure broke out across Hattie’s skin. She did feel it too. More than she wanted to. But that didn’t mean she was ready to surrender everything, like her mother had.
“Be frank,” she said. “What are you asking me?”
“To marry me,” he said in a voice filled with fire and persuasion. He leaned in until his lips were mere inches from hers. “Let’s be wild and impetuous. Let’s make everyone else think we’re mad as march hares. Say you’ll be my wife.”
For one, heart-stopping moment, Hattie thought she might say yes. She was undeniably captivated by Adrian. Her body ached for his, especially with him standing so close. She could feel how powerful the man could be, which only made her want to test him in bed even more. And she wasn’t too proud to admit she liked the idea of shocking her family by engaging herself to a man she’d just met. Plus, there were the titles and estates to consider. But she wouldn’t do it. She wouldn’t walk down the same path her mother had.
“No,” she told him with a coy smile, sliding her hands up his arms to his shoulders. “I’d rather play the role of mistress. I am far better suited to it.”
Adrian froze, his body going tense. “No?”
She brushed her fingertips against his neck. “Are you surprised that a woman you’ve only known for six or seven hours has turned down your offer of marriage?”
He opened his mouth, but hesitated. He blinked once, then let out a breath, softening into a smile. “No,” he admitted. “I suppose I shouldn’t be.” His smile widened. “Your refusal shows that you have good sense, and that only encourages me to know you better.”
There was a definite invitation behind his words, in his eyes, and in the way he fixed his gaze on her lips. “Well, then,” she said, far more breathless than she expected herself to be. “We should get to work on knowing each other extraordinarily well, then. In the Biblical sense.”
He only managed a hum of agreement before slanting his mouth over hers. Hattie barely had time to catch her breath before the intensity of his kiss pulled her under. She made a sound of acceptance deep in her throat as he slipped his tongue into her mouth, sending shudders of longing straight to her core. He was demanding and erotic, taking exactly what he wanted from her and leaving her quivering. He closed her fully in his embrace, bringing her body flush against his.
Even with the layers of their clothing between them, she could feel the firm bulge in his trousers. He was large, every bit as large as she could have hoped for. It was a bloody shame that she’d already circled her arms around his shoulders, or else she would have reached for him to test just how large. He seemed to have the same sort of thoughts in mind. With one arm clamping her around her waist, he stroked a hand up her side to cradle one of her breasts. The touch sent a jolt of need through her. That was potent enough, but when he reached for the scooping neckline of her dress and pulled it down to expose one shoulder, then kissed his way from her mouth, across her neck, and to the exposed skin of her shoulder, she couldn’t stop herself from sighing loudly in encouragement.
“I want you,” he murmured against her shoulder, tugging her bodice even lower. “I want to do wicked, wicked things to you. Things that will shock and amaze you, no matter how many lovers you’ve already had.”
She wanted to make a witty reply, but all she could manage was a plaintive moan that begged him to get on with it.
He yanked her bodice harder until she heard a rip. Her nipple popped over the top, and he reached in to scoop her breast out. His mouth was on her a moment later, kissing and licking, until he drew her nipple into his mouth and sucked hard.
“Oh, God,” she gasped, rolling her eyes back and giving herself to the sensations he provoked in her. “God, yes.”
He raked his teeth across her overly sensitive nipple, biting just hard enough to make her squeal and shiver for more.
“How would you like to be tied up with leather straps,” he murmured, glancing devilishly up at her. “Or blindfolded while I fuck you hard until you scream my name.”
She couldn’t form words to tell him just how much she would love that. Her sex was so hot and molten that her wetness was starting to seep to her thighs.
“Or you could do the same to me,” he suggested, kissing his way back up to her neck, then whispering in her ear, “I’ve been a very naughty boy. You might need to punish me for it.”
If she didn’t get Adrian in her bed soon, she might crawl out of her skin. None of her past lovers—and really, there weren’t as many as she liked to pretend there were—had been adventurous like that. She’d barely played with anything unusual in bed at all. The prospect of acting out the scenes from the filthy books she’d managed to get her hands on was suddenly irresistible. She might have even been willing to marry Adrian in order to get what she wanted.
“Perhaps you need a bit more persuasion?” he murmured against her ear, reaching for her skirt.
It was all Hattie could do to keep drawing breath as he gathered a handful of her skirt, tugging it higher and higher until he was able to bend down and hook his hand behind her knee. He lifted her leg, supporting her with one arm as he shifted to the side, then set her foot down on one of the benches lining the gazebo. From there, with her one leg lifted enough to open her hips, he stroked his hand along her thigh and between the split in her drawers. She had only a few seconds to feel smug about deliberately wearing split drawers before he caressed her dripping sex.
“Why am I not surprised to find you so wet?” he asked, his voice hoarse and ragged as he stroked her.
“Such arrogance,” she gulped, barely able to get the words out.
He took that as a challenge and teased his fingers between the hot and ready folds of her flesh for a moment before sinking three fingers deep into her. The aggression of his move popped her eyes wide open and left her gasping. Any other man might have teased her gently, one finger at a time until he was certain she could take it, but not Adrian. He stretched her to her limit right away, driving fast and hard into her with his fingers while stroking his thumb across her clitoris. His positioning, speed, and intensity was so perfect that she was mewling and panting with unfettered pleasure in an instant, and then throbbing into orgasm before she could stop herself.
She cried out as her body gave him exactly what he wanted, tilting her head back and giving in to the pleasure. Her inner muscles squeezed around his fingers, which had him hissing a curse.
“Fuck me, but if I don’t have you right now, I think I’ll die,” he gasped, letting go of her long enough to reach for the fastenings of his trousers.
Hattie was more than willing to oblige, spinning to brace her back against the gazebo’s side. She reached for her skirt, intending to hike it up so that he could lift her and have his way with her, but halfway through the gesture, Miss Sewett dashed around the corner.
Hattie gasped and dropped her skirt at the same time that Miss Sewett saw her and yelped in fright. “What in heaven’s name?” Miss Sewett started.
Adrian whipped to face away from Miss Sewett for a moment before jerking back, face red and hands shaking. It was a minor miracle he hadn’t finished freeing himself from his trousers and that he’d been able to tuck himself away before Miss Sewett saw what she shouldn’t have.
Seconds later, Gianni jogged onto the scene as well.
“Where are you going, mia bella?” he asked, catching up to Miss Sewett—who yelped and leapt away from him. “We have so much to talk about.”
Hattie squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, hoping and praying that Miss Sewett was so caught up in her own conce
rns that she wouldn’t figure out what she and Adrian had been up to.
“Leave me alone, you…you….” Miss Sewett heaved a few restless breaths before turning to Hattie as though she’d been struck with an idea. “I cannot waste my time with you when it is my duty to scold this devilish soul and to escort her back to her room.” She raced around the far side of the gazebo, charging up the stairs and grabbing Hattie’s wrist. “You have been very disobedient, young lady, running away from the rest of the group to be alone with a man. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
Hattie’s panic subsided, only to be replaced by bitter disappointment. She glanced to Adrian. “Lord Whitemarsh could escort me back to my room,” she suggested.
“Absolutely not.” Miss Sewett yanked her forward, forcing Hattie to exit the gazebo and start back toward the house. “We should take shelter in the house. That is, you should be punished by being confined to your room.”
The relief of knowing Miss Sewett hadn’t noticed what she and Adrian were up to was dampened by the abruptness of the end of what she and Adrian had started. Hattie glanced over her shoulder at Adrian in apology as Miss Sewett dragged her away. Adrian looked as disappointed as she felt, and in pain on top of that. The blessed man would suffer from the effects of his ardor, now that they had been torn apart.
“We’ll finish this later, my lord,” she called back, wishing she could say more, promise Adrian more. It was little consolation that he waved at her as though he understood and would do what it took to make good on her words.
“That odious man,” Miss Sewett complained as she dragged Hattie back to the house. “What does he think he’s after, pursuing me as though I were just another cheap flirt?”
Hattie was too aggravated and too wrung out from all of the wonderful things Adrian had made her feel to answer what she was certain was a rhetorical question.
