Page 19

L ady Gould’s ball was bustling with activity as the carriage pulled up at the front steps.

Alicia relished the chance to be back in London, looking forward to seeing all the people she had not seen since her wedding.

Although it was probably unladylike to admit it, she was looking forward to snubbing a few of the women who had always looked down on her, too.

She was a duchess now, which would certainly make them think twice about insulting her to her face.

Lady Gould’s townhouse was beautiful and limned in light as they entered.

Alicia could already feel dozens of eyes turning to them as they were announced and walked into the ballroom.

For the first time, she felt genuine excitement at attending a ball. She felt beautiful in her new gown and could not wait to see everyone and catch up on the gossip.

Seth was quiet, staring around them, his aloof mask firmly in place. The need rose inside her again, a violent pull to please him, to make sure that he enjoyed himself today, threatening to overwhelm her.

The thought was vexing. He had been very rude in the attic that night, and although he had apologized, she was not sure whether that was simply so he could get close to her in the carriage again.

Heat surged inside her at the memory.

She lost her senses whenever he touched her. If he had not pulled away, all her carefully laid plans would have evaporated, and she would have allowed him to take her on the seat.

There was a vein pulsing in Seth’s forehead, and his fingers loosened around hers as though he were already withdrawing from the room.

“Would you care for refreshment?” he asked, his eyes darting around as Alicia waved to an acquaintance.

“Yes, thank you. Shall I accompany you?”

“No need. You should see your friends. It seems there are several of them.”

Was that criticism in his tone?

She watched him walk away, his frame taller than everyone else in the crowd as he crossed the room.

It was an ornate ballroom, with long wooden floorboards underfoot, pillars on either side of every window, and three huge chandeliers above her head.

She could see two of her friends to her right and a few dancing in the center of the room.

Although Katie and Bridget were her closest friends, she had made other acquaintances before she was married.

She made her way to them and laughed as they all surged forward, telling her how stunning she looked and how wonderful it was to see her.

“Alicia! Oh! Forgive me, Your Grace,” Lady Bradley said as she held out a hand, looking over Alicia’s gown in admiration. “You look utterly beautiful.”

“Thank you,” Alicia said, laughing as her friends exchanged meaningful looks and then began peppering her with questions.

“I have not seen the Duke of Radcliffe up close before; he is so handsome but so stern!”

“How is married life?”

“Radcliffe Manor is beautiful. What is it like to live there? I went there some time ago for a garden party the late Duke hosted!”

Alicia was swept away by the conversation and the happy prattling of her friends.

She moved about, speaking to all her acquaintances, a lightness in her heart to learn what she had missed in the time she had been away.

As the evening progressed, she was surprised by how many men approached her, too.

Now that she was married, her options for dance partners had narrowed considerably, but several men who had once called themselves her suitors asked her to dance.

Alicia had not been seriously involved with any of them, and all of them seemed jovial and friendly toward her. She conversed easily and happily with them, some standing with their sisters or mothers, whom she was also happy to speak to.

Still, she could not help a pang of sadness as she spoke to them. A sense of loss filled her heart that her choices had been taken from her by her father.

Seth had been a gentleman since their wedding, it was true, but she had not chosen him. Many of these men were kind and affable—what could her life have been like if her father had not chosen for her?

Seth, for his part, had only circled back to her once at the start of the ball to give her a glass of punch, and had then disappeared for several minutes.

At present, he was circling the crowd like a hawk, glaring at anyone who had the audacity to look at him.

As she watched him, Lord Bradley invited her to dance. She spun around the dance floor, laughing at something he said, and she realized just how she had missed dancing. She had not enjoyed a ball so much in an age.

But after dancing two sets and speaking to several of the ladies present, she felt rather hot. Seth had disappeared, and she decided that she would get some air before she collapsed from fatigue.

Clutching her glass, she moved through the hall, smiling at anyone who greeted her, and made her way out onto the wide balcony on the edge of the house.

The moon shone brightly on the gardens below, and the scent of the flowers wafted up to her in the quiet.

The music was fainter here, and it was pleasant to simply stand and look up at the stars as she sipped her drink, cooling her parched throat after the rigors of the night.

“Are you finished with your admirers?” came a deep voice behind her, and she turned.

Seth was leaning against the wall of the balcony, watching her, his eyes glittering in the darkness.

The doors behind him were open, but the short corridor from the ballroom to the balcony made her feel as if they were separated from the rest of the room.

Alicia huffed. “I was not with my admirers . I was with my friends.”

“Lord Bradley is your friend, is he?” he asked darkly.

“Yes, he is married to an old acquaintance of mine.”

“Hm. And you had to dance with him, and not your husband.”

“I chose to dance with him, as my husband was elsewhere and had not asked me.”

Seth pushed away from the wall, his big body moving silently toward her, his strides sure and captivating.

He stopped only a foot away, looming above her. He was so handsome, with the light of the moon illuminating his sharp cheekbones and dark, soulful brown eyes, that her breath caught in her throat.

“I am asking now.”

“You are asking me to dance?”

“Not in there. I have no interest in parading your beauty in front of all those people. I want to dance with my wife here, in the quiet, beneath the moon, where no one can watch us.”

Alicia’s chest tightened at the need in his voice. Without a word, she placed her glass on the balustrade and turned to him.

Seth took her hand and led her to the center of the balcony. The slow strains of a waltz began to play, and they swayed together in the darkness.

The stars twinkled overhead, and after a few minutes of awkwardness, Alicia found herself melting against him.

Seth was a confident and strong dancer; she felt safe and supported in his arms.

His dark gaze met hers, and she found herself sinking into it, unable to look away as they moved in a slow circle together, their bodies molding into one as if they had never been apart.

The rest of the world faded away, and she was lost, sinking deeper into his presence with every second that passed.

She was not sure how long they danced for—it could have been a minute or an hour—but when she returned to herself, a more lively set had begun, and she pulled away awkwardly.

“Should we return?”

“In a moment,” he said softly, his eyes glinting as he pulled her closer to him.

“But—”

“Are you in a hurry to return to your admirers, Duchess?” he asked.

He pulled her close, so close that she could feel through the layers of her dress how her proximity was affecting him.

Her breath stuttered as she tried to calm her racing pulse. “I?—”

She could not think with his lips so close. She wanted him to kiss her again, lamenting the lack of trees around them, for he would not be able to press her against a thick bark.

“Well?”

“Would that make you angry? If I were to return to them?” she asked as his grip tightened.

“That depends,” he said, his nose brushing over her cheek as he bent to kiss her neck. “Am I still the only one who gets to see your unusual fashion?”

The tip of his tongue sent shivers all over her skin.

Alicia’s fingers tightened on his shoulders as he pulled back, staring down at her with the same intensity she had felt on the first day she met him.

He ground his hips against hers—shockingly intimate, considering where they were.

Alicia felt her body throb for him, desperate to feel him again.

“I would show no one else,” she breathed as his palms pressed forcefully into her shoulders.

One hand gripped the back of her neck as he stared down at her, the intensity of his gaze wiping every thought from her mind.

With a rough movement, he pulled her forward, groaning softly as he crushed his lips to hers.

The motion took her by surprise, and her mouth dropped open.

She matched his groan with one of her own as he thrust his tongue inside, exploring, biting her lips. He bent her backward, his body pressed against hers, his hard length pressing urgently against her thigh.

Alicia gasped as he released her, only to moan as he dove back in for another taste, his lips molding against hers as their tongues wrapped around one another in an intimate dance.

Slowly, he pulled away, softening the kiss and gentling his hold, even as his eyes flicked warily to the doorway.

He tugged her toward the ballroom, his fingers tight around hers. “Come, Duchess. I would remind you who you belong to.”

Seth pulled at Alicia’s hand, sensing her surprise as he led her out of the ballroom altogether and summoned their carriage.

He had no interest in remaining there for a moment longer to watch those simpletons fawn all over his wife.

I never wish to see another man lay eyes on her again.

“Are we leaving?” she asked as they walked out the front door and he signaled to the footman to collect their cloaks.

“We are, Duchess. I need to make something clear to you.”

Alicia’s startled, little gasp only made his need to have her all the more intense, and he all but shoved her into the carriage before following in behind her.

She fell back against the seat, looking shocked as he slammed the door shut.

“Do you know how many men you spoke with in that hall?” he barked.

She panted before him, her eyes wide and startled. “Wh-What? They are my friends.”

“ Friends ?” he said derisively. “Believe me, they are not interested in friendship.”

Alicia scoffed. “Are you accusing me of impropriety simply for speaking to a few men whom I have known for most of the last two Seasons?”

She yelped as he lunged across the space between them, his hands landing on either side of the bench, feeling the desire overtake him, hot as lava throughout his body.

“You will not speak to them again, is that clear?”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “I shall do as I please. For a man who has barely spent any time with me for the last few days, I am surprised you are so worried about who I choose to speak to!”

Seth chuckled, leaning back and assessing her for a moment as his hand moved to the folds of her dress.

“So you have been thinking about me, then?” he asked as the carriage began to move, the rocking motion masking his movements as he slowly began to lift her skirts.

“You are the most arrogant of men,” she huffed. But then she froze as he trailed his hand up her calf to her thigh. “What are you doing?”

“What I told you I would do, Duchess—reminding you who you belong to.”

“I thought ours was a marriage of convenience,” she said, her voice breathless.

Her hand moved forward, and Seth thought she was about to stop him. Instead, she gripped the edge of the bench.

“Mm, I did say that. But it does not stop you from belonging to me. I own you, Duchess. Remember this moment when you doubt that in the future.”

And with that, he pushed up her skirts. She let out a little cry of protest as he pulled down her undergarments and bared her.

“We cannot! We are in a carriage!” she hissed, but her body was giving him different signals.

Her hips rolled toward him, and he smiled.

“Then you should try to stay quiet, Duchess,” he said.

He lowered his head, scraping his teeth along her inner thighs as she shuddered in ecstasy beneath him.

Seth pulled her roughly down the seat until only her shoulders rested on it and then dove into the sweet wet heat of her body, lapping at her flesh and groaning at the taste.

Alicia’s legs fell slack against his shoulders as he gripped her upper thighs hard.

She began to rock into him as he massaged her nub, feeling a gush of wetness leaving her as she shivered and trembled beneath him.

Seth’s body was straining with need and desire, the urge to take her, to plunge inside her and thrust into her until she was screaming overtaking him.

But he held back. This was for her. Bringing her pleasure was almost as enjoyable as feeling it.

Alicia’s fingers plunged into his hair as she bucked her hips, and she let out a frantic cry that the footman must have heard.

Seth continued, feeling her fingers flex and curl against him, her nails scraping his scalp and leaving an exquisite burn in their wake.

Minutes passed before Alicia’s breathing became ragged and urgent, pulling him against her with every thrust of her hips.

Her climax hit his tongue, and he took it all before slowly lowering her back to the floor of the carriage.

For a few minutes, they sat there together, debauched and disheveled, panting and staring at one another in disbelief.

Finally, Seth pulled himself up, lifting her onto the bench again, and sat opposite her.

“Hm,” he murmured as she fixed her undergarments, “I believe that is the best ball I have ever attended.”