Page 5 of The Viscount and the Wallflower (The Unlikely Betrothal Series #4)

Chapter 5

L ily wasn’t even certain she wished to know the answer. The man could have a mistress he was in love with. He could prefer the company of men, something she had been intrigued to learn about from Rosina. But he appeared to her to be around six or seven-and-twenty, and of an age to have taken a wife.

He appeared taken aback by her question and opened his mouth to speak before closing it again.

“Forgive me,” she blurted. “I shouldn’t have asked.”

“There is nothing to forgive,” he said, his tone soft. “It’s just that I don’t trust all that easily. And that is all I shall share at present.”

She wondered what happened to him, or what someone had done to him to break his trust. Her heart pained for him, and she longed to brush his hair back from his forehead and cup his chiseled cheek.

Before she could give in to something so forward and scandalous, two horses galloped towards the group and slowed to a stop. Lord Knox hopped down from one of them and scanned the guests until he caught her gaze. He started straight to her, and she was a bit saddened by his reappearance and knowing she wouldn’t be able to continue speaking with Lord Callan as they had been.

“I do hope you will accept my apologies. It was a lucky thing that I had accompanied Lord Demming as we got turned around on the way to rejoin everyone,” Lord Knox said.

“That is quite all right, my lord. Lord Callan was kind enough to keep me company.”

Lord Knox gave Lord Callan a polite nod of thanks.

The gentleman spoke back and forth to each other about something, but she didn’t hear it. She let her thoughts drift to the reaction she had to Lord Callan and to all he had shared. She wasn’t even certain the man considered her in the same way she did him. He could find her to be a beautiful woman and not want anything more than friendship. Men believed their mothers and sisters to be beautiful, too, so the words didn’t signify.

If Lord Knox offered for her, that was who her father was going to accept—if he hadn’t already—and that was that. It wouldn’t do her any good to imagine otherwise.

She attempted to refocus herself on the conversation and she noticed Lord Callan casting her a curious glance.

Nearby, the other guests readied themselves to head back to the stables. The clouds had rolled in, and the sky had grown darker. It appeared that they may all get caught in the rain if they didn’t make haste to depart.

Lord Knox rose and then reached out to her to help her stand. It was painfully obvious that she didn’t have the same reaction to the man as she had to Lord Callan. She wasn’t certain if it would have made things better or more complicated if she had. She decided on the former. As if she reacted to both, she could at least tell herself that she would lead a contended life if she ended up married to Lord Knox, which was almost certain to be her future.

She slipped her hand into the crook of Lord Knox’s arm and glanced back at Lord Callan to see him following behind them. Lord Knox led her to their horses and helped her into her sidesaddle. He leapt onto his own horse and continued on with the group, so she followed behind.

Lord Callan caught up to her and was at her side in a matter of moments .

They trotted along in silence until a crack of lightning, followed by a crash of thunder, made her jump in the saddle. She recovered and kept herself from losing her seat.

“We must quicken our pace,” Lord Callan called out beside her. She glanced back, and Lady Juliet was far off in the distance with Lord Camden.

“Should we help them?” Lady Lily asked.

“We are better off sending someone back. I believe the lady’s horse is afraid of the impending storm. Camden is looking after her.”

The rain fell harder and had reached her cheeks. Lily urged her horse into a gallop, intending to get back to the open field as quickly as possible so they could race across the grass to the stables.

She glanced over her shoulder and saw Lord Callan following behind her. They cleared the trees, and he caught up to her, galloping at her side across the field. The other guests were ahead of them on the other side of the field, also racing to get out of the rain.

Suddenly, the clouds erupted, and the rain fell hard and fast. In a matter of moments, Lily became soaked, and the rain only kept coming down in buckets. The wind took her riding hat, and it blew away, but she didn’t slow her pace. Lord Callan glanced back, and she waved forward, indicating she didn’t wish for him to go back for her hat.

Lily shivered from the cold but pressed on. The galloping loosened the pins in her hair until they fell out, releasing her coiffure so that her long tresses fell down her back as she rode.

They finally reached the stables and were under cover from the rain. Many other guests had dismounted and were making their way inside. Lord Camden and Lady Juliet came riding in with her straddling the gentleman. Lily pretended not to take notice of the improper position they were in.

A groom started in her direction, but Lord Callan had jumped down and was at her side before the groom could assist.

“We must get you inside. You are surely almost frozen,” he said, lifting her down from the saddle.

He took her hand in his, and even through their wet gloves, she already felt warmer. Hastening their steps, they hurried towards the house. Lord Callan opened the door and allowed her to enter first, then followed her.

She waited for him, and they fell in step beside each other. “I must look like a dreadful mess,” she said, stopping to take off her spectacles and do her best to dry them.

Lord Callan stopped with her and dug out his handkerchief. “Try this. It feels dry enough.” He handed it to her, and she noticed his gaze appeared to linger on her, from what she could tell with her limited eyesight. “You are…breathtaking,” he whispered.

“My lord?” She slid her glasses back on her face, and he took another step closer to her.

“And now you are perfect.”

Her lips parted from gasping at his words. She wasn’t sure if she had heard him correctly, but he stood before her, staring at her as if she were the most precious thing in the world. It had to be a dream, as it wasn’t possible that he looked at her that way. His eyes darted to her lips, and the attention there made her bite one side of her bottom lip.

He looked around, then pulled her into an alcove that was just behind where he stood. Her heart raced with anticipation at what he might do, knowing she wanted whatever it might be. He removed his glove and cupped her right cheek with his bare hand, turning them so he hid her body with his own.

“I’m going to kiss you now.”

She could only nod in response, her body instinctively leaning closer to him.

He leaned forward and softly pressed his lips to hers, feathering a few light kisses. She sighed, resting her gloved hands on his firm chest. She had the strongest urge to massage the muscles beneath her fingers, but before she could decide if she would do so, he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her again. When he ran his tongue along the seam of her lips, she opened to him, and he swept his tongue into her mouth.

The taste of the wine he drank at the picnic and the velvety feel of his tongue massaging hers caused the place between her legs to throb with need. He didn’t relent, and she released a low mewl when he lightly sucked her tongue into his mouth and then massaged it with his again. Even soaked from the rain, she knew there was heat and dampness between her thighs that was for him.

He broke their kiss and kissed along her jaw and then her neck. Every bit of her skin tingled and heated from the places he touched with his lips and tongue.

“My lord,” she whispered.

He stopped and stared into her eyes, and even in the dark alcove, she could see the depth of his desire in them. “Alex.”

“Alex,” she whispered, not looking away.

He dipped his head to kiss her neck again, sliding one of his hands from her back across her rib cage and up to her breast, which she had never realized how much she longed for attention there. He lifted her breast and massaged it in his hand, which caused her to release a series of low moans.

Alex kissed higher on her neck until he reached her ear and whispered against it, “Did you like that? ”

She nodded.

His fingers shifted to dance across the top of her breast before he dipped his hand below her neckline and lifted her breast from her wet stays. Her damp skin exposed to the cold air caused her to shiver. She gripped the lapels of his coat, steading herself.

He leaned his head down and flicked her nipple with his tongue before sucking it into his mouth. Her head rolled back, and she arched her back, pressing her chest harder against his mouth. She felt him smile against her breast before he lifted the other one and repeated the attention with his mouth to her other nipple.

“Alex,” she moaned. She shivered again, and he stopped what he was doing.

He stared at her, attempting to catch his own breath. “I got carried away,” he said, tucking her breasts back into her gown.

“I enjoyed it very much,” she whispered, her hands still holding on to his coat.

He leaned down and kissed her one more time. “You are soaked and need dry clothes before you catch a cold.” He rubbed along her arms as if to warm her.

She released the hold she had on his coat, even though every part of her body longed to pull him closer instead. She had the urge to rub the place that ached against him, to soothe the need that built within her.

He slipped his glove back on his hand, then turned and peeked his head out of the alcove. Grabbing her hand, he pulled her back into the hallway. “You must change right away. I hope there is a fire in your chamber.”

She noted he didn’t release her hand, and she had no inclination to pull it away from him. Lily allowed him to lead her to the main staircase.

Her heart raced just as hard as when he had kissed her, the electricity from his gloved touch still enough to make her rethink everything she thought she knew. Was that the feeling she had read about in her books and watched in her plays? The passion that drives one to such distraction that they would risk everything if it meant they could receive just one more kiss. Just one more touch. Just one more anything, as long as it was Alex who gave it.

Lily glanced over at him as they climbed the stairs, and he looked as if he were pondering something. She couldn’t make out his expression, but she thought she saw a bit of confusion in his furrowed brow.

“Alex?”

He shook off his thoughts and looked at her when they reached the top of the staircase.

“I’ll see you at dinner,” he said, bowing to her, then departing to the wing where most of the gentlemen were staying .

She hurried to her room and was relieved to find her maid, Posy, waiting for her. Posy helped her out of her wet clothing, and she donned her dressing robe to sit before the fire. Lily stared into the flames, attempting to make sense of the thoughts garbled in her head.

Bringing her fingers to her lips, she touched where he had kissed her. She closed her eyes and relived every detail, the heat building in her core again. It might be the most wicked she had ever been, and she might end up married to another man, but more than anything, she wanted to kiss Alex again. And so much more, not that she could admit such a thing to anyone, ever.