Page 29 of The Hero

“Exactly. There is a door between her and us. As such, she cannot possibly know we are lying here in bed together.”

“I know we are, and I have never been very good at lying, either to my father or my aunt,” Harry hissed, keeping hold of the sheet to cover her bare breasts as she sat on the side of the bed. She turned toward Gideon. “You must go into the dressing room at once so that I can open the door to her and ascertain what is wrong.”

She was instantly struck dumb by how debauched he looked, with his hair in disarray, his eyes dark and unfathomable, and his lips slightly swollen from both kissing and making love to her.

Were her own lips as red and full?

She could certainly feel the soreness on her breasts and between her thighs, caused, no doubt, by the stubble on Gideon’s chin. Bringing back vivid memories of how that slight burn came to be on her skin.

“Send your aunt away,” Gideon advised in a low voice. “Tell her you will join her in your father’s room once you have washed and dressed.”

Harry frowned. “My aunt often sits and chats with me when I am in my robe or bath.”

His jaw tightened. “For obvious reasons, she cannot do so today.”

“Harry…?”

She wrenched her gaze away from Gideon’s compelling one before once again answering her aunt. “I am using the chamber pot,” she excused and then winced at the indelicacy of making such a statement in front of Gideon.

“Oh. Oh.” Her aunt sounded equally as disconcerted. “It is only that… Oxford has disappeared.” Her voice had risen dramatically.

Harry glanced at the man lying beside her. “Disappeared?”

“No one has seen him since this morning. He did not join the other gentlemen at the shoot, and his valet has not seen him since he left his bedchamber to go down to breakfast.”

“Perhaps he has gone for a walk and forgotten the time,” Harry replied distractedly. “There are some beautiful trails through the woods and down to the lake.”

“I will send a footman to check, but I do not think Oxford is the type to go wandering off enjoying scenic walks. I will also have inquiries made as to whether his horse is still in the stables.” Nevertheless, the older woman sounded grateful for the suggestion. “I will be waiting in your father’s bedchamber once you are dressed.”

“Very well, Aunt.” Harry’s gaze was currently fixated on Gideon as he threw back the bedcovers and rose from the bed.

Revealing that he still wore only his unfastened pantaloons.

Gideon displayed none of her own modesty as he rose to his feet to collect the clothes he had discarded so haphazardly earlier.

Harry could barely breathe as she took in the strength of his muscular body and the golden hue to his skin revealed in the afternoon sunlight.

Gideon had wide shoulders and a muscular back, tapering to a narrow waist. The scar from when he had been shot was visible halfway down his back and on the left side. The musculature of his buttocks was not lessened by perfectly fitting pantaloons, his legs equally so above his bare feet.

He turned as he pulled his shirt on over his head, revealing the tantalizing trail of dark hair across and between his pectoral muscles. That trail narrowed over the defined muscles of his abdomen, before disappearing beneath his drawers. Harry remembered every inch of him, and the way the hair surrounding his cock was just as dark and silky.

Harry’s breathing became choppy as she recalled Gideon teaching her how to touch him earlier. How to lick and taste him. How to wrap her fingers about his cock and take that silky hardness into the heat of her mouth before bobbing her head up and down to the symphony of Gideon’s groans of pleasure.

Her body warmed and her gaze heated merely thinking about those intimacies.

She almost sighed her disappointment when Gideon fastened his pantaloons, effectively hiding that delicious cock within their folds.

Only for her heart to catch again when he straightened and she saw how disheveled he still looked, his hair in even more disarray, his shirt unfastened at the throat.

She had fallen, it seemed, deeply and immediately in love with the passionate and sensually attractive Gideon Harrington, the Duke of Oxford.

“What is it?” Gideon prompted when he saw the way Harry’s cheeks suddenly seemed to have paled.

“Nothing,” she dismissed with what looked to be an overbright smile. “Except I believe it is time you went somewhere where you can be ‘found’ by either one of the other guests or a member of my aunt’s household. Otherwise, I fear my Aunt Amelia might decide to send out a full search party for the missing Duke of Oxford.”

Gideon wasn’t fooled for a moment by her teasing, nor did he believe for a minute that was the true reason Harry’s gaze would no longer meet his. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the time right now for him to pursue the real reason.

He stepped forward to cup her chin in one of his hands. “We will talk again later.”

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