by Cheryl Bolen
Next, Thomas went downstairs to the kitchen to check his cook’s progress in preparing their baskets. Already, she had lined up three baskets, each so full that plump loaves of bread poked over their tops.
“I see you don’t need me to facilitate the eating plans,” Thomas said with satisfaction to the cook.
The portly woman, an apron tied around her waist, looked up at him and smiled. “You did say to have enough food for eight, did you not, sir?”
“I did, indeed, and it looks as though none of us shall go hungry today. You have done a fine job, Meg.”
“It wasn’t just me,” she said. “Jeremy fetched the oranges from the orangery for me. Eight of them. One for each of you.”
“Excellent. By the way, did you find enough bottles of Bordeaux in the wine cellar?”
“Bryce did, sir. I’ve already packed ‘em.”
“Good.”
Next, Thomas sent a maid to check on his sister’s progress in dressing for the day, but it was Dianna herself who came back downstairs to assure him she was ready to leave.
He was only too happy to get into the coach. Soon he would see Felicity. She would actually sit beside him during the hour ride to Hammersmith.
He walked with his sister to the carriage, then sat across from her.
“Have you brought the baskets?” she asked.
“They’re coming in a separate cart.”
She nodded. “I can tell you’re rather excited about the picnic. I am, too.”
“I daresay you’d be excited over anything that would bring you together with Sedgewick for several hours.”
She smiled shyly. “I daresay that’s true, and I think you’re being an ogre not to give us permission to marry.”
“I hope my decision will only be temporary.”
The coach turned onto Charles Street and came to a stop in front of Felicity’s town house.
“Stay here, Dianna. We shouldn’t be more than a moment.” He hopped down and strode to Felicity’s door.
Before he had the opportunity to knock, George swung the door open. “Ah, good day, Moreland,” he said with a smile. “Isn’t this picnic a deuced good idea?”
Thomas nodded. “You must thank Mrs. Ennis, for it was her scheme.”
“I bloody well will,” George said as he climbed into the coach with Dianna.
Felicity, wearing her blue dress again and crowned with a straw bonnet topped with hollyhocks and blue ribbons, glided down the stairs to him and gave him her hand. “Good day to you, Mr. Moreland.”
He took her hand and turned it palm-side up, and gently kissed the warm cup of her hand. “Good day to you, Felicity. It’s beautiful outside. Just like you.”
Color crept up her cheeks as she moved with him toward the door. “I cannot believe Carlotta had so excellent a plan,” she said, clearly intending to change the subject.
“ ‘Twas a very good idea.” He helped Felicity into the carriage just as Mr. Blankenship’s carriage drew up. He watched as Glee flew out the door and up to the open door of Blanks’s coach, negating any need for Blanks to remove himself from his carriage to fetch her.
Thomas settled back in his seat next to Felicity. He saw that his sister and Sedgewick sat close to each other and were holding hands, which gave him an even more overwhelming urge to draw Felicity’s hand within his. Instead, he turned to look at the perfection of her dimpled face. “You really do look quite lovely. I see you have taken my advice about wearing the blue. ‘Tis the very color of your eyes.”
He watched as the corners of her full mouth lifted into a smile, deepening her dimples. “I’m happy it pleases you,” she murmured.
He seemed unable to remove his eyes from her sweet mouth. How he wanted to feel her lips upon his! His earlier taste of them had left him longing for more. His Felicity might look like an ice maiden with her silvery blond hair and steely blue eyes, but he knew better. Beneath her gracious exterior lay a woman of warmth and sensuous responses. He nearly trembled with his need for her.
He would not be able to wait much longer. Soon.
George really wasn’t all that objectionable, Thomas thought, his resolve beginning to waver. If Sedgewick could avoid the gaming parlors, he would win Dianna’s hand. Thomas watched the two of them.
“I respect him for doing what he thinks is best for his sister,” George said. “Now I plan to live up to Miss Moreland’s expectations.”
It was almost unfathomable that anyone could love with the intensity he felt for Felicity, but if anyone could, it was Sedgewick.
On the way to Hammersmith, twists and turns jostled Felicity into him a number of times. Each time she would carefully scoot back to her side of the carriage. After half a dozen of these sharp turns and the successive reclaiming of her seat, she stayed close to him. Their thighs ran side by side, hers soft and slight, his hard and long.
Despite that it was daylight, he was to the point of boldly taking her hand into his, but then the coach came to a stop. They had arrived at the ruins. Behind their carriage, Blanks’s carriage drew up, and they all streamed out of their conveyances like ants scattering from footsteps.
Thomas pulled his watch from his pocket. One o’clock. Everyone was sure to want to eat before exploring the ruins. He looked to see if the cart carrying the blankets and baskets was close and saw that it was only a two-minute drive away.
Even though Thomas had made arrangements for the food and transportation, Carlotta behaved as if the gathering were hers. She walked forward to a clearing unprotected from shade. “I think we’ll set up here,” she said decidedly.
Within a few minutes Thomas’s footmen arrived and spread blankets on the spot selected by Carlotta. They returned to the cart and brought back the baskets, then one of them proceeded to lay out the food while the other uncorked each wine bottle and began to pour the wine into eight glasses.
In the meantime each of the eight claimed a spot on the blankets. Thomas waited until Felicity sat down, then he was able to beat the limping colonel and sit beside her. He completely expected the colonel to be shaking his cane at him, but he would not look.
Felicity tucked her feet under her skirts. Thomas’s boots planted on the blanket, one knee level with his chest. While the footmen set food before each of them, Thomas watched George and Dianna, who shared a blanket.
“Should you like cold mutton, my lord?” she asked George.
His finger brushed the tip of her nose. “You are to call me by my Christian name. And, yes, I would like the mutton.”
Dianna smiled shyly and gave him a large portion from the plate the footman was passing around.
Thomas’s glance flicked to Carlotta, who sat between Blanks and the colonel. His gaze then trailed to Glee, who sat with her sister on one side of her and Blanks on the other. The winsome look that had been on her excited countenance when she had flown to Blanks’s carriage an hour earlier had been replaced with one of gloom. Thomas wondered if she was being snubbed by Blanks, who gave every indication of being smitten with Carlotta. It had occurred to Thomas on more than one occasion that Glee might be hiding tender feelings for her brother’s best friend.
“Mrs. Ennis,” Blanks said, leaning to peer into Carlotta’s eyes, “I have never before noticed your eyes are lavender. In fact, I don’t believe I’ve ever seen anyone with lavender eyes before.”
It seemed to Thomas the reason Blankenship had never before noticed her unusual eyes was that he was too preoccupied with her generous bosom.
“They quite match your dress,” Blanks added. “I say, do you always wear clothing that is purple or lavender or some such similar shade?”
A soothing smile passed over her exotic face. “I’m flattered that you noticed, Mr. Blankenship.”
From his peripheral vision Thomas saw that the colonel, who had stretched his legs before him on the blanket, was already pouring himself a second glass of wine. Was he trying to cool his raging temper?
Thomas took two oranges, peeled on
e and handed it to Felicity. How he wished he could take the same proprietary role with her that George was taking with Dianna. Soon, he told himself.
Felicity’s lashes lifted and she met Thomas’s gaze before taking the orange from his outstretched hand, her fingers brushing against his. “Thank you, Mr. Moreland. ‘Tis most kind of you.”
“Kindness had nothing to do with it,” the colonel barked angrily.
Everyone froze at his antagonistic remark. Only Glee seemed able to find her voice. “I beg to differ, Colonel. Mr. Moreland is a very kind man. Though he doesn’t wish for people to know of his many acts of charity, I can testify to them.”
His lips folded into a grim line, the colonel grabbed another wine bottle and poured his third glass.
“I declare,” Carlotta said, “this is a most perfect day for a picnic in the country.”
“That it is,” Blanks agreed. “I understand this outing was your idea, Mrs. Ennis. I must say it was a very good one.”
“Yes, I’m so very happy you planned this,” Felicity said to Carlotta.
By now Felicity had finished her glass. “More wine?” Thomas asked her.
She looked up at him and nodded. Must everything she did have to be so damned seductive? ‘Twas a trial indeed to be so close to her. So close he could see the rise and fall of her breasts and smell the intoxicating scent of her soft floral perfume.
Carlotta wistfully watched Dianna and George, then sighed. “There’s nothing as exciting as that first love. I’m terribly jealous of you, Miss Moreland.”
“How do you know Sedgewick’s her first?” the colonel asked, sneering.
George angrily went to get up, but Dianna stopped him with a hand across his chest, just as Felicity did with Thomas.
“I think you and I should take a stroll to the ruins,” George said to Dianna, getting up and offering Dianna his hand. “I have a strong desire to be where the air is less offensive.” He shot an angry glance at the colonel.
“Oh, dear,” Carlotta said, “Lord Sedgewick did not even finish his food.”
Thomas’s glance flicked to the unfinished food on his sister’s and George’s plates, then to the colonel, whose eyelids appeared to be growing heavy.
Thomas took up a pair of hard cooked eggs, peeled one and handed it to Felicity.
Nothing could have given him greater pleasure than the smile that brightened her face when she took the egg from his hand. “You are much too kind, Mr. Moreland. I could become quite spoiled.”
I would love to spoil you for the rest of my life. Though he wanted to say the words to her, he could not in front of the others. Not now. Soon.
Copying Thomas, Blanks took up an orange, peeled it and offered it to Carlotta, who gave him a most seductive look when she slowly withdrew it from his hands.
Thomas watched Glee for a reaction. Her tiny chest heaved, her eyes misted and she jerked her glance away from Blanks. Thomas saw, too, that her hands trembled. The poor girl.
I pity Blanks if he thinks Carlotta superior to Glee, Thomas thought.
Colonel Gordon leaned back on the blanket, propping himself on his elbows. His lids began to droop, and he jerked himself back to an upright position, only to repeat the pattern a moment later. Before long he stretched out on the blanket and went immediately to sleep.
Too much wine, Thomas thought. Now I shall have Felicity to myself. His heart began to pump erratically and his stomach coiled. He had never been so nervous in his life. Always before in all his endeavors he had moved to a swift conquest with the ease of a Goliath, but now he felt like a green country boy. As he had been the night he met Felicity.
He turned to her and watched as she finished the egg. “Would you like to explore the ruins now?” he asked.
“I should love to,” she said.
He stood first, then helped her up.
Soon, he told himself.
Chapter Twenty-eight
When Felicity smoothed her skirts and then tucked her arm into his, Thomas actually felt like a Goliath. A Goliath bursting his buttons with pride. Never mind that winter’s icy hand had stripped the color from the landscape. All that mattered was that he was with Felicity here and now. And the sun smiled down at them as they began to climb the hill to where the old Roman ruins had crumbled centuries ago.
“I never thought I’d be thanking the colonel for anything,” Thomas said. “Whatever exorbitant price I paid for the Bordeaux, it was worth every shilling.”
“You’ve been most uncharitable to Colonel Gordon, but today I, too, am vexed over his bitterness. His dislike of you makes him say wicked things to your sweet sister, and that I cannot abide.”
“Then you think it permissible for him to malign me?” Thomas teased.
“No, but you can give tit for tat, which is quite alien to Miss Moreland’s sweet nature.”
Her face lifted to him and her eyes shone. It was the look one would give a lover. Soon. He grew nervous just pondering what he would say to her, how he would tell her that he was in love with her. Had she been cold to him he would not have had the courage to declare himself to someone so far above his touch, but he had reason to believe she was not without feeling toward him.
“Will you tell the colonel of your change of feelings toward him?” Thomas asked.
Felicity nodded. “It will be difficult, given his extreme kindnesses to me, but I think I shall.”
They were within feet of the ruins now and winded from the uphill walk. Dianna and George were already leaving, going downhill toward the lake west of the ruins.
“It seems so strange to think people like you and me lived within those crumbling walls so many years ago,” Felicity mused aloud, her gaze taking in the ruins that stretched before them. “People who worked and worshiped and loved . . .”
“And now they’ve lain in graves for more years than there’s been an England.”
Her hand pressed into the flesh of his arm. “Please don’t be maudlin. Not today.”
Thomas stopped and looked down at her. “I assure you that’s the last thing I want to be today.”
In silence, they walked closer to the main building. All that remained was a stone frame from which all wood had rotted or been stripped long ago. Many of the walls had fallen into heaps of rock, which had been overgrown with dirt and weeds and wildflowers that were yet to bloom. He took her hand so she could step into the main building over a wall that was no more than a foot high now.
Then Thomas, too, stepped over the smooth rocks and captured her hand once more. Hand in hand, they walked through abandoned rooms, now inhabited only by a nest of birds, the blue sky their ceiling.
“It makes our lives seem so insignificant when you realize how many people have gone before us, people who have long been forgotten,” she said.
“Now, who’s being maudlin?” he said cheerfully. “Though there is nothing insignificant about you, Felicity.”
She gave a little laugh and walked into the next room. “What do you suppose this room was used for, Thomas?”
His pulse accelerated. She had called him Thomas. With that one word she had lowered the barrier between them. There were still other barriers he wished to remove. Soon, he told himself. “If you’ll look,” he said, “you can see there was once a wide chimney here. It would not surprise me if this was formerly a kitchen.”
Her blue eyes met his. “You have a very fine mind,” she said in a low voice filled with admiration. “I wish people like the colonel understood that you are not only as good as them, but better than most.”
She stood in the corner of the room that had been a kitchen. Shade from the sturdy walls put her in shadow, though the silvery shimmer of her hair would not be dulled. Wordlessly, he walked toward her and lifted her hand to press his lips against it. She allowed him to continue kissing her hand as though it were something to be worshiped, and when he raised his face he saw the hunger burning in her eyes. That she had not stopped him must mean she did not find it objectionable.
Which was good. Very good.
He seemed unable to remove his gaze from hers. “You must know how deeply I care for you,” he said throatily.
A solemn nod was her only response.
That was enough. He moved closer to her, backing her farther into the corner, and bent to taste her lips.
Lips that readily parted for him. Waves of sensual pleasure washed over him as he drew in her floral scent and felt the moistening that filmed on her satin skin. He settled his arms around her, buffering her back from colliding against the cold stone wall. The kiss continued, and he realized she whimpered with each new breath.
He grew so wretchedly hot. And breathless. He had never wanted anything as he wanted her. Here and now. Vibrant life sprang to his groin, and he moved even closer to her. Like the last time they danced together, ‘twas as if she were a continuation of himself, this time joined at the mouth. She sucked at his lower lip; then he began to drop soft kisses on her eyes, her mouth, her nose, her graceful neck, and lower still.
He began to unbutton her pelisse, and she made no move to stop him. Which was good. He continued, button by agonizing button; then he lowered the bodice of her dress, allowing one breast to spill out. He bent to kiss it. Reverently. He closed his mouth around her nipple and she cried out with pleasure.
Her lower torso cleaved to his. His Felicity was no maiden. She had lain with a man before. She knew what she was doing to him with her incessant grinding motion. She wanted to make love with him.
But he could not take her here. His Felicity should lie with him on a bed fit for a queen, should lie with him as the wife he would cherish eternally.
Then Felicity did something that swiftly and completely destroyed his resolve. She fitted her hand to his arousal. She wants me. A chorus of angels should be singing in the skies around them.
As she slid her hand along the length of him, he knew he could stand it no longer. Over her skirts he began to knead the juncture of her thighs. She whimpered deeper now.
He began to nudge up her skirt slowly until his hand slipped beneath the hem. As he stroked the silken skin of her inner thighs, she parted her legs.
