Page 45 of A Lady's Touch of Sin

Chapter 21

The words continued to echo in Baldwin’s head. “Tell me if you’re ever going to kiss me.” It had been no more than a few seconds since their utterance, yet Baldwin currently felt he’d been dropped into a strange, dark, and deep well of feeling and emotion. He no longer felt pinned to the ground by gravity. He knew he had to act swiftly to prove himself; knew that Marta Schnitzler wasn’t the sort of woman who would wait around for very long.

When his hands found her torso, he pulled her into him. He did it with much more force than he’d initially planned. The story that played out across her face was one of unique pleasure and excitement. He’d never been the sort of man to excite or surprise anyone.

She thrilled him. She made him reconsider what sort of man he wanted to be. He yearned to explain this to her but knew that at this moment, words would never be enough.

Her breasts pressed hard against his chest, and her thin arms skated across his broad shoulders as he leaned forward, tugged her against him, and kissed her soft, pillow-like lips. A moan escaped her lips and swept through his, a sign of how much she felt for him—proof that their desires were fiery and united in a single mission.

Suddenly, she broke the kiss with a gasp. Her fingers fluttered across her wet lips as she blinked enormous orb-like eyes up at him. He felt her confusion. It seemed clear: the man he was at this moment, this private arena near the back of the garden wall, was not the man she’d suspected him to be constantly. His member bulged hard against his pant leg, and his heart bumped against his ribcage. Her hands stretched across his chest, and she pressed herself against him again and lifted her chin.

“You are nothing like what I expected you to be,” were the words she chose. They simmered with excitement, with adrenaline. And then again, her lips pressed hard against his then opened to allow her perfect tongue to skate across his. Her fingers pinched his skin and then skated down to his flat belly and tucked beneath his pants.

He’d never felt such electricity simmer through his body before. He felt overcome with it. He grabbed the top of the fabric of her gown as he continued to kiss her, gruffer now, more animalistic in nature, and he tugged at the fabric until her beautiful porcelain breasts spilled into his large hands. She broke the kiss and blinked down at them, seemingly surprised yet pleased. His fingers formed over the brown nipples and squeezed, and she moaned again. Her eyes closed, and the lashes fluttered over her cheeks. He moved her against the brick wall, where she placed her head back and tilted her chin towards the sky.

They lost time after that. Marta’s hand closed over his hard member; he felt it grow even more solid and rock-hard with her touch. He kissed her ear, her cheek, her throat, and then burrowed his head against her breasts and traced circles around her nipples. Her fingers scattered across his hair and tugged at it lovingly, with endless want. Finally, he found a path beneath her skirt and drew a line across the juncture between her perfect thighs, overwhelmed with wanting to know the secret that lurked there. He wanted to tear the dress from her waist and cast it to the ground and burrow his face between those thighs. Every single moan and cry from her throat, he wanted to feel echoed through the rest of her frame as he thrust his member into her and took her. These were the mad cravings of a man in love.

But all too soon, they heard their names echoed out through the garden.

“Baldwin? Marta?” The voice came from Ewan.

Hurriedly, they both righted their clothes. Marta grabbed a handkerchief and tapped away at her mouth and eyes, attempting to cleanse herself of signs of romance and fix her make-up. Baldwin shuffled his fingers through his hair and whispered, “Do I look all right?”

Marta gave him hazy, lovely eyes. “You really want to hunt for more compliments? At this stage?”

Baldwin laughed, surprised that she’d gone with such sarcasm in the wake of what they’d just done. “Is it really so difficult to pull some sort of ladylike quality out of you?”

“I should hope so,” Marta returned. She arched her brow and returned her hand to his chest, right over his madly beating heart. She again seemed overwhelmed with want.

“Please. I must close up shop for the day,” Baldwin said, his smile stretching wider.

Again, Ewan’s voice hollered out across the garden wall. Marta smacked Baldwin’s chest with the flat of her hand and said, “You’re far too rude for a lady such as myself.”

“You’re a walking contradiction,” Baldwin returned.

“And you’re far different than you initially seem,” Marta said. It was a loaded statement, heavy with promise. “I hope soon I can continue to study you.”

Suddenly, the boys raced out from the other side of the garden wall, chasing after a ball. Laura’s cries joined theirs as she tore across the grass and grabbed the ball, the champion. She smashed the ball against the ground and beat her chest. Her blonde hair had fully escaped its up-do.

“She’s completely lost her mind,” Marta said with a laugh. She whisked away from Baldwin, abandoning him only seconds before Laura noticed her. Ewan, then, appeared as well, his hands on hips as he watched Marta unite with the boys and her dear maid. Marta gripped Laura’s hands. They spun in a wild circle together, becoming a swirl of blonde hair and blue eyes and thin frames and laughter, so much of it. The boys joined in, grabbing one another’s hands and spinning until they fell to the ground.

Throughout this strange pomp and circumstance, Ewan’s eyes turned towards Baldwin’s. For whatever reason, Baldwin suspected that Ewan knew what he and Marta had been up to. Although he didn’t wish to hide this from Ewan, not in the least, he did comprehend a small slice of the pain it had caused him. Still, Ewan nodded to him, a formal greeting, and Baldwin nodded back.

“Children’s games,” Ewan said, nodding towards the girls and the little boys.

“How dreadful that we’re the only adults,” Baldwin said with a laugh. All too recently, he’d come into the idea that formality and rules no longer served him as they once had.

“Indeed. Well, I suppose I’ll have a lunch-time drink. Would you like to join me?” Ewan asked.

This was a lifeline back to normality. Baldwin nodded and smiled. “Of course. How could I refuse something like that?”

“You don’t have to run off? Perform some sort of adult duty for your father’s business?” Ewan asked. “It’s been your constant refrain for some years.”

Baldwin’s eyes turned back towards Marta, who had collected Malcolm in her arms to dot his forehead with kisses. Malcolm shrieked in response, attempting to shove her away playfully. Baldwin felt another smile creep across his cheeks. That moment, Marta lifted her head to peer across the field at him. With this last look of longing, Baldwin understood: what had just occurred was the first of many. There was no way he would allow that to be the final word.

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