Page 2 of The Earl and the Vixen
Her father nodded. “And shouldn’t you refer to him as Lord Craven?” Hate spewed when her father spoke the title. “You aren’t on familiar terms.”
Eliza opted not to point out that her father should also refer to Nick by his title and not “that boy,” but she opted to leave that unsaid. “Papa, he isn’t his father and has done nothing to you. And no, he didn’t,” she replied. It wasn’t exactly a lie since he didn’t come calling to their door. “Perhaps he will come for tea tomorrow.”
“You are to depart for town with your mama in a few weeks for the season. You are certain to marry before the season ends, so there isn’t much point in the boy calling here, I should think,” he said, his lips curled into a smirk.
“Perhaps he will offer for me and save you the expense of a season, Papa,” she said, testing the waters for her father’s reaction.
If she hoped to find a hint of his thoughts on her statement, she would be disappointed. His expression remained unchanged, other than a slight squint of his eyes.
“Perhaps,” he said, “but you would have many acceptable options if you had a season.”
She patted her father’s arm. “The most important thing is that I marry someone who loves me, right, Papa?”
“And someone who is respectable and comes from an excellent family. Someone who would ensure you are provided for,” her father said, his cool expression still unchanged.
“Of course, Papa,” she replied. “I should like to return to the new book I just purchased with my pin money. May I be excused?” She wasn’t ready to tell her father she had already made her choice and would marry Nick. Even if she had to run away with him to Gretna, he was the man she would marry, and there wasn’t a thing her father could do about it.
“See you at dinner,” her father said before departing towards his study.
Eliza continued to her room, unable to concentrate on reading as her heart wouldn’t stop racing. She couldn’twait for her rendezvous with Nick later that evening, where she would learn what it meant to couple with the man she loved.
Around eleven o’clock, Eliza poked her head out of her room to see if anyone was lurking in the hallway. Dot had dressed her for bed a couple hours ago and set her hair into a long plait held in place with a ribbon before she sent the maid away for the evening. Eliza slipped on a serviceable day dress over her night rail and then covered herself with a pelisse to help keep from catching a chill in the cool night air.
Once she was certain there was no one moving about the house, she slipped out of her room and closed the door behind her. She made her way downstairs and snuck out via the door the servants used to access the kitchen garden.
The hunting cabin was only a ten-minute swift ride away, and she knew the route well. With a confident smile, she set off on the journey, assured of her safety under the luminous full moon. She crept to the mews, and a groom greeted her.
“Please saddle up my horse and tell no one that you saw me,” she said, handing him a couple of coins.
He pocketed the coins and set off to do as she asked. Jimmy had done so for her a few times before, when she would sneak out to see Nick. The last time they snuck to the hunting cabin, she learnt what an orgasm was. Who knew that a man’s hands could give such pleasure? She clenched her thighs together, already thinking about what delights he would introduce her to that evening.
A few moments later, Jimmy handed her the reins, positioning the horse by the mounting block. She thanked him and climbed into the saddle before flicking the reins and racing off into the night.
When she reached the cabin, Nick’s horse was already tied up outside. He waited on the porch for her and came right beside her horse and lifted her down. “I’m so very glad you made it, my love. I would have preferred to escort you,” Nick said, pulling her into an embrace for a quick kiss. “Let’s get you inside. I already started a fire for us.”
She grabbed his hand, and he led her inside. The warmth from the fire kissed her skin right away. She removed her pelisse and laid it across the back of the settee. She turned to face him, and in a single fluid movement, he swept her into his arms. Nick pressed his lips to hers, running his tongue along her bottom lip beforeher lips parted and he massaged her tongue with his. She returned his kiss, sucking his tongue into her mouth until he groaned.
He ambled her backward towards the bedchamber, not breaking their kiss, which grew wilder by the moment. Once inside the room, he kissed her jaw and neck, nibbling at her and then soothing the nips with his tongue.
Eliza sighed, loving the man before her more than she could have thought possible. She glanced around the room and noted he had started a fire in the bedchamber as well, and there were a few candles lit on the mantle above the fireplace.
Nick took her hands in his and leaned back to look at her. His expression was an intoxicating mixture of need and love, and with the light from fire casting shadows on his handsome face, it was an image depicted right out of one of her romance novels. His chestnut hair was almost black in the low lighting and the candlelight hit his green eyes just perfectly so that they shone like a precious gem. She lost her heart to him all over again.
“Are you certain you wish to do this?” he asked, placing a soft kiss on her jaw.
“More than anything,” she replied. They had talked about waiting until they were married, but the desire to be with him had consumed her. She couldn’t wait for her father to approve her choice. She needed to be with himin every way, and then they would fight for their future together.
A low growl escaped his lips, and he began working the buttons of her dress, unfastening enough that he could lift it over her head and then tossed it on the chair beside the bed.
Curious about what Nick would look like without his clothing, she unbuttoned the coat he wore and pushed it off his shoulders until it fell to the floor. She worked the buttons of his white shirt next. He remained still and allowed her to do as she wished, staring into her eyes as she undid each button and freed him from his shirt.
Her breath caught when she saw his muscular chest with a light smattering of dark hair. When she ran her hands across chiseled muscles and over his shoulders, he sucked in a breath, and the nerves she had about coupling with him evaporated, leaving only raw desire. She kissed his chest, becoming wanton and bold with each press of her lips to his skin. She used her tongue in the same way he did against her neck, and his muscles flexed beneath her touch.
“Eliza, that feels so good.”
She licked and kissed his collarbone and up his neck, finding the lobe of his ear. She sucked it into her mouth.
He grabbed her head and kissed her lips again. After a few moments of exploration with their tongues, he brokethe kiss and pulled her night rail over her head, leaving her naked before him.
