Alaina shrugged, not the least bit contrite. “Very well. I will probably tell Lady Sommerfeld and Lady Juliette, but that’s it.”
He cocked a brow and the bashful blush to her cheeks did a funny thing to his insides. He liked this Alaina. He liked this entire evening, as a matter of fact. She was carefree and confident in this setting, seemingly freer now that they’d been removed from the battleground of Morton House. And he loved their banter. It was almost shocking how easily they fell back into the habit of it. It felt like the two of them were against the world rather than being pitted against one another in an unwinnable war straight from a Greek Tragedy.
“Let us say that Peele may be rethinking some of his investments in the near future…and paying those employed in his mines something a bit closer to a reasonable wage.”
She stared up at him with a mixture of disbelief and confusion, followed by understanding. Even if she didn’t know the specifics, Sterling knew she recognized he’d called the man out for questionable practices. She was a sharp one, his wife.
“Shall we dance again?” he asked her, thinking only of being able to hold her in his arms once more. He was becoming addicted all over again to her lithe grace.
“We have already shared two dances, Morton.”
“And?”
“There will be comments and titillation if we share another here tonight.”
“I care not one fig what any of these people have to say.” Alaina’s luminous eyes widened at his words, but he could tell she enjoyed his bluntness. “I am enjoying myself tonight. With my wife.”
His eyes were locked onto the way she pulled her lower lip between her teeth. His pulse quickened like a shot. “As much as I hate to admit it, I am enjoying myself tonight as well.”
“You are allowed to have a nice time with me, Alaina. You are not betraying yourself and everything you felt and experienced in the last decade. Equal space can be held for the past as well as the present and future.” He covered her hand with his and she focused on the gesture.
“I’ve felt several times this night that it was as if the time never passed at all,” she whispered, as if uneasy about admitting such a thing aloud. “It has brought back certain memories.”
“It has, has it not?” Sterling gazed down at her, his lips curled into a smile. What he wouldn’t give to have her alone. He glanced up and took stock of their position in the ballroom, suddenly inspired. “In fact, I have another idea I think you may enjoy.”
Sterling spirited Alaina through a side door and onto a small, unoccupied balcony overlooking the house’s dark back garden. The evening air hung thick with the aroma of pruned shrubbery, earth, and rosebushes.
“What are you doing?” Alaina laughed as he backed her into the vee of the stone balustrade. He’d have preferred some sort of veranda or broader balcony with more space for concealment, but this would have to do.
“Wooing you, of course,” he replied, head inclined to inhale her scent—so much more delicious than anything else he’d experienced in all his travels.
Alaina glanced around and he watched understanding dawn slowly at first, and then all at once.
“You said you would not force me.”
“I am not forcing you, simply fulfilling my role as an interested suitor who has whisked his lady away for a private moment. Just like when we courted.”
Alaina’s small laugh was breathy and unsteady. “You never did that when you courted me.”
“No.” Sterling leaned in until his lips were a breath’s space from her neck, forcing her to feel every one of his words as a hot puff of air on her exposed flesh. “I was too young, too stupid, too determined to do what I thought was right.” Her shuddering breath caused a hot rush of heat to fly straight to his throbbing groin. “But I think we are well past that point. Wouldn’t you agree, Alaina?” What he wouldn’t give to run his tongue along the hammering pulse in her throat. Her low begrudging whimper was enough to fray his resolve dangerously thin. “Have I forced you?” he murmured into the sensitive skin where her neck met her shoulder. Alaina gave a mute, minuscule shake of her head. “All you need to do is say the word and I will stop.” He crowded her more closely to the banister, the toes of his polished hessians sliding beneath the hem of her skirts, and he lifted his head until their mouths were nearly touching. “Do you wish for me to stop…or would you like for me to kiss you? Because I would very, very much like to kiss you right now.”
“I—I don’t know,” Alaina stammered breathlessly.
“Yes or no. It’s quite simple, really.” Sterling couldn’t take his eyes off hers, the dark pools of the sapphire irises, the blown-out pupils giving away her true desires. “Would you like me to leave you alone, or should I kiss you senseless?”
“Senseless?”
“Or at least as near to it as possible. I want to kiss you until your limbs tremble from it—until you ache for my touch as much as I ache for yours.”
Her breath was coming in quick little pants now and she’d curled her fingers into the lapels of his coat. His cock was thick and straining with need at that point, his pulse beating in time to her shaky breaths.
“Mmm?” she hummed nonsensically, her eyes flitting to his mouth.
“Is that what you want, Alaina?” he whispered.
“Yes…” she finally exhaled. The word was still on her lips when he slanted his mouth over hers.
Sterling licked his way into her mouth, savoring her sigh as she allowed him in and met his tongue with equal fervor. They tangled and stroked, tasted and sucked. She surprised him by giving his lower lip a nip and his sanity fled like a stallion slapped on the haunches. An unbidden moan of delight slipped from his throat, and he felt the little minx smile against his lips.
