Page 23

A satisfying half hour passed as they chased each other through the water, with plenty of splashes and dunkings.

Eventually, he led her to the opposite side of the pond where reeds grew with cattails and other aquatic flora.

It took very little encouragement to wedge them inside the clusters of plant life.

Then he gently lifted her onto the slight bank and urged her to lie on her back on the soft grass.

“Felix?” Uncertainty rang in her voice as she held herself on her elbows, which put her breasts on display, the dark pink tips erect and all too tempting. “What are you about?”

What indeed. “Indulging in something that women who follow society’s rules rarely experience. Release for the sake of release without coupling.” As he regarded her, Caroline watched him with wide eyes and slightly parted lips, and the picture she made worked to harden his length.

But tonight was for her pleasure alone.

“What?”

“You heard me.” He winked. “And we don’t have much time. Undoubtedly, one or the other of us will be missed.”

Slowly, she nodded, and there was a glint in her eyes.

“Well, get on with it. I’m curious as to what you’ll do in such an abbreviated period.

” As he cupped her breasts, pressed himself closer between her naturally splayed legs, a shuddering breath escaped her.

“Never let any woman make you feel you aren’t a whole man. ”

How could he think properly when his length rubbed against her inner thigh?

Then he had difficulty swallowing around the ball of emotion lodged in his throat.

“I appreciate that.” He brushed the pads of his thumbs over her nipples and grinned when a shiver racked her body.

“So damned lovely.” Because he couldn’t help it, Felix dipped his head, licked one of those lovely buds, and then took it into his mouth.

A moan issued from her and one of her hands fisted in the shadowed grass.

“I wonder if we were unfettered and not in danger of being discovered, would you be a screamer, Caro?” For the next few moments, he explored her breasts with his fingers, his tongue, and lips.

When he eventually brought her to release, could he do it without spending?

Putting all thought to his own comfort to the back of his mind, he caressed the inside of her thighs, urged them as far apart as they could comfortably go. “Gorgeous.”

“You must be mad.” Those thighs quivered. Anticipation and worry mixed in her blue eyes, darkened with the night.

“Perhaps we need to be in order to survive this life, but I enjoy pleasuring you this way.”

“You already had me like this earlier today.”

“Briefly, and besides, I know what I want.”

“Oh!” Her squeal of surprise when he licked that warm flesh at her center tugged a grin from him. From all accounts, Caroline approved of this type of play—at least with him—for she’d rested a hand at the back of his head and urged him closer.

As he spread her open with one hand, he continued to caress the inside of her thighs with the other.

Easily he found the pearl at her center, teased it with his tongue, and she shook from the attention.

Far too soon, he settled on a rhythm, and he repeated the cycle of teasing, suckling, and licking.

The half-stifled sounds she made would drive him to Bedlam, and each one was more frantic than the last. Tiny pinpricks of pain kept him on the edge as she pulled his hair and squirmed in his hold; it enhanced his own desire.

When she bucked her hips against his mouth, he grinned, hummed at her flesh for she was close.

“Felix …” Her body shook. “It’s too much.”

“Not enough unless you’re flying.” Again, he applied himself with renewed effort at that slippery button and dared to penetrate her passage with first one finger and then another. Her gasp of surprise echoed in the air. He wished he could feel that honeyed heat snug around his member.

Perhaps later, for they were on borrowed time as it was.

A strangled sort of scream ripped from her throat the second he suckled hard at the nubbin, and he grinned as Caroline fell into release.

Gentle contractions tremored around his fingers, and his shaft pulsed in response.

Damn, he’d never been so hard, but the discomfort was forgotten as he watched the expressions flit over her face—wonder, pleasure, amazement, exhaustion.

Though he’d thought her beautiful before; now she was completely not of this earth—an angel surely, or perhaps a water nymph of old.

“Felix!” Near hysterical, she collapsed fully onto her back. One hand drifted to a breast to pluck at a nipple, and he almost shot his wad right there. “How do you manage to send me over so quickly.”

“Instinct, I’ll wager.” He couldn’t help but grin. No matter where their paths led or what the future held, they would both remember these moments, yet it would be disappointing when the house party concluded, and they would go their separate ways. She was rather a decent companion.

“I shouldn’t enjoy this as much as I do.” She put an arm over her forehead as she came back to earth.

“Nonsense. There is no reason why a woman can’t enjoy relations of any sort with a man.

It doesn’t make you deranged or scandalous.

” He tugged her back into the water with him, took her into his arms as he balanced on one leg.

“Don’t let anyone make you think otherwise.

” Nothing made him angrier than seeing intelligent, clever women being told what they believed or enjoyed wasn’t sanctioned by a society skewed to benefit men.

Probably another reason why I don’t move within it.

“You are so different from any other man I’ve known,” she murmured before she laid her cheek upon his upper chest as he leisurely propelled them through the water.

“Is that a good or bad thing?” he murmured against her temple.

“Very good.”

They were silent for the remainder of the trip through the pond.

At the opposite bank, she climbed out and then assisted him.

They dried their skin as best they could with a soft linen cloth he’d brought with him.

After he’d fit the prosthetic to his leg and secured the buckles, he assisted her in dressing.

That little intimacy was quite different than pleasuring her, and it made his chest squeeze with familiarity.

When she returned the favor, awareness shivered over his skin, for it had been a long time since someone had cared about him in such a manner.

Then they returned to the house, not talking much until he led her through the mostly empty corridors to the front parlor.

“What are we doing?”

He glanced over his shoulder at her. Though her hair had been hastily tucked into a bun, it was still damp and the flush on her face would betray the fact she’d trysted. No doubt he looked just as questionable. “I want to see if there’s a passageway in this room, and if so, where it goes. ”

“Good idea. It’s somewhat disconcerting there are passageways in this house I knew nothing about.”

“Agreed.”

They each moved about the space, touching bric-a-brac and statuettes, yanked on sconces and other things until a silver candlestick on the mantel clicked and a panel in the wall slid open, much like the shelves in the other rooms.

“Quickly, into the passageway, and hope we’re not discovered.”

“Oh, but I don’t want to go into that small space.” Fear echoed in her voice.

“Shh. I’ll be right there with you.” So saying, he grabbed one of her hands and tugged her into the hidden corridor. As soon as he closed the panel behind them, he urged her through the secret passageway, murmuring encouraging words to her the whole time.

This one was different in that they were obliged to go up a set of narrow wooden stairs, and when they reached a single door, it was the end of the line. There wasn’t another branch or turn. The click of a catching mechanism sounded in the dark then they were spilled into a familiar space.

“The drawing room,” he whispered against the shell of her ear. “How interesting.”

A tremble moved through her body and transferred to him. “Now I wonder if my sister was in that parlor like she said, and if she was angry at Mr. Blythe for snubbing her?”

He nodded. “It’s motive.” Quickly closing the panel in the wainscotting, he glanced about the room. Only a couple of candles flickered on the fireplace mantel, tossing shadows across the walls and floor. “Where is everyone? Surely, the whole of the party hasn’t retired.”

“I think Mama planned for games in the orangery and there is always the men’s smoking lounge on the ground floor of the new addition.”

Voices drifted in from the billiards room next door.

“Shit. We need to hide.”

“Here.” She pulled him behind a high-backed sofa. When she lay on her side, he did the same, spooning her from behind. “That’s Mr. Goodard and Lockhart’s valet.”

“…need to get them out of here…”

“…papers of his birthright hidden…”

“…England’s future might be in danger…”

“…that damned woman is the fly in the ointment…”

Seconds later, they left the billiard’s room, and their footsteps faded in the corridor.

“Who is the woman they referenced?”

“No idea, but I don’t think it’s you.” Then, due to their precarious hiding place and the circumstances, Felix took shameless advantage. He cupped one of her breasts and nuzzled the crook of her shoulder. “Would that I could take you right here on the floor, but even I’m not that brave.”

“Ha.” But her chuckle had the power to send fire into his blood. No, he hadn’t managed to evict her at all. “And you don’t fancy being forced into marriage if we’re caught, which would be a good possibility right now,” she added.

“No, I don’t.” Bitter bile rose in his throat. He struggled to his feet then assisted Caroline to hers. “It has nothing to do with you.”

“I quite agree, and neither do my reasons for not wanting marriage have to do with you .” She briefly held his gaze. Hers was inscrutable in the shadows. “I should sneak upstairs. Suffering Mama’s wrath is not what I wish to end this day.”

He nodded. “Sleep well, Miss Ives.” One thing was certain.

He had to maintain distance between them.

No more letting his desire-soaked brain determine his actions.

There must be some sort of decorum else they would both land into scandal and consequences neither of them wanted, and for all the wrong reasons.