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“Well, my dear, if we’ve been safely introduced and you clearly are the one, let us take a stroll through his lordship’s long gallery.” He pointed upstairs. “We can look down upon the guests tonight. I think you might find it diverting sport, while I’d be most diverted to see your reaction to some of these outrageous costumes.”
Thea’s fears dropped away. Fanny had all but suggested he’d drag her into another room and try to kiss her but here he was, suggesting something public he thought might entertain her.
“That’s if your aunt won’t require you and send out a search party or make a loud announcement.”
Thea giggled. “My aunt is occupied with her own amours tonight.”
“Good God!”
She clapped her hand over her mouth to see his genuine shock, nearly extending her other hand to clasp his shoulder in a gesture of overt familiarity as she might do to one of her cousins. Putting her state of unusual relaxation in his company to too much champagne, she nodded. A public promenade would be far safer than anything she’d feared. Not that she’d intended doing anything that might get her into trouble.
Caging her hand on his arm, he ascended the stairs with her, his body close. Very close. When she raised her head in inquiry as they rounded a bend in the staircase, his hand suddenly clasped her waist. “I thought you were going to bump against the newel post.”
Thea was acutely sensitive to his touch. His hand covering hers, the touch of his thigh, were things no one else could see or remark upon, but to her, such a physical connection was entirely foreign to her.
And she liked it. The strange warmth and feeling of companionship with the man beside her was enveloping her like a cosy glove.
She looked up at him and smiled and he, looking down, caught her expression and seemed surprised by it. Then a small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.
“What a comely milkmaid you make. The perfect picture of innocence.”
She noticed he looked sad all of a sudden, then clasping both her hands in his, he suddenly whisked her up the last two stairs and behind a large roman bust at the back of the gallery, where there was little chance of being observed.
There was no warning, no request or lead-up. Nothing to prepare her for suddenly finding herself enveloped in his arms, the warmth of his embrace pushing up from the tips of her toes to flood her entire body, so that her lips naturally parted to receive his kiss while her whole body responded with a great wash of feeling. Weak and suddenly needy, her knees buckled as he supported her in his arms while his kiss deepened, his tongue seeking hers.
Her responses seemed taken to a new level. The languor was replaced by a deeper awareness, her palms tingled and the back of her neck prickled; her breasts were suddenly sensitive, as if they were crying out to be touched, and Thea pressed herself against him even more as she greedily took everything he was offering.
It was he who broke away, looking down at her with a slight crease between his brows.
“Oh, you didn’t like it?” she burst out before she could think of what one should say in such an instance.
“Good Lord, it was the best kiss I’ve ever enjoyed.” Cupping her face, he looked into her eyes. “What a delightful experience, Miss Brightwell. I had so hoped you’d come tonight, for it had come to my ears recently that masquerades were not something your aunt thought proper.”
“Oh, now that my aunt has suddenly found herself an admirer she’s not keeping an eye out for me at all.”
She realised how much like a schoolroom miss she sounded.
But he seemed charmed. “Not keeping an eye out for you, eh?” He rubbed his chin. “I was going to take you downstairs now, but perhaps…” With a nod, he indicated a decoupage screen in the corner. “We’re a trifle exposed here and I rather fancy trying another variation on our …delightful kiss. Would you care to risk it? Remember, I am a conscienceless pirate and you are a young lady with your reputation to uphold. It would be very dangerous, which is perhaps why I ought to take you downstairs now.”
“Oh, do let’s try it again.” Impulsively, Thea took his hand and pulled him towards the screen. “Just another quick kiss. We’ve already done it once so doing it again can’t make me any worse.”
He looked amused. “That’s one way of looking at it, though repeating something does of course increase the risk of being caught.”
“There’s no one nearby and we’d hear if they approached for there are three very squeaky treads on the stairs.”
“What a clever girl you are to notice that.”
“That’s because I’m always creeping around at home, hoping Aunt Minerva won’t hear me because then she’ll immediately get it into her head that she wants me to do something.”
“That must
be very tiresome.”
“I’m used to it. The doctor says—” She broke off suddenly. She didn’t want to talk about Dr Horne and his long lectures about what she must do to facilitate her aunt’s ease in order to extend her life.
Mr Grayling gripped her hand. “You mustn’t think about what the doctor says. Life is too short as it is. Let’s make the most of what’s left, shall we, for I’m quite simply dying to kiss you again.”
And Thea was quite dying for him to run his hands over her body, which she discovered was a riot of sensation craving attention. She arched against him and although he’d begun in the most gentlemanly manner, holding her waist and her hand, no gentleman could have mistaken her ardour. She didn’t care. The champagne had gone to her head and the night was just perfect for romance. Let her dalliance in Bath be something to remember her whole life. She didn’t want to be like Aunt Minerva, who had only bitter memories of what might have been. Thea doubted Aunt Minerva had ever been kissed in her life.
