Chapter 24 #3
“Beau!” she said again, a warning in her voice as she pushed him back, both hands pressed against the flat of his chest. The crisp clean scent of starched linen and a warm, very male body drifted to her as she looked up at him.
“Was Sebastian right? Are you hoping to spoil my chances with anyone else?”
He laughed, a warm, caressing sound that seemed to glide over her skin.
“I’d be a fool if I didn’t, darling Eve,” he replied. “But you’re not considering anyone else except Sebastian, and he’s not offered for you, has he?”
She looked away from him, her heart in turmoil. No, he hadn’t, though she’d not given him much of an opportunity. But from his words earlier it sounded unlikely that he would. It sounded like he thought loving her was a kind of madness, the kind his father had suffered when he had met her mother.
“He can’t, Georgiana,” Beau said, and though his words were harsh they were spoken gently, as though he knew it would hurt and was sorry for it. “After everything his family suffered, and I’m blaming neither party,” he added before she could take offence.
“From all I’ve heard about it the two of them were madly in love, and if she was anything as lovely as you, darling, I can hardly wonder at it.” She swallowed and refused to look up at him but waited for him to carry on.
“But the whole affair destroyed his mother. She was always a nervous sort from what I understand, prone to hysterics and the like. But since then she’s been a recluse and she uses her ill health to manipulate her son.
If she had the slightest inkling he was interested in you, the shock would likely kill her. ”
She did look up then, as her hopes, slim as they’d been, came crashing to the ground.
Beau was watching her with sympathy in his eyes.
“Come, Georgiana,” he said, reaching out a hand and stroking her cheek. “I know you don’t love me. But we are friends. We like each other’s company and more than that ... I think you desire me.”
She opened her mouth in shock, though whether to deny it was true she wasn’t sure. But he just chuckled, amused by her discomfort.
“Were you going to contradict me?” he demanded, his voice soft with amusement, and then slid his hand behind her neck and pulled her closer, his lips pressing against hers.
She began to push him away, but his lips were soft and warm and very tender and her heart was in turmoil.
She knew he was telling the truth, trusting him in that.
Sebastian would never be able to offer her marriage.
The most he would ever want from her was to make her his mistress, and that she would never do.
But Beau was here, he was handsome and clever, funny and unexpectedly kind and yes, he was right, she did desire him.
There was no denying that as his kiss became more insistent, searching and she opened her mouth to him.
The expression, give him an inch and he’ll take a mile, came forcefully to mind as he possessed her mouth with a soul stealing kiss that made her tremble with alarm.
Good God, she thought as his hands slid over her body, his arms pulling her tighter against him.
How could she feel this way for a man she didn’t love?
The idea that she was perhaps her mother’s daughter after all crept into her mind, but she pushed it away. She slid her arms around him in return, pressing closer, wanting to forget another man and another place, an autumn idyll that could only ever have been a dream.
He broke the kiss and looked down at her, his eyes were pleased and heavy with wanting.
“You see, sweet Eve,” he murmured, dipping his head to trail his mouth along her jaw line, feathering a line of hot little kisses down her neck as his skilled fingers opened the fastenings on her spencer.
She gasped as his large hand slid underneath the short jacket and his head bent further to press a kiss on the soft rise of her breast just above the neckline of her dress.
Closing her eyes as desire flamed to life, she felt his thumb rub the peak of her nipple beneath the soft fabric of her gown and bit back a moan.
“I can please you, Georgiana,” he whispered kissing a path over one breast to the other. “I could show you such pleasure. I want to, love ... so badly.”
She drew in a breath as his fingers tweaked her nipple and his head raised to nuzzle the soft skin beneath her ear. “It wouldn’t be so bad would it, to be married to me? Friends who desire each other, it’s more than many people begin with.”
“Not so bad, no,” she murmured, her body alive with sensation, her head dizzy with desire and her poor heart too bruised to allow her to think clearly.
He paused and grasped her face between his hands. “Is that a yes?” he asked, his voice rough with need.
“I--,” she gasped, and then shook her head. “No, yes ... I don’t know!” she exclaimed. “Please, I need time to think. Take me back now, Beau, please. I need to ...”
He pulled her into his arms once more and kissed her ruthlessly, leaving her breathless and flustered as he released her and took his place at the oars once more.
His eyes on her were intent as he rowed them out from under the tree and she quickly refastened her spencer. She didn’t doubt she looked flushed and thoroughly kissed, and she raised her chin in defiance at the scandalised glances of another couple who passed close by as they rowed back to shore.
“That’s it, darling,” Beau whispered, his glittering gaze warm and approving. “Who gives a damn for what they think. They’re all liars and hypocrites after all.”