The Heiress (Madison Sisters 2)

"No," she said with a frown.

"He must have forgot," Lisa sighed and turned away again. "Come back to bed and sleep."

Suzette stared at her silently, her frown growing. Why weren't they leaving until mid morning? They had left bright and early every day until now, and this was the last day of the journey. She would have thought out of all of them, this day would be the one where they set off with the rising sun.

Suzette set the brush on top of her chest with a sigh and considered undressing and getting back into bed, but knew she wouldn't be able to sleep. However, she didn't wish to pace about the room until everyone else began to stir either. And she was thirsty. Grimacing, Suzette moved silently to the door and slid out onto the landing.

The soft murmur of voices from the great room below reached her ear as she eased the chamber door closed. Suzette moved to the rail to peer down over the empty tables. It wasn't until her gaze reached the door to the kitchens that she spotted the speakers. Daniel was there talking in low tones to the innkeeper.

Suzette smiled as her eyes slid over him, taking in his serious expression and slightly ruffled hair. It looked as if he'd just woken and hadn't yet even run a brush through his hair. There were also sleep creases on his cheek that made her smile widen. He was just so adorable and she found that the mere act of peering at him made her chest ache a bit. Unsure what that was but not ready to face it, she started along the landing toward the stairs, intending to join the two men, but she'd barely taken a step when the innkeeper nodded and slipped away into the kitchens. The moment he did, Daniel turned and strode through the room full of long empty tables and straight out the front door.

Eager to catch up to him, Suzette hurried down the stairs and outside, reaching the courtyard just in time to see Daniel enter the stables. She hurried after him, one part of her mind wondering what he was doing up so early when they weren't leaving until mid morning, and another part pointing out that they would finally have a moment alone together.

Suzette slowed as she reached the stables. She didn't see Daniel at first, but a slow scan of the building revealed him in one of the stalls near the back. He was saddling a horse, she saw, and moved forward at once.

"What are you doing?" she asked as she reached the stall where he was working. Her sudden question made Daniel jerk around with surprise. She'd obviously given him a start, but once he saw that it was her, a smile lifted the corners of his mouth.

"Good morning," he said, leaving the saddle sitting unfastened on the horse's back and moving to the stall rail to meet her.

"Good morning," Suzette said automatically. "Why are you saddling a horse?"

"Because I'm going to ride it," he said simply. "It will be faster than a carriage there, though we will have to return by carriage, I suppose. Mother enjoys riding on horseback, but she is getting older and was ill this last year. I don't wish to overtax her more than necessary."

"Mother?" Suzette echoed blankly.

Daniel chuckled at her expression and slipped out of the stall. Pausing in front of her, he slid his arms around her waist as he said, "Yes, Mother. I should like you two to meet, and I would like her at our wedding, so I am going to collect her. It's why we pressed on an extra hour last night. This inn is only an hour from Woodrow."

"Oh," Suzette breathed. Dear God, she was going to meet his mother! What if Lady Woodrow didn't like her? What if she hated her and refused to condone the marriage? What if--?

"What's going on inside your head?" Daniel asked with a frown. "You look horrified. Don't you want my mother at the wedding?"

"I--yes, of course. I just--what if she hates me?" Suzette asked plaintively.

Daniel chuckled again and hugged her close. "She will not hate you. No one could hate you," he assured her and then pulled back and said, "Now, this is the first time we have been alone in days. Do you think I could have a good-morning kiss to see me off?"

Suzette blinked, her worries about his mother's liking or not liking her suddenly sliding away, if only temporarily, at the suggestion.

"Hmm?" he asked, lowering his head.

"Oh yes," she breathed and then his mouth was on hers.

It was not a good-morning kiss, Suzette decided as his tongue slid out to urge her lips open. At least it wasn't to her. Good-morning kisses, in her mind, were sweet pecks. This was more of a good-morning, good-afternoon and good-evening kiss all in one, she thought as his mouth devoured hers. Or perhaps it was more of an "I want to throw you in the straw, toss up your skirts and have my wicked way with you kind of kiss," she decided as his hands began to roam.

Damn, the man could kiss, Suzette thought faintly, slipping her arms around his neck and arching into him as his mouth slanted over hers. She then moaned as he slid one hand down to press against her bottom, urging her hips forward. When she felt his maypole press against her through their clothes in a "good morning" of its own, Suzette sighed and rubbed herself against him in a return greeting that made them both groan.

Tearing his mouth from hers, Daniel gasped, "I have to go," even as his hands found her breasts and he began to squeeze them through her gown.

"Yes," Suzette agreed, reaching down to cup his hardness through his trousers.

Daniel groaned, and kissed her hungrily again, his hands kneading the flesh of her breasts almost painfully in time to the rhythm of her hand along his hardness. Finally, he tore his mouth away again and muttered, "Damn, Suzette, if you don't stop that--"

He didn't finish whatever threat he'd intended, but sucked in a hissing breath through his teeth as she slid her other hand into the waistband of his trousers and found him without the hampering cloth in the way. Then he cursed and claimed her mouth again, backing her up as she continued to caress him.

Suzette felt something scratchy at her back and guessed it was a bale of hay, but between his kiss, the way he was now alternately kneading her breasts and lightly pinching her nipples, as well as her efforts to undo the buttons of his trousers with her free hand, she was just a bit too distracted to wonder about it.

She wasn't aware he'd undone the stays of her gown until she felt the cool morning air caress her back. He tried to tug the sleeves off her shoulders, but it would mean her giving up on his buttons as well as releasing him, and she wasn't willing to do that, so he gave it up and merely tugged the now loose neckline down below her breasts and broke their kiss to duck his head and latch onto one of them.

"Ah," Suzette moaned, and then added a "ha," as she managed to undo enough buttons that she could pull his maypole out and caress him more easily. Daniel stiffened and nipped at her breast, his hips thrusting into her touch as she clasped him, but his own hands had been busy, managing to tug up her skirts and burrow under to run up the backs of her legs.

Suzette gasped as his fingers urged her legs apart so that one hand could slide between them and touch her. She closed her eyes briefly at the explosion of pleasure it sent through her, but then began to squirm and released him to push at his shoulders and urge him away. Much more of his caressing and she wouldn't be able to think straight, and Suzette had been fascinated by a certain portion of Fanny's book describing a way to please a man with just your mouth, and wanted to try it.

Apparently thinking she wanted to bring an end to their interlude, Daniel released her at once. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't--"

The words ended on a hiss of surprise as Suzette suddenly dropped to her knees before him and took him into her mouth.

They both froze then. No doubt Daniel froze from shock, but Suzette paused because she wasn't sure what to do next. The book had been rather vague about the exact details of how to please him this way, drifting into strange, vague metaphors and nonsense. Giving a mental shrug, she just did what she felt like, tasting him with her tongue and measuring him with her mouth and then clasping his maypole in one hand so that she could remove it to ki

ss the tip.

Whether her attention pleased Daniel or not, Suzette couldn't say, but she was having a pleasant enough time exploring him thusly until he suddenly caught her by the arms and lifted her up, not just to her feet, but to sit on the bale of hay she'd earlier felt at her back.

"Did I--?" She'd wanted to ask if she'd been doing it right, however, Daniel ended the question by kissing her. Suzette gave in with a little sigh and slid her arms around his neck as he urged her legs apart so that he could move between them and get closer. His hands were on her breasts again at first, welcoming them back, but then one hand slipped away to find the hem of her skirt and slide under it.

His fingers rode along her thigh, pushing the material ahead of it and Suzette wiggled on the bale of hay under the caress, unconsciously moving her bottom closer to the edge. When he found her core, she froze and groaned, then broke their kiss to let her head fall back as his fingers moved against her excited flesh. Daniel immediately turned his mouth to other delights, nibbling her ear, her neck, her collarbone, and then dropping to claim one nipple again.

This time Suzette didn't try to break free, but gasped and arched into both caresses, her fingers knotting in his hair and holding on tight even as her legs wrapped around his hips, urging him closer. Daniel nipped lightly at her nipple, his fingers dancing over her swollen core, demanding a response that her body was eager to give. When she felt something pressing gently into her, Suzette thought it was his maypole and cried out, her legs tightening around his hips and dragging her bottom closer to the edge of the bale of hay as he continued to caress her, building the pressure inside her to almost unbearable levels.

"Daniel," she gasped, pleading for him to end this torture.

His response was to raise his head to claim her mouth and kiss her deeply as he continued his ministrations. Suzette clutched at his shoulders, her bottom sliding further forward into his caress as her legs tightened even further around his hips. When he suddenly withdrew from between her legs, Suzette could have wept with disappointment, but then she felt him brush against her hungry flesh again. She nipped at his lower lip and dropped her hands to his bottom, squeezing him tightly to urge him on. Even so she was completely unprepared when he obeyed the silent demand, clasped her hips and thrust himself into her. It seemed it hadn't been his maypole the first time, because what entered her now was much larger and drew a startled squeal of pain from Suzette, or would have, had his mouth not still been covering hers and caught the sound.