Page 32 of The Viscount in her Bedroom
~oOo~
When Louisa retired to her room that evening, she didn’t even try to sleep. Warm milk wasn’t going to help. She should start letters to her sisters telling them all about her new purpose in life.
But she was worried about Lord Wade, and he was all she could think about. Louisa knew that Georgie was doing the right thing, but did he?
Biting her lip, she went back out into the dark corridor, carrying a candle. The other ladies had gone to their beds, but was Lord Wade still in his study all alone?
As Louisa entered the central portion of the house, where the two wings met at the top of the dual staircases, she heard male voices. She ducked back the way she’d come, blowing out her candle. Lord Wade and his valet came up the stairs and turned into the gentlemen’s wing. She crept behind them until they reached his bedchamber and disappeared inside. Then she hid in a recessed doorway until her legs grew cramped and her back began to ache. Finally the valet left, turning toward the servants’ staircase at the far end of the wing.
She went to Lord Wade’s door and laid her ear against it. There was no sound, not even footsteps. She told herself he was already abed, peacefully asleep, but she couldn’t believe it.
Suddenly the door was flung wide and he was standing there glaring at her as if he knew everything. He was in shirtsleeves, and his cravat and collar were gone, leaving his throat bare.
“Why are you following me?” he demanded.
“I—I—”
“Louisa, I could hear every step you took.”
Then he reached forward. She gave little squeak as he found her arm and dragged her inside. When the door slammed shut, he let her go, and she put her back against it.
He folded his arms across his broad chest. “I want an answer.”
She lifted her chin. “I was worried about you.”
Whatever he had thought of her motives, that wasn’t it, because he gaped at her. “What are you talking about?”
“Well…you have benefited greatly from Georgie’s help, and now I’m taking her away from you. I know you’ve been avoiding your family the last day or two, but Simon—”
“I haven’t been avoiding my family,” he said with disbelief. “I’ve been avoiding you!”
“Me?” she whispered. “I thought you were close to despair, that you might do something desperate!”
“Despair? Why would you think that?”
“I—well, there’s a whole list! You won’t go to London to visit your friends, you won’t eat with your family, and you refuse to marry. And now I’ve taken Georgie away from you.”
“You helping Georgie isn’t taking her away. And I visit with my friends,” he added defiantly. “And if I don’t want to make a fool of myself in London, that’s my business.”
“But Simon—”
He suddenly put his hands on the door over her head, and she sucked in a breath. She was surrounded by him, though they didn’t touch. His wide chest filled her vision; his face was just above hers.
She had always respected the warnings never to be alone with a man, assuming it was so the man couldn’t take advantage.
She had never understood thatshemight want to take advantage of the man.
Especially this man. He smelled divinely, and she could feel the warmth of his body so close to hers.
She shouldn’t be here. She couldn’t breathe.
“I’m avoidingyou, Louisa,” he said again, his voice gruff, deeper. “Because all I can think about is kissing you.”
She had spent days studying his beauty, her nights thinking about every brief moment alone with him. He made her feel more alive than any man ever had. They were alone now, and no one knew—no one would know.
She stood on tiptoes and kissed him. For one electric moment, it was a gentle thing, the softness of his lips, the warmth of the contact. Then he leaned into her, pressing her body hard to the door, his arms trembling where they were still braced against the wood. His mouth slanted over hers as he groaned.
It was a kiss every girl dreamed of, full of passion and temptation. It was everything her sisters claimed it could be.
