Page 49 of Ladies in Hating
“One of the rotted timbers,” Georgiana explained when she finally slowed. “It must have shifted—it’s obstructing most of the passage back into the east wing. That’s why the gap looks so dark and small now. There’s a blasted tree trunk blocking our way.”
Cat moistened her lips. “How is that possible?”
Could there be someone inside the house? Could an intruder be the reason for the barred doors and the missing Graves?
Could a ghost topple timbers?
She did not have time to ask. Georgiana let loose a stream of anxious words, her fingers still wrapped around Cat’s arm, her expression tormented. “The framing must have buckled. Perhaps we disturbed it when we passed through, but—God! If beams are collapsing without warning, this wing must be less structurally sound than I suspected.” Her free hand was at the base of her throat, and her thumb worried her collarbone. “I’m so sorry, Catriona. I should never have brought you out here. You might have been killed.”
Cat told herself later that she had had no choice this time—not when Georgiana looked agonized and afraid. She put her hand atop Georgiana’s. “You did right to bring me here. I wanted to see the garden.”
Georgiana went still beneath the light pressure of Cat’s fingers. Her lashes fluttered, down and then back up, revealing the blue of her eyes, gone clear as water in the sunlight.
Down. She had looked down at Cat’s mouth.
Cat felt dizzy, suddenly.Breathe,she thought, and it came out a gasp, loud in the silence of the garden. Her fingers tightened over Georgiana’s, and beneath her fingertips she could feel the warmth of Georgiana’s flesh. The pulse that throbbed at her throat.
The rich scent of the roses was everywhere, and beneath it, the warm wood scent of Georgiana’s perfume, as rich and alive and complicated as the woman who stood, inches from Cat’s body, and did not move except for the way she trembled.
Slowly, slowly, Cat took her fingers away. Georgiana’s lips parted, almost helplessly, as though she meant to call Cat back. As though she meant to plead.
But she did not. Neither of them spoke, their gazes hot and locked upon one another. Georgiana was a column of gold, lit from behind by the sun, and—
No. Georgianawasthe sun. And Cat was already burning.
Despite herself—despite all her well-intentioned resolve—Cat put her fingertips against the long fluttering length of Georgiana’s throat.
Georgiana’s skin flushed beneath Cat’s touch. Her breath came quickly, and each jerky movement made desire build in Cat’s lower belly. She felt hot. Dizzy. Mad with yearning as she watched Georgiana shiver and wet her lips.
Shewas doing this. She could make Georgiana come apart beneath her hands.
She brought her fingers up to cradle Georgiana’s jaw, then brushed her thumb across Georgiana’s lips, first the lower, then the upper.
“I think about these freckles,” she said, very softly, “all the time.”
“Catriona…”
Her voice—God, there was something about that elegant voice gone thready that made Cat’s skin feel shivery and sensitive. She wanted to press herself against Georgiana’s body, wanted to drag her teeth along Georgiana’s skin.
Slow,she told herself.Patient.
She tried to listen. Her other hand was at Georgiana’s waist, and Georgiana was touching her too, the hand that had held Cat’s elbow skimming very lightly along Cat’s back, flirting with the curve of Cat’s hip.
Cat let her hand slide from Georgiana’s mouth around to the back of her neck. “I dream about you,” she murmured.
Georgiana’s eyes fluttered closed. Their mouths came very close, almost touching, separated by a breath.
“Your scent,” Cat said. “Your voice.”
The tiniest sound slipped from Georgiana’s lips—a whimper barely louder than a breath. Lust clutched at Cat, a heavy ache between her legs.
“I want to kiss you,” she said, and thought,Let me. Please.
But Georgiana moved first. She palmed Cat’s lower back and yanked her closer, their mouths meeting in a rough and desperate clash.
Relief and hunger warred inside Cat as she leaned into the kiss, as she met Georgiana’s tongue with her own. She moaned a little, her hands sliding along Georgiana’s body, finding the blades of her shoulders, the muscular swell of her arse. Georgiana’s mouth was hot and hungry, and the way she clutched at Cat’s body felt wild, somehow. Frantic.
Cat broke their kiss and pressed her open mouth to Georgiana’s neck, to the place where her dress fastened at her throat. God—she wanted more and more. She wanted to yank downthe violet woolright now,wanted to suck marks into Georgiana’s skin—
