Page 49 of The Viscount's Diamond Bride
She held his gaze, searching for truth in his eyes. She found it. After a moment, he continued.
“As for my mother,” he paused, wincing. “She can be… difficult. I imagine you are of the opinion that I am too lenient, that I am tied to my mother’s apron-strings.”
“Goodness, Graham, I think no such thing.”
He gave a wry smile. “Well, others do. The plain fact is that I believe my mother deserves a little kindness after what she has been through. I do not intend to order her about. Her life has never been her own. She was eager to wed my father, but only because her parents filled her head with the idea of a grand matrimony. She believed it would make her happy. It did not. So, I want to keep my mother safe. I want to keep her happy. And while she has not been kind to you, I would take it as a very greatfavour to myself if you would at least be kind to her, Ursula. Please.”
Ursula was silent for a moment, thinking. She had fully intended to enter the library and ask for Margaret to be housed elsewhere or at least made to leave within a day or two. But with Graham staring at her with wide, pleading eyes, she found that she could not say what she had planned.
“I understand,” she said at last. “I should be more considerate towards her.”
Graham’s eyes brightened. “Thank you, Ursula. You are really a Diamond, aren’t you?”
She gave a faint smile and rose to her feet. The movement brought her closer to Graham than she had intended, and he did not release her hand. Instead, he tilted his head back, staring up at her. Ursula found herself caught in his eyes, grey as a stormy day.
“Thank you,” he whispered softly. “I do not deserve you, Ursula.”
Slowly, ever so slowly, Ursula lifted her hands to his face, cupping his jaw. She stepped closer, drawn as if by magnetism, and he looped his arms around her waist. Some sort of dam broke inside her, and she lunged down to kiss him.
His lips met hers, rough and unsteady, and he wound his arms tighter around her. Ursula found herself pulled off her feet, forward into his lap. To steady herself, she grabbed at his shoulders her knees straddling his thighs. The kiss grewdesperate, and Graham’s hand flattened itself out on the small of her back, pressing her towards him.
Heat built up inside her, that familiar aching sensation she had felt before. They broke apart to breathe, and Graham tilted his head to kiss the side of her throat, sending prickles of pleasure down her spine. Closing her eyes, Ursula let herself melt into the sensation.
Perhaps this time they could have a more reciprocal session. Perhaps she could touch Graham the way he had touched her. She had no idea how to do it, of course, but if he could show her…
The library door flew open with a resounding crash. Ursula gave a muted scream and flew backwards off Graham’s lap, nearly tripping over her own feet as she did so. Graham was on his feet in an instant, red-faced and rumpled.
“Mother!” he gasped.
Margaret stood in the doorway, the very picture of outraged virtue.
“Graham! Ursula! What in heaven’s name do you think you are doing?” she snapped, eyes blazing.
Whatever we like in our own house,Ursula was about to shout back but recalled Graham’s plea to be kind to his mother, and kept her mouth closed.
“Mother, you simply cannot speak to me that way,” Graham spoke up, his jaw tight. “Our intimate businesses are our own, you are fully aware of that.”
Margaret sniffed. “Yes, well, that business should be confined to your rooms, not the library in broad daylight.”
“It’s hardly daylight. It is nearly suppertime,” Ursula murmured, and earned herself a sharp look from her mother-in-law.
Margaret eyed her coldly. “Hm. Well, I came to ask Ursula if she would like to play a hand of cards with me, but after this scene I may retire to my room with a headache.”
Very well,Ursula wanted to shout.Do as you wish.
Instead, she clenched her jaw and forced a smile, ignoring the aching throb of desire in her chest.
“That sounds lovely, Margaret. I should like very much to play cards with you.”
Chapter Seventeen
“All who joy would win must share it -- Happiness was born a twin.” – Don Juan,George Gordon Byron
Three Days Later
“I am quite apprehensive,” Ursula confessed.
Graham gave her a reassuring smile. “It is quite natural to feeluneasy. Thisis our first ball as husband and wife, after all.”
