Page 16

She wanted to say that she had thought to do this a thousand times or more but couldn’t bring herself to pledge her undying love and devotion here on this blustery hill.

She squelched the confession down, knowing it was too much to hope that Caroline felt anything close to romance. They would always be friends, after all. This was simply an icing of desire, a light coating of pleasure as temporary as the rainfall. Nothing more.

But she couldn’t deny that there had beennothingbefore.

“The cherry orchard,” Arabella said, breathless. “Do you remember?”

They had been sixteen on a hot day in August, and Mrs. Reeve had tasked them with picking enough sour cherries from a neighbor’s orchard for pies. It had been two summers before Caroline’s parents had been stricken with fever.

“We picked enough cherries for the pies, and plenty more for our mouths,” Caroline said. She was frowning, lost in memory. “I remember it was a lovely afternoon.” She glanced up at the rainclouds, which were easing a little. “Almost as unlike this one as could be.”

“I had cherry juice all down my dress, and I was distraught, worried about the scolding I would get from my mother when I returned.”

Caroline grinned. “And then I helped strip you out of your dress so we could soak it in the river that wound through the orchard.”

Arabella took a deep breath. “While we were scrubbing it, and laughing, I turned to you—”

“And you looked at me,” Caroline finished softly. “I remember. Youlookedat me, and you leaned in, and I thought I knew what you wanted—but I was so afraid.”

“I was never sure if you realized,” Arabella said. Joy filled her heart. She hadn’t been alone in her desires. “I wasn’t even sure I knew what I was doing.”

“I should have kissed you then.”

Happiness crashed inside her chest as loud as the waves on the shore, sending a shiver down her spine, and she threw her arms tight around Caroline. She leaned her head against her shoulder and delighted in the feel of her arms around her waist.

Caroline kissed the top of her head, and Arabella hid her grin against her shoulder. This was a moment she had longed for. Forever.

“Where do we go from here?” Caroline asked, resting her chin on her head. It felt as if it had always belonged right there.

A dozen thoughts danced in her head. Dinner. Strolling along the promenade. Secret glances and clandestine touches at the assembly. Stolen kisses at night. But stolen kisses didn’t feel right—that reminded her too much of Mr. Worthington and her broken engagement.

No, between herself and Caroline, there would always be kisses freely given and received.

And more. Somehow, there had to be…more.

Confused thoughts of naked skin and sweet lips and the curve of Caroline’s breast flashed through her mind’s eye, as well as plenty of things she had hardly dared to ever dream about.

She swallowed. “Maybe we should retire somewhere to dry off first?”

In fact, Arabella thought she would be happy to strip off her soaking wet clothes here and now, and tumble around the sodden ground and learn the ways of pleasure at once.

Caroline’s eyes gleamed. “Let’s go to the hot baths to warm up.”

“You’re rich enough to draw up a hot bath in the privacy of your own home,” Arabella pointed out.

“I may be, butyouare not, and I am not yet beyond the delight of taking advantage of the amenities here in Inverley that I could never enjoy before. Indulge me,” Caroline said, her voice low and rough with need, and Arabella shivered. She certainly wished to indulge.

They made quick work of the bluff’s descent, hand in hand as they found their footing among the muddy rocks, the gravel path so wet that the pebbles pressed hard against the thin soles of their shoes.

Arabella knew they must have appeared a sorry sight to the attendants at the baths, but she watched in admiration as Caroline strode up to them as if she were a queen and paid for access to the bathing pools.

An attendant helped them to disrobe, passing them each a thin flannel wrapper. “We have no other customers today with the weather being so poor. I shall put your dresses to dry before the fire. They are so fine they should dry in a trice. The rain should cease by then too, I daresay.” She was a comfortable matron and promised to bring steaming cups of tea and chocolate biscuits to enjoy in the bath.

There were individual rooms for both cold and hot baths, but as they knew they would be private no matter where they decided to be, they chose the larger one with room for two dozen or more women.

Light came in from the high windows, hazy from the rain outside and the steam that curled from the surface of the pool that ran the length of the room. Intricate mosaics were laid in the floor, bright ceramic shards depicting fanciful sea creatures.

The stone along the wall of the pool was carved a few feet beneath the water, so one could sit along it and be submerged up to the chest if one was tall and elegantly proportioned like Caroline. The water reached the top of Arabella’s shoulders.