Page 53 of Whiskers and Wiles

Kat’s brow lifted. “Were you able to gauge his opinion on the Mercian Plan?” she asked hurrying to sit on the bed beside him.

Waldorf laughed with a warm wistfulness that she did not understand. “Not quite,” he said. “But I was able to ascertain that he loves his wife dearly and would support her in anything she does.”

“Surely that will work in our favor,” Kat said.

Waldorf was silent for a while more, staring at Napoleon as he continued his bath. He then said, “I was backed into a bit of a corner when Walsingham asked how we met…and how we were reunited to the point of engagement.”

“Oh.” Kat blinked, her heart suddenly racing.

“I should tell you so that we will be able to align our stories with each other, should Lord or Lady Walsingham ask you the same question,” Waldorf said.

“Yes, indeed.” Kat caught her breath, resting one hand on the bed and leaning slightly into Waldorf. “What is our story?”

Waldorf smiled at Napoleon with surprising fondness as he finished his bath, then noticed something outside and shifted to a tense position as he watched it, chirping. Waldorf was not smiling over Napoleon’s antics, though. His gaze was toounfocused, and the flush that came to his cheeks was too intimate.

“I kept my story as simple as possible,” he said. “I told him that we met again at Alden and Lady Bernadette’s wedding, that we were thrown together often during the festivities, and that we ended up in a vicious argument in which many things were spoken that had remained unsaid for years.”

“The carriage,” Kat said. Like any good liar, Waldorf had kept as close to the truth as possible. They had said things in the carriage on the way home from Lady Ryman’s that had been unsaid since the afternoon they’d parted in Oxford. Those things had needed to be said, but there were so many more that should be said next.

Waldorf shifted to her, resting his hand over hers. “I should have said those things to you years ago,” he confessed in a quiet voice. “I should have been wise enough not to believe Headland’s lies about you.”

Kat shook her head. “You had evidence in your hands, and you had only just witnessed Lord Headland kissing me near the bridge.”

“I should have trusted you when you said the letters were forgeries,” he said. He raised a hand and cradled the side of her face. “I should have been the one to kiss you, not him.”

Without pause, he followed those words by leaning in and slanting his mouth over Kat’s.

Kat drew in a breath, surprised by the intimacy and passion of his kiss, but so hungry for it after so long that she drank it in as if it were sunlight after years of storms. It was not the same sort of kiss that she had assaulted him with in the carriage. That sort of passion had been angry and hungry. It had demanded victory and refused to take prisoners.

This kiss was one of tenderness and forgiveness. It was an apology beyond words and an admission of guilt and regret. Itcracked open Kat’s heart and released two decades’ worth of pent up need that no handsome stranger had ever been able to satisfy, though God knew she had tried.

“I want you,” Waldorf whispered against her lips. “I’ve wanted you for decades. You are the only woman who has captured my heart and mind and made love to me as though I were important.”

Kat caught her breath at those words. She knew too well the sentiment they imparted. Satisfying the body was one thing, treating the soul was another.

“Yes,” she whispered, shifting closer to him and brushing her hands up the front of his jacket until she cupped his face. “Yes for now and always.”

The fire in Waldorf’s eyes matched what she felt in her belly. She hadn’t realized how hotly she burned for him, but in that moment, when their eyes met and each knew the other’s wants, she was consumed.

Everything was a blur from that point. Waldorf stood, pulling Kat with him. The two of them worked the buttons of his jacket and waistcoat together, and when he stepped back to shrug out of his jacket, Kat reached behind her to tug frantically at the ties of her gown, cursing the restrictions of fashion as she did. Perhaps Lady Walsingham had the right idea after all for not wearing stays.

Waldorf pulled at his neckcloth and ripped his shirt off over his head, letting his clothing fall where it may. His passion was so intense that Napoleon jolted from whatever he’d been watching outside and fled through the open doorway into the other room, and likely straight under that bed, so that he might avoid whatever outburst he did not want to be a part of.

Kat was grateful. She was not certain she could look her friend in the eyes if Napoleon had been witness to everything she wished to do with and to Waldorf. As soon as her clothingwas loose, she pushed and tugged at it, wriggling free of each piece, and tossing them to the floor, as Waldorf had done with his clothing.

The mad struggle to relieve themselves of clothing turned ridiculous, and before Kat knew it, the two of them were giggling as they stripped themselves bare, then threw back the bedcovers and tumbled into Kat’s bed together. Waldorf attempted to roll her to her back, but Kat had other ideas.

She managed to pin Waldorf to his back with his head against her pillows, and once he accepted that he would have to bow to her wishes, he relaxed, resting his hands on the pillow above his head. Kat kissed him once lingeringly, then shifted down his body, kissing his neck, shoulder, and chest as she did, and combing her fingers through the hair on his chest as she moved lower.

She grabbed hold of his chest hair as she lowered to his navel, then tugged just a bit, as she’d once done to tease him. Waldorf sucked in a sharp breath, then growled. His prick went harder and hotter against her. It happened that her chest was at the level of his growing cock, so with no shame whatsoever, she wriggled so that it stretched between her breasts, then squeezed her arms in a bit to trap it there and moved as best she could to encompass and stroke him.

“Dear God, woman,” Waldorf growled appreciatively. “All that is needed is something slippery and I could spend myself this way alone.”

“I shall make note of that,” Kat said, sending him a wicked look.

She had other things in mind to tease and please her lover, however. She eased up, then slipped farther down so that she could take his glistening tip between her lips. Waldorf made a sound of bliss as she sucked and licked at him, one that grew more desperate as she drew him deeper into her mouth.

“Wicked woman,” Waldorf managed to sputter as his pleasure overcame him.

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