Chapter 12 #2
“Have you had more time to think about the vase?” She kept her voice soft and low as if fearful someone would overhear their discussion.
Her whispered words had foreshadowed a request of great import.
However, her inquiry took him off guard.
Had he wished for her to ask something of a far more intimate nature?
Cart was certainly interested in the piece, if not for his own collection, then as an item for a client who favored the time period and crafting details.
Though he did not seek to give her the impression that his interest in her began and ended with antiquities. The odd somersaults of his stomach and tingling at the spot her hand rested on his arm pointed to his interest in her being much deeper than mere relics of historical value.
“I have thought about it a great deal.” Lie. Truth: he’d thought of her a great deal. “Is it possible for me to see the vase? It would be far simpler for me to ascertain its origins and provide you with an accurate assessment of its value if I were to examine it.”
Finally, she looked away from the path before them, smiling at his attentiveness. “I pondered bringing the vase today, but did not want to risk any bump in the trail jolting the piece. It is very delicate.”
Cart concentrated on his mother’s calendar of events and when she’d be away from home next—when Jude could bring the vase and they’d have a spot of privacy. After their stroll, he’d be tasked with meeting a local curator to assess selling several items to collect the funds requested by his mother.
“Please let me know when you are available. I have a sizable catalogue of research materials at my home—“
“Would you mind meeting at Sir Edwin’s Circulating Library?” she asked.
Cart hadn’t thought of the possibility of her being agreeable to meeting in public. Nonetheless, Sir Edwin’s was highly preferable to anywhere his mother’s prying eyes could be. “I haven’t visited the library in several years.”
“He has amassed a rather extensive collection of antiquity registers with hand-drawn inserts.” Her words sped up with excitement, something he well understood. “It has been my home away from home for some time now.”
“If you think the establishment will suit our needs then far be it for me to dissuade you, Miss Jude,” he conceded.
Even if the library lacked the proper ledgers to identify the time period and origin of the vase, at least he would have another afternoon in Jude’s company—hidden amongst a large number of books—his previous favorite pastime, joining with his newly discovered one.
“Is your family agreeable to us spending time together?”
She stopped at his question, turning to him. Facing one another, their eyes met on almost the same level, Jude only a couple of inches shorter than Cart. “They do not disagree, my lord.”
On some level, Cart realized that agreeing to their association and not disagreeing meant two utterly different things.
But the way she stared at him, her rounded green eyes an open book and her lips in the slightest pout with a peek of her straight, white teeth visible, with one long, curling strand of rosewood red hair teasing the side of her face, had him disregarding his instincts on the matter.
With only a slight bit of reluctance, Cart reached forward, allowing her hair to curl around his finger. It was as silky smooth as he’d expected—teasing his senses with a hint of lavender.
“Miss Judith,” he mumbled on an exhale. “I find everything about you to my liking.”
She stood frozen before him, both of them forgetting to breathe. Scared to make any movement and break the bond forming between them, encompassing the space around them.
Cart could not be the only one feeling the pull to be close.
“Can you feel that?” he asked. He’d heard of certain electromagnetic forces at work.
He’d read the words recently in a science pamphlet, but had doubts about the believability of invisible fields of force surrounding objects—and especially their ability to draw things together.
Some unknown force—magnetic or otherwise—was pulling him and Jude together.
He could not move away if he wanted to.
And Cart certainly did not want to step away from Jude.
In fact, he yearned to have her nearer. He slid his free hand around her waist, drawing her ever closer, his fingers lightly running across her gown. The stays hidden by her overskirt could be felt underneath. It was a liberty he’d never taken with a woman.
The few inches separating their heights was apparent with Jude so close he could feel her warm breath on his neck as she raised her eyes to his.
Cart expected to see questions in her gaze—or uncertainty—but she continued to stare, her tongue darting out to wet her lips before retreating, her lips remaining slightly parted.
Tightening his hold, Cart brought Jude up against his body, her bosom pressed securely to his chest and her hands secured to his shoulders.
Even their thighs rested against each other’s.
A connection, both emotional and physical, that he’d never allowed himself—nor sensed that he wanted.
Letting another so close was not something he was against, but it was not something necessary to his objectives in life.
But now, after this, how would he want anything less? This joining of not only bodies but also minds in a way that captivated him completely.
Her fingers gripped his shoulders and he knew she felt the connection, too.
Cart released her curl, his fingers grazing her cheek to settle at her exposed neck.
The next moment passed quickly, but also lasted what seemed like centuries.
He breathed in the scent of her lavender hair and the sweetness of her exhale—as if she’d enjoyed marmalade with toast at her last repast. Their lips met and Cart was lost.
Lost in the sensation of such an intimate touching, Jude’s soft, plump lips pressed to his far stiffer mouth.
The light brushing of their mouths turned to something deeper, more sensual, when Jude’s hands moved from his shoulders to tangle in his hair just above his collar.
There was not time for Cart to examine his lack of knowledge on the physical act of kissing.
Certainly, he was unversed in the emotional aspect of the act, as well.
But as the pace quickened and their lips found their own rhythm, any timidity on Cart’s part was forgotten.
The distant sounds of laughter, carriage wheels, and horse hooves faded completely as all his senses focused on Jude and her fingers grasping his hair, tugging slightly.
Even the smell of her receded, replaced by only the feel of her: her soft gown, her hair brushing his face as their mouths moved, the feel of her quickened pulse at her neck where his fingers rested.
And her lips against his, which suddenly faded when he felt her pull back slightly and something foreign grazed his bottom lip.
It startled him to realize it was her tongue.
He’d never read of such a thing being done during a kiss.
It shocked him, yet at the same time, it also lent an air of exhilaration to the moment.
His hand stroked her back while hers continued to caress his head.
Sensation after sensation swept over and through him.
It was no wonder great men were brought to their knees by pleasures of the flesh—any longer, and Cart would fall heavier than most, but he found everything about Jude intoxicating.
Suddenly, Jude stiffened in his arms, her hands falling to her sides and her lips freezing against his.
“Did you hear that?” she mumbled against his lips, still pressed close.
“No, I—“ Cart started before he heard something coming from the shrubs not far away.
“It is a rustling.” Jude stepped fully from his arms, glancing both ways down the path. “Maybe it is time we return.”
Cart wanted to scream his disagreement, pull her back to him, and finishing what they had started—whatever that may be. Instead, he nodded.
He noticed her face was a lovely shade of rose when she brought her hands to her cheeks before quickly running them down the front for her gown, looking in any direction but at him.
Another new experience; what should one say or do after a particularly pleasurable kiss? A kiss that left a person mentally fuzzy with no track of how much time had passed. It was certainly not the first time he’d felt this way in her presence, but it seemed to worsen with each meeting.
He ran his fingers through his hair in an attempt to tame any wayward pieces that were out of place from her wandering hands. Thankfully, he’d left his spectacles at home or they’d have likely been knocked from his face.
“Miss Judith—“
Laughter, followed by footsteps, sounded from the path they’d traveled down.
With regret, their moment alone had come to an end—to his extreme disappointment.
Jude finally gazed at him, an unreadable expression on her face—pensive, but at the same time, weary—as if she, too, had experienced something new and pleasurable and was sad to see it end.
“There you two are,” Sam’s throaty voice deepened with suggestion. “I thought we’d need venture off the path to find the pair of you.”
“My apologies if I kept you waiting long,” Cart rushed to offer explanation for their extended absence. “We were making our way back to your carriage just now. Allow me to escort you all back to the main trail.”
Cart glanced at Jude, offering his arm. She gladly set her hand on it, moving once more to his side. Her blush had lessened and both of their breathing had returned to normal, though he noted her lips were a bit fuller than usual.
Something he’d do well to remember in the future—kissing was a dangerous thing, leaving its mark for the world to see if one weren’t careful.