Page 21 of Seven Swans a Swimming

“I think I rather like arguing with you,” Arabella admitted.

Nathaniel’s smile disappeared, though he did not move away. He looked at her closely, and then finally said, “You know, I think you are trying to seduce me, Arabella.”

Arabella shivered. “Perhaps.”

She should not have said that word. She should not have been so close to him, should not have been looking at him like that. But she wanted to be.

“And are you prepared?” asked Nathaniel in a low voice, turning to face her, and suddenly putting his hands on her waist. “Are you prepared, Arabella, for what might happen if you do seduce me?”

Arabella could not speak, could not think. All she could do was feel: the searing heat of his hands on her waist, the way he looked at her, a powerful force in itself. And she could feel her desire for him, a desire she had attempted to force down but could no longer fight.

“Yes,” she breathed.

It was sudden. Nathaniel dipped his head and crushed his lips on hers, taking her, taking what he wanted, taking passion from her—and Arabella gasped, unable to think, only to taste the desire in him—and the gasp opened her mouth, inviting him in.

Nathaniel needed no further invitation. His tongue slipped into her mouth, teasing her tongue, causing shockwaves of pleasure to rocket through her body.

She clung to him, clung on for dear life. Arabella could almost feel wings sprouting from her back, as they flew on crests of pleasure as the kiss deepened.

And then it was over. Nathaniel released her, stood breathing heavily, staring as though she had bewitched him.

When it was certainly the other way around, Arabella thought wildly, her hand moving to her lips as though to replicate the sense of delicious pressure that he had given her.

“Well, Miss Fitzroy,” said Nathaniel in a jagged voice. “You have certainly answered one question for me.”

Arabella blinked. Had she asked a question? She could not recall doing so. “I have?”

A teasing smile lifted a corner of his mouth as Nathaniel offered her his arm. “Did I not tell you that a man could discover all he needed to know about a woman from a kiss? Come. We are late for luncheon. But not a word to my parents about this.”

Arabella nodded, hardly able to walk, leaning gratefully on his arm. But one thing rang in her mind; he was still not sure of her. Of this arranged marriage.

If that was not enough for Nathaniel—if a kiss which reached to the very corners of her body, to the tips of her fingers, that made her want to tear her clothes off and offer herself to him—if that kiss was not enough for Nathaniel to know whether he wanted to marry her…

What would be?

Chapter Six

Luncheon. Such asimple meal.

Arabella sat opposite Nathaniel, trying desperately to remember how to use a knife and fork, as the memory of that kiss haunted her.

“Did I not tell you that a man could discover all he needed to know about a woman from a kiss? Come. We are late for luncheon. But not a word to my parents about this.”

“Potatoes?”

Arabella glanced up as she dropped her fork. The heavy clatter on the delicate china made all three Cartiers wince, and she winced herself in sympathetic response.

She really needed to remember that she was seated at luncheon, not on her own and able to daydream. Just because she had been kissed out of her senses by the gentleman sitting opposite her, that wry smile on his face, that did not mean she could completely ignore her surroundings.

Arabella smiled weakly at Lady Cartier. “What delicious potatoes, yes, thank you.”

She helped herself rather than waiting for one of the footmen standing at the corners of the room to step forward. She had dined in places with footmen, of course, but it was not the sort of thing she had at home. The Fitzroys were gentry, not nobility.

Arabella placed three more potatoes on her plate to accompany her cold salmon and tried to focus on the simple task of eating. That was all she had to do.

Get through this meal without making a complete and utter fool of herself.

She glanced at Nathaniel, who was grinning most seductively at her across the table.

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