Chapter Eleven #2
Though she’d been teasing, his serious answer had her respecting him all the more.
“And here I thought I was so very smart because I could find all the stars.” She shook her head.
“My mother always said I had my head in the clouds.” She chuckled at how apropos that was, since it was said before she’d taken an interest in astronomy.
“It sounds as if your role as eldest brother helped you in becoming a well-respected lord.”
“It did?”
She nodded. “Oh, yes. Because once you learned what you needed to know, you were able to command with authority and confidence.” She grinned as she used his very words.
“I see that I have a very intelligent wife.”
“And you show your own intelligence in recognizing that.” She chuckled, truly enjoying teasing him.
His eyes rounded before a slow smile curved his lips. “I do, indeed.”
She gazed at him, barely holding back a sigh at how pleasant he was to look upon when he smiled. “I may be intelligent, but I really should organize my correspondence a bit better.”
At the mention of her letters, he bent and retrieved the one on the floor and looked at it. “This appears to be notes on a how to find a comet.”
He lowered the paper for her to look at. “That it is. My teacher at school worked with Monsieur Messier for a time. Ever since I started studying the skies, I have wished to see a comet. But that wasn’t the paper I sought.”
She rose, intending to go through her papers to find the list about the ball.
“It’s of no matter. I trust your abilities in this. Come, I have something I wish to show you.”
“Show me?”
“Yes.” He held out his arm.
Curious, she took it, and he led her out of the room and up the grand staircase. “You said when you promised Peter that you would show him Draco that you may not be able to see it from your room.”
“That’s true, though I may be able to. Our rooms face west, and the best view from inside would be facing north.”
They reached the next floor, and he led her past their rooms. “Hawthorne Park is designed in a square shape, though various additions have been made over the years. I thought perhaps one of the empty rooms on the north side would be a better place for you to teach the children about astronomy, with no one becoming ill.”
Even as he said the words, she felt his arm tense beneath her own. “I agree that would be the best circumstances if the angle of the window will work. It can be rather complicated.” She was tempted to squinch her nose like the children but refrained.
“As it has been told, one of the marquesses who lived here in the past put his wife’s mother on the north side of the house, to keep her from meddling.
When she complained about not being able to enjoy the summer air because it was such a long trek downstairs, instead of moving her, he built a terrace out of the rooms next to hers.
Later, during my uncle’s stay here, he had the terrace glassed in, much like a conservatory.
I believe it would be the perfect place for your stargazing without having to worry about the weather.
It has been years since I’ve been there, but if I’m not mistaken, it’s the fourth door on the left. ”
As she tried to imagine a glass room on the second floor of an estate house, Darius stopped.
He opened what looked like a door to a bedroom and led her inside.
She gasped, unable to close her mouth. Even with the partly cloudy day, the sky seemed to surround them. On a clear night, it would be almost like having her own observatory!
She finally closed her mouth and examined the room. There were comfortable chairs set about with small tables between them, two settees, a fireplace on each end, and two writing desks.
Her gaze fell on Darius, who watched her, and her heart filled with emotion. “This is the most wonderful present I’ve ever received. Thank you.” She strode back to him, took his head in her hands, and kissed him.
His arms wrapped around her as he spoke against her lips. “I’m pleased you like it.”
She wanted to tell him how much, but her thoughts wouldn’t stay still as he kissed her again, this time slipping his tongue between her lips.
Again, her knees seemed to lose all strength, and she held on to him as he tasted her.
She hesitantly touched his tongue with her own, not sure if she was doing it right.
His arms tightened around her, even as he drew back. He touched his forehead to hers. “I want to make you mine.”
Her heart skipped a beat at his words. Ellie was well aware of what he meant. She ran her fingers through the hair at the back of his head. “I want to be yours.”
His head jerked back, and his gray eyes turned a dark charcoal. “Ellie…”
Her name on his lips had her melting just before he lowered his mouth to hers and devoured her. It was all she could do to hold on as new feelings of desire swept through her. She tangled her tongue with his as she gripped his hair, not wanting him to stop. She felt beautiful, wanted, perfect!
Then he broke the kiss, much to her chagrin. Before she could protest, he unhooked her arms from about his neck and turned her around.
The familiar feeling of rejection cooled her blood instantly and her eyes began to water. She couldn’t even kiss properly.
Cool air touched her back and jerked her from her misery.
Darius’s fingers grazed over her shift as he undid her dress buttons.
Immediately, tingles of fire skipped down her back and into areas only illustrated in her secret book.
The realization that, far from rejecting her, he was accepting her—and more than that, wanted her in truth—had pure happiness bursting through her.
Her dress started to slip down, and from instinct, she caught it to her. His lips found a spot at the back of her neck that made her heart race. He ran his hands over her shoulders, down past her shift to the bunched sleeves of her yellow day dress.
His mouth moved up the side of her neck to her ear before he whispered, “Let it fall.”
A shiver ran through her at his words, and, gathering her courage, she let go of her dress and straightened her arms, allowing the soft material to fall in a puddle out her feet. She held her breath, not sure what he would do next.
His hands continued down her arms, and finally linked with her own. His chin came to rest on her shoulder. “Beautiful.”
No one had ever said that to her. Clumsy? Yes. Loud? Yes. Opinionated? Yes. But never had anyone used the word beautiful. She could feel her eyes tearing up, and squeezed his hands in response.
He brought her hands together in front of her and encouraged her to clasp them. Then he let go and went to work on her stays.
It was no easy task, since her breasts were quite large. They matched her hips, which were too wide to be fashionable, but they were very good for childbearing, or so her mother had said.
He didn’t let the tightness of the lacing deter him, working diligently to loosen it. When it was fairly hanging from her shoulders, he lifted it, forcing her to raise her arms.
She had no idea what he did with her stays, nor did she care as his arms came about her waist and he hugged her to him. His lips found her neck again, and she tilted her head to one side, lifting her hand to hold the back of his head, the feel of his silky black hair far too tantalizing.
His hands moved upward then and cupped her breasts over her shift. She sucked in her breath, the touch so new and different. Then his thumbs started to rub back and forth across her nipples. Spikes of need seemed to flow down to her very core, and her body grew hot, her shift almost stifling.
His mouth traveled across her jaw, and she turned her head toward him. “Darius.” The word was one of wonder and need. His lips descended on hers again, and she moaned around his tongue, wanting more of him, never wanting the feelings inside her to stop.
But then he broke the kiss and let go of her to walk in front of her.
She grabbed the back of the settee next to her to keep from falling, even as she watched him divest himself of his tailcoat and throw it over a table. Then, pulling his shirt from his pantaloons, he lifted it over his head and dropped it on the table as well.
His torso was well muscled, his broad shoulders tapering to a narrower waist, but what caught her attention was the thin line of short black hair that traveled down the center of his chest to his hard stomach.
She wanted more than anything to trace her fingers over the soft hairs.
Unable to resist, she removed her hand from the settee and stepped forward, but forgot about her dress, and her foot got caught in the material.
She stumbled, trying to catch her balance as she fell forward.
Darius caught her. “Here, let me help.” He stood her up then knelt to untangle her skirts from her foot. “Hold my shoulders.”
She felt the heat rising in her cheeks. He must think her a fool. Still, she did as he asked. Not only did he clear her dress from her feet, but he took off her kid slippers.
He rose to stand completely still as his gaze ran from her face to her breasts, past her shift, then down her stockinged legs to her feet and back up again.
His eyes seemed to have turned almost black, and his stare was so intense, she could feel her nipples getting hard as if he stroked them again.
The pure want in his gaze erased her embarrassment and gave her the confidence to reach out and touch his chest.
She traced the trail of hair as she’d wanted to do, awed by how soft it was against such a hardened body.
Then she spread her hand across the mounds of his smooth chest. He was well made, not like the illustrations in her secret book and more like the great statues of Greece, which were far more to her liking.
Touching him, though, made her feel even more confident, especially as she moved her hand down to his abdomen and he drew in breath.