Suddenly, the dress felt too confining. Diana was not as well endowed as Amelia and the gown had been a tight fit anyway, but now she felt as if it was not just a bit too small but a great deal too small. Her skin burned where his gaze raked her and she wanted to flee. Yet a part of her, the part that over the last few hours had grown remarkably stronger, forced her to say. She did, however, take one last sip of her brandy before placing her glass beside his on the desk. Her hand shook slightly as she did so, and she was surprised when David reached out to steady her hand with his.
Courage, Diana had said. Amelia must show courage if she was to seduce David. But this game was new to her and she did not know the rules. Proper ladies did not proposition men, not unless they wanted to be thought lightskirts or doxies.
"We could be more than friends, Amelia." David turned to her and slowly pulled her towards him, his touch on her arm burning her. What would she do if he touched her without the protection of a glove or two between them?
"I do not take your meaning." Except that she did and it terrified her. This was what she wanted, what she had dreamed of. David desiring her as she desired him. And it frightened her out of her very wits.
He moved ever so closer to her until she was fully tucked within the circle of his arms. "I think you do, Amelia." He stroked a hand down her arm and she shivered, whether in delight or fear she did not know. "Did you honestly believe that story I fed you tonight in the conservatory about the enjoyment of the house party guests?"
"Yes?" But she said it as a question and not a statement, and he knew that she had seen through his ruse. It had been foolish to think she would be that stupid. She was very clever, his Amelia.
"No." Another stroke of his hand, this time his thumb on the inside of her elbow where there was no glove to protect her suddenly overheated skin. "Neither one of us believed it, yet I could think of no other way to prevent you from scurrying off again and hiding in your room. I do not want you to hide from me, Amelia. From other men perhaps, but not me."
Each touch from him sent flashes of desire skittering up her spine and again, she was certain that she might faint if they ever touched skin to skin. "But we are friends and nothing more." This could not be happening. Men like David did not notice women like Amelia. Then again, she did not look precisely like herself at the moment either.
"That has not been true since the night we waltzed at Lord and Lady Ardenton's wedding ball and you well know it." Another stroke of his thumb, this time on the soft flesh of the inner part of her upper arm. No one touched her there. No one dared. "You know it as well as I, Amelia. That night, my eyes were opened, though I am uncertain as to how I could have been so foolish and blind as to have kept them closed for so long."
Blinking up at him, Amelia felt as if she was in a daze, her every wish coming true in an instant. This was not real. It could not be. Yet it was. She could feel the heat of David's body against hers, especially through the thin silk of the borrowed ballgown. She could feel the press of his hand on her skin and see the flare of desire in his eyes. This was real. And more overwhelming than she could have imagined.
When one's fondest wishes came true, she thought, one did not always know how to deal with the results.
"David, I..." His finger to her lips quieted her instantly.
"Do not speak and tell me some lie or that you do not feel the same as I do. I see the truth in your eyes and in the way your body responds to mine." He glanced down at her breasts. "For I can see the evidence for myself. Very clearly."
It was true. Her body was responding to his, her nipples tightening with need and her breath quickening. The tight points were clearly visible through the too-small gown and David's eyes were fastened just there, as if he wished to touch her. If he did, she would allow it. She would allow him anything he wished at the moment.
For her part, Amelia felt hot and achy, her skin almost too tight over her muscles, as if it had somehow shrunk with each of his caresses. She did not know what to do with herself, how to feel or what came next. It frightened her a bit, this powerful feeling that was bubbling up inside of her under David's hot, devouring gaze.
"Then what do you want of me?" She had to know for this was David. If he was only toying with her until he found a woman to be his countess, she could not bear it. And yet, in her heart, she knew she would still allow him whatever liberty he wanted for this might be her only chance.
"I want to seduce you." He moved closer, his hot breath tickling her ear, the words so soft they were mere whispers in the dark. "I want to strip you naked and ravish you as I have dreamed of so many times since that night." She shivered in his embrace and he pulled her closer so that she might feel the evidence of his desire - his hard cock pressing into her thigh. "But more than that, Amelia, I want to marry you. I want you to be my countess." She gasped but he continued as if she had not made a sound. "But I also know that for you, this is too sudden, despite what you feel in this moment, and that years of doubts still plague you. So I have a proposition for you."
He pulled back slightly and immediately, Amelia felt the loss of his body against hers. "What is it?" She didn't need to be seduced or wooed, if that was what he was asking. She only wanted to know that he was sincere and would not change his mind when the pity he felt for her faded.
"I am asking you to allow me to court you for one day. Tomorrow. Let me prove to you that I know both your heart and mine." He was sincere and in that moment, Amelia wanted to throw caution to the wind and do whatever he asked without hesitation. "For I know you, Amelia," he continued smoothly, his gaze still so hot upon her she felt as if she were burning with a single glance, "and I would have you to wife tonight if you would consent. But I also know you would question. Was it the gown? Was it the romance of Twelfth night? Was it pity, for I can see that very question on your lips now?"
"And is it?" She had to know. She needed to know.
"No." His voice left little room for doubt. "It is none of those things, and by tomorrow at nightfall, I shall have proved it to you. If you will allow me. One day, Amelia. One day is all I ask. But then I will need an answer, one you must give freely."
She swallowed hard, all of this almost too much to take in all at once. "And if I do allow it? And if I do believe you?" For she already half-believed him.
"After that, if you consent, we shall be wed before the first notes of the grand ball begin, and we shall start the new year as husband and wife. And tomorrow night, when the other guests are abed, I will make love to you and show you just how sweet the pleasures of the flesh can be. For they are sweet, my lovely, delightful, delectable Amelia. And I long to show them to you. Each and every one."
Amelia's heart leapt into her chest and she felt dizzy, as if she might faint. She remained standing only because of David's strong arms wrapped around her. Then, he brought his lips to hers in a scorching kiss and her knees buckled so quickly that he sank with her to the carpet and she was no longer standing at all.
His lips were everywhere, kissing and caressing, the stroke of his tongue against her neck sending shivers down her spine. His fingers tunneled through her hair, heedless of how he disheveled her. His hands caressed her arms, the soft skin of her shoulders and then, finally - blessedly - lower to her breasts, cupping each one in turn before using the pad of his thumb to stroke her already stiff nipple into painful points.
"David," she murmured, her hands sliding over the hard planes of his chest, feeling hints of muscle and bone that she had only guessed at before. And through it all, there was the hard press of his cock against her, letting her know precisely what he wanted from her. Telling her without words how much he desired her.
"Shhh, my love." He kissed the long column of her throat before going lower, his skillful fingers freeing first one breast and then the other from her gown so that he might kiss the rosy tips before taking one nipple into his mouth and suckling at her. "Trust me," he whispered as he pulled back to lavish attention on the other breast. "
For tonight is only the beginning, Amelia. There is so very much I long to show you. But for the moment, this will have to suffice."
Then he did something incredible with his tongue and Amelia ceased to think at all.
Chapter Four
"Did you have an enjoyable evening?" Lady Diana was all knowing smiles the following morning at breakfast. Not that Amelia was interested in eating. She was far too tied up in knots to care much about food.
"He kissed me. Last night in the library." Amelia said the words so softly they were almost lost in the clank of the cutlery in the breakfast room.
Diana's face lit up like the sun, which did not go completely unnoticed by Lord Hathaway. "That is wonderful! Did I not tell you that the gown would convey the proper message? That he would know you were amenable to whatever he had in mind?"
"You did," Amelia acknowledged quietly, a blush stealing up her cheeks. "And you were right. Thank you."
Diana arched a pretty eyebrow. "And is there more? For I have the feeling you are not telling me everything."
"And he wants to marry me," Amelia blurted without thinking, wincing a bit when the words were out. "I believe he is mad."
Diana laughed and the eyes of the other houseguests, again Lord Hathaway included, turned towards them. However when they realized nothing untoward was going on, they turned back to their own plates, including Lady Lydia who had been shooting daggers at Amelia all morning with her eyes.
It was not lost on the other woman that this morning, Amelia was clad not in another one of her own boring frocks, but rather in another gown borrowed from Lady Diana, this one a burgundy colored confection that brought out the pale reddish highlights in her hair. It also did not go unnoticed that the gown bore the trademark bit of Madame LaVallier's gold lace at the bottom, which infuriated Lady Lydia all the more.
There were few secrets as poorly kept in the ton as the knowledge that the rather exclusive dressmaker would not take Lydia or her mother on as clients, no matter their family's connection to both Lady Jersey and Lady Cowper, for reasons that she would not discuss. It was also not a secret that Madame's refusal had not hurt her business any and that Lady Jersey and Lady Cowper still frequented the shop. In fact, save for the Duchess of Radcliffe, they were her best customers.
That Amelia was wearing a gown from that shop that had not been made specifically for her, but still fit her as if it had been was cause for talk among the women of the house party over breakfast. It had also turned Lady Lydia into even more of a jealous shrew than she had been the night before when she had spotted Amelia in the claret-colored gown.
"He is not mad," Diana assured Amelia as she patted her new friend's hand. "He is merely in love."
Amelia wanted to protest but then she remembered the heated kisses David had pressed to her throat last night as he caressed her breasts, making them tingle with desire. Even now, she could still feel the burn of his lips as they traced lazy circles on her overly sensitive skin.
"We have agreed to a day's courtship," Amelia confessed haltingly. "Then, tonight, if I believe him to be sincere, we will be wed before the grand ball." How this would be accomplished she did not know, for to her knowledge, there was no parson about nor a way to obtain a special license in the span of a day, especially this far from London. Then she clenched her napkin in her lap. "Oh, Diana, this is all so sudden."
Her friend arched an eyebrow at her again. "Is it? Really? Or is this merely the culmination of something that has been a very long time in coming? Years perhaps, if not a decade or more."
Was it? Amelia honestly did not know. Her feelings were all muddled and yesterday, what had seemed so clear in her mind no longer was. She had been certain in the knowledge that David could never and would never love her. Now, she thought she was wrong. Or had she been?
He did not want her fortune. She was certain enough of that. If he had, he could have seduced her long ago and been done with it, or simply appealed to her father for her hand, knowing Hollinworth would not have objected to the match. In fact, Amelia was certain her darling Papa would have gladly handed his only daughter over to the Earl of Weatherby and been done with it, no fuss and no muss. After all, David's vast holdings and fortune were well known. So it was not the money, something her father would have known as well.
Was it pity on David's part? Desire for an heir? The realization that he needed to be settled and soon if he had any hope of siring children to carry on the Weatherby line? It could have been any of those things, but if that were the case, he hadn't needed to kiss her as he had last night in the library. Kissed her senseless and to the point of sheer madness.
Even now, Amelia could still see the hunger in David's gaze as he looked at her breasts or the way his lips had caressed hers, begging her to open for him as he slid his tongue inside of her mouth, giving her not just her first kiss but her first taste of intimacy as well.
"Do you believe him to be sincere or not?" From the expectant expression on Diana's face, this was obviously not the first time she had asked the question.
"I want to believe he is sincere," Amelia confessed. "I have loved him in silence and secret for so long, however, that I am uncertain. It could be nothing more than pity." And above all, she did not want that.
Tapping her finger against her chin, Diana seemed to think on the situation for the moment. "From what you have told me, both of you fell in love the same night or, at the very least, had your eyes opened to the love that was between you all along."
After she had left the library in a daze, Amelia had sought out her new friend, not just for help with undressing but with a burning need to confess to someone, anyone, what had just transpired. Diana had been the logical choice.
"That is true." If nothing else, Amelia did believe that.
"Then build on that. Take this day that he is offering and see where it leads." She patted Amelia's hand. "There are not many woman like us who receive such a gift so take it for what it is. Do not deny yourself this chance to be wooed and courted as you deserve." Her gaze flickered over to Lord Hathaway once more. "Do not waste what you have been given."
Then out of the corner of her eye, Amelia could see guests begin to rise and knew that David must have entered the room, though she had deliberately chosen a seat where she could not immediately see him. She did not wish to appear as if she was waiting for him like some eager young debutante. Even though she was.
She could also see Lady Lydia rise and move to cling to David's arm once more, seeming to sense somehow that her prize was slipping away from her.
"Go." Diana pushed Amelia lightly as both women rose from their chairs. "I will take care of Lydia. You seduce the earl."
Then, Diana was gone in a cloud of pale yellow silk, her arm looped through Lady Lydia's before the other woman even knew what had happened. A moment later and they were gone, out of the breakfast room and into the halls of Weatherby, leaving David and Amelia facing each other, Amelia at least in awe of the other woman's skills.
"My lady," David bowed, his gaze straying to Amelia's breasts once more, which were no more concealed in this gown than they had been last evening in the library. "Might I join you for a bit of breakfast?"
"Of course, my lord." Amelia curtsied deeply and the retook her seat that the earl held out for her. "I trust you are well this morning?"
He grinned at her, a wicked sort of grin that made her toes tingle. "Not as well as I could be, my lady, but I believe a brisk ride after breakfast will cure what ails me." He gestured to the window where the drapes had been pulled back to allow in some weak morning sun. "The snow from last evening has stopped for the moment and the weather is fine for a change. Or at least as fine as it is likely to be at this time of year. Some time out of doors will do me good."
Then he rested his fingertips lightly on the back of her hand, well aware that others were watching the exchange. "If I could convince you to accompany me," he said in a low voice, not wanting the other to overhear them, "I belie
ve all that ails me might be cured."
So it began. Amelia felt her nerves begin to jangle but then she remembered Diana's words and all that her friend had done to remove potential problems - namely Lady Lydia - from her path. Diana was right. Amelia would be a fool to turn down this opportunity. This was the chance she had been dreaming of. It would not come again.
"I would adore a ride this morning, my lord. David." She said the words so softly that there was no risk of them being overheard.
"In the stables in an hour," he replied just as quietly, his breath quickening, much to her surprise. Could he really mean what he had said? Was he truly infatuated with her?
Then, he was gone and she had no chance to ask him. All she could do was wait until she met him in the stables for their agreed upon ride. This was going to be a curious day indeed.
"Well that was exhilarating!" The pure joy in Amelia's voice warmed David all the way through. In fact, he had never seen her look so happy, her face flushed with the cold and her nose a charming shade of red, though she might not agree with that last part.
Her hair was mussed from the wind that had kicked up while they were out riding the fields of his estate, much as they had done as children in the cool heat of summer. They had ridden longer than he had anticipated, the bay mare he had chosen for her mount full of spirit and ready to run. Amelia was an excellent horsewoman; he had long known that of course. However, when she had taken the old thicket at a run, rider and horse sailing over the greenery with ease he had found his admiration for her growing.
She also clearly loved Weatherby Hall and the estate as much as he, remarking often on something she remembered from her youth, her eyes taking on a faraway and dreamy look. As if the memories were fond ones. He was glad of that. If he had his way, soon this would be her home and she the mistress of his estate. Moreover, she would be the mother of his heirs who would inherit this land one day. He wanted her to love it as he did.
The Earl Who Loved Me (Tales From Seldon Park: The Short Stories Book 1) Page 5
