Page 26 of The Baroness of Sin
“I’m fine. More than fine…” she assured him and planted several kisses on his cheek and along his jawline as she pulled him up to her. She rested in his arms, and they held each other in the long, sweet darkness of the maze. “Thank you,” she whispered while tucked against his strong chest.
It was in the dark that Martha realized how foolish she had been. She tried to drive the invasive thought in her head by kissing her Lord. Each kiss was sweet and tugged violently at her heart. How was she such a fool not to notice that feeling growing with each touch? She thought the feeling would fade with the euphoria, but it didn’t. She loved him. She had fallen in love with him, and that was very foolish thing to do.
“I am suddenly feeling a bit overwhelmed,” she said quietly and without warning. He opened his mouth to apologize. She could see it in his eyes, but she placed a finger on his lips.
“Hush, now. You did nothing wrong. I wish you could stay with me…” she trailed off, “but I have to go inside. I wish you a fond goodnight.”
She planted one last kiss on his lips, both of them lingering as long as they could afford before they parted ways, and each slipped away into the dark.
* * *
Martha desperately wanted to lay down. Her legs and her core felt weak after an experience that she couldn’t believe. She wanted to try and think, but her thoughts kept switching places with her desires, and everything became muddled and hard to separate.
“Am I supposed to look the other way when you come sneaking into your own home?” said a curt voice from the darkness as she came in from the porch. It took all Martha had left in her not to scream.
“Fish and frogs! Benjamin why are you skulking in the dark?!” She was so angry at him for scaring her that she hadn’t yet registered what he had said.
“Where were you?” he asked, ignoring her attempted scolding.
“In the gardens. Where else would I have been?” Her anger did well to cover up her deceit.
“You think I don’t know what you were doing back there, hiding amongst the hedges?” he pressed her.
“Is a lady not entitled to the use of her gardens now?” She wouldn’t give him the inch that he was looking for. It was irrelevant, though. She knew when Benjamin came to a conclusion, he would not be dissuaded. Unfortunately, this time he happened to be right.
“Need I remind you that you are a clergyman's daughter and a Baron’s widow? Do you have to be prompted to act as such, like I would a child?” His tone was as infantilizing as his words. Martha felt as though she was nine years old and sneaking under fences again. She didn’t like him bringing that feeling back to her.
“Need I remind you that you are not a father, not mine nor anyone’s, and you have no grounds to act as my guardian? I may do as I please.” She was awfully worked up now, and she knew that her temper was very close to being lost. She turned to march to her room.
“If he would tempt a lady outside of proper behavior, then he is no gentleman. I dare say it is unlikely that he is much different than your former husband,” her brother remarked to her back.
Martha whirled around. “How dare you speak of things you know nothing about?” she practically shouted. She was being too loud, but she didn’t care. “He is nothing like that… that scoundrel.”
“Then why does he not court you openly?” Her brother was cowed by her sudden rage, but this question still had not been addressed, and it was the last bastion he had.
Martha couldn’t answer it. She couldn’t admit to her brother that she had been the one to propose that James and she act in such a manner. Her anger was suddenly doused.
James had been reluctant, and she had persuaded him, assured him that nothing would go wrong. Now her mind was all muddled with her emotions, and she didn’t know what she felt. She stood over her brother and began to weep.
Benjamin hadn’t been expecting this and did as his fraternal instincts demanded of him. He went to his crying younger sister and comforted her; his voice was soft and soothing.
“I am sure many things are confusing right now. Why don’t you return home, to your real home with Aunt Barbara? Take some time to try and sort yourself out.”
He was right. She needed some time to make sense of everything.
Chapter Nineteen
James noticed when he glanced up from his work in his study that the family carriage was leaving from the Lady’s manor. His focus on his work was strained as of late with Lady Carrington within sight of his window, but he tried his best to remain diligent. He was about to return to his ledger when he heard someone clear their throat behind him.
“Preoccupied with the Carrington estate, My Lord? That has been the common circumstance as of late.” Miss Blake remarked with a pert smile.
“I didn’t realize you were so attentive to my preoccupations,” James said, genuinely surprised.
“I make it my policy to be familiar with what's on My Lord's mind, as I must tend to his child. She has been missing you of late, My Lord.”
“Has she? Why would Amanda miss me? I haven’t gone anywhere.” James asked.
“Well, respectfully, My Lord, you have been spending an awful lot of time with Lady Carrington,” Miss Blake told him with a rather instructional tone.
