Ethan stood with her. “It is time I was departing as well. As I said upon my arrival, I cannot remain long.”
Smooth as butter, he turned to Julianna and made her a refined bow. “A delight as always. My thanks for the tea.”
“Of course, Ethan.”
He glanced toward Lily. “I shall escort you out.”
“Oh, that is not necessary. I traveled by foot and as you know, the walk home is very brief.”
“Nevertheless, a lady can always do with protection. I shall walk with you.”
Why didn’t I bring my maid? But taking Susan along had seemed superfluous at the time, since Lily knew she would be with Julianna and her servants, including the redoubtable Hannibal.
Recognizing the stubborn set to the marquis’s mouth, though, she knew there was no further point in arguing. “Very well.”
He strode toward the door to wait.
Lily crossed to hug Julianna, who had managed to gain her feet by that time. As she bent down, Julianna pulled her near.
“He’s a good man, but have a care,” the baroness whispered. “I do not want to see you get hurt.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t.” If I could only be as sure of that as I sound, she mused. “We are only walking home.”
“Of course you are. Now, remember that we cannot meet tomorrow as I am engaged for a breakfast party. Unless you would like to accompany me, after all. Procuring an invitation for you would be no trouble in the least.”
“You are most kind, but I have matters to which I really must attend. Until next we meet.”
With a last good-bye, she walked across the room, then laid her hand on the sleeve of Ethan’s extended forearm.
Once they’d departed the townhouse, she dropped her arm to her side. “You needn’t walk me home, my lord. I can manage very well on my own. If you are concerned, you have only to stand here and watch until I arrive at my doorstep.”
Reaching for her hand, he set her palm back onto his coat sleeve and held it there. “But then I would be too far away to aid you were you to meet with misfortune. This way, I will know you are safe.”
“No harm will befall me in this neighborhood, as well you know.”
“There are dangers besides thieves and villains. You might fall, for instance, and injure yourself.”
She laughed. “That is highly unlikely, and were it to happen, I am sure I would manage to pick myself up just fine.”
“But then you would be wounded, and that I would not like.”
They walked for half a minute in silence.
“How have you been, Lily?”
“Quite well, my lord.”
“Ethan. I was Ethan that last time we were together.”
“We were many things the last time we were together,” she said, her words quiet, “but all that is now in the past.”
His hand tightened atop hers. “Is it? Are you sure?”
“Yes, completely.”
“That is not how it sounded back in Julianna’s sitting room.”
Her eyes lifted to meet his. “Did it not? You must not have heard correctly.”
“Oh, I heard just fine,” he murmured, his gaze lowering to her lips.
Suddenly her lungs were straining for air. She blamed the deficiency on the exercise, relieved a few moments later when they reached her front door.
“Here we are,” she chimed. “Good day to you, Lord Vessey. I know you cannot stay, what with your prior commitments and need to hurry off.”
She expected him to agree; instead, he set a foot on the first step to her townhouse. “Oh, I can spare a few minutes more. We can discuss a day and time when we may meet to find you that curricle and team.”
“Phaeton,” she shot back. “And I don’t think my schedule will allow for such an outing, not in the near future.”
“Why do we not go inside so you can consult your engagement calendar? My guess is you’ll discover an available time.”
Aware of her butler and footman standing at the open door, no doubt listening to every word, she gave a nod. Besides, she couldn’t very well continue to argue with Ethan here on her front stoop. “All right, but only for a few minutes. I have an appointment this afternoon for which I must get ready.”
He inclined his head. “A few minutes will do fine.”
After handing his hat and gloves to the waiting servant, he followed her upstairs to her study. Once there she moved to her walnut desk, dawdling since she had no need to look in her engagement book. Her earlier statement had been nothing more than a ruse, one Ethan most likely already knew to be a falsehood.
The door shut at his back with a resounding click.
Startled, she glanced up. “What are you doing, my lord?”
He strode deeper into the room. “I thought we might need some privacy, so we might speak freely with no interruptions.”
“You will not be here long enough to worry about interruptions.” She stepped forward to confront him. “I have decided that I would prefer having someone else help me purchase a carriage.”
He shook his head. “No, it has to be me. I am the only one who will know what you want, what will gratify you and bring you pleasure. No other man will do.”
Suddenly, once more, they were no longer talking about conveyances.
Her heart swooped like a sparrow winging from a branch. “Go away, Ethan. I do not want you.”
He closed the space between them. “Don’t you?”
“No,” she declared.
Her eyes locked with his, Ethan’s amber gaze hot and lambent, brimming with unconcealed desire. Her breath grew shallow, rushing in and out of her lungs as if there were not enough oxygen in the room. Blood throbbed in her temples, beating hard and fast at the base of her throat.
She couldn’t look away.
One second passed, then two.
On the third, she flung herself forward while he did the same, catching her in a hard, crushing embrace that lifted her feet clear of the floor.
Clinging, she returned his ravishing kisses with wild ones of her own, each wet, tempestuous mating leading to another series of kisses that rocked her to her core. Greedy in a way that would once have shocked her, she locked her arms around his neck and gave free rein to her passion, returning each dark, velvety sweep of his tongue with a rich, heated suction of her own.
Growling deep in his throat, he caught her lower lip between his teeth and played upon her flesh, taking playful nibbles and teasing bites for a long, scintillating moment before pressing her mouth wide to take more of his kiss.
Eagerly, she returned his touch, sliding her fingers into the thick silk of his hair. Gliding her palms downward, she stroked over his cheeks and held him steady for her kiss, increasing the pressure with an ardent desire of her own. He rose to her challenge, making her senses whirl out of control.
On a whimper, she stroked her hands over him again, struck by the contrast between his clean-shaven cheeks and the ultra-smooth interior she found as she let her tongue explore the other side.
Stroking his hands over her back, he deepened their kiss even more, eliciting a full-body shiver as her nipples tightened into hard little points. With passion driving her hard, she hung on for the ride, the scent and taste and feel of him like an erotic elixir that swept everything from her mind but raw, primal need. Desperate, she raised her legs and looped them around his waist, uncaring of the way her skirts fell in a messy tangle between them.
Shifting his hands to her buttocks, he hoisted her higher, and settled the part of her that ached the most against the part of him that struggled to be free of his trousers. Mouths locked in a fervid dance, he carried her forward and placed her onto the desk. Using an arm, he swept a space clear on the surface, ledgers and papers and pens flying to the carpet below.
She should have been alarmed by the destruction, but all she cared about right now was him, and the need to have him inside her. With their mouths still fused, he slid her legs apart and stepped between.
Her
nipples throbbed again, begging for his touch. As if he sensed her need, he went to work at the back of her gown, loosening her bodice and stays enough for her naked breasts to tumble free. Sliding his hands downward, he cupped her in his palms, holding her flesh while his fingers stroked her to devastating effect.
Her eyelids fluttered closed, a moan coming from her lips when he arched her back and closed his mouth around one breast. He suckled, the sweet, wet warmth making her literally shake in his arms. When he’d thoroughly appeased the first, he moved on to her other breast, feasting there with ravenous intent, scraping his teeth over her nipple before soothing it with his tongue.
After a time she reached down to urge him upward, but he dropped to his knees instead, pushing her skirts over her bare legs, then spreading her wide.
She had no notion of what he meant to do, her hips bucking involuntarily at the first brush of his lips against her nether flesh. Instinctively she tried to close her thighs, but he held her open, sliding her closer to the edge of the desk so she teetered there, trembling on the brink of madness.
Arching, she flattened her palms against the desk to keep herself from falling, gasping aloud in uncontrollable pants as he kissed her where she hadn’t known a woman could be kissed. The pleasure nearly broke her, a brutal shudder raking through her body when his tongue played upon her before sliding inside.
She crashed hard, bliss gripping her as if she were caught in a blinding storm. But he wasn’t done, driving her up until a single tear of emotion slid down her cheek, waves of ecstasy crashing through her to leave her gasping, a long moan keening from her throat.
Then he was on his feet, tearing open his falls to free his rampant erection. Lying her gently backward across the desk, he thrust into her with no further preamble. Not that he needed any, her body accepting his as if it had been fashioned for that purpose alone.
Unlike their first time together, there was no pain, no difficulty with his entrance, although his large shaft filled her completely. At his urging, she lifted her legs and linked them at his back, the angle allowing him to thrust deeper still.
Setting a rhythm that stole her breath, he pumped hard and fast, bracing his arms on either side of her head so he could kiss her again as he took her with him into a world where nothing existed but the stunning pleasure of his possession. She wondered if her heart might explode—the need so great, the delight so profound.
And then she was cresting again, a roaring rush sounding between her ears as if she were drowning, while an explosion of joy sent her flying skyward.
He captured her scream of release inside his mouth, muffling his own shout of completion against her lips moments later.
Panting, he collapsed briefly upon her, burying his face against the curve of her throat. Slowly, he removed his weight, levering himself up and away.
She lay with her eyes closed, too weary and replete to move, strangely afraid to look at him for fear of what she might see. But she discovered a few moments later that she need not have worried.
“Lily,” he murmured. “I’m not letting you go again so do not even think of trying to get away. You don’t wish to marry and that is fine, but I will not be kept from your bed again.”
She peeked at him through half-raised lashes. “You are not in my bed.”
“No, we used your desk, and that should show you quite a lot. Come, let me help you up before you grow impossibly stiff.”
Glancing down, her eyes widened. “It would seem you are the one with that problem. How is that possible so soon?”
He shot her a smoldering look. “I’ve been without you for weeks. Long, impossible days that have left me with a powerful desire.”
“There have been no others?”
“No. And there will not be, not until this passion between us subsides.”
What if it never does? she worried.
A moment later, she decided to brush aside the question as well as the concern.
Enjoy the now, she thought, and do not trouble about the future. There will be plenty of time later to face reality and all its sobering details.
Gazing into the depths of his beautiful whisky-colored eyes, she smiled and accepted his hand.
Chapter Fourteen
LEANING BACK AGAINST a conveniently placed pillar, Ethan watched Lily glide around the ballroom floor in the arms of another man. Ordinarily he would have objected to the sight, but he kept his more primitive instincts at bay, reassured by the knowledge that he would be the one escorting her home, the one spending the night in her bed.
Three days had passed since he and Lily had made wild, impetuous love atop the desk in her study—an act that would forever change the way he viewed that particular piece of furniture, and desks in general.
On that first day, after she had finally agreed to become his lover, she’d led him to her bedchamber, confessing along the way that she had fibbed about having an afternoon commitment. Backing her against a wall, he’d pressed a torrid kiss to her mouth that left both of them gasping for air. Giving her his wickedest grin, he’d promised to keep her well occupied for the next several hours.
He had not disappointed.
Locking themselves inside her room, they’d stripped to the skin, then spent the rest of the day slaking their seemingly unquenchable passion for one another. More than once, just when he’d thought she’d finally wrung him dry, his hunger would reawaken like a ravenous tiger demanding to be fed. With great relish on both their parts, they’d done their best to appease the beast.
A few minutes before six o’clock that evening, he’d reluctantly pulled himself away from Lily. Tucking the covers around her, he’d dressed, leaving her in an exhausted sleep, a little smile curving her rosy mouth.
He’d sported a smile of his own, one that refused to be controlled, not even when he’d arrived at the Pendragon mews in order to collect his carriage. To his relief, Rafe and Julianna’s servants were discreet, in no way indicating they found anything amiss in his more than six-hour absence.
Despite the naïveté of imagining he and Lily could hide their affair, he’d decided it would be best to at least make the attempt—thus his decision to go home instead of spending the night in her bed, as he would have preferred.
His good intentions didn’t even last twenty-four hours, though, his aching member awakening him from a shallow sleep a little after one o’clock the next morning. Lying in the darkness, he’d fought his desire, telling himself to go back to sleep. But rest was impossible. In spite of the insanity of the act, he dressed, then left Andarton House to hail a hackney cab for the drive to her townhouse.
A night watchman called three o’clock just as he arrived on Lily’s doorstep. Rather than waking her servants, he walked around the side and vaulted over the brick wall surrounding her small garden. Using a rather handy set of tools he had acquired years before from Rafe, he picked open the lock of her rear hallway door. Stealing silently up the stairs, he made a mental note to have new locks installed in her house and to obtain a key. Then he was inside her room, every thought but his need for Lily vanishing from his mind.
Removing his clothes, he eased into bed next to her. Sensing her awakening, he clapped a hand over her mouth to silence her scream, placing his lips to her ear.
“It is I,” he whispered. “Do not be afraid.” When he felt her relax a moment later, he removed his hand.
“Good God, Ethan,” she said, “you nearly scared me to death.”
“My apologies.”
“What are you doing here? What time is it?”
“Early. And I’m here because I could not sleep. I want you again.”
She made a little sound that reminded him of a purr. “Heavens. How did you get in the house, anyway?”
“I’ll tell you later.”
Tired of talking, he slid his hands under the sheets and found her clothed in a nightgown. Impatiently, he pulled off the garment. “You might as well stop bothering with these for the next while. You’ll
only get tired of me taking them off you.”
On a contented sigh, she threaded her fingers into his hair. “Will I?”
“Yes,” he promised, covering her body with his.
“Good.”
Seconds later, nothing else mattered but the divine beauty of Lily’s touch and the potent blessing of her kiss.
Even now as he watched her dance, he could remember the sensation of her little hands on his skin, the burgeoning skill of her still untutored caresses. She was proving to be a quick learner, and he had a lot he wanted to teach her. But first he had to get through the next three hours; then, discretion be damned, he would be taking her home.
Besides, they needed to be up early tomorrow so he could escort her to a sale where he planned to find her an excellent team of horses. Afterward, they would shop for a carriage.
He smiled, looking forward to the outing.
His smile lingered, remembering their conversation last night when she’d informed him she wanted a phaeton painted the cerulean blue of a perfect June sky.
“A curricle, you mean,” he said.
“No, a phaeton. A beautiful bright-blue phaeton.”
He’d laughed, deciding to tease her a little over choosing such a purely feminine shade. “That would be unique. I’m not even sure carriage paint comes in that color. You’ll probably have to settle for a darker hue, such as navy.”
Her nose wrinkled. “I do not care for navy, not for myself, anyway.”
“Or black. Now that’s a color you’ll have no difficulty finding.”
“Ugh, no black. It’s cerulean I want. Surely the carriage-maker can procure the proper colors to mix such a shade?”
“Well, we shall have to see. I am not certain it will be possible.”
Framing his face with her palms, she gave him a sweet, lingering kiss. “It will be,” she whispered. “We shall find a way.”
In that moment, gazing down into her eager face, he’d vowed she would have her sky-blue carriage, even if he had to hire a landscape artist to do the painting.
Now, in the ballroom, the dancing ended, the music falling silent as the gathered couples made their way from the floor. As she crossed on the arm of her partner, Lily’s eyes darted toward Ethan, gliding over him with a shy yet lingering caress.
The Accidental Mistress Page 19
