Chapter 11
Eleven
Asecond kiss and it was more heavenly than the one she remembered and Nicoll held it close to her heart.
Goodness! He had even pulled her onto his lap and as his kiss deepened, she noted the length of him harden against her hip.
Of course, she knew what it was, and why his body reacted in such a manner—desire. But her knowledge came only from overhearing conversations and reading.
It had also caused an even deeper ache within her body in addition to her swollen breasts, tight nipples and nether regions.
Before she sailed for Barbados, Nicoll decided that she wanted to be seduced by Cecil.
No, she needed to be seduced by him and experience all the wonderful pleasures one might enjoy with the joining of bodies.
She just wasn’t certain how to ask that of him.
She also should not be thinking about such immoral activities while her cousin wished to take everything away, especially her sisters.
Yes, Cecil said the Court of Chancery was slow and it was unlikely a decision would be reached before she sailed, but it was also no guarantee.
Thus, she had yet another day of waiting, another walk through Hyde Park, another ball, where she had not seen Cecil…
another day and night of anticipation until he came to her window again.
After her sisters had retired, she had returned to the parlor to pour herself a glass of brandy to help with her nerves and paced within, nearly jumping when he tapped at the window.
Nicoll rushed forward and attempted to open it only to realize that she had not bothered to unlock it.
For a woman who hoped that a lover might visit, she certainly was not making it easy for him.
“Do you have any news for me?”
He chuckled. “Do you have a brandy for me?”
“Yes, of course.” She rushed to pour some into a glass, surprised that her hands shook. This was certainly out of character for her.
“I have heard no news as to your concerns,” he answered when she pressed the glass into his hand.
“That is good then, is it not?” Nicoll wandered to the settee and settled upon it. This was where she had sat the evening before and it had worked out delightfully.
Cecil sat beside her. “Has your cousin issued any further threats or presented you with any new documents?”
“No.”
She said nothing further and sipped her wine. What was there to say? His visits were to share news, which they had done.
In fact, the silence was rather deafening and Nicoll waited for him to finish his brandy and leave, yet she could feel his eyes watching her, which was rather unnerving.
“You have a habit that quite confounds me.”
Nicoll frowned. Had she offended him in some manner? “To which habit do you refer?”
Cecil chuckled. “Your habit of walking away or dismissing me once we have reached the end of a discussion or stopped kissing. I can only assume that is why you remain silent now. We are in your home and you cannot simply walk away from a guest.”
“We had reached a conclusion as to the purpose of our meeting.”
“Did it never occur to you that there might be other matters to discuss or conversations we could have?”
“No. That has never been my experience.” Few people engaged her for casual discussions and she was certainly not in the habit of participating in such. Well, other than with her sisters, but they were different.
Cecil frowned. “Never?”
“I suppose I am not one for chit chat.” She did not tell him that she was more used to being dismissed and therefore never remained longer than necessary.
“What if I want to come to know you better?”
Those words had never been said to her before. “What would you like to know?”
At least he would never need to worry about Nicoll being reduced to discussing the weather. No, she spoke with purpose and then was done.
“You have five sisters, correct?”
“Yes.”
“I have, or had, five sisters, but I am also one of six brothers.”
Her eyes widened as she turned to stare at him.
“Yes, it is a rather large family.” He chuckled. “My mother died shortly after I was born. I was her fourth child. My father remarried, much like yours, and seven more children were born.”
“I am sorry about your mother.”
“Thank you.” He hadn’t made the comment for sympathy but to show her that they shared similar circumstances. “I suppose I am trying to imagine a home where I had only sisters.”
“As I have never had a brother, I am not certain I can compare the two.”
He wanted to know who she was and what her life had been like before they had met under the moonlight in Jersey, but she was not making it easy.
“Your eldest sister, she married seven years earlier?”
“Yes, to a spy,” she whispered, then told him a delightful tale, which must have been frightening at the time, of their ship being sunk and Nicoll and her sisters finding shelter on Martinique while the British were at war with France.
That was when Tempest had met her husband, the spy who is no longer a spy.
“Until then, Tempest had run father’s household. Her duties then became mine.”
“Such as?”
“Mistress of the household, supervising the servants, overseeing the entertainments to make certain there was enough wine and food, and that the guests were happy and I assisted my father in writing his letters because he was more comfortable speaking what they should contain instead of sitting at a desk and writing them himself.
“How old were you when you took on those duties?”
“Eighteen.” She shrugged.
“One would assume that there would have been many opportunities to meet gentlemen, which is why I am surprised that you remain unwed.”
“I was in charge of the entertainments because it was important to father for his career, they were not for me to enjoy.” Nicoll chuckled. “There were opportunities, of course, but no one was ever interested enough in me, nor was I interested in them.”
Cecil sipped his wine, confounded that no man had been interested in her enough to at least pay a call.
Or, maybe she was oblivious of attempts to flirt with her.
She did tend to end conversations, which was how this one had begun.
“When we had visitors at the house, it was not for me to entertain or engage, therefore when my purpose was served, I withdrew.”
“Which you continue to do with me, except I would rather spend time with you than doing anything else.”
Her eyes widened in surprise, and his heart nearly stilled.
Had he just admitted aloud that he preferred her to anyone and anything else?
He had, and it was the truth.
Cecil stared into Nicoll’s silver eyes.
Was he falling in love?