Chapter Eight
Mollie stepped over the threshold, still holding Jago’s hand, her heart thumping like she had run all the way from London.
One of the many servants who worked at Wildewood Manor greeted her with a welcoming smile.
Obviously, Jago had briefed the staff beforehand about his plan to pretend they were still engaged.
‘Welcome, Miss Mollie,’ Harriet said. ‘So lovely to see you again. Lady Wilde will be so pleased to see you.’ She turned and addressed Jago. ‘I’ve told young Jim to take your bags to your room. I’ll serve afternoon tea in the Green Room in half an hour.’
‘Thank you, Harriet,’ Jago said. ‘We’ll freshen up and then go up and see Gran. Has there been any change?’
Harriet shook her head, her expression sombre. ‘She sleeps a lot and is still confused.’
‘And my grandfather?’
‘He’s in the study. Would you like me to get one of the maids to inform him you’re here?’ she offered.
‘That won’t be necessary,’ Jago said in a wry tone. ‘I’m sure he already knows.’
A short time later, Jago led Mollie to the room they had once shared on their occasional visits to Wildewood.
Mollie stepped inside the commodious room, a host of memories assailing her.
Not much had changed in the two years since she had jilted Jago.
The decor was much the same, making her feel like she was stepping back in time.
She went over to the windows to look at the stunning view outside.
A shower of rain had recently fallen, and a rainbow stretched from one side of the wildflower-dotted meadow to the other.
Jago came up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders.
She could not stop herself from leaning back against him, relishing in the feel of his hard toned body against hers.
Feeling that sense of safety she had never felt with anyone else.
He turned her in his arms and looked down at her with a serious expression.
‘I know I’m asking a lot of you to do this.’
‘You’re paying me a lot to do this,’ Mollie reminded him.
His eyes moved back and forth between hers then dipped to her mouth.
As if in slow motion, his head came down, and his lips briefly brushed hers.
He pulled back but then gave a low, deep groan and lowered his mouth to hers again, kissing her lingeringly, deeply, passionately.
Mollie wound her arms around his neck, standing on tiptoe so her hungry body could press against the tempting hardness of his.
He groaned again then ran his hands down the sides of her body, cupping her bottom, holding her to his swollen length.
‘I shouldn’t be doing this,’ Jago said against her mouth.
‘Why not? We’re engaged, aren’t we?’
He framed her face in his hands, looking at her intently. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever wanted anyone as much as I want you.’
‘I want you too.’ More than she should given the circumstances.
This game of pretend had some elements to it that were starting to feel frighteningly real.
Her feelings, for instance. They had never disappeared but lain deep inside her like a dormant plant in winter.
But spring had arrived, and the tiny buds of her feelings for Jago were popping up each time he kissed her.
Every stroke of his hand, every incidental touch poured rich fertiliser on her feelings for him.
The longer she spent with him, the stronger her love became.
Why had she let him reawaken the fire? One kiss had blown her willpower to smithereens, and the irony was she had been the one who had allowed it.
How could she stop this from getting any more serious?
He had not known the real her when he’d asked her to marry him, but he was getting to know her now.
He was closer to her than she had allowed anyone, and yet this was for this weekend only.
How could she protect herself from further heartbreak?
Or was the pleasure of his touch worth it?
Silly question. Of course it was worth it.
To feel wanted and desired, to feel alive in a way she hadn’t for two long years.
Jago brought his mouth back down to hers in a kiss that was hot, sweet, sexy and tender at the same time.
His hands gently skimmed over her, exploring her in exquisite detail, ramping up her desire like a match to dry tinder.
He peeled away her top as she worked on the buttons of his shirt, desperate to be skin-on-skin with him.
Jago kissed his way down from the soft skin of her neck, taking his time to reach her breasts.
He savoured each one with his lips and tongue, stirring her senses into overload.
His thumbs brushed over each of her nipples and the sensitive area around them, his touch making her gasp with longing.
He lowered his mouth to her puckered flesh and subjected her to the most delicious sensual attention.
Every hair on her head tingled at the roots, and the nerves beneath her skin went into a frenzy of excitement, her blood thrumming, humming with the pulse of her desire.
Mollie ran her hands over his muscled chest, delighting in the lean, hard contours of his gym-toned body.
He hadn’t followed the trend of waxing off his chest hair, and she ran her fingers through the springy dark whorls, and then pressed her naked breasts against his chest, enjoying the sensation of his hair tickling her soft skin.
Jago covered her mouth in another deep and hungry kiss, his hands holding her by the hips to keep her against the throb of his body.
Mollie went for the waistband of his trousers then pulled down his zip to shape him through his underwear.
He groaned against her lips, then worked on the rest of her clothes until they were both naked.
Jago kissed his way down her body, going down on bended knee in front of her, lavishing attention on the most intimate part of her body.
Mollie had never allowed any other lover—not that she had had many—to perform such an intimate act on her before.
It hadn’t felt right, she hadn’t felt comfortable, but with Jago it was as natural as breathing…
except while he was doing it, breathing was almost impossible.
Her heart raced, her pulse pounded as he separated her feminine folds with his lips and tongue.
He knew exactly how to pleasure her, and pleasure her he did.
Spectacularly. Earth-shatteringly. The powerful sensations took her by surprise, every nerve pulling tight before exploding in a cascade of sparks that rippled through her body in pulsating waves.
Jago moved back up her body, kissing her bellybutton, then her rib cage, her breasts and finally her mouth.
He walked her backwards with his mouth still fused to hers, his hands guiding her by the hips until they landed together in a tangle of limbs on the king-size bed.
He lifted his mouth from hers, looking down at her with lust-glazed eyes.
‘Time to get a condom.’ He sprang back off the bed and rummaged through his wallet for one.
‘How many do you have in there?’
He sent her a devilish smile. ‘Not enough. I’m going to have to grab some of Jack’s.’
Mollie couldn’t hold back a slight frown. ‘You’re okay with him knowing we’re sleeping together this weekend?’
Jago paused in the process of unwrapping the condom he’d found.
Nothing showed on his face, but she got the sense he was mulling over something in his mind.
‘The only thing Jack will be concerned about is making sure Gran has a happy birthday. What you and I get up to while we’re alone is our business, not his. ’
‘Are you close to him and Jonas?’
Jago came back to her on the bed, lying beside her, one of his hands resting on her belly, his eyes meshing with hers. ‘Not as close as we might have been if our parents hadn’t died.’ A shadow drifted through his gaze just like the grey-tinged clouds scudding across the sky outside.
Mollie put a hand to his chiselled jaw and gently stroked it. ‘I would imagine you’d be super close after experiencing such a tragic loss.’
His mouth twisted into a grimace. ‘My grandfather sent us to different boarding schools so we couldn’t rely on each other. It was supposed to be character-building for us.’
‘That’s cruel. You were so young to be left to cope on your own.’
‘My grandmother was against it, but she had no say in the matter,’ Jago said. ‘She’s of the era when women vowed to obey their husbands when they got married. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her stand up for herself. She doesn’t know how to.’
‘Is it a happy marriage?’
Jago made a cynical sound at the back of his throat.
‘Is any marriage happy all the time?’ He blew out a long breath and continued.
‘I suspect Gran realised early on that divorcing my grandfather would be an ugly battle, one she would lose in the end. She’s remained faithful to him, but I don’t think he’s been faithful to her. ’
Mollie’s heart ached for his grandmother. To have spent so many years with a man who wasn’t loyal to her must have chipped away at her self-confidence. ‘You sound like you don’t respect him much.’
‘I don’t. But he’s too old to change now.’
Mollie chewed at her lower lip. ‘I’m nervous about seeing him.’
Jago took his hand off her belly and trailed his splayed fingers through her hair, sending tingles up and down her spine. ‘You don’t need to be frightened of him. He can’t hurt you, not while I’m around.’
He can hurt me more than you realise .