Page 58 of In Compromise with the Earl
Oswald’s lips were hot, fierce and demanding against hers; their tongues twined, stroked until Oswald pulled away to suckle on her lips. His hands cupped her breasts, and his thumbs strummed over her nipples. She could not taste him or feel him enough and gave into the carnal hunger twisting her insides.
“Take me to bed,” she panted in his ear. “Have your way with me. Consider it the first of many,many, lessons.”
As Oswald made to stand with her and take them to the bed, a series of raps sounded on the door. “Devil and damnation.” He nipped her ear. “Ignore it.”
“We cannot just—oh!” She broke off as his lips kissed a sensitive spot on her neck.
The insistent knock came again, and Aphrodite sighed, “It must be Leo. Let me go find out what he wants.”
Oswald was not pleased and the scowl on his face showed it. “Keep it short.”
As she left the bed, Oswald disappeared into the bathing chamber, she fixed her dress and sucked in a breath. Going to the door, she hoped her composure would not cover up the arousal she still felt thickening her blood.
She opened the door to Leo and his benign smile. “Oh good,” he said. “I hope I was not interrupting you.”
“Not at all,” Aphrodite lied. “Oswald and I were talking about my hobbies and such. Is something wrong?”
“I have to get back to the church this evening for evening prayer,” he said with a wry tick of his lips. “Would you like to have that conversation you were asking for now?”
“Oh, yes,” she said. “Let me tell Oswald.”
Turning to the bathing chamber she saw Oswald drying a wet face and bit back a laugh. “Leo and I are going to talk now before he goes off to church. Don’t worry, I will be right back.”
He grunted unhappily in response. “Try not to be a troglodyte, Dear,” she kissed his cheek then left with Leo.
Gentlemanly, Leo extended his arm. “A short stroll around the gardens cannot be too much to ask, surely?”
They descended the stairs and he took her through a set of French doors to the garden; he took them down a cobblestone path and walked with her to a quiet part of the gardens, making sure her slippered feet were away from walking in the damp grass.
“Now, what do you want to tell me?” he asked.
“I know you were the one who married Oswald and his first wife,” Aphrodite said. “I want you to know that I am not here to compete with any memories you might have of her or that I am here to usurp or obliterate her memory. I think it’s safe to say that there can be places for two different people in someone’s heart, right?”
Leo looked amazed. “You are absolutely right.”
Pulling her arm from his she looked around. “Oswald told me some things about Claire and, while what she did to him was reprehensible in every manner of the word, no one is completely evil. There had to be some good she did, and I don’t want anyone to forget it even while I am here. One must always give the Devil his due.”
Laughing softly, Leo shook his head. “I am astounded, dear. Never in my life would I have imagined someone speaking so fairly and kindly about a lady they had never met.”
She turned to him while a gust of wind lifted her hair. “Well, I’m not like most women.”
“I can see that,” he said while his eyes lowered, and he tucked a stand of hair behind an ear. “My cousin is one fortunate man. I would say twice, but after Claire—”
“How was she?” Aphrodite asked. “From where you stood, how did you find her?”
He took a moment to look off to the trees and from the way his jaw worked she knew he was deciding on the best words to say. “When Claire came to us, she was the picture of the perfect wife, demure, respectful, conscientious. But then, she and Oswald started to have problems, and she came to me numerous times to ask my advice.
“The main one was that Oswald worked too much and didn’t give her the attention she wanted. On rare occasions I would hear them fighting, she would cry and scream when Oswald left the Hall. She would often come to me for help and I spent hours counseling her as best as I could, but I never thought that she would betray him so severely,” Leo said, his tone darkening with grief.
“After she was found dead—by the hands of a jealous lover we assume—her secrets were aired. At least eight men were found to have relations with her, and it put my cousin in a dark place, a very dark place,” he ended.
“How…” Aphrodite swallowed, “how dark?”
He gave a small relieved smile. “Not what you are thinking, he never tried to harm himself, but he was severely hurt, cut to the core and depressed. For days he did not see daylight and became a shadow of the man I used to know.”
“He loved her,” she surmised.
“Deeply,” Leo replied. “My cousin might not show it, but he is a very emotional man.”
