Page 42 of A Lady Igniting Wicked Passions
“I feared that you might be the same. Just for a moment. When I thought back over everything we have done together.”
“Never,” Aaron said emphatically.
“Then, how do we do it?” Arabella returned to the question that occupied them both.
“I think I have it. I will take the initiative in order to lessen the blame that falls on you.”
Arabella sat up, looking down at Aaron where he lay. He had straw in his hair and his shirt unlaced to show his taut, muscular chest.
“You will not. We will share what others will call blame. This is a joint enterprise.”
Aaron shook his head, emphatically, also sitting up. “Absolutely not. I will not allow it.”
Arabella’s mouth fell open. She pulled up her skirt to reveal a good length of her bare leg and then placed her bare foot against his thigh, squirming with her toes.
“Do you remember the intimacies I have shared?” she asked with a smile. “Do you believe you took those from me without my consent or cooperation, perhaps? Are you forcing me now?”
Aaron ran exploratory fingers along the top of her foot to the ankle.
“There is something remarkably erotic about those parts of a woman’s body that are quite mundane, but not usually seen and certainly not touched,” he said, circling his fingers around her ankle and then back along her instep. “An ankle is as alluring a part of the female body as the bosom.”
“Do not think to get around me by lovemaking…” Arabella began before biting her lip, “though you are…clearly…very expert in that respect.”
Finally, with a laugh, she snatched her foot back and tucked it under herself. Then, when he lunged for her, she caught hold of his hands.
“No, we must discuss this like adults. Not behave like lustful youths,” Arabella protested.
Aaron’s weight carried her backwards and she squirmed backwards, laughing as he tried to pin her hands down. They neared the edge of the loft in their struggle and Arabella’s head actually protruded over the edge, straw cascading to the ground around her. Then the decision was removed from them.
“Arabella!” Eversden roared.
Arabella froze, hands still held by Aaron’s. He was looking up, past her towards the entrance to the stables. Arabella turned and saw her father standing in Achilles’ stall, looking up at them. His face was puce with anger and in one hand he held a small, white object.
Arabella flushed crimson when she realized that he held the discarded stocking. He must have heard the commotion. Or perhaps had just been looking in on Achilles after returning from his ride and noticed the stocking. Then looked up at the noise from above and saw…
Aaron was clambering to his feet and Arabella scrambled to do likewise. Eversden looked from one to the other, his fist clenched and trembling around the silk stocking. Then he hurled it to the ground and stalked from the stall, slamming the door behind him. Arabella and Aaron exchanged stricken looks. She felt mortified that she had forced such a sight on her father.
It was not the way such a circumstance should have been revealed. Telling him that they wished to marry or even that they were lovers would have been better than subjecting him to that sight. She slipped on shoes that had been kicked off when she had climbed into the loft, without pausing to put on the stocking. Aaron was already striding after Eversden, calling his name as he went.
But Arabella’s father had already returned to the house. She heard a distant door slamming shut. Aaron paused at the entrance to the stable yard, waiting for her to catch up.
“We have just made life much harder for ourselves,” Aaron observed.
“We have. I must make it up to my father. If it takes my entire life.”
Aaron offered his hand, not his arm, and Arabella took it.
“Once more into the breach dear friends,”he said.
Chapter 25
Aaron was led to the library of the Portman Square residence that Lord Eversden had taken. A servant had looked startled to see his mistress, hand in hand with the duke who was promised to the Lady Helena. That servant had mutely led the pair to where Lord Eversden was known to be.
As she made to knock at the door, Aaron held up his hand to forestall her. Then he himself knocked once, then opened the door and stepped through. Eversden was pacing the floor in front of the fire. Shelves on either wall held a collection of books but tables scattered about the room held papers relating to wedding preparations.
“You are not welcome in this house!” Eversden roared, making the servant jump.
As Arabella entered the room, Aaron calmly closed the door behind them. Eversden strode to a bellpull and hauled on it ferociously.
