Page 92 of Holding Onto Love

“She wasn’t?” He moved her shoulders so that he could stare down at her. “You wanted to make me feel awful for telling you how to treat your maid!” It made him chuckle.

“I gave her the evening off because I thought you might come by again and I wanted to be with you alone. You arrived earlier than I expected.”

That silenced him for a moment. Stirred him. And reassured him. She’d wanted this too. From the beginning. She’d wanted this too.

Then she laughed, shaking as she fell back against him. “The look on your face, Jasper.” She mimicked his voice. “‘Then I’ll do it. Move aside.’ So I did. And you knelt down and picked up a log and stared at the cold hearth as though you’d never seen one before.”

“I’d seen them. I just had no idea what to do with one. I’d only ever thrown wood onto a burning fire. You didn’t have to laugh so hard.”

“Yes, I did. You looked so ridiculous I couldn’t help it. But then, you laughed too. Oh, Jasper. I adore that about you. I’ve never known a man who can laugh so readily at himself.”

“I’ve had a lot of practice,” he said dryly.

“And then, you kissed me.”

“I couldn’t help it.” Or any of what came next. It was all, still, beyond his control. “But that was not the first time I kissed you.”

“Of course it was!”

He shook his head, then tilted her chin so that she would look at him.

“The evening before, I came to the house twice. The first time, you never saw me. I came inside and heard your laughter. It drew me upstairs, curious. Especially when I heard tears, too. Madeline’s, I discovered.”

“Oh my God.” She buried her face in her hands. “The dress! You saw me in that dress?”

“It was a horrifying sight. I’ve never seen, or hope to see again, anything in that color. Was it supposed to be green? That shade, with your hair?” He laughed along with her.

“It had all those pink bows!”

“And best of all, it showed a good three inches of ankle. Yet you were going on and on about adding a ruffle and it would be fine.”

“Oh, poor Madeline. She was devastated.”

Jasper sobered. “But you were so kind.” His heart melted all over again. “I knew at once what must have happened. I hadn’t given her enough money—”

“You provided more than enough for a few dresses at a second-hand store. Don’t blame yourself, for pity’s sake. What do you know of working-class women’s clothing? Madeline walked into a shop and saw the dress and thought it the most beautiful thing in the world.”

“And you were doing your best to convince her it was. You were so full of grace, Vanessa. I could only wonder at you. A soldier’s wife. A widow. So much hardship and yet you were not hardened. I think it was then that I lost my heart to you. Right then. I wanted to take you into my arms.”

Vanessa’s eyes glistened.

“But,” Jasper said, “I could not walk in, of course. It would have turned farce into tragedy. So I blew you a kiss.” He showed her. Putting his first two fingertips on his lips, kissing, then tossing the kiss forward. “It was silly and romantic, and I felt like an idiot tiptoeing back down the stairs…I was very glad there was no one there to see.”

“I wish I had seen it.” She kissed him on the nose. “I adore silly and romantic.”

“Do you?”

She started to untie his neckcloth. “Um-hmm. I’m not always pragmatic and serious.”

“No?” He helped her, then tossed the cloth to the floor. Urgently. She undid the top buttons of his shirt and began kissing and nipping his neck.

“You still have so much to learn about me, Jasper Taverston,” she murmured against his ear.

“Fortunately,” his voice hitched, “I have a lifetime to devote to the task.”

“Sometimes I am frivolous and adventuresome. And sometimes…”

He groaned when her hands moved to the buttons of his fall. “Show me.”