Page 58 of Lady of Fortune
“It is,” she affirmed. “Eddie, I have waited my whole life for you. I loved you when I was a girl, and despite the fact that I am well aware young girls often develop foolish affections for men, this was not that at all. For it never went away. The moment I saw you, I fell even deeper in love with you. You see life as an adventure, you are not afraid to chase your dreams, and you stand up for what is right.”
He opened his mouth, but Julia held up a finger, cutting him off, and they stopped deep within the recesses of the path and turned to one another. “I know what you are going to say. You are going to tell me that we are of two worlds, that we do not belong together, that we should break off any connection we share. If I have been imagining that what is between us is more than a physical attraction to one another, then so be it. However, my greatest desire is to truly be with you, for I love you, Eddie Francis. And so I must ask you… w-will you have me?”
She could barely see him in the darkness, the moonlight all that provided slight illumination to his face. He looked… shocked, she thought, though perhaps it was simply a trick of the light. He had to have known how she was feeling, had he not?
He didn’t say anything, and she longed to know what he was thinking. But then, Eddie Francis had always been able to hide his emotions with his wit and charm. He now responded to her by bringing his hands to his arms, where the bare skin beneath her sleeves was exposed. She shivered, but not because of the chill in the night air. Ever so slowly, inch by inch, he drew her toward him. Julia fought the urge to do away with this slow draw to one another and throw herself into his arms, for he clearly had something else entirely in mind.
When she was nearly flush against him, his hands left her arms to reconvene at the small of her back, and when he pulled her up close, she gasped. He brought his forehead to hers, and after the slightest hesitation, his lips met hers in a kiss of exploration. His tongue swept her mouth, tasting her, and ever-so-slowly meeting hers in a dance that was more exquisite than any she had ever taken part in with her own two feet.
She sighed a little bit, and he increased the pressure upon her lips. Her own arms circled him, and when she tapped a hand against his bottom, he jumped slightly, and she felt his lips curve into a smile at her actions. Good. She had surprised him, which was exactly her intention.
Julia wished he had returned her words of love toward him, though he seemed to be doing so with his actions. She could feel his response to her against her hip, and the fact that he desired her so made her groan with an equal yearning for him. She loved Eddie Francis, and she would give herself to him, right here in the middle of this garden, if that was what he so desired.
One of his hands now came from her hip to her neck, and then ever so slowly his fingers trailed a path down her collarbone and along the top of her bodice. She gasped at her own response to his touch, felt the tremors course through her at the need for more, to be closer to him. He seemed to be waiting at the edge of her bodice, as though asking for an invitation, and she nodded her head slightly to tell him yes, she was his, to take what he wanted.
He slowly lowered her dress, enough that her breast was freed, which he took within his hand. Still, with his gentle touch, he ran his fingers over her, kneading her, and when he found her nipple, even the slightest brush of his fingertips caused her to moan aloud.
She gripped him tighter around the neck, pressing herself into him. She wanted all of him, here and now, but when she began to lower her hands to his breeches, he caught them with his, stilling her as he pulled back ever so slightly.
“Julia,” he said, his breath ragged, and she knew that he burned for her with the same amount of desire. “We cannot… not now, not here.”
Julia felt tears spring into her eyes, and she was glad for the dark, for the last thing she wanted was for him to know how much his rejection hurt — not only in this but his lack of response to her speech toward him.
“Why?” she asked, slightly embarrassed when she heard the hitch within her words.
“Because,” he said urgently. “This is not how you are meant to be shown physical love for the first time. It should be in a bed. With your husband. Not with a groom in the gardens.”
She bit back a retort as his words sunk in, telling her that he never considered the fact thathe —though a jockey, not a groom — could be one and the same.
“You mean you don’t — you won’t —”
He leaned in to kiss her once more, but she brought her hands to his chest to push him back. “Tell me what you want, Eddie.”
He sighed, running one hand through his hair, while the other pulled her close. He was just beginning to pull up her bodice when a voice cut through the night air, freezing them both where they stood.
CHAPTER29
“Julia? Julia are you out here?”
Julia’s breath caught when she heard her mother’s voice. What was she doing here, in the middle of the gardens, exactly where she and Eddie had convened?
But before they could move, the light of a lantern sung toward them, illuminating them through the darkness of the garden. Julia gasped as she lifted her eyes to the light, while Eddie stepped in front of her. She wasn’t sure if he was shielding her due to her current state of disarray or from the harshness of the lantern and the eyes on the other side, but she appreciated his attempt to protect her, even if it was from her own parents.
“Lady St. Albans,” Eddie finally said as Julia peered around him, squinting through the dark. She swallowed hard when she saw her father standing next to her mother. And — the Duke of Clarence? What was he doing here, wearing that damn smile, his eyebrow crooked like that as though he knew exactly what was happening here? Not that this was a particularly difficult situation to deduce.
“My lord,” Eddie said, his tone wary.
Her parents ignored him, however, as their gaze was peering around him at Julia. She did all she could to shrink into the shadows, while ensuring her bodice was properly in place.
“Julia, you have worried your mother!” her father exclaimed, though he was clearly equally as concerned, if not more so, than Lady St. Albans. “We have been looking everywhere for you.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, stepping out from behind Eddie. “That was certainly not my intent. We were simply getting some fresh air… catching up on old times, as it were.”
The Earl crossed his arms over his chest as he narrowed his eyes, looking angrier than Eddie had ever seen him before.
“You do not seriously expect us to believe this, do you? Have more respect for your parents than to lie to us so.”
“Eddie and I had much to speak about, ’tis true,” said Julia, persisting even when her father snorted at her words. “But also…” She found no reason to lie, and she looked quickly at Eddie in order to determine his thoughts, but his face remained stoic. “Since we arrived in Newmarket, Eddie and I have become reacquainted and have found that, well, we have a… connection, I suppose you could say.”
