Page 30 of Her Sort of Scoundrel
She never wanted him to stop.
“I’ve got you,” he whispered when she began to quiver against him. Her release built and ebbed and then crashed over her, taking her breath away, making her moan and gasp and then melt against him. She closed her eyes, giving in entirely.
She wasn’t sure how long he held her. She felt boneless, overwhelmed with sensation and yet at peace in a way she couldn’t ever remember feeling before.
When she finally opened her eyes, he’d settled her skirt around her, and was holding her, his lips against her forehead.
“I’m yours,” she whispered against the placket of his shirt. Because she was. He was the only man she’d ever truly wanted like this—deeply, madly, despite impossibilities.
He slipped a hand under her chin, and she looked up.
“Fi,” he whispered before he took her lips again and again.
When they were both breathless, he held her again and whispered against her hair, “I’ve always been yours.”
CHAPTER8
Two dayslater
Dash stepped down from the cab he’d taken back from his fencing club and couldn’t help but cast a longing look toward Fiona's townhouse.
It had only been a few days since their encounter at the Helix Club, and yet she had persisted in avoiding him. When he tried to call the next day, he’d been turned away, told by the maid who answered that her ladyship had departed for a trip to the countryside.
He considered returning and asking for an address where he might write to her, but a letter had come for him the very same day.
In it, Fiona told him she was visiting a dear friend and would return soon. In only two lines did she acknowledge that everything had changed between them a few nights ago.
I know we must discuss what passed between us, and I promise we shall when I return. I have no regrets.
Regret was what he feared when she’d left him on the curb, so her reassurance set his heart at ease on that point. But what he truly wanted to know was how he could have a future with Fiona in it, and if it was even something she was considering.
As far as Dash was concerned, he couldn’t fathom anything else.
He saw no movement beyond the curtains in her front windows as he proceeded into Granford House. Buxton greeted him as he crossed the threshold.
“Miss Forbes has been looking for you, my lord.”
“Has she?”
Before the butler could reply, Aurelia came bounding down the stairs like a whirlwind.
“Thank heavens you’re back,” she said breathlessly. “We have an invitation!” She waved what he assumed was said invite in her hands. “Cousin Caroline has invited us to visit. I’m hoping we can depart immediately.”
“May I see?” Dash was surprised to find that after waiting over a week for a reply from his sister that one had come for Aurelia.
“Mrs. Hardy says there’s a letter for you too,” she told him in explanation as she handed over the note.
“Can we depart?” she asked with her usual irrepressible energy.
Dash racked his brain, trying to recall any engagement he might have that would conflict with an impromptu trip north, and came up short. “I can’t think of any reason we should not,” he told her as he folded and handed back his sister’s letter.
As soon as the words were out, he stared at the wall at Aurelia’s back. A trip to Caroline’s would be a balm, and an excellent opportunity for his sister to advise Aurelia, but Dash hated the possibility of missing Fiona’s return. Whenever that might be.Aurelia tilted her head and assessed him. “Are you all right, cousin? You have seemed off the last few days.”
He’d thought he’d hid it well, but the girl was too perceptive to miss much.
“Forgive me. Perhaps some country air is just what I require.” When he smiled, she seemed satisfied.
“I’ve already begun packing,” she told him with the overwhelming implication that he should do the same.
