Page 76 of Ladies in Hating
Among the roses.
CatrionaRoseLacey.
She did not know how Georgiana even knew her second name—but she’d heard Georgiana say it, just once, when Cat had been frozen in terror atop a wall. Her voice had been low and softand soothing, and Cat had blinked open her eyes to land upon Georgiana’s perfect, plaster-dusted face.
She had not forgotten the sight. She would never forget it.
At this precise moment, however, she was not able to see Georgiana’s face, because Georgiana had her palms clamped over her eyes. “Please,” she mumbled, “let us never speak of this.”
“Heartling, I would do a great many things for you, but pretending to ignore this revelation is entirely beyond my capacity.”
Georgiana groaned into her hands. “I wassixteen,” she repeated. “I thought—I thought—”
“Yes?”
“Oh God. I suppose I imagined that you would know, somehow. That you would see my books and—and seeme.Take notice of me. Finally.” She lowered her hands just enough to glance at Cat through her lashes. Her cheeks were still a preposterous shade of red. “I am perfectly cognizant of how ludicrous that sounds.”
Cat felt the smile tugging at her lips and could do nothing about it. “Georgie mine.” She pulled one of Georgiana’s hands from her face and pressed a kiss to her palm. “It’s sweet. Charming.”
“I think I shall die.”
Cat laughed and freed Georgiana’s other hand, then twined their fingers together. “Do you want to know something regrettable I did at sixteen?”
“If it allows us to change the subject.”
She tugged Georgiana closer with their linked hands, close enough to go up on her toes and brush her lips across Georgiana’s. “I missed the opportunity to do this,” she murmured.
“I would have incinerated on the spot,” Georgiana said, but one of her hands crept around Cat’s waist and anchored her there, their bodies notched together.
Cat kissed her again, slowly, lingeringly. “There’s still time.”
“For me to incinerate?”
Cat unfastened the pearl buttons at Georgiana’s throat, one after another. And then, very deliberately, she licked her way down between Georgiana’s breasts. “To burn.”
Georgiana’s breath caught. Her hand dipped from Cat’s waist down to her buttocks, and she made a tiny, hungry sound as she gripped Cat’s flesh.
Their bodies came harder together, and Cat’s thoughts grew hazed.
She wanted her hands everywhere—all over Georgiana’s skin. She wanted to feel the slick heat of Georgiana’s mouth.
Already her lower belly had tightened, an urgency building between her legs. Her fingers were clumsy as she unfastened the rest of the buttons of Georgiana’s bodice and helped peel the fine wool from Georgiana’s arms.
And then Georgiana’s dress dropped to the floor.
“God,” Cat heard herself say. “Oh God.”
Georgiana wore no stays—her breasts were small and high, and the thick fabric of her frock had required no structural undergarments. She stood, her face flushed and her pupils wide, in nothing but a chemise fine enough to see her nipples through.
She looked like some figure from myth, an exquisite sculptured virgin poised to be sacrificed to a lusty god. Her lips were parted. So were her thighs.
Cat felt feverish, not quite in control as she pushed Georgiana back onto the surface of the desk. Things crashed, and she fumbled for the hem of Georgiana’s chemise, desperate for skin, for heat, formore.
But Georgiana hushed her. “Your family—they’ll hear!”
Cat groped for sense and also, very lightly, for Georgiana’s left thigh. “You’re right.” She pressed her face against Georgiana’sneck and inhaled her amber-dark scent. “I know you’re right. I’m trying to pull myself together. Your lack of underpinnings temporarily unhinged me.”
Georgiana stroked the back of Cat’s head, but she did not say anything.
