Page 102 of Not Quite a Lady
‘Give that bundle to my valet.’ He nodded towards the filthy clothes she had been wearing.
The Great Hall was mercifully empty. Jack carried Lily through, and up the stairs.
‘Where are we going?’
‘To my room.’
‘But…’
‘Ssh.’ Jack shouldered open the door, deposited Lily on the bed, locked the door and went through to what she assumed was the dressing room. There was the sound of voices.
Lily scooted down under the greatcoat until Jack came back. ‘Who was that?
‘My valet, who regrets that his lordship feels so tired that he must eat in his rooms tonight, and is so dirty that he needs a very large amount of hot water fetching for his bath and who will, of course, pass the message to Miss Lovell that her friend Miss France is so weary that she is retiring to bed and does not wish to be disturbed by anyone, not even her maid.’
‘Jack, you are outrageous.’
‘I can do what I like in my own castle,’ he grinned at her with unrepentant arrogance as he began to undress.
‘Jack – how did you overcome your scruples about my money?’
Lily sat up, trying not to stare. She had seen Jack stripped to the waist, she had just been as intimate with him as it was possible to be, but she had never seen him naked before – except for that fleeting glimpse when he had scandalised Aunt Herrick.
She realised with a gulp that it was a good thing that she had not, because she might have suffered considerable apprehension if she had seen quite how…howmalehe was beforehand.
‘When you asked me why I could not sell my land, it made me realise just how rich – howblessedI was with what I had. That there was no inequality between us that I need consider, any more than you need feel inferior because of your birth. We both bring wealth to this union, but infinitely more important, we bring love.’
Lily, struggling with the distraction of the powerful naked body so close to hers, smiled. ‘I thought my heart was broken when you said we should act as though there had been nothing between us. It was as though someone had snuffed out the light. I had not realised, but I was still hoping you might come to love me.’
In answer he bent and kissed her eyelids, his lips gentle, his breath tickling the fine hairs at her temple. His hands moved down to the shoulders of her shirt.
‘Jack, what are you doing?’
‘Taking your clothes off. We will then have a bath. A long, hot, very soapy, very wet bath. I intend ensuring that every nook and cranny of your body is free from coal dust.’ He ran one hand, flat-palmed, down over the swell of her breast, making them both catch their breath.
‘I then intend making love to you. At length and very slowlyand as many times as we can manage before daybreak. I have made love to you on the carpet. I have made love to you in a furious temper and I have made love to you against a tree. I think it is time I made love to my future countess in my own bed, in my own castle.
‘Lily my love, is that a proposition which meets with your approval?’
Lily could feel the blush tingling all the way up from her toes. She dropped her eyes to cover the utterly immodest desire in them and murmured, ‘I believe so, my lord. Naturally, I will be guided by you in such matters.’
‘Naturally,’ Jack said dryly as he slid the straps of her camisole from her shoulders and leaned forward to trace the sensitive line of her collarbone with the tip of his tongue. ‘I look forward to seeing just how long this unnatural state of meekness lasts. Let me see now. Did I mention that I will expect my wife to give up all her business activities once we are married? I would not want you trouble your feminine brain with all those nasty figures.’
‘I will do no such thing!’ Lily sat up so abruptly that the camisole fell down to her waist, producing a moan of erotic delight from Jack.
‘I have every intention…You are teasing me! Oh how could you?’
Jack caught her hands, raised to box his ears. ‘Yes, my love. Just teasing. Now IknowI have my Lily back.’
THE END
