Chapter Eighteen #2
“The poor man.” She wasn’t ignorant of the fact that thoroughbred racing was a business where people made fortunes and lost them just as easily.
There were dishonest individuals willing to do anything to get ahead or become rich by eliminating the competition.
Poisoning racehorses was nothing new. “Do you worry about that happening to you?”
Samuel’s step faltered, and she had her answer.
“Yes. I have a stablehand sleeping outside Zeus and Clover’s side-by-side stalls.
And during the day, they are never alone.
I’m not risking someone poisoning them just because they are fast racehorses.
I don’t want to have to deal with what Kendall dealt with. ”
“I’m sorry you have this to contend with.”
“Don’t be. I knew when I got into this business that there were bad people. But there are a lot more good people than bad. I try to remember that when I worry about the lives of my horses.” He paused and asked, “Would you care to sit outside in the gardens?”
She smiled and blushed. “Didn’t we already spend time there?”
He chuckled. “Yes, but this time I truly want to sip my wine, resting on a bench with you by my side. I promise to behave.”
She giggled. “Promise me you won’t.”
“Clarice,” he groaned close to her ear, “Are you offering yourself up to me?” The low, deep timbre of his voice made her whole body come alive.
“Samuel,” she said breathlessly. “I would do just about anything to be held in your arms.”
“Then I will make it my duty to ensure we have enough time alone, away from prying eyes and rumormongering ladies, to hold you close to my heart.” Again with that tone.
“And I will make it my goal in life to please you. Pleasure you. Worship your body. Love you every single day until my last breath.”
She fanned her face with her free hand. “You have such a way with words. And when your voice gets all deep and throaty?” She shivered. “It does things to me.”
“It does?” He wiggled his brows up and down, and his nearly-black eyes smoldered. She swore she saw red flames in his irises.
Before she could stop herself, she burst into laughter, then covered her mouth as several people frowned at her. “Perhaps we should head to the gardens before I embarrass myself further with any more laughing outbursts.”
He extended his arm, “Perhaps we should.”
Linking her arm with his, they made their way back out to the gardens.
Clarice felt bad about leaving Letitia again, but she was in good hands, standing across the ballroom with Greyson and his sisters.
She was quite positive that Letitia was where she wanted to be.
Watching her in conversation with them and the way she looked at Greyson with adoration made her wonder if that was how she looked at Samuel.
Most likely, since she had loved Samuel most of her life.
They relaxed on the same bench as before. Sitting close enough to touch everywhere, they both tilted their heads up to the sky. “The stars are in rare form tonight,” Samuel said. “The North Star appears twice as bright as usual.”
“Hmmm, it is. And the Plough is vibrant as well.”
“Do you watch the stars?”
Clarice sighed and rested her head on Samuel’s shoulder. “During my marriage, I spent many nights sitting outside in the gardens, listening to the nighttime bugs and watching the stars. It helped pass the time.”
Samuel draped an arm across her shoulders, and she sighed, feeling the safety and comfort it provided. “I hate thinking of you being so alone and at his mercy for all those years,” he said.
“Don’t. Being alone was preferable to being with him. He was not a kind man.”
“Did he ever hurt you?” The raw emotion in Samuel’s voice brought tears to her eyes.
“He never laid a hand on me, though he used other ways to hurt me. His tongue was sharp, but I tried not to let his words unsettle me. I would focus on other things when he began to rant. Like remembering you and our times together. The mother rabbit and her bunnies nesting in the garden. The beautiful flowers and the bumblebees pollinating them.” She paused and exhaled.
“Have you ever truly watched a bumblebee up close? They have all the yellow pollen they’ve collected attached to the sides of their bodies, but if you truly look close, little yellow pieces of pollen stick to their faces; it’s so adorable.
I could watch them forever. That is what I would think about when he treated me abominably. ”
His arm tightened around her shoulder, and he pulled her closer. “Still. You shouldn’t have had to suffer from his cruel words and unkind treatment.”
Clarice swallowed the lump in her throat and ignored the tears in her eyes.
They were having the perfect conversation to tell Samuel about their son.
Unfortunately, they weren’t somewhere more private.
Yes, the gardens were relatively secluded, but not far away, hundreds of people were inside the ballroom.
But she had an idea. “Do you think there is any way you could sneak into my room at the inn?”
“I would rather not give people something to gossip about.” He stood and held out his hand.
“Come with me. I know the perfect place where we can find privacy. We won’t be long, though.
I wouldn’t want people to wonder where we are and draw their own conclusions.
Even if those conclusions happen to be true. ”
She took his hand, and he led her through the gardens to another door, and they entered a small private drawing room.
He approached the interior door and turned the lock, looking at her with such desire that the room’s temperature rose, causing her heart to pound with excitement and her body to hum with desire.
It was definitely not the time to talk about their son.
“This room is for family only. No one will disturb us here, and we can go back through the gardens and enter the ballroom. No one will suspect a thing.”
Clarice wasn’t convinced that no one would suspect anything.
But they would believe they had been in the gardens the entire time.
She wouldn’t think of that now as she stood all jittery, waiting for Samuel’s touch.
As he walked toward her, his eyes drinking her in, her heart exploded with need.
And when he pulled her into his arms and kissed her, she believed she would fly into the sky and explode into hundreds of sparkling lights.
The kiss was intense, with tongues dancing and tangling to an imaginary tune. Lips pressed hard against lips, and it took restraint to resist climbing up Samuel’s chest, wrapping her legs around his waist, and never letting go. Trying to become one with him.
“Clarice,” he gasped as he tore his lips away and rested his forehead against hers.
“You drive me crazy with desire. With need. I can’t believe it’s as alive and intense today as it was all those years ago.
I need you like the air I breathe to survive.
I will wither and die without you. I love you so much it hurts when we’re apart. ”
His words and the emotions he used to convey them caused her heart to reach out to him. “I understand. It’s how I feel also. I love you and will not survive this life without you by my side.”
His mouth took hers again, only this time he kissed her reverently.
It was slow and succulent. He worshiped her mouth with his, worshiped her lips, her tongue.
And then he moved his warm lips down her neck to the swell of her chest exposed by her low-cut dress.
His hand tugged the front of her dress and chemise down, exposing her breasts to the cool air.
He lavished the taut peak on one breast, then the other, and a moan escaped from deep within her chest. Heat burned at her core, and she needed to be touched there.
“Samuel,” she breathed, her head having fallen back. “I need you.”
“Yes, my love. I need you, too.” He walked her back until she bumped the wall.
“I’m ready to explode. I hope you don’t mind that all my finesse has deserted me.
” He unbuttoned his trousers with one hand, while the other pulled up one of her legs and hooked it around his waist. When his hard member nudged against her womanhood, she held her breath, anticipating what would come.
With one deep thrust of his hips, he was seated deep inside her.
She moved her hands to his waist, and with each of his thrusts in and out, she pulled and pushed along with him.
The sounds of their strained breathing, moans escaping, and the slapping of their bodies echoed through the small drawing room.
It was music to her ears. As her body began to quickly ascend toward euphoria, she buried her face in his chest to silence her screams. With one final thrust into her, Samuel’s body tensed and then shook with his release.
They stayed where they were, intertwined and holding each other. Neither moved, and Clarice was afraid that if she let him go, she might lose him forever. Did he feel the same? She pushed the thought out of her mind. Nothing and no one would ever come between them again.
“Was I too rough?” Samuel’s concerned voice murmured into her ear as, sadly, he pulled out of her body, taking a piece of her as they disconnected in body and soul.
“No,” she replied breathlessly as her wobbly legs touched the floor and she was shocked they supported her weight. “You were perfect in every way.”
*
He stepped back and handed her his handkerchief.
“I’m sorry, I made a mess of you.” She took his handkerchief and wiped between her legs, smoothed out her skirts with one hand, pulled her bodice up, and held out the handkerchief, looking at him questioningly with a lovely blush staining her cheeks.
He took the cloth and tucked it into the inside pocket of his jacket.
“I’ll take care of this later. We should get back. ”
Her blush deepened as she looked down at his waist, making him realize the placket on his trousers was still unbuttoned. “Oh, dear.” After he fastened himself, he reached out and adjusted her bonnet, which he couldn’t believe was still on her head. “There. You look perfect.”
She giggled. “I highly doubt that. Not after what we did.”
He kissed her cheek. “I promise, you look perfect. Now take my hand.” Which she did, and they walked hand in hand back out to the gardens and down the path to the door leading into the ballroom.
They came across several couples, but nobody took notice.
They were too busy trying to blend in and avoid notice themselves.
Samuel hated to be like them. He couldn’t wait until they were wed.
Enough of stealing off to be alone and share themselves with each other.
Not that he wouldn’t keep doing that and enjoying it.
Every minute he spent with Clarice was a gift in his eyes.
He wouldn’t take a second for granted. He knew too well what it felt like to have the life you always expected and the future you planned ripped away from you, through no fault of your own.
Life was too precious to squander even a moment.
Nothing made that clearer than a fire that claimed your parents and your only brother.
That was why tomorrow he would send a footman to the Archbishop of Canterbury, requesting a special license on his behalf.
There was a perfectly good church and vicar who would be happy to marry a duke to his duchess in Newmarket.
Suddenly, the idea of waiting and having a church wedding back in London frightened him.
He couldn’t see it in their future. The thought of waiting didn’t sit right with him, no matter what he’d said to Clarice.
The longer they waited, the more things could go wrong.