AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She peered into the dark toward the cypress tree. “Is someone there?”
A quiet wistfulness filled Edmond. He didn’t want to frighten her away…he wanted her to stay. Instead of fighting the desire, he stepped closer. Then the dratted dog lurched forward and bounded to her.
Her eyes widened, but she swam toward the embankment and hauled herself from the pond. His cock jumped and hardened at the sight of such beguiling sensuality. The punch of desire made Edmond lightheaded, and he bloody stumbled. The wet chemise pasted to her form left little to his imagination. From where he stood, he fancied he could see the dark duskiness of her nipples that stabbed against the wet material, and the dark curls at the apex of her thighs. Her skin glowed like smooth ivory under the moonlight, her raven hair a rousing contrast.
Bloody hell, he couldn’t tear his eyes from her.
Her elegant fingers stroked Maximus’ fur, and his great brute of a dog, fairly melted in a puddle at her feet. Her laughter, husky and lyrical floated on their air. “You are just a big puppy, aren’t you?” she crooned.
Edmond scowled. She was turning his dog into…into… He snapped his teeth together when the word eluded. But he did envy his damn dog its position.
“Where is your master?”
As if he understood, Maximus’s head lolled toward Edmond’s direction and a great woof rumbled from the beast. She lifted her head and peered toward the shadows of the cypress trees.
“Are you there, Edmond?”
“Yes,” he said, after an awkward silence and moved from the shadows, sauntering toward her.
Her face lit with a smile of welcome. She shivered. “This is one of my more ill-advised ideas. It did not occur to me to bring a coat or blankets. I simply saw the brightness of the moon, and admired how the light shimmered on the surface of the pond and followed the impulse,” she ended, with a charming chuckle.
He stepped forward, shrugged from his coat, and held it out to her.
She smiled uncertainly. “It will be soaked.”
“It does not signify.”
She was staring at him with a frown creasing her delicate brows. “I am happy to return inside. I believe I may have intruded on you here.”
“Please do not leave on my account, the lake is large enough.”
“Thank you.” She took the proffered coat and hurriedly bundled herself into it.
“Oh, the warmth is wonderful.” She dealt him a considering glance. “Are you chilled?”
“The air is tolerable.”
Then silence. Her presence was strangely soothing, and he realized it was her quality of stillness. She was simply gazing about, appreciating the land under the banner of moonlight. He grimaced. Maryann would have been chattering nonstop, and he would have listened to tales of their neighbors and latest fashion with an indulgent ear.
“Maximus is a beautiful dog.”
What was he to say to that? Edmond grunted noncommittally.
“Has he any siblings?”
Edmond blinked. “Who?”
“Maximus.”
“No, I found him.”
She stirred and faced him, looking dwarfed and ridiculously appealing in his coat. “Where?”
He sighed, she was determined to draw him into conversation, and he found he wanted…hell, he wanted to converse. Sometimes it was damned lonely to always be in his own head. “There was a storm a few years ago, and the bridge in the village collapsed with a few carriages. I was there helping to rescue people from the waters when I spied him drifting past on a fallen log. I took him home with me. He was a pup then.”
She smiled. “It is hard to imagine such a great brute to be a pup. He is so wonderful I am amazed no one claimed him.”
“He was starved and flea ridden. I doubted anyone would have come.”
