‘Immensely,’ he said without a trace of shame. ‘You have very beautiful legs. Even those hideous stockings cannot disguise how very shapely they are.’
‘You really shouldn’t be staring,’ she scolded.
‘I would be mad not to.’
‘I should slap your face.’
‘You will have to come down here first to reach it.’
So she jumped.
And he caught her. And steadied her. And then held on to her elbows for far longer than was necessary. And what with all the talk of legs, and the heated look in his eyes, somehow she didn’t wish to slap his face any longer.
‘Prudence...’ he breathed. ‘Prudence, about us getting married...’
Her heart sank. She’d already worked out that he didn’t really want to marry her. That he was probably thinking of ways to let her down gently.
‘I’ve already told you—you don’t have to,’ she said, nobly letting him off the hook. If he didn’t want to marry her she wasn’t going to force his hand. ‘It was just a silly idea I had. I could—’
‘No. You couldn’t. I won’t let you go—do you hear me?’
And then, to her complete surprise, he hauled her all the way into his arms and kissed her. Savagely. The way she’d always suspected a man with a face as harsh as his could kiss.
Yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. It was heavenly. No question this time about who had initiated the kiss. Though of course she kissed him back for all she was worth.
‘Oh, Gregory...’ She sighed when he broke away. ‘That was lovely.’
He reared back, an expression of astonishment on his face. ‘Yes, it was.’
All the pleasurable feelings humming through her dropped through the soles of her feet.
‘Didn’t you expect to like it? After our last kiss I thought— Oh! Did I do something wrong? Was that it?’ She tried to pull away from him.
But he held on to her tightly, refusing to release her from the circle of his arms.
‘How could you have done anything wrong?’ He shook his head in a sort of daze. ‘You kissed me back.’
‘Well, then, what was wrong with it?’
‘Nothing was wrong with it. That was what was so surprising. Prudence...’ He shifted from one foot to another. Took a deep breath. ‘I never really saw the point to kissing—that’s all. There are more...interesting parts of a woman I’ve always wanted to pay attention to, you see. But your mouth...’
He looked at her lips again. In the way he’d done before. The way that made them tingle, and part, and wait expectantly for the touch of his lips.
‘Your mouth is worth...’ He cocked his head to one side. ‘Savouring—yes, that is the word. I would never feel as though I was wasting my time, no matter how long you wanted to kiss me.’
He cradled her face with one hand, then bent his head slowly, as if they had all the time in the world. This time he kissed her in a far less savage manner, as though—yes, that was just what it felt like—as though he was savouring her.
And she savoured him right back. Pressed herself as close to him as she could. Slid her hands inside his coat and wound her arms round his slender, hard waist. Raised one foot and ran it up and down the back of his booted calf. Feeling all the while as though her body was bursting into song.
‘Oh, Gregory,’ she moaned into his mouth when he paused to take a breath. ‘Oh, please don’t stop.’
‘I must,’ he growled against her lips. ‘I thought I could kiss you for ever, but the truth is that I’m starting to find it hard not to throw you down behind the bushes and ravish you.’
‘I don’t think I’d care,’ she admitted. ‘I know I should, but somehow—’
‘No. Don’t say it. Don’t tempt me.’ He closed his eyes as though in anguish and rested his forehead against hers.
‘Oh, very well,’ she grumbled. ‘I suppose you are right.’ After all, she didn’t really want her first time to take place out of doors, on the ground, did she?
‘Come on, then,’ he said with a sort of gentle determination. He took her hand. ‘Let’s get you into the house, while we can both still walk, and set things in train to make our union respectable.’
He picked up the valise and headed for a gap in the rather overgrown shrubbery.
‘Gregory,’ she said, when he let go of her hand for a moment to raise the branch of an overhanging beech sapling so that she could pass. ‘Can I ask you something?’
He blinked. Visibly braced himself. ‘You may ask me anything,’ he said.