Page 47 of A Baron's Scandalous Quill
“Yes?” She moved her head nearer his, ready to kiss him. They both closed their eyes, their lips brushing together in a teasing kiss, not quite full but enough to stir each of them. Her hands closed upon the lapels of his jacket, and his hands moved to the curve of her hips.
She no longer imagined what it would be like to feel him reaching with his hand beneath her skirt out here in these woods but wondered instead what it would be like to feel him inside of her completely. Would it be fuller than before? Would it hurt a little? Or would that pleasure be even more intense still?
“It’s something…I am afraid of your answer.”
Her stomach leaped. Was he going to ask her the very thing she had longed for? Was he going to suggest that they did not need to be baron and mistress, but maybe baron and wife?
Her eyes opened, and she looked at him, her hands shifting down the center of his chest. He breathed deeply, clearly affected by that touch.
“Would you accompany me to a ball tonight?”
“A ball?” She was so stunned, she did not move. The excitement that had run through her body a second before now dampened. It wasn’t quite the proposal her foolish heart had been hoping for. “Will…I am just a poor writer. I do not belong at a ball held by theton.”
“You came to an assembly before,” he reminded her with a smile. “Please, come.”
“You do not need me.”
“Oh, I do,” he said, his smile stretching across his face. That smile made her protests die on her lips, but her expression must have still told him what she truly felt. “I’d rather have you there with me than any other. With you at my side, I will enjoy myself more. Besides, do I not need you to navigate society?” He winked at her. “You know far more than I how to talk to people in such places.”
“They are your people. Not mine.”
“That is an odd statement.” He chuckled. “We are all people, are we not? What clothes we wear and what money we carry in our wallets does not have to separate us so much. Please, Becca, come tonight. Your presence there would mean more to me than any other’s.”
She breathed deeply before answering. It was a risk to attend another event of theton,and in order to do so, she would have to invent a reason not to be at home and send such a lie to her father, yet the temptation stirred. To spend another evening with Will at such an event? Not only did her creative mind long to observe thetononce again, but her heart longed to be with him.
“Please?” he added, raising her hand to his lips again and kissing the back. When she shuddered with pleasure, feeling the wayhe was bending down toward her, ready for another kiss, she started nodding. She didn’t quite say the words, though her answer was plain in the way she kissed him back.
Chapter 17
“Look at this.” Will handed the note to Becca. He had struggled to concentrate the entire way in the carriage to the ball. She was sitting close beside him, wearing the same blue gown she had worn before at the assembly.
Her arm was pressed to his, and she fidgeted nervously, twirling one beautiful blonde lock of her hair that hung down from her updo. Her scent was sweet, like honeysuckle, and he had to stop himself from kissing her madly in that carriage.
“Hmm?” she murmured distractedly.
“You are now more nervous about this event than I am,” he said with a laugh. “Worry not. We are there together. Now, read this. It’s from Henry. It arrived just before we left.”
She took the note from him and strained to read it in the lamplight that swung above them with the movement of the carriage. He peered at the note over her shoulder, reading it for himself.
My lord,
I have news, though I hardly know how to put it down on paper. There is much to communicate with you, for I have discovered much. First, you will find on the reverse of this letter an address. I bid you to visit this place tomorrow.
I cannot stress to you just how imperative such a visit is.
Your friend,
Henry
“He feels most passionately about this,” Becca observed, handing the note back to him. “Are you worried about what he has found?”
“Very much.” William sighed and tucked the note back into his jacket pocket. “Yet, for tonight, I shall endeavor to put it out of my mind. Tonight, I wish only for you and I to enjoy ourselves.”
“The baron and the poor writer, eh?” she asked with a laugh. “I fear your wish to be thought well of by thetonmay now be a little impacted by my presence at your side.”
“Never,” he said with feeling and took her hand, drawing her closer to him on the bench. He said no words but pressed his lips to hers, kissing her deeply. When her body melted into his, herchest meeting his own and her leg sliding against his, he nearly lost himself.
He parted her lips with ease, tangling their tongues together as she wrapped her arms around his neck. He bent down toward her, bending her over the bench in such a way that they could easily explore one another.
