Chapter 6 #2
She didn’t get to finish the sentence as he closed the distance between them and took her face between his hands before pressing his mouth against hers.
His lips were soft and warm, and this time he was a little less violent in his attentions than that first kiss in the shadowy, dark of the cave.
But there was fierceness enough in his manner as he pulled her closer, his arms enfolding her so tightly against him she found herself shocked and stunned and beguiled all at once.
Her hands were pressed against his chest and she could feel the heat of his body blazing through the fine white linen.
Only too aware of the disparity between them as he towered over her, his much broader, harder body easily subdued her softer, smaller frame.
She seemed suddenly fragile against all that coiled power, his muscular body so much heavier than hers.
He released her mouth and she dared to look up at him, feeling his breath fluttering warm against her cheek.
“Damn, I’m going to have to ask you to forgive me again,” he said, with a rueful expression.
Against everything she had ever been taught about the appropriate behaviour for young ladies, Georgiana gasped at him in outrage ... and then laughed.
He grinned at her then and that smile was her undoing, and when he bent his head once more, she didn’t struggle but tilted her head to allow it, encouraging him to explore and to show her how a kiss should progress.
His lips were soft and teasing now, feathering light butterfly kisses over her mouth that made her breathless.
He nipped at her lower lip in a teasing gesture that made her gasp with surprise that was compounded as he traced the opening she’d made with his tongue.
Tentatively she copied him and allowed him to deepen the kiss, feeling her body suddenly languorous and boneless as she relaxed into his arms. He pulled her tighter still and she reached her arms up, coiling them around his neck to steady herself, finding that she had raised up on tiptoes to meet him, pulling his head down.
“Oh God,” he moaned, as he drew back, his breathing heavy.
She looked up at him feeling suddenly shy, which seemed strange in the circumstances.
And yet she hardly dared meet his eyes, but when she did, they were darker than ever, heavy with desire.
She drew in a breath, alarmed by the intensity of his expression and he seemed to remember himself.
He relaxed his hold on her, kissing her lightly and then taking her hand and leading her back to the place they had sat and talked before.
“Come and talk to me, Miss Bomford,” he said, his tone light and charming, no doubt trying to settle her nerves which were indeed skittering about like a day-old foal, trembling and uncertain.
“I think perhaps you may call me Georgiana,” she said, relieved that at least her voice didn’t waver as she felt everything else was quaking, that she herself was quavering on the edge of a precipice.
He paused and looked back at her, his smile warm. “Georgiana,” he repeated, with such reverence it made her skin heat all over again.
Sitting down on the rock he held out his hand and she took it, settling herself beside him and demurely arranging her skirts to give herself a moment to take a breath.
What are you doing, Georgiana?
The voice in her head called out to her and she had no answer for it. Instead she turned her face towards the man beside her and smiled and he traced the line of her jaw with his fingertip.
“So beautiful,” he whispered.
She gave a little self-deprecating huff of amusement.
“Come now, my lord,” she replied, with obvious scepticism.
“Pretty enough for Truro perhaps, but hardly a diamond of the first water. Why just imagine me beside all those glamorous heiresses, I would fade away as if I’d never been.
It’s only here among the rocks and the fields that you find favour in an oddity. ”
“Is that what you think?” he demanded, and she startled a little as there had been a real thread of anger in his voice.
Her smile faltered but she knew it was the truth and she didn’t want to hear pretty lies from him. She’d have no promises of love and devotion. He would dally with her a little while and she would have to work hard to keep her honour and her heart intact until the day he grew bored.
“I think perhaps you are fatigued by the lavish entertainments provided by your friends, that the sophisticated entertainments you seek have begun to pall, and so you find diversion in other avenues ...” She looked away then, not liking to see the way anger lit his eyes at her words.
“Like a na?ve little country girl who is foolish enough to meet you and let you kiss her.”
She gasped as his hand grasped the back of her neck, pulling her closer to him and finding those dark eyes lit with much more than just anger.
“I have thought of nothing else but you since the day we met,” he said, his voice harsh. “This is not like anything else I have ever felt.”
She stared at him, trying to smile but finding it impossible under the weight of his gaze. “I’m simply a novelty,” she whispered, not for one minute believing it was anything more than that, no matter what he said.
“No.” His voice was a growl and she thought - hoped, he would kiss her again, but he released her suddenly and stared out across the fields. The silence was taut and uncomfortable.
“Perhaps I should go,” she said, aware that she had annoyed him.
His hand shot out and clasped her wrist. “No ... don’t, please. I ...” He gave a soft laugh and she knew he’d been going to ask forgiveness for his behaviour.
“I think perhaps I have reached my limit for forgiveness for one day,” she replied, ensuring that he heard the teasing note in her voice.
He nodded. “I don’t doubt it. I can’t imagine what you must think of me,” he glanced sideways at her and smiled, and that sweet, boyish smile that seemed to be terribly rare stole her breath.
Georgiana didn’t move but returned her gaze to look out across the meadow.
She felt his hand slide from her wrist to her hand as his fingers laced through hers.
They sat like that for a little while, silently watching leaves as they fell, fluttering to the ground, only to be swept up again and set upon a different path.
“You like Byron?” she asked in the end, as it appeared she didn’t have the will to walk away from him and searched for something to break the silence that seemed to grow more intense with every passing moment.
He turned to her, a slight frown over his eyes.
“The quote, from When We Two Parted ... it’s Byron,” she added.
Smiling, he shrugged. “I like some of them, the ones that feel real to me.”
“Oh?” she asked, curious as to what he meant.
“The ones where I feel he’s speaking of himself,” he said, his eyes searching hers. “And you, I take it you are an admirer ...” He groaned and rolled his eyes. “Conrad,” he said, snorting with amusement.
Georgiana flushed a little as her dog, hearing his name called, ran back to them to see if his presence was required. She patted the squirming hound, making a fuss of him before she dared to look back at the man beside her. As expected, he was obviously amused.
“You are laughing at me,” she replied with a huff.
“No, no,” he replied, choking a little before giving up and laughing out loud.
Giving an offended sniff she looked away from him. “I take it The Corsair isn’t one of your favourites.”
He didn’t bother to hide his obvious disgust. “It is undoubtedly his most ridiculous poem.”
“It is not!” she returned, looking at him in astonishment. “It is ... it’s all adventure and romance and ...’
‘Piffle,” he interjected with a sad shake of his head.
He grinned at her, obviously unmoved by her pouting.
“Before you even begin the title is all wrong. Conrad doesn’t work for any government, he has no letter of marque, therefore he’s a pirate, not a corsair.
You’d think he could have at least done his homework. ”
“Oh!” she fumed. “That is so like a man. You clearly have no soul, or at least no heart or the slightest idea about romance ...”
She realised her mistake before she’d reached the end of the sentence and felt perhaps, she should pick up her skirts and run.
Only knowing what she ought to do and actually doing it, seemed to be something she was entirely unable to accomplish. So, she looked up into a pair of darkening eyes and awaited her fate.