Chapter Thirteen
H umphrey Wells, Earl of Dalhone, more affectionately known as Father, had been mostly absent for the duke’s visits. She had seen him over the last week, but it had been sparse. Sometimes he had a habit of hermitting himself in his study to read. Other times he busied himself with travel and historical research, usually about battles and weaponry.
Boudicca, along with the ton , knew he was a bit eccentric, and it sometimes caused gossip, but most of it wasn’t too harmful. He trusted his daughters. Even more so now that Boudicca had been deemed a spinster and could act as her sisters’ chaperone. But trust a parent to walk in on their daughter at the most humiliating moment. Up until the minute she was behind the screen, everything had been proper. Or at least close enough to it.
There hadn’t been any wayward thoughts. At least not many. There hadn’t been any lingering touches. At least not physical. And there certainly hadn’t been any kisses. That didn’t happen until later. And who should show up, throwing Boudicca into a panic over nothing, thus causing her most scandalous moment to date.
She should thank her father.
Not to his face of course. What would she say? Thanks for walking in on me and causing me to act indecently with a man for the first time? Or, thanks for opening the door to my first kiss? No, of course, she wouldn’t say any of those things even though she was happy to have had her first kiss. But there must have been some little girl inside of her still looking for her father’s approval, because that afternoon she sought him out.
She found him in his study, poring over history books.
“Who are you reading today?”
Grabbing a marker, he placed it in his book, and then looked up. “Boudicca, what a coincidence. I happen to be reading your namesake’s biography.”
“For the hundredth time?”
“Or thereabouts.” A light smile trickled across his lips. “Were you just fencing?”
Startled, Boudicca was about to ask how he knew that, when she realized she was still in her gear. “Oh, yes. I was.”
“I must have just missed you. Would have loved to watch you practice. It’s been ages since I’ve seen you have a good match.”
“Perhaps next time, Father.”
“Yes. That would be nice.” He dropped his head back to his book, more out of distraction than dismissal.
“Father,” she started the sentence with no clue how she was actually going to phrase it. How would she ask for her father’s permission to kiss a man? She didn’t feel as though she needed his permission. It wasn’t that. She just…well, it was all too new. And although she was usually decisive in most things, she faltered over this one.
“How did you know you wanted to marry Mama?”
He looked back up wistfully.
“Is it possible to have standards set too high?”
“Like the Duke of Baskim? I understand he’s been around.” He chuckled.
If Boudicca had any doubts about her father having his ear to the ground, they were answered. He may not know everything that was going on, but he also didn’t know nothing about her current affairs.
“The duke, yes, that’s likely less about standards and more about connection. He’s a man though. He won’t admit to his feelings. He might say that he doesn’t like a woman for…her hair, or some other silly thing. But what he means is that there was nothing about her that made him want to stick around. No connection. No feelings.”
He chuckled again and tapped his fingers against the desk. “I’m only sharing feelings now in my old age.”
“You’re not old.”
“I’m getting there. But that’s beside the point. I must say, if it were only about standards, you would exceed his.”
“You have to say that. You’re my father.”
“Perhaps.” He covered his mouth as if to share a secret. “But I wouldn’t have said the same thing about Artemisia.” He winked.
“She meets a completely different set of standards.” Boudicca smiled, thinking of her hellion of a sister. The pause was filled with her knee bouncing up and down as she thought. “What about my standards? Are they too high?”
“A woman should never settle. It’s a man’s duty to protect her and take care of her. You do yourself an injustice if you settle.”
That wasn’t what she wanted to hear. “What if my standards are preventing a man from getting to know me?” She smoothed her hands down her breeches, a useless tactic in subduing the shaking leg.
“The right man will know exactly how high to jump. And if he doesn’t, he will continue to try. If he doesn’t know or doesn’t try, he’s not the right man for you, Boudicca.”
She should be grateful that there was no one forcing her to marry. That her father accepted her fate as a spinster or was encouraging her to find a true love match. She couldn’t help but wonder what her mother would say. She might be pushing her right into the arms of Wesley, only to walk in on them and demand a ring. No, she wasn’t really that kind. But Boudicca supposed any woman could act differently out of desperation, and she had known that her mother hoped to see her married.
“How much…erm—instruction should I give him? That is, about how high to jump?”
Her father chuckled. “I wish I could tell you what you need to hear, my dear. If only your mother were here…” he shook his head and let it fall into his hands.
“I would love for her to be here, but if she were, I’d still come to you and ask questions.”
“I suppose that may be true. I shall leave you with this then. I knew I loved your mother from the moment she read the first book I ever gave her.” He lifted the biographical tome in the air. “She had never heard of Boudicca before, yet she read the book.” A warm smile filled his face. “Not only did she read it though, she said that Boudicca was a beautiful name and that she inspired her to reach for her destiny. And then she took my hand in hers. And I knew…” A soft sheen coated his eyes and a tear slipped out.
“She was the most wonderful woman I had ever met…” His voice was hoarse, and Boudicca could feel a lump forming in her throat.
“She was.”
He stood and came out from behind his desk. Boudicca rose to meet him and his embrace. And then he said exactly what she needed to hear, “So, my dear, reach for your destiny. When you see it. And don’t let go.”
*
The fencing match had gone well. Wesley felt as though he were improving his skills. If he gleaned even a few new moves, he could beat Samuel merely by taking points by surprise. And though he knew he had learned some new techniques today, he couldn’t remember what they were. His foggy recollective abilities may have had something to do with an overwhelming sense of anticipation for their secondary lessons. He remembered some lunging and some ripostes. But what was really on his mind was plunging back into her mouth and posting her up against the wall.
Kissing lessons devoid of passion. That was what he was supposed to prepare for. And he had told himself that all evening and all morning. It was the night time that he had been unable to restrain.
He had not had dreams of something so innocent as flowers again. Though there had been rose petals strewn across the bed, now that he thought of it. And her. Boudicca had been lying in his bed in her breeches, through which he could make out the exact shape of her legs and the apex of her sex. He had woken up hard in the middle of the night. Aching, he took himself in hand. He told himself it was for the best, lest he bring all that passion to her and their kissing lesson.
“Water?”
The question drenched his dreams, rushing them away. He glanced up at her holding him a glass. He took it and gulped it down.
“Shall we…kiss?”
And her reply was all matter of fact. “Yes. Let’s.”
She reached for his hand and drew him behind the screen. When she leaned her back against the wall, he could see by the tilt of her head that she wasn’t entirely sure of what she was doing.
“Do you still want to do this?”
“Yes. I’ve determined that it is the best way forward for my future to improve my skills in this area.”
He leaned in and pressed his lips against hers as a hand flew to his chest.
“Wait.”
He could sense that Boudicca was nervous. She wanted to kiss him. She wanted him to kiss her. He was one of the most powerful dukes of the ton , and he had a reputation with the ladies. Of course she would want attention—lessons—from the best of the best. “Is there no warm up?”
“This isn’t fencing. There are no exercises to practice.”
“Are you sure?”
“Quite sure.”
“Well…um…if you had to start kissing me somewhere else, to um…warm up. Where could you start?”
This wasn’t his plan. He didn’t want to kiss her elsewhere. Lips were safe. Elsewhere led to passion.
“I thought you wanted kissing lessons without passion?”
“I do. But just um…show me my options.”
Show me my options? The chit was driving him crazy. She wanted options? He would give her options. Passion be cursed!
And he intended to plant a few kisses harshly over her skin, and in using such a delivery none of them would appeal to her, so then he could kiss her right back on the lips where he had started. Safely.
The first kiss he placed roughly on her nose. Which, when he pulled back, caused an unexpected smile to form on her face. The smile tugged at his heart. No, not his heart. His insides somewhere. Anywhere other than his heart. So he placed another kiss on her ear. Notably less roughly. His breath must have tickled because her shoulders drew up and caught him by the jaw.
“Not there,” she nearly giggled.
And he found himself wanting to kiss her exactly there again.
“I’ll kiss you wherever I want to. I’m the one giving the lessons, aren’t I? And you wanted your options.” He kissed her against her ear again, much less roughly. One might even label it softly. Her giggle was also softer, but her shoulders pulled up again.
“These are in the way,” he said as he pressed a kiss against her shoulder. “I need more access to this.” And then he trailed excessively soft kisses up her neck where his lips could feel her smooth exposed skin.
Her sigh impelled him to step closer, so he could feel her breasts push up against his chest. His hands gripped her waist, holding her still. Forcing her not to move into him more than he could control.
So not to leave one side unattended, he kissed the other side of her neck, trailing kisses until he reached her collar.
“Are there other options?” she asked in a gravelly voice.
“Plenty.” He tripped a finger down the buttons of her shirt. “May I?”
Her eyes widened but her head nodded.
With each button he loosened, he kissed a new inch of exposed skin. By the time his lips were on the top of her breasts, her hands were in his hair.
“Wesley,” she gasped. And he hadn’t even gotten to the good part yet. With his name on her lips, he was lost to any plans he had crafted. Plans, what plans? The only thing on his mind was seeing how many times he could get her to say his name.
One of his hands reached up to bring her breast to his mouth. His tongue flicked her nipple.
“Wesley!”
He licked again.
“Wesley!”
Waiting for his grin to fade, he pulled her nipple into his mouth and sucked. And then she groaned into his ear, and he had a new goal.