Chapter Three #2
One could only hope. “Oh, I would adore going to the seashore,” Caroline said with a smile. “I haven’t been for ever so long.” Though the sea was close to her father’s country estate in Maidstone, they never got out to it often, for there was always something to do.
The major met her gaze and held it. “Perhaps you’ll go soon.”
“That would be lovely, but it is winter, and that is doubtful.” She gave him a frown. “What of the Bright family? Do they go to Brighton as well? I’m sure their children would enjoy that.”
“No. They’ll be in Town. In fact, they have invited you and I for Christmas dinner.”
Finally, plans Caroline didn’t wish to cancel, for she genuinely liked the Brights. “That will be wonderful. I can’t wait to talk to them again.” Though would she and the major still cling to the status quo? Would he ever move their relationship forward?
“There is something… homey about the Brights. They are definitely like family… or rather the family I like.” As he spoke, Felix looked at her as if he’d like to eat her up if he could.
Heated awareness rippled over her skin. Caroline lowered her voice and moved a bit closer to him in the crowded corridor. “I have missed you.”
“And I have missed you.” He nodded, but there was dark hunger in his brown eyes. “It has been an age since we were last together.”
Would he not say something romantic, then? Cold disappointment circled through her insides. “Ah.” With another frown, she glanced toward the drawing room doors. “We should probably go in, at least make an appearance.”
“Caro?” He touched her arm, and her pulse leapt with anticipation. “Slip down to the parlor with me. At least I can finally kiss you, hold you.” Emotion graveled his whispered voice. “Perhaps later I can drive you home. Alone if your aunt will let me.”
This time, her smile felt genuine. “I would like that.”
“Good.” He nodded as he swung his gaze around the immediate area.
No one paid them any mind. “Go downstairs first, but mind the library next door. It’s no doubt one of the card rooms, so we’ll need to be quiet.
” Briefly, he squeezed her hand. “I’ll join you in a few moments then we’ll each slip away back here afterward. ”
While the major went into the drawing room, Caroline fought through the crush of guests to reach the staircase once more.
With her heart pounding and flutters playing her spine, she moved down to the lower level as if she hadn’t a care—or an assignation—and as unobtrusively as possible located the parlor at the rear of the house.
The room was clearly not expected to be used tonight, since a single candle burned within, and the door had been closed.
Thankfully, she didn’t have to wait long for Felix, for he soon joined her and softly closed the door behind him.
“God, it’s been too long,” he whispered as he easily tugged her into his strong arms.
“It has.” How much did she enjoy being back in his embrace? If she didn’t watch herself, she’d cry from happiness. “I’m quite cross that we have to wait between scheduled breaks to see each other, which wasn’t satisfying enough.”
“I shall try to do better, especially now that your father is not in London. And right now, I don’t wish to talk of him.”
“Oh?” She trembled when he curled a hand about her nape and tugged her closer, she grasped his shoulders in an effort to retain her balance. “Felix?”
“What is this damned spell you have cast on me?” He kissed her as if it were the most natural thing in the world, and this time she met him more boldly than before. Not caring that they could be discovered imminently, Caroline returned his kiss, and the headiness of it sent desire through her head.
He pulled slightly away to peer into her face. “All right?”
“Yes.” She was breathless but wanted so much more from him than a mere kiss. “I need more, though, if you’re of a mind.”
“I am glad to comply.” With a quick glance about the room, he then shuttled her over the floor.
At a narrow table that ran along the back of one of the sofas, he put his hands on either side of her waist and hoisted her upward to plant her arse upon the table.
When her legs naturally splayed, he moved forward to settle between them.
The second she stared at him with slightly parted lips, apparently his control slipped.
“Ah, Caroline, what a fetching picture you make. I want to make a feast of you but fear our time is limited.”
Before she could respond, Felix kissed her again and this time he did so with banked intensity.
No sooner had he encouraged her to open for him than he slid his tongue into her mouth, flirting with hers.
She gasped, for she remembered this intensity about him.
Daring much, she smoothed her palms along his shoulders and pulled him closer, needed him after such an absence.
With a bit of a growl, the major cupped her breasts. When she uttered a garbled sound, he worried her nipples into hard peaks through her gown. A gasp of surprise escaped her and mingled with a soft moan of pleasure, for she’d missed his hands on her body. “Shall I continue?”
“Yes.” Excitement trembled in her voice. The fact they could be discovered at any time made the moment all the sweeter. “Oh, please.”
“Dear God, your begging is going to break me, or embarrass me, I fear.”
“Mmm, let’s see which,” she said with a smile, for she missed being with him like this.
“Ah, Caroline.” With frantic energy, he tugged her bodice down, peeled away the layers of fabric beneath until her breasts were bared to his hungry gaze.
“Gorgeous,” he breathed as he looked upon them, glanced his knuckles over one of the pebbled tips.
“I look forward to reacquainting myself with these.” Then he leaned forward and took one of those buds into his mouth.
She jerked from that touch and raggedly inhaled for it was much like magic.
Felix chuckled, held her steady with a hand at her hip and another kneading the opposite breast. “I should have made more of an effort to get you alone over the past months…”
“I agree,” she said, her voice shaking. “I’m going to dissolve into a puddle.” Her hand at his nape pressed him closer, and he obliged by rubbing the flat of his tongue over that nipple until another moan was yanked from her throat.
“So delicious.” With little effort, he eased her backward to recline over the table with her elbows resting on the back of the sofa, her knees framing his hips.
When he slipped a hand beneath her skirting, rucking it up so he could explore the soft skin of her outer thigh, her hip, she couldn’t help but moan and hope he’d take her right there.
“Felix…”
“I know.” Closer he pressed between her legs, his engorged length rubbing against her center.
Caroline gasped. “I want you.” No, that wasn’t quite true. She needed him.
Desperately.
“In this, I am in perfect agreement.” He bent again to the task of pleasuring her breasts, of worrying the nipples as if it were his only purpose in life. “I wish you were completely naked for me…”
“Perhaps soon?” She whimpered, squirmed from his attentions, threw back her head and arched her back, which thrust her breasts more fully into his care. “Good heavens, I can’t think when you do that.”
“That’s the point.” The hardened bulge at the front of his breeches rubbed against her center with his every movement.
“Put your hands on me, Major.” That tiny bit of friction would make her come undone, and she didn’t know if she could hold back a scream.
“We’ll both be damned if I do that.” Yet he caressed her inner thighs and the second he brushed his fingers through the curls that hid her sex, laughter from the library next door drifted to her consciousness.
“Oh, no.” Caroline raised her head. “Why do we have to be interrupted now?” Disappointment clung to her whisper.
“Perhaps it’s better this way lest we be embroiled in scandal.” When he pulled away, she frowned and felt far too petulant. “However, I can promise you this isn’t the only time for us,” he said then brushed her lips with his.
She nodded. “I hope you’re right.” Though she wanted nothing more than to melt into his arms as he helped her off the table, Caroline sighed. Did he not feel the same way about her that she did of him?
“It’s a certainty, no matter what I need to do to make it happen.” Felix cupped her cheek, gently kissed her before putting space between them. “You should return first. I’ll follow a bit later once the cockstand fades.”
“Oh!” When she glanced at the bulge she’d felt against her, need throbbed through her core. “Mmm, how tempting, though. I’ve missed that as well as working cases with you.”
He nodded. “I know the feeling. If fate is kind, perhaps you’ll have both back in your grasp.” With a frown, he waved her off. “Go before someone comes in from the connecting door. I don’t want anything rushing my fences.”
Did that mean he’d thought about their future but had decided against asking for her hand? She frowned as she tugged her bodice back into place. Then, with a glance back at him as he stood with his hands on his hips in the middle of the shadow-filled room, she moved in the corridor.
Why was he so impossible?