Page 109 of Enslaved to the Seduction of a Lady
“It certainly is, and it most definitely is not a topic of conversation while we have company.”
“You’re right, my wife,” he said. “As you always are. Now, Mrs. Jones, would you care to dance?”
“I would love to,” Alison said, and she climbed from her seat, gathering her skirt in her hand, she addressed the group. “My first-ever dance as a wife!”
As they positioned themselves for the dance, Alison knew she stood a step too close to him, that it was not normal to feel a man’s breath on your cheek as you moved. But she didn’t back away—she couldn’t. To feel him so close, after so long of being apart, was all too enticing.
Luke stifled a laugh, but Alison noticed it.
“What’s so funny?” she asked, an outrage building in her.
“Nothing, I…” he huffed, trying to find the right words, “you’re mywife. It’s just so unreal, that’s all.”
“It is rather dreamlike, isn’t it?” Alison agreed. And then she said, “You dance well as a husband.”
“Is it different?” he inquired, swinging her around in time to the music.
“More meaningful, perhaps,” she said. “I wonder if kissing you shall be different, too”
He laughed and looked deep into her eyes.
“I guess you will have to wait until you find out,” he said, teasing her. She growled in frustration.
“But I do not wish to wait, Mr Jones.”
“In that case,” he said, “there is only one thing for it.”
“Which is?”
“To announce our departure,” Luke said, “and return toourhouse, our marital home.”
“Well now,” she said, an eyebrow cocked. “That is something I most definitely cannot refuse.”
* * *
“Why don’t you take a little drink?” Alison said. “Meet me upstairs in, say, ten minutes?”
They had returned quickly to the house, both eager to feel their hands searching, probing. Teresa had kindly offered to take Jenny for the night, knowing they would want some privacy, and Jenny had easily agreed.
“Why don’t I join you straight away?” he asked.
“Trust me,” she said, kissing him chastely on the lips, “ten minutes.”
She scurried up the stairs as quickly as her gown would allow, collecting her lady’s maid on the way. Fanny had arrived earlier that afternoon, knowing she was required to help her lady that night and the morning after. Although they would not have a wealth of servants like at the Duke’s estate, Alison had insisted on keeping Fanny at her side.
“We have ten minutes,” Alison said urgently.
“It’s all right, My Lady,” Fanny said, giggling. “There is plenty of time. ‘Tis only a few laces, nothing more. Turn around, let’s get this cloak off you first.”
Alison had fretted about this moment for weeks, even asking Teresa’s advice.
“Don’t worry about it,” Teresa had said. “It will be entirely natural. Luke will help.”
But she hadn’t believed, and so she had arranged for Fanny to help instead.
By the time the gentle knock on the door came, Fanny had disappeared, and Alison was lying beneath the bedcovers, entirely naked.
“Alison?” Luke called through the door.
