Page 38 of The Society Catch
‘Darling,’ Giles said clearly and drew her down onto the bed on top of himself. ‘My love.’
For one startled, wonderful, moment Joanna thought he was awake and knew her, then she realised he was still deeply asleep, obviously in the toils of a dream into which her fleeting touch had intruded. And it did not take much imagination to guess that Giles was dreaming of Suzanne as his arm tightened around Joanna and his free hand drifted across her breast in a lingering, sensual caress.
Joanna gasped and lay still, tingling with a surge of heat. Her entire body wanted to move under his hands, stretch itself along the length of his, savour the touch of his bare skin against hers, but she knew she could not, must not, move or she would wake him.
Giles’s face was buried in the curve of her neck, his lips tasting the skin with tiny kisses, his tongue flickering lines of desire across the pounding pulse at her throat.
Joanna forced back a groan and tried to push back the clamouring demands of her body long enough to think before it was too late. If she stayed where she was it could only be amatter of moments before she lost all will-power, all self-control and simply allowed herself to be swept along on the tide of sensation his hands and mouth were orchestrating within her inexperienced body.
If she woke him Giles would be appalled at having compromised her beyond redemption. Somehow she had to free herself from his arms, get away from the bed without rousing him. She caught his roving hand in hers and raised it to her lips, nibbling the fingertips while she slipped from the mattress. Giles reached for her blindly but she placed his hand lightly on the rumpled sheet and almost ran to the door.
Safely outside she leant back against the panels and drew a long shuddering breath, willing the cool of the draughty corridor to steady her quivering limbs, calm her ragged breathing. That it could be like that! That she could feel so transported, so utterly possessed, when all he had done was to hold her, kiss her neck. Why had nobody warned her? Her sister and Hebe both obviously enjoyed the marriage bed, that much was discreetly obvious in the warmth of exchanged looks with their husbands, the fleeting caresses in passing. Butthis. What would it be like to make love to completion, to be joined utterly to his strength, to know Giles’s as intimately as it was possible to know another human being?
Then the heated fervour began to fade, leaving her shivering and bereft in the bare corridor. She would never know what that ultimate experience was like because all she had done was to steal his kisses and caresses from another woman, one who was so close to him that she haunted his dreams and racked his nights with desire.
The next morning the landlady expressed concern to see that her guests appeared to have slept badly, a worrying matter for a woman who prided herself that her feather beds were the best ofany of the town’s hostelries, she told Joanna.
Giles managed to produce a smile and the assurance that it was only the remains of his headache which had disturbed his sleep. Joanna, equally heavy-eyed and subdued, confessed that she had found the church clock disturbing as she was unused to having one so close.
It was true enough. She had lain awake, her mind endlessly recreating those moments in Giles’s arms until her body roused into restless desire again and she was forced to get out of bed and pace up and down the room in the chilly dawn light, willing the chiming hours to move faster and release her from the prison of her memory.
Nor did the fresh air and stimulus of being mounted and on the road again appear to lighten their mood. Yesterday’s camaraderie had quite vanished and they rode almost as two strangers, forced together by circumstances and awkwardly having to make the best of it.
Joanna let her glance flicker across to Giles to be met by a guarded look in his grey eyes.He is tired of having to look after me,she thought miserably.He is worried about his father and missing Lady Suzanne.I should never have run from Georgy’s house. I should never have entered his bedchamber last night.
Oh, but her body still vibrated from his touch in the strangest way. Once, she had tried the harp, thinking that she should improve her musical performance, and she could still recall the humming vibration of a plucked string, taut under her fingertips. Her body felt like that all through. And worse, she seemed to ache deep inside as though something was missing.
Joanna did not glance at Giles again unless he spoke to her and tried to focus instead on what she could possibly do with her life when the summer was over. Could she face another Season?
After what seemed like an hour of silence Giles said abruptly, ‘We can make it to Tasborough by this evening if you feel up toit. I would prefer not to risk another night on the road.’
‘I would prefer it too,’ Joanna agreed fervently. She was determined to ride until she dropped if there was the chance that they could spend the night somewhere where they did not have to pretend, watch every word and action. And somewhere where she could sleep in a bed far from Giles.
‘Colonel, sir, and Miss Joanna, good evening.’ Starling greeted the pair of them calmly as they stood on the threshold of Tasborough Hall, apparently unconcerned by the unheralded arrival of his lordship’s best friend and her ladyship’s cousin at ten of the clock, without baggage or attendants and distinctly travel stained.
‘You were expecting us, Starling?’
‘Indeed we were, Colonel, although upon which day or time we were not certain. I will inform her ladyship of your arrival immediately, she was about to retire. His lordship is out but is expected back shortly. Mrs Fitton will show Miss Joanna to her room.’
Joanna was old friends with the housekeeper who showed not the slightest surprise at her arrival with Giles as she ushered her to her usual chamber. ‘There is hot water on its way, Miss Joanna, then I hope you will go down to her ladyship directly. She’s been that anxious about you and I have no doubt will not go up to bed as she should until she has seen you with her own eyes.’
‘How is her ladyship?’ Joanna asked, not a little anxious of the effect her disappearance and the subsequent hue and cry might have had on someone so close to her confinement.
‘Blooming.’ The housekeeper clapped her hands together in barely suppressed excitement. ‘She says it might be twins, and you only have to look at her to think she could be right.’ A cough from the maid bringing the hot water recalled her to the fact thatshe was speaking to an unmarried girl. ‘She’s in the Panelled Parlour, Miss Joanna.’
Joanna hurried down, not realising until she pushed open the door and saw her cousin how much in need of some feminine support and comfort she was. ‘Oh, Hebe!’ And then she was clasped in her arms on the sofa being kissed and patted. For almost a minute the two of them clung together, both fighting back tears, then Joanna sat back and managed to produce a watery smile.
‘Are you well, Hebe? And Alex and little Hugh?’ Reassured on these points she asked, ‘Have you heard from Mama or Papa?’
‘At length, they sound – Oh Giles, how well you look.’ She held out her arms as Giles strode into the room and bent to kiss her, then added, half-seriously, ‘And if you say one word to Alex about twins I will never speak to you again. He has been intolerable ever since you suggested the possibility to him. I have been fussed to death and it is all your fault, you wretch. But I forgive you everything for rescuing Joanna.’
Hebe turned back to her. ‘I am sorry, I was telling you about what your parents said and now you are worried. There is no need, they sound positivelyforgiving. Yes, I know, I was surprised too, but Aunt Emily has sent all your best clothes over and has begged me to keep you for as long as I wish. All she asks is for me to write the moment you arrive. There is a note for you, and one for Giles. There, on that little table.’
Joanna took the folded paper and regarded it dubiously. That she had been so easily forgiven seemed highly unlikely, no doubt Mama had not wished to sound too angry in her letter to Hebe so as not to worry her. ‘I will read it in my room,’ she said. ‘We must not keep you from your bed, Hebe.’
‘No, nor I from yours.’ She allowed Giles to help her to her feet and tucked Joanna’s hand under her arm as they walked from the room. ‘Good night, Giles dear.’ When they were out ofhis hearing she said teasingly, ‘I have to tell you, Joanna, that not only do you look extremely tired, you are positively brown from the sun. I can see all our cucumber frames being stripped before we can restore your complexion.’ This sally produced nothing but a faint smile and she turned to catch Joanna by her forearms, holding her so she could study her face properly. ‘Go to bed and sleep well. In the morning I can see we are going to have to have a long talk.’
Joanna climbed wearily into bed, the soft imprint of Hebe’s kiss on her cheek both a comfort and a reproach. Hebe was obviously concerned for her and would want to help. Yet how could she begin to tell her anything of the truth behind her scandalous escape or Giles’s capture of her?
