Will nodded. “I also want you to let me help you with your list,” he suggested calmly.
“Pardon?” She blinked up at him. Had he just offered to help her?
“You should not go to a gaming house alone. It is not the kind of place your aunt should go either. It would be much safer if you went with me. While I don’t want you to get involved with gambling, there is no risk to you if we visit one together. Allow me to go with you?”
Georgiana studied him. She wanted to accept his offer, but if he went with her he would not allow her to play poker. He would undoubtedly take a dim view of her doing that as much as he had objected to her getting drunk, or going skinny dipping, or her wearing her wonderful new dress.
“Thank you for your offer but I am already going with someone else,” she lied before she changed her mind.
“Who?” Will shot back. Possessiveness slammed through him so swiftly that he stumbled a little beneath the force and speed of it.
“A very kind gentleman who lives nearby,” Georgiana replied obliquely, but made no attempt to expand because she had just lied. “Thank you for your offer anyway, but I cannot let my escort down.”
Will watched her stumble into the hallway and slowly followed. He tried to keep his mind off the fact that she looked as though she had just tumbled out of someone’s bed. Her hair lay in tousled abandon atop her head, loose tendrils of which lay in glorious abandon against her pale cheeks. Her bosom heaved indignantly beneath the tight silken material of the dress which had been designed particularly to emphasise the glorious bounty God had graced her with. It worked too because he wanted her with a need that bordered on desperation.
When Georgiana whirled to face him, the hallway began to dim. She cried out in alarm, and reached out to try to grab the bannister only to find it too far away. In its place was Will, who stepped forward and placed his hands around her waist to hold her upright. In doing so he drew so close that she had to tip her head back and glared at him. She placed her hands instinctively on his chest; at first to push him away. When his heat warmed her fingers, she clung to his solid strength instead. Fatalistically she watched her fingers curl into the soft material of his shirt, and knew she was lost.
“Georgiana,” he whispered, making no attempt to keep the note of longing out of his voice. Words failed him. Nothing mattered except them, in the hallway, alone. The temptation she presented him was far too much to ignore the second longer. Before he realised what he was doing, Will captured her lips with his.
Georgiana’s world slammed to a halt, and it had nothing to do with the alcohol she had imbibed. Nothing mattered except this moment. It was wonderful. It was stupendously captivating. It was bittersweet. Not least because she knew nothing could ever c
ome of it.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t enjoy it, she thought defiantly as she revelled beneath the possession of his soft lips which neither plundered nor threatened. Instead, they merely lingered upon hers, giving her the time to adjust to his nearness and decide whether she wanted to return the caress or not.
Patiently, he waited until she sighed and relaxed against him. He then deepened the kiss and began to plunder. When her rounded curves met his strength, and fitted into every muscle, bone, and sinew to perfection, Will was lost and gave himself over to doing what he wanted for a change.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The passion that flared to life was so fierce they were both carried along on a tide of desire neither of them had the strength to resist. Hands clawed at clothing as they both staggered into the sitting room. Lips mated, bodies entwined. There wasn’t an ounce of space between them as Will backed her into the room in search of somewhere they could get closer.
When her knees touched the back of the chaise, Georgiana began to fall backward. This time, Will made no attempt to catch her and followed her down onto the chaise. He waited for her to object to his weight above her when he settled over her, but she clawed at him, refusing to allow him to do anything but surrender. This time she wasn’t going to allow him to withdraw, regroup, or deny her. She revelled in everything he had to give and wanted more. When he began to plunder deeper and deeper with his lips, his hands inched over every delicious curve beneath him. Georgiana writhed beneath him, desperate for more. His heavy muscles rippled beneath Georgiana’s fingers and held her captivated. At some point since leaving the hallway, his shirt had ridden higher and revealed the soft, warm flesh of his back. Tentatively, her fingers began their foray beneath the soft material of his shirt. She waited for him to object, or draw back again like he did last time. When he groaned low in his throat but didn’t stop her when she delved deeper beneath his shirt and delighted in the newfound sensation of being able to touch him.
Frustrated by the soft barrier of the material, Will eased up enough to yank his shirt over his head before he resumed his place, and began to pepper her bared neck and shoulders with random kisses.
“Will,” she breathed, silently pleading with him for more.
“Tell me to go,” he demanded quietly as he slid a hand slowly up the bare flesh of her thigh.
“Go,” she said dutifully at the same time that she tugged his head back down to hers.
The heat that spread between them swept aside all qualms, doubts, concerns, and their argument, and rendered it all completely insignificant. Aware that this was her first time, Will tried to be gentle. He tried to slow, but it was impossible when she writhed and squirmed against him, pleading with him to ease the burgeoning ache within her.
“We need to stop,” he pleaded, his voice shaken with the force his need for her.
Words failed her. It was as though a dam had burst inside her. The heady flow of sensuality within her wouldn’t be denied. This was her one and only chance to experience this kind of love, and she had no intention of denying herself.
“No,” she challenged and kissed him in the way she had always dreamed of doing.
She had no idea what she was asking for, but there was a lot more to what they were doing, her body seemed to instinctively know it. There was an ache deep in the heart of her she knew only he could ease. Strangely, it never occurred to her to ask him what to do. It wasn’t necessary because he seemed to know she wanted without her having to put it into words.
Late the following morning, Georgiana stood in the doorway to the study and stared blankly at the chaise where so much had happened last night. She had never expected to experience anything like it, especially with Will. The memories of everything she had allowed him to do made her want to squirm with embarrassment but it was too late to go back now. An awful sense of guilt settled over her, but she refused to give it credence. Instead, she needed to contemplate what on earth she was going to do now.
“I have been so foolish,” she whispered aloud as she placed her chilled fingers against her heated cheeks.
Flashing images of what they had shared hovered hauntingly over her as she set about tidying the room. So much so that she had to pause and take a seat in the chair before the fire for several moments. She tried to keep her gaze away from the chaise, but was drawn back to it time and again–just like she was to him.
Eventually, once the room was tidy, she had little choice but to contemplate the enormity of what had happened last night. While she was positive they hadn’t made love fully, they had shared far more intimacies than any friends should. What that meant now was beyond her.