“We won’t be long,” Nick promised, his sister walking toward the house already. He seemed reluctant to leave her. He was afraid she would have the baby any day now and miss the event. She had at least another month to go, but she liked that Nick cared so much.
Amelia and Olive followed a path toward the trees in search of some shade, which they found at the edge of the wood. The old wooden fence that lined the property had been replaced with a stone wall, a boundary for the school yard. They sat on the wall now, as it was only two and a half feet tall.
“Can I get you refreshment, Mrs. Riley?” Olive asked.
Amelia shook her head, her hand absently rubbing over her stomach, easing the tightening, something her doctor had called Braxton Hicks, which happened frequently when she was on her feet walking too long. Not that they had come very far to sit on the wall. “I don’t need anything just yet. If I take refreshment we will have to make more stops than I’m willing to on the way home.”
Amelia used her fan on her face, trying to cool the heat that had infused her while sitting in the sun most of the carriage ride to Highgate.
“Do you suppose they’ll be done with the house for summer?” Olive asked.
“I hope so. Sera has her heart set on it. I know some of the families whose children will attend will be moving to Highgate after the winter season.”
“Nick has a way of getting what he wants,” Olive observed. She always called Nick by his Christian name and Amelia assumed it was because he was like a father figure to her, having saved Olive from a terrible fate. Nick never corrected the young woman, so Amelia didn’t either.
“There my husband comes now,” Amelia said with an amused expression and a shake of her head. He was constantly worried for her welfare and terrified he would miss the birth of their child.
“I wanted to see how you fared,” he said.
Olive moved away, giving them privacy when Nick sat beside her on the wall.
“You needn’t worry so much for me, Nick. I am well enough to sit here for a spell before we head over to the inn.”
“The ground isn’t even here, if you should fall . . . ”
“I’m not likely to break, and we both know Olive can take care of my needs when you aren’t around.”
Nick wrapped his arm around her shoulder, pulling her into his side. His other hand curved over her belly, rubbing it possessively. He couldn’t seem to refrain from touching the distended bump, even when they were in public.
She didn’t mind the attention when they were alone, but when they were in public, they tended to garner a lot of uncomfortable looks from people around them.
“There are thirty workers milling around outside today,” she said, blushing.
Nick’s gaze was steady on hers, his hand not moving away from her stomach. “Then let them see how much you mean to me.”
Amelia rested her hand over her husbands. “Will this one attend the school here?”
“Eventually. I would want nothing more than for our children to be taught by my sister.”
Amelia smiled. She felt the same way. Sera was such a wonderful friend, and sister-in-law. “This baby will be surrounded by so much love.”
“As my sister and I were growing up.”
Tears filled Amelia’s eyes. She wiped them away. “I don’t know why I’m so sensitive,” she said in apology. She knew her husband hated to see her cry.
He kissed her carefully on the lips, his hand at her back now, holding her close.
Amelia held onto his arm and her hat, which had come loose the closer he got.
“Nick, what are you doing?”
Nick knew how she felt about being the focal point in a crowd, but he seemed less and less able to keep his hands off her the fatter she’d grown with child.
“I can’t wait to get you alone back at the inn.”
She swallowed back the nervousness that built in her throat. “You can’t say such things.”
“No one can hear us.” He kissed her again, their lips lingering longer this time. “And I know how insatiable you’ve grown these past months.”
She was constantly desperate for his touch. She thought with a growing belly she would want to spend less time in their bedroom, but the opposite seemed to be true.
“Let’s leave Olive here with my sister. They can eat lunch from the basket we prepared, and enjoy an afternoon out here until the carriage comes back,” he said, already standing and assisting her to her feet.
“Absolutely not.”
Nick looked around them before focusing on the path that led to the wood. “Walk with me.”
She raised her eyebrow. “I don’t think I’m in any shape for a scandalous interlude in the middle of Highgate forest.”
“Humor me,” he said pulling her along. She went, because she knew how her husband was when his mind was set on something. He asked Olive to wait for them at the carriage, giving them more privacy as he took the worn path away from Caldon Manor.
They took their time, letting her walk slowly so she didn’t trip over any upturned roots or exposed rocks.
When they were alone, he turned her to face him. His hands caressed her cheeks, then rubbed along her arms.
“Why were you desperate to get me alone?”
“To do this.” He lowered his mouth again, knocking her hat back, which dislodged her hatpin and had the hat falling to the ground. She ignored it, because her hands were wrapped around her husband’s shoulders, keeping him close.
His lips separated hers before his tongue gently slipped into her mouth. His hand moved over the side of her belly, rotating. She knew if they were in their bedchambers right now, their clothes would start coming off. But they couldn’t be so carefree out here in the middle of the wood.
When they pulled apart, she asked, “What has gotten into you?”
“Watching you glow on the carriage ride here, I wanted nothing more than to ravage your mouth then.”
Amelia looked away. “Whatever will I do with you, my wicked husband?”
“Indulge me,” he said as he stole her breath away in a kiss that left her panting when he pulled away again.
“We should head back to the inn now.”
“I knew you’d see it my way once I got you alone.”
“You are forever getting me alone. I’m amazed we manage to get dressed and out of our room most days.”
She took his hand and made it only a step away from him before he pulled her back against his chest, both of his hands molding to her stomach.
“In a minute,” he said, his voice hoarse, and his desire pressing into her lower back.
“Nick.” Her voice was hoarse and filled with need. Her head leaned back against his shoulder and he kissed her neck. Her breasts felt heavy and sensitive, her core was slick, aching.
“I want to take you here.”
The breath left her in a rush. She couldn’t say no—instead, she nodded.
Nick lifted her clear off her feet and walked over to a fallen tree. He set her down and had her press her hands against the wood, which was as high as her hips. He lifted her skirts in the back and pulled and worked the buttons free on his trousers with a curse. He sunk into her before she took her next breath. Her nails dug into the bark as she spread her legs farther apart for him to sink deeper into her. He was slow as he pumped in and out of her, careful of her stomach, careful to hold her up as he fucked her from behind.
All he had to do was touch her and she was close to orgasm. “Nick.”
“Don’t wait, I want you coming around my cock.”
His words set her off, and she felt her whole body tighten before it released in perfect bliss. She shouted, quieting the birds that chirped around them.
She couldn’t hold her weight on her arms anymore and started to fall against the tree. Nick grabbed onto her and sat on the forest floor, her astride his thighs. She was too out of breath to move, which was all right, because Nick thrust shallowly into her, one hand squeezing h
er breast through her dress before he emptied himself in her and stilled.
Neither of them moved, they were both out of breath. “My knees are starting to hurt,” she said.
Nick lifted them both off the ground, fixing the back of her skirts before putting his clothes back in order.
Amelia was flushed and hotter than ever. She took a handkerchief out to wipe away the sweat on her brow. Would everyone know what they had been up to? Embarrassment washed through her.
“You look beautiful,” Nick said, kissing her forehead.
“I cannot believe we just did that.”
Amelia searched the ground for her hat, and found it twenty feet away. Nick retrieved it before she could bend over and collect it herself. He dusted it off before leaning over and picking up her hatpin.
“We need to get back to your sister,” she said.
“We need to get back to our inn room.” He turned her to face him.
She smiled. She did want to be alone with him again. She couldn’t understand how she could want to be intimate when she had a growing belly that kept them from easily embracing. And while she felt uncomfortable most of the time, when they were together, all that mattered was the two of them.
“Then let’s get back to the privacy of our rented rooms.”
He gave her a cocky smile. “You are more beautiful than ever,” he said again.
“You’re just filling my head with platitudes so I’m not embarrassed when we return to the carriage.”
“No one will believe we did anything but walk through the wood.”
She went on her tiptoes and kissed him lightly on the lips. “Thank you. I think that was precisely what I needed after spending the past two hours in a carriage.”
“I would do anything for you, Amelia.”
“I know, and that is part of the reason I love you so much.”
“And I love you.” His hand lowered to her stomach again. He seemed as helpless to keep his hands off it as she was. He leaned over and kissed the bump before taking her hand and leading her back to the house.
She knew she grinned like a fool the whole way back. And she was sure their slightly rumpled state was obvious, but they didn’t get one side-glance as Nick eventually handed her up into the carriage and sat beside her, his arm around her shoulders as he whispered in her ear. “I want to make you blush for the rest of the day.”
She hid her head in his shoulder. “Your sister is across from us.”
“And she knows how much in love we are.” He placed his hand on her chin and turned her head up to his. “I have never known the kind of love I have for you. You make me whole. You alone make me a better man.”
And because his words made her teary-eyed, she kissed him full on the mouth in front of her lady’s maid and his sister just as the horses pulled forward. Love knew no bounds, for her shyness had melted with those words.
Witness Amelia and Nicholas’s love story from the very beginning with
DESIRE ME NOW
and
DESIRE ME MORE
Available now from Avon Impulse.
DESIRE ME NOW
He charged out of the darkness to her rescue . . .
Amelia Grant has just escaped her lecherous employer with nothing but the clothes on her back. In the predawn hours of London, a horse and carriage comes barreling down on her, and a stranger rushes to her aid, sweeping her off her feet . . .
There was something dark and dangerous about Nicholas Riley. With eyes gray like flint and hard as steel, he was unusual . . . beautiful . . . The intensity behind his gaze made her feel like the only person in the world. And then he whispers . . .
“I want your complete surrender.”
DESIRE ME MORE
He was her lover . . . and her employer.
From the moment Amelia Grant accepted the position of secretary to Nicholas Riley, London’s most notorious businessman, she knew her life would be changed forever. For Nick didn’t just want her secretarial skills . . . he wanted her complete surrender. And she was more than willing to give it to him, spending night after night in delicious sin. As the devastatingly insatiable Nick teaches her the ways of forbidden desire, Amelia begins to dream of a future together . . .
But in the light of day, sinister shadows lurk, determined to tear them apart.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Deciding that life had far more to offer than a nine-to-five job, bickering children, and housework of any kind (unless she’s on a deadline when everything is magically spotless), TIFFANY CLARE opened up her laptop to write stories she could get lost in. Tiffany writes sexy historical romances set in the Victorian era. She lives in Toronto with her husband, two kids, and two dogs. You can find out more about her and her books at www.tiffanyclare.com.
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BY TIFFANY CLARE
Desire Me Now
Desire Me More
Desire Me Always
COPYRIGHT
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
DESIRE ME ALWAYS. Copyright © 2015 by Tiffany Clare. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition NOVEMBER 2015 ISBN: 9780062380487
Print Edition ISBN: 9780062380470
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