Page 128 of Regency Whispers: Scandalous Matches

His lips were hot on her skin, and she felt a shudder of pleasure run through her body. It didn’t matter that they were standing in someone else’s hall, it didn’t matter that at any moment someone could come out of one of the rooms and see them: all she could think of was Simon and where he would kiss her next.

‘All I could think about all dinner was stripping you naked and lying you down on the dinner table.’

Alice gasped, picturing the scene. ‘Not with everyone watching.’

‘They would scatter soon enough. Good Lord, how do you always smell so good?’

‘Simon, not the hair,’ she said as he reached for one of her pins. ‘I have to go back in there.’

He ran a hand down her side, over her waist and around to her buttocks and then lowered his lips to the bare skin of her upper chest. For a moment she forgot where they were and let out a moan that seemed to echo around the grand entrance hall.

‘We need to get home,’ he said, lifting his lips for just a second. ‘Or we will never be invited to a dinner party with the Hampshires again.’

Before she could answer, he kissed her deeply, one hand still pinning both of hers above her head. He was gentle, but there was no denying he was much stronger than her, and she loved the way he held her against the wall, the cool wallpaper against her back.

‘I will make my excuses,’ Alice said, allowing herself one last kiss before she pulled away.

She paused before reentering the drawing room, aware that her cheeks were flushed and her clothes probably a little dishevelled. Thankfully, Miss Finn was still playing another masterful piece on the piano, and Alice was able to sidle up to their hostess and speak to her discreetly.

‘I am awfully sorry, Mrs Hampshire, but I feel a little unwell. I think it best I return home.’

Mrs Hampshire looked at Alice with concern. ‘You do look pink, my dear. Yes, go home at once, and get that housekeeper of yours to make a tincture.’

‘Thank you for a wonderful evening.’

‘Do you wish for me to send someone to accompany you home?’

‘No, I am sure Lord Westcroft will be happy to come with me.’

Mrs Livingstone smiled indulgently. ‘Of course. I forget you are still like newly-weds. Come, let us go fetch your husband.’

It felt like an eternity before they had bid everyone goodnight and the carriage had been brought round to the front door, but after a final wave to their hosts, Alice and Simon were alone.

Before he stepped up into the carriage Simon had a quiet word with the driver and then they were underway, travelling at a good pace through the quiet streets.

‘I have instructed Drummond to keep circling around London until I alert him we wish to go home,’ Simon said.

Alice’s eyes widened, but before she could say anything Simon gently pulled her onto his lap.

‘Where were we?’

‘I think you were kissing me here,’ Alice said, indicating the spot on her neck just below her ear. When he kissed her there it sent little jolts of pleasure all the way through her body.

‘And I think my hands were here,’ Simon said, slipping his hands underneath her and giving her buttocks a squeeze as he gave her a mock lascivious raise of his eyebrows.

She leaned forward and kissed him, losing herself in desire. It felt as though she were falling head first into paradise, and she didn’t want to ever stop.

They kissed for a long time, then Alice shifted, snaking her hands down in between them to push at the waistband of his trousers. He gathered her skirts up, and soon there was nothing between them. Alice positioned herself carefully, feeling the wonderful fullness as he entered her, and then she was lost as their bodies came together again and again until she cried out, and wave after wave of pleasure flooded through her.

Simon lifted her off him quickly before he, too, let out a low groan of pleasure.

For a long while neither of them spoke.

‘You make me reckless,’ she said eventually.

‘I think it is the other way round,’ Simon murmured. ‘Take the Midsummer’s Eve ball. I have spent the last ten years carefully avoiding any scandal that might tie me to a respectable young woman. A few hours in your company and I’m suggesting midnight dashes through the gardens and kissing you far too close to the house.’

Alice closed her eyes and remembered that night. It was the night that had changed the course of her life. When things got difficult, all she had to do was remind herself that she could have been unlucky enough to be married to vile Cousin Cecil. This arrangement with her husband was unusual and certainly not what she would have chosen for herself when she was a young girl dreaming of her perfect man, but it was better than a lifetime of repression as Cecil’s wife.