Page 76 of Unforeseen Affairs
Instead he removed his neckcloth and tossed it aside, then finally lowered his head to the pillow. It felt blessedly cool. For a moment he forgot his headache.
But then he recalled that Charlotte lay behind him.
Thathe stood no chance of forgetting, even as sleep came for him once again.
Chapter Twenty-One
Charlotteopenedhereyes.It was far earlier than she expected; the gentle hint of dawn was barely filtering through the old, worn shutters of the room’s single window. She felt slow, with a hazy sense of security hanging thick about her, clouding her senses. More than a minute passed before she realized a heavy arm was draped over her, with a hard, warm body pressed against her back.
She stilled.
Last night he’d all but sworn he’d never touch her again. It had not been a good feeling, with the handsome lieutenant so stridently keeping his distance from her as if she were an untamed beast.
She would have sighed out loud, but for fear of waking him.
Charlotte felt like an untamed beast. Even having just awoken, that uneasy, expectant ache was already building within her, growing considerably every time she considered the heft of his forearm or the firm pressure of his chest against her back. Even his frowns and protests from the night before had done nothing to dampen her ardor.
No, he seemed even more human when his mask slipped. Baser, rawer.
Charlotte squeezed her thighs together, which unfortunately only reminded her of just how thin the fabric of her drawers was, and how close he was, how close his…
Her breath caught.
Some things in this world were a mystery to her, and likely always would be. What, if anything, awaited beyond the mortal coil? Did her Sedley forebears toil in Hell, or had they been granted forgiveness by the Lord, as her stepmother seemed to think? What other direction might her life have taken, had her mother not fallen ill? Would Charlotte have come up in the theater herself, and become an accomplished actress? She would never know. Just as she would likely never ascertain the truth of how the dowsing crystal that had disappeared from her bedside table had turned up in one of her younger siblings’ dirt mounds in the garden.
But other things… other things were just waiting for her to discover them, if only she were bold enough.
She knew that her little escapade might have already begun to unravel. It was possible that her father and stepmother in London had received word from Cousin Marcus and his wife, alerting them to the fact that neither she nor Cousin Bess had turned up at their home in Knockton. And with them not having made it to Manchester, the time they had left to accomplish their mission was already running out.
Thankfully, though, Charlotte had always been adaptable, and it occurred to her that she ought to see the positive side of their trip’s unplanned detour.
So she shut her eyes and smiled, listening to Sir Colin’s shallow breathing.
It was a soothing sound, and she soon found herself matching his rhythm, breath for breath. She shifted slightly, settling her back more snugly against his chest.
And her rear against his thick, rigid prick.
What would it feel like, buried inside her?
She bit her lower lip and tried not to move. She didn’t want to find out what he might think of her, were she to awaken him by rubbing herself against him like that. She had no choice but to lie still under his arm, desperately trying not to think about the heat rising rapidly between her own legs.
Suddenly his arm moved, accompanied by a low, sleepy rumble of pleasure. Her heart took off at a gallop.
Would he push her away? Leap from the bed as if he’d burnt himself on a red-hot iron?
Not yet. For he lazily brought his hand to her side, fingers grazing first against her breast, then her waist and the gentle curve of her hip. And then he squeezed her.
Charlotte could not hold back the moan that escaped her lips, powerful and yearning.
He went still.
She bit her lip again, desperate for him to continue, aching to feel him and join with him. To finally realize her womanhood, and the culmination of this desire for him. To revel in his desire for her. He thought her pretty. He thought her brave.
Charlotte felt a flutter in her stomach. He had feelings for her. She knew it. He had to.
Minutes ticked by, the time stretching out interminably. Colin did not remove his hand from her rear, nor did he pull away from her back where he was pressed firmly against her in his sleep.
Tears filled her eyes. Charlotte squeezed them shut, horrified at her inability to hold them back.All this because an honorable man does not wish to corrupt me?How to make himunderstand that she wished to be corrupted, that she wished to be ruined—that is, if it were by him? It required her to speak, and she did not trust her voice in the moment.
