Page 18 of When Jess Wainwright’s Curiosity Was Satisfied (Wainwright Sisters #4)
Chapter Eighteen
C adoc hadn’t wanted to set her away from him. He would’ve gladly stayed there with her curled up in his lap until they were old and gray. Her soft sighs as she’d nestled against him, the sweet, precious recline of her body curled into his. Holding her felt like the sunlight he’d basked in as a boy after the cramped darkness of the mines. But he owed her the lens.
He didn’t know what he was expected to do if she won the wager and he was compelled to return her microscope in its entirety. The reality of her, with all her thorns that disguised her softness, was almost too much to bear. Perhaps letting her dismantle his armor was penitence for the duress he’d placed her under.
He thought the wager would be a way to cleanse her from his thoughts - like an exorcism. Instead, it had been a confirmation.
When he reached his workshop, he slipped the lens into his pocket and took a moment to center himself and his thoughts. It was in his nature to be playful and teasing, but that tendency became exacerbated around her and he wanted to turn everything upside down with a dare so he could see the sparkle of her eyes when she defied him.
He used a handkerchief on one of the tables to wipe the cum from his now partially flaccid cock. He was never completely unaffected around her, but at least he was no longer at full mast. Cadoc debated changing his trousers, but decided he’d relish her discomfort at being pressed against him on the ride home. Just in case she was determined to ignore what had just happened, it would be a lewd, inescapable reminder.
The sight of her on her tiptoes, a book in her hand, greeted him when he returned to the library.
“What have you found?” He asked.
She turned about with the book clasped against her chest. “You have books on farming as well as books on engineering. I want to include a discussion in my article about the relationship of dragonflies to the ecosystem, including their benefits to crop production. May I borrow this?”
“You may. My library is at your disposal, Jess. Even after our bargain ends.”
Her teeth sank into her bottom lip. “So you won’t turn me away once our wager has come to an end?”
“I won’t. I don’t think I could forget it enough to turn you away. I think there would always be a hope you were here for kisses as well as books.”
She rolled her eyes at that. “You’re incorrigible, Cadoc Morgan. It’s nothing short of miraculous that my reputation has remained unsullied.”
“Don’t wreck my dreams, dragonfly,” he said with a wry grin as he handed her the lens.
She gave him an inscrutable look as she slipped it into the pocket of her skirt and he envisioned the gears turning ferociously behind her hazel eyes.
He lifted her cloak from the back of his chair and held it out for her. “Let’s get you home.”
“If you drive your carriage through the center of town at this late hour, the gossip will be insatiable.”
“We’re not driving. You’ll have to make do with riding in front of me on Bacchus. And we’ll go through the fields so no one sees us.”
She slipped under her cloak and remained still while he tied the closure at her throat and pulled the hood over her head. When he’d finished, she gave him a stern look. “No shenanigans. I’ve put myself to rights and I don’t want questions if one of my sisters has snuck down to the kitchens for late night sustenance.”
Cadoc chucked her under the chin. “I promise to keep my roving hands to myself unless absolutely necessary.”
He donned his greatcoat and the red scarf Caris had left behind as his Yuletide gift. When he’d buttoned up, he winged his elbow toward her.
This time, when he lifted her onto the saddle, he let his hands linger around her waist for the merest second. Her ankle was fully healed, so she didn’t cling to him. Instead she gave him a terse nod and arranged her skirts.
He smiled to himself when he swung up behind her and she held her body rigidly away from him. His arms looped around her waist and she had no choice but to relax into them. “What are you afraid of, dragonfly? I already promised to keep my hands to myself.”
She sniffed. “I’m not taking any chances.”
“I think you’re more afraid of yourself than you are of me,” he whispered roughly in her ear. “But I’ll pander to your fears for now.”
She sniffed again, but didn’t move or reply. Her hands were wrapped around the pommel as if her life depended on it. He shook his head at her obstinacy.
There was a full moon, and the fields they crossed were barren, the shorn crops ghostly in the silvery light. A rising wind battered them from the sea to the west, and Cadoc burrowed his nose into the scarf he’d thrown about his neck. Jess shivered and he lashed her closer to the heat of his body. “There’s no reason for you to become an ice block, dragonfly.”
“I’m not cold,” she said through chattering teeth.
“Whoa,” Cadoc murmured as he tugged the reins. Bacchus came to a prancing stop and he unwound the scarf from his neck. He wrapped it around her shoulders, neck and lower face, until she was protected from the wind.
“What about you?”
“You forget, I’m accustomed to harsh working conditions. If you’re worried about me, you can return it when I deposit you on your doorstep.”
She pulled the scarf higher, until her entire face was hidden, and the only discernible feature left uncovered was the flutter of her lashes against her cheeks.
He unbuttoned his coat and reeled her closer, enclosing the sides of it around her as well. She didn’t protest. He noted her body no longer quaked and her teeth no longer rattled her jaw.
They rode the remaining mile and a half in silence, and he was reluctant to let her go when they came to a stop at her kitchen door.
He dismounted first, and carefully lifted her into his arms. He held her there, suspended and hovering, and she didn’t protest. Her unwavering, jewel-like gaze met his and he didn’t feel the cold slowly seeping through his open coat. When he lowered her, she was still intoxicatingly close, her chin tipped toward him and her hands clasping his upper arms.
“I’ll bid you farewell.”
She nodded uncertainly, and her grasp on him remained firm. “I apologize for my uncharitable behavior. I appreciate you seeing me home.”
“I could do no less. I don’t know what possessed you to set off on your own, but I wasn’t going to let you repeat your daft behavior.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Just when I think I can tolerate you, you insult me.”
He lifted her chin and dropped his head. “‘Twasn’t an insult, dragonfly. Merely an observation,” he said against her lips. His kiss was gentle at first, so gentle she barely felt it. He deepened it, his teeth nipping at her bottom lip, coaxing her to allow him entry.