Page 72 of A Kiss to Stop a Wedding
He was thankful the sheet was bunched up across his thighs, hiding any tell-tale signs of his true feelings. Flora gently placed his leg back on the mattress and slipped gently off the bed, but she did not move away.
‘Is anything wrong. Flora?’
‘Those scars,’ she murmured, her eyes fixed on his naked chest. ‘How did you get them?’
‘Old battle wounds from my time in the Peninsula.’He glanced down. ‘That one, on my ribs, for example, was caused by a French Chasseur’s sabre at Sahagún.’
‘Did it hurt?’
She touched the thin line and set his heart pumping hard against his ribs.
‘Not so much at the time. Hardly a scratch really. I didn’t notice I had taken a hit, until after. There’s another one, on my shoulder. That was a slash from another sabre. This time at Salamanca. I was fortunate there; another inch and the slash might have taken off my sword arm.’
‘And this one?’
‘Sniper.’ It was as much as he could do not to flinch as her finger grazed his breast. ‘At Almeida.’
‘It is so close to the heart.’ She was looking at him, those hazel eyes dark with concern. ‘How did you survive?’
‘It was deflected and had lost most of its power, so it didn’t go very deep.’ He dragged in a breath as she rested her hand over the scar. ‘The surgeon dug it out easily enough.’
She shuddered, then slowly lowered her head and planted a kiss on the small round welt.
He clenched his fist, hard. ‘Flora, don’t!’
She looked at him, her eyes swimming with tears.
‘Any one of these could have been fatal and I would never have known you.’
Flora lifted her skirts so she could sit on the bedbeside him. She leaned down and gently kissed the scar on his shoulder. As her lips touched the rough skin he let out a shuddering sigh. Emboldened by his reaction, she slid her hand across his chest, feeling the dark hairs crisp between her fingers. Her body was tingling, she felt so alive, every sense heightened.
She stretched herself alongside him on the bed, aware that there was only the thin cotton of her riding habit between them. He groaned as she trailed kisses over the stubble of his jaw.
‘Flora, please, don’t do this.’
‘Let me stay with you tonight,’ she whispered, her lips grazing his cheek. ‘Don’t send me away yet.’
She raised herself up and gazed down at his dear face. He was frowning and suddenly she felt a jolt of uncertainty.
‘Don’t you want me?’
‘Want you—?’
One moment those dark eyes were burning into her and the next he had hooked his hand behind her head and pulled her close, answering her with a kiss so fierce, so strong that her bones melted. She collapsed against him and his good arm came around her, pinning her there while he kissed her, long and deep. Desire blazed through Flora, burning her up and filling her with a force so powerful, it left her dazed and weak.
She broke away while she was still capable of thought.
‘We should stop now,’ she muttered. ‘Your arm. The wound will start bleeding again.’
‘I’d take that chance, but if you stay any longer, I won’t be responsible for the consequences.’ He closed his eyes, then, ‘Are you sure you want to do this, Flora?’
‘I want you too much to stop now,’ she told him. ‘I am not a child, Matt. I know what is at stake. I shall belong to the Viscount for the rest of my life, but now, tonight… I want to do this!’
The way his eyes blazed sent her heart leaping.
‘Go and lock the door, sweetheart. Then we will have to get you out of those clothes.’
In the fading light Flora quickly removed her riding habit, petticoats and shirt. It took Matt some time to release her stays but at last she was free and dressed only in her shift. She carried all the discarded clothes over to a chair in the corner and hastily arranged them, conscious that she would need to wear them again later.
