Page 11 of Joy to the Earl
“I wish I hadn’t.”
“I wish you hadn’t either.”
“I must taste like wine.If you kiss me, you could tell me if that’s true.”There, she said it.
“Jesus Christ, Joy,” he muttered.
“Don’t you want to?Did you ever want to kiss me?You kissed me before.Ten years ago.”
“Yes, I did,” he said, his voice dropping to a whisper.“And yes, I still want to.”
She allowed her eyes to slide shut, awaiting his kiss.She felt his lips against her skin.But then she couldn’t keep track of whether she was awake or dreaming, and if her eyes were open or closed.All she knew was that she was lost in a cinnamon-and-orange-scented cloud, with darkness and warmth surrounding her.
[section]
Douglas wanted nothing more than to kiss Joy senseless and join her in her bed and erase the last ten years of misery and mistakes with the sort of shockingly intimate actions he had in mind.Christ, she was in absolutely no condition for such activities, and even though she was inviting him to indulge in his desires, the fact was that he couldn’t accept because it wasn’t really Joy issuing the invitation.It was the mulled wine.
And yes, perhaps Joy also wanted those things.But if she couldn’t ask him for that without drinking half a cask, it meant she didn’t know what she wanted.He couldn’t take advantage of her in that condition.It wouldn’t be right.And dear God, if he had, and if by some miracle she loved everything he did to her, she might still wake in the morning feeling rage instead of pleasure, because she would resent the fact that she had made her request while under the influence of more alcohol than she probably drank in a month.
The end result was that he tucked her into her bed, then allowed himself one kiss to reassure himself that her skin was as soft as it looked.And Christ it was.But he kissed only her cheek, because if he risked her mouth and she kissed him back, even in her drunken state, he didn’t know if he’d be able to stop.And there were already too many regrets between them.
He left the room, locking it behind him and sliding the key under the door so that she would be able to find it in the morning, and so he wouldn’t be caught with it.She was a widow and not subject to the same sort of restrictions as an unmarried woman, but Douglas didn’t want to harm her reputation unless he actually did something very real to ruin it.
He made his way back to the room he was sharing with the soldier.The long couch would have been a comfortable place to sleep, if he hadn’t been dealing with a raging erection.He fought off the intense desire to stalk right back to Joy’s room and pound on the door until she let him in.Thank God he locked it.He was clearly the biggest threat to her tonight.
He tossed and turned.Every time he closed his eyes, he saw her face and heard her voice issuing the most alluring invitation to do things to her body that he hadn’t done with any woman in a very long time.At last, he couldn’t stand it anymore, and slowly slid his hand down to his cock and began to stroke.He didn’t dare make a sound, mindful of the fact that he was not alone in the room, and the man who been generous enough to share wasn’t someone he knew well enough to beg forgiveness from.He bit his lip as he fisted himself, and worked to keep his breathing as low and even as possible.Fortunately, he was so close to the edge that it couldn’t have been more than one minute before he came, the only audible sign of it being one strangled inhale.He spilled onto his stomach, and lay there still gripping his cock, slowly coming down from the peak of his orgasm, still needing Joy.
He didn’t know how he’d face her tomorrow.All he knew was that having found her again, the idea of life without her was unbearable.
Chapter 5
Saturday, 23 December 1809
Joy woke in the morningwith a pounding headache and a mouth so dry it hurt to swallow.She winced at the light coming through the window, but after a long moment, she realized that it was not particularly bright, but only the weak sunlight that happens with heavy cloud cover.Her eyes refused to accept this logic, and she squeezed them shut before she moaned in pain.
Having no better plan, Joy rolled over, pulled the covers over her head, and decided to sleep the rest of the day.She didn’t know how long it was until she heard a sharp knock at the door that seemed to split her ears open.
“For pity’s sake, whoever you are, go away!”
“It’s just me, ma’am” came Wren’s voice.
The door opened and Wren walked in bearing a tray with a pitcher and a glass on it.“Lucky the innkeeper has a spare key on his ring.You dropped yours on the floor here after you locked yourself in last night.”
Did she?Joy could not remember how she got to bed… Oh, yes, she did, and suddenly Douglas’s face filled her vision.Douglas brought her there…and left her there.
“I couldn’t possibly stomach anything but water,” Joy croaked out, “so don’t attempt to pour something down me.”
“This is medicine.”Wren handed Joy a glass of liquid.It was a disgusting shade of brownish yellow.
“I am not drinking that.”Joy grimaced at the glass Wren held in front of her.
“If you hate it, you can spit it out.But it will make you feel better, and it would be a shame to waste it.It was a gift.”
“A gift from who?”Joy asked, even though she had a very good idea of exactly who it was from.Who else had seen her drunk as an emperor last night?It had to be Douglas.
Wren continued to hold the glass out at arm’s length, wiggling it just slightly, so that Joy was annoyed enough to take it.She brought the glass to her nose and sniffed.The aroma was lemon and ginger, far more palatable than its appearance suggested.
Cautiously, she took a sip.Just having something to drink was rather heavenly, and she guzzled it down.The fire of the ginger overcame the tartness of the lemon, and before she knew it, she had drunk the entire glass.“Is there more?”
