Page 24 of Enslaved to the Seduction of a Lady
Chapter Ten
Luke caught his breath at Alison’s words.
She is in love?
His thoughts went instantly to the Earl of Belmont, and of the dance he witnessed the night before. He cleared his throat and jumped down from the stool, making his way over to the pitchfork to start shoveling the hay.
“Luke?” Her voice was tinged with something he didn’t understand.
Worry? Concern?
Whatever it was, he didn’t want to know. He wouldn’t smile and talk cheerfully as she declared her love for another man. He would not be a play thing to be discarded when she got bored.
He didn’t look back at her, merely thrust the pitchfork into the hay and chucked it back over the fence. Jenny was right. He was being a fool. Someone like Alison could never love a groom, no matter how friendly they were. The Earl was a better match for her.
“Luke!” she said again, her voice high pitched. She was not used to him turning his back on her and he could tell that irritated her, but he couldn’t let her see the hurt in his face.
“I’m busy, Lady Alison,” he said, “as is the lot of a groom. Perhaps we can talk some more later.”
“Whatever has got into you?” she asked, annoyed. She marched up to him and put a hand on his arm, making him turn to face her suddenly. “I tell you I am in love and you turn colder than a winter’s morn.”
He looked at her for a moment, breathing heavily, and then he said, “I wish you all the best and a long, happy life with the man you choose.”
He tried to turn away again, not wanting to hear about the love she had discovered, but she held his arm firm and wouldn’t let him. He looked to the floor instead, refusing at least to make eye contact.
“Luke, the man I love—” she trailed off, looking into the distance to find the right words. Then she turned back to him and started again. “The man I love is truly special. He is like no one I have ever met before—nor can I ever hope to meet. He is—”
“Alison, please.” Luke looked up at her with pleading eyes. “I am sure this man of yours is wonderful, but—”
“No, Luke. You must listen. It’s important. The man I love makes me laugh and smile. He makes me feel safe, warm. He teases me, even.”
He glanced back at her then, and quickly glanced away again.
Is she saying—?
His heart thrummed against his ribcage and he held his breath. He thought, suddenly, that perhaps he had got it all wrong, that it was he she loved.
“Look at me,” she commanded, and he obeyed. She raised her hands up and cupped his cheeks, holding his face towards her. “The man I love, Luke, is you.”
Before he could say another word, she took that final step forward and kissed him, her body thrusting itself against his with the fierce passion that only comes from a long wait.
Her soft lips met his, her hands still on his cheeks, and a thrill shivered through his whole body.Thiswas the moment he had craved for so long, and now that it finally happened, it was even more spectacular than he could ever have wished for.
Luke stiffened for the briefest of moments, but then he relaxed into her and kissed her back. The pitchfork fell from his hand and landed with a light thud on the hay. His arms, as if acting on their own, reached around her waist, pulling her into him until he could feel the warmth of her body along his.
Her lips tasted like tea and morning air. They tasted of love and happiness and promise. He let his tongue probe hers, explore her mouth, and she let her hands drop from his cheeks, wrapping them instead around his waist, her hands grasping his buttocks. He turned her, taking control, and walked her backwards until she leaned against the wooden stable bay.
There, he pushed her against the wood, pressing himself against her as he kissed her passionately, his big hands roving over her body. She moaned in response, the noise soft but full of desire, and in that moment he was filled with everything he had ever felt for her—love, companionship, want, and need.
When he finally, reluctantly, pulled away, she looked up at him coquettishly, a half-smile on her lips as she wiped them with a fingertip. She didn’t take her beautiful eyes off him, and he gasped, both for breath and for thought.
Alison’s boldness in her approach to him, so free and so full of love, sent him wild with yearning.
“That was—” he said, unable to pull his eyes from her beautiful face, his jaw working as he searched for a word even vaguely suitable to describe how he was feeling.
But it is a wordless feeling.
“Yes,” Alison said, and Luke could see she was anxious—perhaps of his reaction, perhaps of her own brazenness. “I’m sorry if I was… I didn’t mean to act inappropriately.”
