Page 14 of The Banished Bride
“But—” Her mouth was parted in protest when his lips come down on hers. For a moment too she was too overwhelmed to think of struggling. Though she had tried on more than one occasion to imagine what a man’s kiss might feel like, no unschooled fantasy had quite prepared her for the visceral reality of it.
His mouth was firm, yet pliant, the rasp of his unshaven cheek on her skin only serving to counterpoint the silky glide of his lips over hers. But it was the things his tongue was doing that had her feeling as if the carriage had suddenly veered off the beaten path and plunged over a precipice. She reeled as it entered her mouth, plundering her senses with reckless abandon. He tasted of sea salt and foaming waves and she found herself wanted to drown in the current he was creating inside her. Robbed of breath, she felt the vortex pulling her under.
And the strange thing was, she didn’t seem to mind.
It took a second or to for her to shake off the odd torpor and realize that he had set her back against the squabs.
She slowly sucked in a lungful of air. “I-I should slap you for such impertinence.”
His sapphire eyes glinted with humor. “Surely your sense of honor wouldn’t let you strike a helpless invalid.”
“Helpless—ha!” she muttered. “You appear to be quite recovered, sir, judging by the way you tossed your attacker through the air as if he were no more substantial than a sack of potatoes.” She gave a slight tug to her bodice on noticing the disarray. On second thought, she decided she would much rather discuss what had happened back at the inn rather than the more recent grapplings. “Er, just how did you accomplish such a feat?”
He looked amused by her attempt to change the subject. “Mayhap I am not quite as bumbling as you think, sweeting.” Hislips came a bit closer. “And mayhap I’ll take another kiss, since I have just given the one I promised.”
Aurora shrank back, the pull of self-preservation winning out over the desire to throw herself back into the maelstrom. “Yes—it is my experience that most men simply take what they want. By force if necessary!”
The grin disappeared as he regarded her intently, and the laughing blue of his eyes clouding to a deeper hue. Then his shoulders settled back against the worn leather of the seat. “It’s clear you have not been kissed with great regularity?—”
“Hmmph!” She squared her shoulders. “I’ll have you know I—I am a married woman!”
She was gratified to see that her announcement caused a pinch of surprise to spasm across his features. It was gone in an instant, replaced by what might looked to be a rakish smirk. “What kind of husband allows his wife to gallivant across the length of Britain, without so much as a single servant to look after her reputation?” In a softer voice he added, “Or her virtue.”
“The kind who isn’t around to give a damn!” she snapped. “And if he was, I’d not let some arrogant, jugbitten male dictate what I can and cannot do, simply by virtue of his … plumbing rather than his brains!”
After the bark of laughter had died away, his face took on a serious mien. “A drunk, is he? Did he leave you? Or did you decide?—”
“I don’t wish to discuss my husband, sir! Not with you, not with anyone!” Aurora hoped her voice didn’t sound quite so brittle to his ears as it did to her own. “The particulars of my personal life are none of your concern.” She took a deep breath to steady her tone. “Besides, I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”
Save for the creak of the joints and the rattle of the wheels, an awkward silence filled the carriage. Her mood was not improvedby the discovery that two buttons on the front of her dress were undone, showing a good deal more of her undergarment than she had realized. Muttering a word more appropriate coming from the mouth of a grizzled soldier than a young lady, she fumbled with the fastenings.
“You are quite right,” he replied after some moments, a nonchalant shrug punctuating how little care he had for the matter. “Let us agree that neither of us has any call to pester the other with prying questions.”
“Yes, let us,” she said stiffly. Though, she added to herself, he could have been a bit more gallant about the whole thing.
“There is, however, just one further question that I wish to make.”
Aurora eyed him warily. “Which is?”
“Your name, madam.”
“Oh!” She bit at her lip. “I suppose that makes some practical sense. It is Mrs. Sprague. Aurora Sprague.”
“Aurora Sprague,” he repeated slowly.
Funny, on his tongue it sounded alluringly exotic, like a warm tropical rain blowing through palm fronds, rather than just a gargled mouthful of hot soup. It made her feel, well, it made her feel a bit heated all over. To hide the flush of color rising to her cheeks, she turned to stare out the window. “And yours, sir?
“Wood … more. Major Alex Woodmore.”
Of all the cursed luck! Another scarlet coat to plague her dreams. “Well, Major, now that you have recovered sufficient strength to, er, fend for yourself, I imagine you will want to get back to ferreting out your spy. That is, assuming you are still convinced it isn’t me.” She gave a twitch to the blanket. “Is there a specific rendezvous point where we may drop you, or will the nearest place where you may procure a horse do?”
“I’m afraid things are not going to prove quite so simple, Mrs. Sprague. Unlike a cocklebur caught on your hem, I am not going to be quite so easy to brush off.”
Aurora started. “W-what do you mean, sir?”
“I take it you are aware that last night’s visitor was not making a social call.”
“Hmmph!” She interrupted him with a loud snort, then fixed him with a scathing glare. How dare the insufferable man speak to her in such a condescending manner! Why, if it hadn’t been for her quick thinking and common sense his carcass might well be moldering somewhere out on the moors. “Oh, you mean to tell me he wasn’t a friend of yours?” she replied sarcastically. “Good gracious, I shouldneverhave figured it out on my own.”
