“You don’t look any different.” He untied her bonnet and tossed it toward the fireplace, where it lodged itself upon the firebrand. “Damn! I was hoping to burn it,” he said as he turned back to look at her, running his fingers through her hair. “At least, you don’t, now,” he added with a grin. “And I certainly haven’t changed.”
“I find that hard to believe,” she scoffed, though with a smile, for the same humorous light danced behind his eyes. “You’ve seen the world and—”
“And I’ve experienced hope and disappointment, love and loss.” He sobered, taking both her hands and setting them across her knees. “But the greatest loss was you.”
“And now I’m here.” Ridiculously, she felt tearful. “And...you say there’s nothing to keep us apart?” Earlier, this might have been a combative statement; before he’d swayed her with his sincerity. Now, she just wanted to be reassured this was true. If he wanted to kiss her, and make love to her, she would ask no further questions. The prospect of happiness was too alluring, and the more she allowed herself to hope, the more she feared something could intervene to spoil it. Unless she seized it with both hands. Now.
“Dorothea can no longer do that, God rest her soul.”
Venetia shook her head. “She was...a good person. I’m sorry.” What else could she say? There’d been nothing objectionable about Dorothea. Her vapid existence had simply turned into a malignant force in Venetia’s life. But that had not been Dorothea’s fault.
“When Dorothea died...truth be told...I felt released. Released to find you, Venetia. Does that reflect badly on me?”
“Not if you were a faithful and honorable husband.” Now that she’d exorcised her own doubts, Venetia didn’t want to talk anymore about the past. But it seemed Sebastian wished to unburden himself.
“I was. But I was made a fool of by Lady Banks.” He looked into the flames, and Venetia felt his thoughts drift to places she no longer wanted them to go. But if it helped him to speak of it, she’d stay silent. “I’m ashamed of what happened, but I promised I would tell you the truth.”
Resigned, Venetia waited. Let him dismiss, in his own words, the two women with whom the gossipmongers claimed he’d been associated, and then he and Venetia could move on to reclaiming what they had lost.
And embrace their future.
“I told you that Lady Banks had no basis for impugning my reputation, for I did nothing more than help her sell some diamonds to honor a debt.” He cleared his throat. “Of course, her husband took a different view, but that’s old news.” He flicked her a lopsided grin. “Mrs Compton, Barbara Compton, however, is a different story.”
“I don’t want to hear it.” Venetia shook her head. She hesitated, biting her lip as she tried to make sense of his troubled gaze. “Unless you still love her.”
“God, no!” A look of horror crossed his face as he shook his head. “I never did. She tricked me into her bed after inviting me to a soiree at which I was the only attendee. I was a fool for succumbing to her lures!” He released her hands to cup her face. “Please forgive me, Venetia.”
“The past is the past, Sebastian.” She reached up to trace the line of his brow. “I understand. You could not have known you’d ever see me again.” The tentative hope in her breast that there might in fact be a future for them was beginning to swell. Sebastian was everything she wanted in a man: kind and strong; sensitive and brave.
And he loved her. She had no doubt of that now.
“If you have told me everything I need to know before I give myself to you, body and soul,” she whispered, “then I am satisfied.” She felt like a flower, the petals opening up slowly, as it received the warmth and encouragement needed to flourish. “If your conscience is clear, and if you love me, then I will embrace everything that is about to happen between now...and long into the future.”
She thought he’d kiss her then, with the same fervor, but he hesitated. “I love you, Venetia. I love you as much as I ever have.” He seemed to struggle with his words. “You’re right...I co
uld not have known, four months ago…that I would ever see you again. I did things, and made promises, I never would have—if I’d had an inkling that we would be together again.”
“Come here and kiss me, Sebastian,” she whispered, standing up and going to the bed in the next room where she drew back the counterpane.
The bed linen was crisp and clean, an inviting space for the short time they could be together. She removed her walking boots and her pelisse, then climbed onto the bed, patting the sheets beside her, before lying back upon the pillows. “Make love to me, Sebastian. I want things to be like they were between us—before.”
The bed dipped beneath him as he climbed onto the mattress to lie beside her, holding her close against his side.
“I want you, now, and for always, like we once hoped it could be.” She took his hand and put it on her breast for he seemed to be holding himself back, whereas Venetia was on fire. “Lady Indigo will want me to read to her before I dress her for this evening, and we don’t have long.” She closed her eyes as Sebastian began to unbutton her gown, stroking her into the long-missed, familiar sensations of love and lust.
“How much time do we have?”
“She’s sleeping now, but I need to be back with her in less than an hour.”
“Less than an hour!”
Venetia opened her eyes, smiling at his horror, then, resting her head on her hands, she watched, fascinated and excited in equal measure, as he slid to the floor and began to unbutton the fall front of his buckskin breeches after removing his boots.
His movements were now hurried, his expression intense, as he came toward her so he could divest her of her outer layers of clothing.
She felt no shyness. It was just as it had been before: urgent, exciting, and sincere. And when she was beneath him, her dress laid safely over a chair, her petticoats rucked up and her breasts partly exposed, she felt only the deepest excitement as he took one nipple into his mouth and his hands gently stroked her bare skin.
“You’re even more beautiful than when I last saw you,” he murmured, trailing featherlight kisses along her jawline before tantalizing her with his tongue once more.