Page 79 of The Secret Love of a Gentleman
They had lain in bed all afternoon and made love twice. She led on the second occasion, using her mouth and sitting on top of him, his palms resting on her thighs, his thumbs brushing over the inner surfaces as she rose and lowered.
‘It is four o’clock, Rob,’ she said, louder.
His eyelids lifted, and dark-grey eyes looked at her. He smiled. ‘Sorry, we have so little time to spend together and I fell asleep.’
‘I slept too.’
His fingers brushed her cheek. ‘Now I must give you up again.At least I think the dark circles that were beneath your eyes when I picked you up have gone.’
‘You have a way with compliments, Rob Marlow.’ She rolled away, got up and reached for her chemise. ‘Where is your chamber pot?’
‘Beneath the bed.’
He lifted up on his side and rested his head on a palm, the sheet and blankets settling low over his hip, displaying the athletic definition of his torso and the dark dusting of hair across the centre of his chest. She felt as though she knew every inch of his body now.
‘You know you are beautiful, you do not need my compliments, but if you wish for them,’ he said, ‘then what I really notice about your eyes is that they turn gold in the sunlight.’
She did not know what to say. The look in his eyes said hers were gold now. She bunched up her chemise, slid her arms into the sleeves, lifted it over her head and let it fall to cover her body.
‘Caro. I want to marry you as soon as I can.’ He had got up in the moment it took to put the chemise over her head.
He embraced her, as the words slid through her soul. She wished for it too. ‘But I cannot have children, Rob.’
‘I do not care. I will ask that we say nothing to anyone yet, though. Let us keep this our secret until I know I can support you without my father’s or John’s help. If my family know, it will prevent us escaping like this. We will act as friends before them and be lovers when we are alone.’
She understood, and what she valued most were these moments with him. ‘Yes.’ She kissed his lips briefly, then pulled free. ‘But now we need to go back. Would you dress in the sitting room so I can use your chamber pot?’
He grinned as broadly as George might as he collected his clothes and walked from the room.
42
Rob had slept well, the scents of sex and Caro seeping from his sheets into his soul. He was in love, with Caro and with the act of love. The euphoria of release ached in his muscles when he got out of bed the next morning.
He must strive harder to find a living that would enable him to take care of a wife as well as take up a seat in the House of Commons. Because he thought better when he exercised, he went to his fencing club.
His afternoon was also spent thinking, seated in his brother’s drawing room and wishing the day were yesterday, when he and Caro had been in his bed. He tried to listen to the dull conversation of numerous female callers, all of whom ogled poor Caro, but he could not turn his mind to it. His thoughts, instead, sought to solve the puzzle of his life.
When they entered, he knew none of them, but when he was introduced, he did at least pay attention to their names. To help the poor, he would need allies among the rich; once he had his seat, any bills he presented must be supported by others to win a vote, and wives might influence their husbands.
He uncrossed his legs, shifted in the chair and crossed them again in the opposite direction, fidgeting, and sighing while he moved.
Caro glanced at him as she spoke to someone not far from him.
These women would think him churlish, he was not doing himself any favours, but today, he did not care. Caro had come to town for him, and he was here for her. They both only endured these people so they might sit in the same room without raising questions.
‘Tea, Rob?’ Mary held a cup out to him. ‘You look bored. I’m surprised you came.’
He smiled and accepted the teacup and saucer without comment, leaving Mary to walk away.
Then John caught his eye. John was sitting on the far side of the room. He stood, crossed the room and sat in the seat beside Rob. ‘Have you nothing better to do than this? You spent yesterday with the women.’
Rob rarely spoke to John.
‘But I always forget you have more self-restraint than I did. I would have been racing horses, or… Well, my vices are no longer my vices.’
I used to have self-restraint. No longer.‘No, they are Harry’s vices now,’ Rob responded with the words John would expect him to say.
‘Quite. But I cannot condemn Harry as you can. I was as bad as he is. My first paramour was Caroline and Drew’s elder sister.’
