“Oh, Lord. Oh, yes. Oh, Miss Lovell.”
Miss Lovell?
Time stopped for a few seconds, the moment held in frozen stasis.
“What did you just say?” Lady Lovell’s harpy shriek conveyed her shock and displeasure.
“Say? What? Nothing. I merely called out your name.”
“No. You didn’t. You said Miss Lovell.”
“Lady Lovell,” the floundering lord corrected. “I said Lady Lovell.”
“Why would you say Lady Lovell when you always call me Arabella?”
Had Miles not wanted to throttle the ponce he might have pitied the fellow.
The rustle of material was followed by a disgruntled harrumph. “I knew it,” Lady Lovell complained. “You do hold that silly girl in high regard.”
“No, not entirely. It’s just a mild attraction fuelled by her stubbornness. I wouldn’t be a man if I didn’t relish the prospect of taking her virginity.”
Well, Miles would put a lead ball between his brows before it got to that point. Even so, the dandy was too late to claim such a prestigious prize.
“Once, Rudolph. You will do the deed once, do you hear? I can’t imagine it will be pleasant.”
“No, darling, not pleasant at all,” Randall said, his tone lacking conviction. “But we must all make sacrifices for the greater good.”
Silence ensued, the stillness broken by the moist smacking of lips.
“You did say Lady Lovell, didn’t you, Rudolph?” The woman’s voice sounded a little distant now.
Miles peered around the tree to see the couple heading back towards the lawn.
“You know I did.”
“Good.”
Miles waited for a few minutes before scooping up the lantern and navigating the woods in the dark. Upon his return to the manor, he entered the bedchamber to find Lydia still sleeping. In the morning they would discuss what he’d learnt of Lady Lovell and Lord Randall. It was not safe for her to return to Dunnam Park. And so it seemed he had a delightful new houseguest.
He undressed, washed his hands and face in the washbowl and slipped into bed next to her. Exhaustion threatened to pull him into a black abyss, just as one particular part of his anatomy woke
from its slumber, hard and needy.
Drawn to the heat of his body, Lydia draped her leg over his thigh and snuggled closer. His cock throbbed and swelled in response. Frustrated, Miles watched her for a few minutes, studied every line of perfection, listened to the rhythmical sound of her breathing.
The urge to make love to her grew, and so he closed his eyes in the hope sleep would take him. As his body relaxed, he couldn’t help but feel a certain trepidation about what the next day would bring. Dariell was right. There was something unsettling in the air, like the earthy smell in the atmosphere that precedes a storm.
He pushed aside his apprehension. He would start the day on a positive note. He would ask Miss Lovell to marry him.
Chapter Seventeen
A chill in the air sent a shiver through Lydia’s body. She blinked and opened her eyes. The room was dark and cold. The thick red curtains on the windows blocked out the light. Silence hung heavily beyond the bedchamber door. Finding both her legs dangling out of the bedsheets, she snatched them back inside without waking the handsome figure sprawled beside her.
Turning to face Greystone and propping herself up on her elbow, she stared in awe at the magnificent sight, fascinated by the dusting of dark hair on his chest, by the delightful cleft in his chin, by the earthy essence of his skin. She had read about the power of an all-consuming love, imagined one needed to be in a laudanum-induced state to experience any emotion to that degree.
But, no.
Unless Ada had drugged her tea, she was in full command of her faculties. And yet her mind and body lived in a constant state of euphoria. Love flowed through her like a vibrant white light, heightening her senses, focusing her awareness on nothing but this man.