Chapter Three #2
“I doubt that’s true.” She shrugged. “But for me, I married, bore two children who have grown into lovely adults, and then survived my husband’s death.
In the middle of all that?” A sigh escaped her.
“There was living, I suppose, tending to other peoples’ needs, and when I finally had the time to catch my breath, I found I was alone at sixes and sevens with my needs mostly unmet. ”
“Mmm, succinct story, but there is a wealth of important things you’ve left out.
I understand why.” What did she need in this moment?
Drifting toward her chair, he continued.
“Over those years, I lost my father to an attack of his heart. A few years later, my mother died from complications of an infection her body just couldn’t fight.
” God, those had been terrible years. “Each death changes the people who are left behind. I knocked about Town with your brother for a good portion of that time.”
“Avoiding the responsibilities of your title?”
“Perhaps, but I’d rather marry with intention than be trapped with someone dreadfully wrong for me and then grow to regret it.”
“That is so true, and you’re smart to follow that advice.” Her expression sobered. “I wish I’d done the same.”
“Mmm.” How interesting that she’d come back into his life right now, for he had been mildly attracted to her years before when she was a younger woman, just after she’d said vows to Atterbury.
She’d been the catch of the Season that year, and the whole of the ton buzzed about her match, but he’d thought, personally, they weren’t suited for each other.
And he’d said as much to William, who’d ignored him.
The memory tugged a chuckle from his throat.
“What is so funny?”
It wouldn’t hurt to admit that since it was such a long time ago. “I was attracted to you just after you married. The folly of a randy eighteen-year-old young man, I suppose.”
“I never knew that.” Surprise jumped into her eyes. “I was a bride of three and twenty. The engagement, if you can call it that, was a whirlwind. I was packed up and handed over to my husband from my father.”
“I told your brother that Atterbury didn’t deserve you.”
“What did he say?”
“He said the marriage was what your father wanted, that he gained a choice property in the Lake District from the contracts.”
She nodded. “He did, and I never had the chance to visit it, but I hear it’s beautiful in the summer.” A few seconds later, she pressed her lips together. “Why didn’t you say anything to me about your feelings at the time?”
“What good would it have done? I was a green boy, a nodcock, and you were married.” He shrugged. “William would have killed me, besides. He wanted me to court your younger sister. Said we would have been perfect for each other.”
“William often can’t see past the end of his nose.
” Another laugh left her throat. “A match between you and my sister would have gone nowhere. She has always been in love with the man she married. In fact, she announced at the age of fifteen that she’d marry him and have a large family with him, which she has.
And from what I hear, she’s still mad for him to this day. ”
“A romance like that is something I aspire to. My parents didn’t have that; they were constantly fighting, much more so after my sister died in her childhood.
” Another truth. He just assumed he would never have a loving union, which was why he continually sought out shallow liaisons.
They were easier, and he didn’t need to work at them.
And most of the time, they didn’t prove a disappointment.
She nodded. “There is a certain comfort in familiarity.” Again, she roved her bright gaze up and down his form with an accuracy that he could almost feel.
Did such familiarity translate to the resurrection of attraction or desire brewing between them now? “What do you wish you had now, Lady Diana?”
“Just Diana. I don’t need to be reminded of my title.”
“No, I don’t suppose you do.” With even more daring, Nathaniel moved in front of her chair, gripped the armrests, and then leaned into her, watching her the whole time. “But that didn’t answer my question.”
Her eyelids fluttered. “What do I want? I’m not certain yet.”
“Then what do you need?” he asked next since it mirrored his earlier thoughts.
“Another impossible question to answer on the spot.” But curiosity lit her eyes.
“Ah, so you won’t mind if I did this, hmm?” Then, because he might have lost his mind, he claimed her lips with his, kissing her gently.
He eased away slightly. Would she slap him? She very nearly did, as one of her hands rose and surprise again moved across her face. Then she frowned and shadows filled her eyes. “Why did you do that?”
“Why not?” There was nothing to do but shrug. “I wanted to.”
“But… why? I’m not looking to be the next in the long line of conquests you have.”
Fair enough. He held her gaze. “To see if I was only remembering that old attraction from when I was an idiot of eighteen, or if something new and interesting is building between us.”
A slight hitch of her breathing betrayed her curiosity. “And?”
“It is quite valid and strong.”
Diana’s eyes widened. “Fascinating.”
“Indeed.” For the space of a few heartbeats, they stared at each other. “What now?” This was a delicate and developing situation, so he didn’t wish to ruin anything by rushing forward.
“Hmm.” Slowly, and with determined movements, she set her book onto a small table nearby and then stood, which put her immediately into his arms as he straightened. “I think you should kiss me again to be certain.”
How delightfully unexpected. If she hadn’t looked at him with the same hunger in her expressive eyes that was currently coursing through his blood, if her fingers hadn’t curled into the lapel of his tailcoat, if the tip of her tongue hadn’t darted out to moisten her bottom lip, he would have been fine.
He could have potentially bid her goodnight and returned to the drawing room, content with reconnecting with an old acquaintance, but all those things had happened, and his world tilted.
“I might be many things, but a disappointment to a lady when a kiss is in the offing is not one of them.”
With a groan, Nathaniel wrapped her more securely in his arms and crushed his lips to hers, only this time, he didn’t keep it chaste—couldn’t.
This was everything he’d dreamed of as a youth of eighteen.
He wanted much more from her than he could articulate with words, for this embrace should never have happened.
Yet… She tasted so sweet, felt like walking into a warm house from a cold snowstorm.
When he encouraged her lips to part, she gasped, and he took full advantage.
The second his tongue slid against hers, another portion of his control shattered.
Apparently not to be outdone, Diana kissed him back with an enthusiasm that matched his own.
Satin slid over steel as they dueled for control, but when finally she surrendered to him with a tiny sigh, need shivered down his spine.
She encircled his shoulders with her arms, and the second her fingers caressed his nape, common sense fled.
Christ, this is so much better than dallying with debutantes.
While devouring her mouth as if he were a man starving, Nathaniel lifted her off the floor, shuttled her along the hardwood and carpeting, and at a half-moon-shaped table in front of a shelf, he deposited her arse onto the piece of furniture.
A couple of books that had been piled on the surface tumbled to the floor with dull thumps and thuds, but he didn’t care.
Not when kissing Diana had suddenly brought an extra spice to his life, and made him forget he’d ever been bored tonight.
The pounding of his pulse in his ears kept time to the insistent throb of his shaft as he dragged his lips along the column of her silky neck.
That faint floral and sweet scent she wore was both demure and naughty.
It spurred him onward, beckoned him closer until he held her head in his palms and moved between her naturally splayed legs.
“Nathaniel, I…” She didn’t finish the sentence, for he returned to her lips as if he couldn’t bear to be parted from them.
Hell, in many ways, he’d waited two and twenty years for this chance.
A soft sound of pleasure came from her throat, and damn if he didn’t wish to hear that again.
She fumbled with his cravat, and apparently abandoning the effort, she surged upward to press her lips to the skin of his throat just above that garment.
“God.” Need slammed into him; he was nearly drunk on her and he’d only just met her after such a long absence.
The fact she wasn’t a shrinking violet nor a desperate widow fanned the flames in his blood.
Clearly, there was a spark between them that had the potential to blow into an inferno, but he wasn’t one to jump into a romance, didn’t know if that was what he wanted anyway, or with her.
But this lady was far too good for a bit of slap and tickle with him walking away directly afterward. What the hell did that leave?
By the time she put a hand to his chest and gave him a bit of a hard shove, he had a raging cockstand and a wave of hot lust slammed through his veins. “Good heavens,” she said in a whisper, as she stood peering up at him, for she was a good four inches or so shorter than he.
“Agreed. What now?” Why did he suddenly feel like a green youth when presented with a woman of her caliber?
“Hmm.” With a slight smile, Diana patted his cheek and touched her bottom lip with the tip of her tongue as she dropped her gaze briefly to his mouth before holding his gaze once more.
“Call on me tomorrow. I’m in Grosvenor Square.
Perhaps we can further talk at that time or take a drive to Hyde Park. ”
What the devil for? “What will that gain us?” He wasn’t accustomed to not acting on carnal impulses the moment they occurred.
“Who can say what the future holds, Nathaniel?” Hearing his name in her tone sent shivers into the lusty mix bedeviling him.
“But I wonder if you are as skilled at certain things as the rumors throughout society say you are.” Then, with a wink, she glided across the floor, unlocked the door, and exited the room.
Fuck me and damn me too.
It had been a long time indeed since his world had been turned on its head with one kiss from a woman. Even more so that he’d been knocked stupid by an experienced one.