Page 30 of Lady, Behave
The knocker of the front door clanged against the wood three times.
She rose and jumped when three more whacks of the knocker resounded up the stairs. Richards had cleared the sideboard long ago and was down in the kitchen.
The knocker banged. Harder this time.
Richards, poor man, was losing his hearing and, so far away, was not responding.
“I’m coming! I’m coming!” Addy sprang from her chair to rush along the hall and down the stairs. When she opened the door, the man who stood there took her breath away.
“May I come in?” Gyles asked, hat in hand, his auburn hair gleaming in the morning sun, his beautiful eyes anxious.
She clutched her fichu to her throat. Hair up in a careless knot, she was in no state to converse with this man on her doorstep at ten in the morning. Yet the very sight of him set her blood racing, and her memory of last night made her hot and wet. She would never turn him away. “Please, do.”
He rushed inside, where he took one long examination of the hall and stairs, then walked right up to her. Removing his hat, he threw it atop the hall table and ran a hand through his thick auburn hair. He had mint on his breath and a twinkle in his eye as he swept her into his arms. “Good morning.”
Oh, it was, indeed, with him so dashing and oh, so eager for her. She quivered at his greeting. So quick and ardent, his manhood’s urgent to claim her was a seduction in itself. She questioned if she’d ever find any other man so randy for her. So perfect for her sensuous nature.
But she had to be wise and not let her own desire for him outpace her common sense. “This is not proper. My family have gone to the Lanes to see dressmakers.”
“I know. I saw them walking toward the Lanes as my carriage passed. I hoped I’d catch you. But alone, as well? Good timing and fate.” He looked divine in a navy superfine frock coat, blue waistcoat, and smart cravat.
She was practically indishabille. Wearing only two thin layers of muslin, her skin absorbed his body heat, and her nipples blossomed proud and aching against his firm chest. He pulled her more dearly close to him, and she sucked in her breath. Would that she could rub herself against him, he’d laugh and think her a cat. But he was too handsome, too elusive, and too unpredictable—and she’d not pull away.
Ohh! She wanted to stomp on his foot. “Why are you here?”
He grinned wickedly. “To tell you what I’m doing, where I’m going, so that you are kinder to me than you seem to be at the moment.”
“I’m not…unkind.”
“No, you’re skeptical of what happened last night. I don’t blame you. I did not do this courting of you in the right order. I’m here to correct that. For just as I would have gone on, there was that announcement of Imogen and Lex’s, followed by that awful business of the footmen escorting Lord Wye out the door. You had to leave, and rightly so. But I had to come this morning to see you, kiss you, and explain.”
That still did not fully tell her why he was here…or his reason for presuming he could embrace her so freely.
“I’m off to London, my darling.”
“Oh.” His news and his endearment hit her like a cricket bat. Where would he go? And leave her with this aching desire to have his hands all over her? The man was infuriating! “London. Why should I care to know this?”
“Because I am off to sort our future.” His molten gaze fell over her lips that burned, her cheeks that flamed, and her nipples that were iron against the thin fabric covering her desire for him. “When I return, I’ll give you more than last night.”
She melted to a little puddle at the prospect and clutched handfuls of his frock coat. “More than kisses?”
He grabbed a fistful of her long hair and pulled her head back. His lips spoke on her own. “More ecstasy than you can count.”
“A promise?”
“The biggest one I’ve ever made.”
“And those moments will be just like that one?”
“No.”
“No?” Her voice was a pathetic little squeak.
“They’ll be better. And you and I will be in a big broad bed without any barriers to our endeavors.”
Her imagination saw him, naked, tall, and lean, his muscles rippling, rigid and long against linen sheets. Her eyes widened and ran down his form.
“Yes,” he whispered, “just like that.”
