Waking Up With a Viscount

by Tess Byrnes

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  “Well!” Priscilla exclaimed furiously. “You have tricked me finely, my lord.” She turned impulsively to vent her spleen in striding about the room, but there was no room to take any steps. She turned impotently back, her temper in no way improved.

  “Well?” she repeated angrily. “Don’t you have some ready explanation for me? Aren’t you going to tell me that you’ve done this in my best interests? Or were you hoping to put me in another compromising position by pretending that your Grandmother was never here? How could I have been so stupid to think that you were going to help me? You must have been laughing at me the whole way here. Oh!” she burst out in annoyance. “Say something!”

  “Priscilla, my love,” Jasper said obediently, taking her into his arms as he did so. She braced her hands against his chest, pushing unavailingly with all her strength. “I did not lie,” Jasper continued, “and I have not been laughing. I do indeed have a position to propose to you, one that I hope with all my heart that you will entertain. Please, my beautiful girl, can’t we just get married? I do love you so very much.”

  “Oh,” Priscilla responded, ceasing to push him away. “You, uh. What did you say?” she demanded suddenly. “Say that again!”

  “I love you,” Jasper repeated dutifully, tightening his hold on her, leaning to press his lips distractingly to a spot just below her ear.

  “You love me,” Priscilla repeated as if dazed, closing her eyes, as her arms twined around her ardent lover. Jasper’s lips moved to her jaw, her cheek, and finally her lips. Priscilla opened her lips to him, returning his kiss unrestrainedly. Lord Hillaire pulled her close, crushing them chest to chest. His skillful kisses aroused her ready response, and Priscilla shivered deliciously at the trail of hot kisses raining down on her mouth.

  “What about Lady Spencer?” she blurted out suddenly, pushing Jasper away. “Oh, let me go at once!”

  Jasper obediently dropped his arms, but remained standing in front of her. Because of the furniture crowding around them, Priscilla couldn’t take as much as a step backwards, and was forced to stand as she was, so close that she had to tip her head back to look up at him.

  “The devil take Lady Spencer,” Jasper exclaimed in exasperation. “Yes, I went to her room that night at Hillaire Hall. She saw you leave the library in a state of distress, and she, well, she said that if I didn’t give her an explanation she would go and demand one of you. I thought I had convinced her that she and I had no future together. I had no idea she would take it out on you.”

  Priscilla looked into his eyes. “But she told me that she was betrothed to you. That you came to her room and pressed your suit, and she finally gave in. Do you deny that you had given her cause to believe that you were in love with her?”

  “My dear,” Jasper pulled Priscilla close, busying his fingers with the laces on her bodice, and wisely ignoring her question. “There is no woman who can begin to compare with you. You are the most exasperating, independent, smart, beautiful and entrancing woman I have ever met.”

  “Oh,” Priscilla shook her head, blushing. “I am no such thing, and now I fear that you are destined to be disappointed in me. I am not as redoubtable as you think my lord. I have failed in what I set out to do time after time.”

  “You underrate yourself,” he smiled, as he pushed her traveling dress off her shoulders and it slipped down to the floor. “I could never be disappointed in you. But you have not answered my question. It is quite rude, you know, to ignore a question that is addressed directly to one.”

  A laugh gleamed in Priscilla’s blue eyes. “My apologies, my lord, for my dreadful manners.”

  “And?” he demanded, untying her chemise.

  Priscilla saw the question in his eyes, the sincerity, and the hope and, without a doubt, love.

  “Yes, Jasper,” she murmured.

  A tinge of relief crept into Jasper’s intent look. “You have no idea how long I’ve waited to hear you say those words. Those and a few others,” he prompted.

  “I love you, too.” Priscilla blurted out.

  “Thank goodness,” Jasper exhaled, pushing the straps of her chemise over her shoulders, baring her soft white breasts, the rosy tips already pebbled. His lips move down her shoulder, and Priscilla arched her back, aching for his lips to reach her breasts. Her fingers dug into his shoulders, and, finding his coat to be very much in the way, she slipped her hands inside it and maneuvered it over his shoulders.

  Lord Hillaire obligingly shook off the offending garment, taking a moment to rip off his cravat. Giving her a rakish look, he tore his shirt off, and Priscilla laughed as his buttons went flying in several directions. Gathering her in his arms, their hot skin meeting, Jasper claimed her lips again, in a deep kiss that set Priscilla’s senses humming. As she twined one leg around his, Jasper reached down, and placing both hands under her buttocks, lifted her to his waist. Wrapping both legs around him, Priscilla crossed her ankles, and pressed herself against his firm body. As their mouths locked together, Jasper turned to find a place to set his fair burden, but the furniture stymied him at every turn. Priscilla could feel his hard response to her squirming body as she rubbed sensually against him, aligning her throbbing core with his rigidity. She felt a need to be filled with him, an aching void that would only be satisfied if he moved into her and with her, again and again.

  “Jasper,” she whispered in a ragged voice. “Jasper, now!”

  He set her on the edge of a chest of drawers, and slid his hand over the soft flesh of her belly, easing his hand down, freeing his hard rod from his breeches. Priscilla inched backwards onto the smooth surface and locked her eyes with Jasper as her hand joined his to guide him into her.

  He surged into her, and Priscilla almost screamed with pleasure. She arched her back to meet him, her ankles locked behind him, bringing herself in to meet him as he pressed into her. She caressed her sensitive nipples against him, moving against his chest, causing him to shiver in response. Her rhythm matched his exactly, and her breath came quicker and quicker as he drove into her again and again, building the inescapable, sweet tension until she thought she would go mad. Her fingers dug deeply into his shoulder, and she bit down on his neck, inhaling his intoxicating musky scent, as he drove her passion higher.

  “Jasper, Jasper,” she shuddered, as her passion exploded into a thousand shuddering ripples of pleasure, and she rode the wave to complete satisfaction.

  She became aware of Jasper’s ragged breathing, and as her sweaty skin started to cool, she raised her head, and met his gaze in awe. “Damn and blast,” she muttered, kissing him softly.

  A good while later, having found their way to one of the many sofas in the room, Priscilla sighed contentedly. Her head rested on Jasper’s shoulder, her hand held in his warm clasp.

  “Darling Jasper,” she said. “Now that you’ve seen what a shrew I can be, it is hard to believe that you really love me.”

  “Darling Priscilla, I’ve loved you ever since I saw you standing in Mrs. Hartfield’s ballroom, mouth half open, gaping at me in consternation.”

  “I never gaped at anyone in my life,” Priscilla corrected, affronted, turning her head to look at him. He pressed a kiss upon her lips, and murmured an apology.

  “And besides,” she said, entirely mollified, “you don’t fall in love with someone just by looking at them.”

  “I did,” Jasper contradicted. “When did you fall in love with me?”

  Priscilla felt her face grow a little warm. “Well, I can’t pinpoint the exact moment, because I had been finding the thought of you most distracting for quite a while. But I think it must have been in the carriage on the way to Hillaire Castle at Christmas. I had such a sense of anticipation, and I was very much aware of how much I longed to see you. But I knew I had no business going to Hillaire, if indeed I intended to refuse your offer. But it was as if,” she broke off suddenly, as if worried about how her words would be received.

  “Go on,
” Jasper encouraged. “You have agreed to marry me, and there is no going back, so there can be no secrets between us. You wanted to come to the Castle, and you longed to see me, but had some doubts about whether or not you should. Is that right?”

  Priscilla looked up at him doubtfully. “Let me try to explain it this way,” she said hesitantly. “You know sometimes when you’re trying to fall asleep, but you keep thinking about the lovely treacle tart you had for dinner, and how nice another slice would be. So you get up and creep down to the larder, knowing full well that you should resist, but as if drawn to it with no will to resist.” She looked up questioningly.

  Understanding dawned on Jasper, and a gleam of mischievous amusement shone in his blue green eyes. “If I read your analogy aright, my greedy little love, that makes me the tempting treacle tart?” He gave a shout of laughter, and pulled Priscilla closer.

  She reddened at this interpretation, schooling her features as she looked at her beloved. “I’m not sure that’s exactly what I meant” she murmured primly.

  “Relax, my enchanting love,” Jasper whispered against her full red lips. “You have my full permission to raid the larder at will!”