Chapter 2 #2
He ate a bite of pie. “Meanwhile, my old married friends are uncomfortable with me because they’re all paired up, and they don’t know how to treat me—whether to avoid the topic of their wives or pretend I never had one or what.
And if I invite them as couples, the wives all pity me.
” He raised an eyebrow at her. “The way you’re doing now. ”
Oh, dear, she wasn’t hiding her feelings very well. “I am not,” she said, ducking her head.
“Hmm.”
They ate in silence for a few minutes.
“Mother does come to visit occasionally, since I rarely go—” When he stopped short and winced, it turned her blood to ice.
“To visit her?” she finished for him. “Because you’d also have to deal with the two young people dumped on you by Esther?”
“No! That’s not … I don’t see the two of you as …”
“Burdens? It certainly seems as if you do, considering you’ve been avoiding us for months.
” She dropped her gaze to her plate, picking at her food.
“Not that I could blame you. Considering how Lionel is behaving, you probably think I have indulged him terribly, thus leading to his present heedless actions.”
He drew himself up, becoming every inch the earl. “I would never think such a thing. A man, even one of Lionel’s age, must take responsibility for his own behavior, not blame it on his female relations.”
She choked down a bite of her food. “That doesn’t explain why you’ve been avoiding me.”
Instantly, he turned wary. “I haven’t—”
“At least Lionel is away at school most of the time, so I know why you don’t return to see him. But I’m there always. So, apparently, it’s me in particular you’re avoiding. Even when you do go to see your mother, you won’t look at me, and you barely speak to me.”
She choked down her tears with an effort. Men hated crying females, and Mason already thought of her as a child. She wouldn’t give him more reason to believe that. “You clearly don’t even want me here now. What did I ever do to deserve that?”
“Nothing!” As if angry with himself for saying it, he added coldly, “I mean, you’re imagining those things.”
Now he was denying what was plain to anyone, especially her, which perversely roused her temper, thus making her feel even worse. “Of course. You would know, wouldn’t you?”
Feeling unkind words bubble up in her throat, she rose abruptly before she could let loose her temper on him.“If you don’t mind, Mason, I shall retire now. I want to be up early for when we confront Lionel.”
She hurried away, praying she could make it to her room before she did or said something she’d regret.
“Augusta, don’t go,” he called out.
The scraping of his chair on the floor as he pushed it back only made her hasten her steps.
“Damn it, Augusta!”
She had made it to the hallway upstairs and nearly to her room, when Mason caught up with her. “Stop. Stop, sweetheart!” he cried, seizing her arm and turning her to face him.
The word “sweetheart” caught her again, softening her temper. Now he was staring down at her with what could only be called hunger.
Was she imagining that look? Because the very possibility that she wasn’t sent a thrill coursing through her. Was that disloyal to Esther’s memory? She’d loved her bright and laughing sister, after all, even if Esther had been a flibbertigibbet.
Still, Esther’s last words to her had been, Take care of Mason, my dear. And how better to do so than to love him as much as Esther had?
Not that she had a choice. She couldn’t stop herself from loving him, worrying about him. Wanting him. She was truly a wicked woman.
“There is nothing wrong with you,” he said hoarsely. “Not a single thing.”
“Then why …”
She trailed off as a look of pure alarm flickered in his eyes. She braced herself for anything. But then his gaze lowered to her mouth and turned covetous, and next thing she knew, he’d dragged her close enough to seal his mouth to hers.
Mason was kissing her. Kissing her! Her pulse leapt into a frenzied dance. His mouth was soft, then hard, then boldly urgent, pressing her lips apart. She gasped, and he took advantage of her surprise to plunge his tongue inside her mouth.
Heaven help her, what was this?
Amazing, that’s what. Heart-stopping. Better than she’d ever dreamed. Mason drove his tongue into her mouth over and over, and she rose to the decadent pleasure, grabbing his arm with one hand while she buried the second in his hair, determined to prolong the madness as long as possible.
When he locked an arm about her waist and slid his other hand behind her neck to hold her against him from head to hip, she could hardly breathe for the joy of it. Mason was in her arms, ravaging her mouth with a greed that mirrored her own.
He was like those marauding knights she read about in her books, who ravished unwilling innocents.
Except that she felt anything but innocent and unwilling.
Because she would give everything to be marauded and ravished by him.
To always feel the hard press of him against her, rousing a glorious ache in her breasts . . . a shocking heat between her legs.
What was happening to her?
She made some mewling noise in the back of her throat, and he groaned, then released her abruptly.
“Forgive me, Augusta,” he said, his gaze not meeting hers. “Please do forgive me. I shouldn’t have— I had no right to—” He ran a hand through his hair. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
Then he stalked back the way he’d come and practically ran down the stairs.
She considered running after him, but that seemed unwise, since he clearly had regretted what he’d done. Because he didn’t approve of her? Because he wanted to be a gentleman? Because …
Oh, Lord, it made no sense. Mason had just given her the most amazing kiss of her life, and somehow that had sent him fleeing from her. She sank against the wall, determined to blot out that last part and focus only on the first.
She touched her lips. Mason had kissed her. Deeply. Passionately. So, no matter what happened tomorrow, she would not let him take it back.