Chapter Four #2
“I’ve found in doing so, once the object is finally claimed, that victory is all the sweeter for the pursuit.”
Did he truly wish to pursue her, or was he merely interested in a quick tup? And why was she even considering it? “I rather think you’ll go away from here disappointed.”
“That remains to be seen.” Finally, he caught up with her and maneuvered her so that her back was against the shelf. “I seem to recall I was on the same pursuit years ago but was thwarted.”
She snorted. “I was young and na?ve.” No harm in admitting to anything now. “And I was infatuated with you, would have given you anything you’d asked.” There was also no use in dancing about their one and only encounter. It was their history.
“Yet I couldn’t claim you as I’d wished, for you were to be engaged to Weymouth after that weekend.” He narrowed his eyes.
“Were you jealous, Cornelius?” Oh, goodness, I’ve used his Christian name without permission. Why had her voice suddenly become so smoky and low? And why did the clean, crisp scent of his cologne make her feel like she was about to drown in him?
“There was no need to be. I left on a ship two days later.” He shrugged. “However, I am here, now, and wish to spend time with you.”
“To what purpose? Add me to your vast list of conquests?” When he remained silent, she blew out an annoyed breath. “I’m not interested.” And when have I become such a liar? “And I’m attending to the bookshop besides.”
“More’s the pity. Since we are alone, I thought a brief bit of scandal would prove to your liking.” His gaze bored into hers. “For you are clearly not the same woman I knew all those years ago.”
“Is that such a bad thing?” She lifted one of her eyebrows as she challenged him.
“Not at all.” Once he rested his cane against the shelf, he leaned in and cupped her cheek, letting the pad of his thumb scud along her bottom lip. “In fact, it is quite… interesting.”
She gave into a tremble. “What do you want, Major? I haven’t the time to verbally spar with you just now.”
“I wish to see if you are of a mind to let me do wicked things to you, as we did on the faraway summer day at your father’s estate.”
Was she? Need shot through her core and left delicious shivers behind. “That depends.”
“On?”
“Kiss me, and if it is better than your opening salvo of last night, then I’ll decide.”
“Vixen.” He tugged her into his arms, and she went easily enough. How could she not, when this was the man she’d had such a crush on, that she’d pretended she’d married instead of Weymouth?
When he claimed her lips with his, she returned the embrace with the same enthusiasm.
It was heaven reacquainting herself with his mouth; the soft firmness of those lips only served to fuel her desire.
As he nibbled and nipped, she responded in kind, and once he worried the seam of her lips, she gladly opened for him and touched her tongue to his.
“This is the man I remember from that wonderful afternoon,” she whispered against his lips. Her fingers curled into his lapels in an effort to haul him closer.
“Then I pass muster?” he asked in a barely audible voice as he skimmed his palms over her curves.
“Yes.”
“Good.” He continued his teasing, treating her to a series of quick, feather-weighted kisses before speaking again. “I couldn’t bring myself to steal your innocence all those years ago; that was your husband’s right.”
She snorted. “It wouldn’t have mattered, except I would have been properly bedded.”
Confusion reflected in his eyes. “What does that mean?”
Not wishing to talk about the marquess, Penny tugged at his cravat, making inroads to unraveling the knot. “Never mind.”
“Ah, secrets. How delicious indeed.” Cornelius drew his tongue down the side of her neck, nibbling and kissing the skin as he went. Flutters chased low in her belly. He grazed her collarbone with his teeth, prompting a tiny moan from her. “Shall I continue, then?”
“Mmm, yes, but if a customer comes in…” A sigh swallowed up the rest of her words when he returned to her lips.
Kisses soon gave way to caresses, and soon his mouth and hands teased her breasts, her nipples through the fabric of her dress, sliding, kneading, torturing.
The soft sounds she made at the back of her throat surprised her, but then, it had been ages since she’d been touched as intimately as he was now.
“Oh, that feels so good.” Penny hummed her approval and held him ever closer.
Before he could answer, the bell above the door tinkled merrily. Penny froze and frantically met his gaze.
“Call out to them but remain here,” he instructed her in a whisper, while pressing her back into the shelf and the books stored there so the person wouldn’t see him.
“Penny? Are you working in the shop today?” The exasperation in Johnathan’s voice caused Cornelius to grin and her to groan.
“I am, but I am assisting a customer at the moment. I’ll be right there.”
“Not if I have anything to say about it,” Cornelius said in a barely there whisper. Then, he spun her about and kneeled at her feet. When she threw a questioning glance over her shoulder, he winked and then encouraged her legs apart.
Oh, dear Lord. “What are you about?” she asked silently. Surely, he didn’t mean to…
“You’ll find out in a moment,” he mouthed back.
The earl cleared his throat. “Listen, Sis, we need to discuss your promise that you’ll attend the events leading up to Valentine’s Day this week.
Mama is adamant that you meet someone and bring him up to scratch by year’s end.
” A hint of annoyance bordering on arrogance rang in his voice. “I grow weary of being her watchdog.”
“She wants the same from you, so why should I follow orders if you won’t?
“Perhaps I don’t want you to land in another arranged marriage.”
Penny frowned and peered through the books, hoping her brother didn’t advance. “You thought Mama and Papa were wrong to foist Weymouth upon me?” He’d never talked about it with her before.
“I didn’t at the time.”
Cornelius slowly, silently shoved her skirting up and asked her silently to hold the fabric out of his way. Then he dared to trail his fingertips along the inside of her thigh and gave the same treatment to the other.
“And now?” Penny’s response was on the breathless side. Her skin quivered beneath Cornelius’s fingertips. Tiny dots of gooseflesh rose at his touch.
“I believe you were given a bad deal. Whispers around the clubs held that Weymouth wasn’t exactly… gifted in the bedroom arts.”
Heat slapped her cheeks. “Oh.” Had she been gossiped about by gentlemen about Town? “Did you indulge in that sort of talk as well?”
“Of course not, but was it true?”
“I’d rather not say.” Especially not with Cornelius right there.
While she talked with her brother, the major drew abstract designs on her inner thigh and moved his fingertips upward to caress her folds.
The touch was so unexpected that she was obliged to stifle a gasp.
As he blew a breath over one exposed arse cheek, he stood and fit his hand more fully to that secret flesh between her thighs.
“Are you out of your mind?” she hissed in a barely audible voice.
“That largely depends on the day,” he whispered back.
The sound of footsteps stopped as Johnathan reached the first shelf. “Fair enough, but don’t you miss being married?” A certain hopefulness had entered his voice. “Now that I’m the earl, I want to see you settled so I don’t need to worry.”
Her heart squeezed. “Perhaps I wish to become one of those independently wealthy widows who does what she will.” Penny gasped but squirmed from Cornelius’s continued attentions.
How could she continue conversing when the major’s fingers on her person would slowly steal her facilities?
“I enjoy my freedom too much.” Her voice quavered with each strum of his fingers on her folds.
Johnathan snorted. “You can have your freedom while being cared for and settled.”
“And have a husband take over my properties or my coin? No, thank you.” She shook her head and then bit her lip when Cornelius rubbed the pad of his forefinger over the swollen nubbin at her center. How was it possible he could bring her so near to a release when he’d barely touched her?
“There is that, but don’t put yourself on the shelf merely for that. Don’t you want to be a mother?”
A strangled sound left Penny’s throat, whether from her brother’s words or Cornelius’s constant friction on her nubbin, she couldn’t say. “Yes, of course, but…”
“Yet you balk at the idea of marriage. You won’t change your mind?”
Cornelius again went onto his knees. He put his mouth on her, flicking his tongue over her swollen bundle of nerves where his fingers had just been.
“No!” The exclamation echoed in the room. Penny dropped a hand on Cornelius’s shoulder and dug in her fingers. Did the man have no shame?
He met her gaze with a grin and continued his torment.
“Well, you needn’t be so vehement about it,” Johnathan said, his tone petulant. “I merely want to see you cared for.”
“So I don’t become your responsibility, you mean?” she asked with a trace of hysteria in her voice.
Cornelius continued to pleasure her as if his life depended upon bringing her to completion in the next few moments.
“Don’t be like that, Penny. It something were to happen to me, I want to go into the Great Beyond knowing someone will take care of you.”
“Are you ill?” What did he refer to? Somewhat concerned, yet unable to concentrate, she held the major’s head with one hand while clutching her skirts to her chest with the other.
“Not in the traditional sense.”
She frowned. “The demons from the war?”
“Perhaps, so please, for both our sakes, find someone you can rub along with.”
“Stop trying to order me about. My only concern at the moment is finding satisfaction here at the bookshop.” That last word was drawn out on a moan.
Johnathan took a few steps forward. “Are you quite all right, Sis?”