Page 32 of A Baron's Scandalous Quill
“Oh, no indeed!” She pretended to be affronted, the dramatic nature making him chuckle again. “If I was Lady Heather, I would be grasping at your arm already, waving my dance card under your nose so you would see there was a space for you upon it.” She waved her wrist in front of his face, and he clasped that hand, drawing it to his lips.
“Good evening then, Lady…?” He waited for her to finish.
“Lady Rebecca.”
“Lady Rebecca.” He raised her hand that last inch and kissed the back. It was no fleeting kiss, but something prolonged, so much so that she was now the one to become tongue-tied.
“I thought you said you weren’t good at this?”
“As I said, it’s you that has this effect on me.”
“Ah, but I am not Becca tonight. I am Lady Rebecca.” She cleared her throat once more, keeping that fine accent. “Well, Lord Lancaster, what have you come all this way across this assembly room to say to me?” She retrieved her hand and fluttered it infront of her face comically as if it was indeed one of those fans ladies of thetoncarried around with them.
“I…” He paused, scrunching his nose as he tried his best to think of something. “We are having fine weather at the moment, aren’t we?”
“Pah!” She laughed so loudly that he joined in, but a second later. “Is all you can think of? A comment on the weather?”
“I warned you I’m not good at this.”
“Let us try something else.” She tried to control her mirth, turning back to face him fully. “Any lady will be charmed by you, my lord, if you ask about her and show an interest in whatever interests her.”
“Ah, so if I asked how your writing is going, Lady Rebecca? Would that please you?”
“Very much. I would happily tell you about projects I was working on, and you would have me hanging on your arm, quite as if I was Lady Heather.”
“There’s a difference, though,” he explained quietly. “I enjoy hearing you talk, Lady Rebecca.”
She smiled, unable to control herself or halt the feeling of excitement that was rushing through her.
“Would a lady smile at me like that just by asking her about her life?” he asked, quirking his brows together in a comical way.
“If you pay her a compliment such as the one you have just paid me, then most readily, she will smile ridiculously as I am doing now.”
He chuckled deeply, and she hung onto that sound, quite captivated by him.
“There, you are quite ready to charm any lady of your liking in theton,my lord.”
“William. You’re surely not going to go back and start addressing me by my title again. Not after we…”
“After what?” she whispered, lifting an eyebrow. He now mirrored her expression, bearing that same mischievous grin on his features.
He looked at the door, as did she. They were both silent, aware that the door was open just a little, but mostly closed. Somehow, they felt more separated from the rest of the house this evening.She heard no footsteps, no calls from staff at a distance. In fact, she felt quite alone with William in the house.
“Well?” she murmured, turning back to face him after he still hadn’t yet answered her question. He stepped toward her, moving quite slowly, almost stealthily. She pictured him quite like a large cat hunting her, like some majestic tiger, so often silent or quiet, yet those large eyes could pin her to the spot. “William?” she whispered his name.
Something in his expression softened as he stopped right in front of her, just a hair’s breadth away from her.
“After we did this,” he said, his voice so deep a shiver passed up her spine. He bowed his head toward hers, finding her lips with his own. The first brush of their lips was soft, almost tender and tentative, as if he wasn’t sure if she would return the kiss this time or perhaps pull away. When she did not pull back, but stayed exactly as she was, pressing her lips to his, he shifted the two of them suddenly.
His hand caught her waist, his fingers playing down to her hip, and he drew her forward, so that her body collided with his own. Her hands went to his biceps, gripping hard, wanting to feel more of him as he angled their heads together, deepening the kiss.
A surge of excitement shot through her as his tongue brushed hers. She moaned a little into that kiss, unable to stop herselffrom the thrill of it. As her hands gripped his biceps, he seemed to respond to it, one of his hands slipping across her back as the other went across her hip and down to her rear.
It was a line that was crossed now. A touch that was even more intimate than these two stolen kisses. The way his hand caressed her rear made a wetness flood between her legs and such heat fire through her body, she didn’t even think of pulling away.
She pulled against him, wanting him nearer still, and they staggered together, somehow moving from the open space to the nearest wall where they collided with it, her back pressed to it and his front to hers. She could feel every part of him, his chest pushing against hers and even their hips as they moved against each other, creating friction.
Somewhere in the house, there was a creek of floorboards.
