AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She twisted to stare out at the theatres of Haymarket – gaudy dresses and lit Doric entrances, gentlemen laughing and dogs barking, laughter and life.
“N-never mind,” she stuttered, and fervently hoped that Mr Hawkins had quaffed enough ale to forget.
Seth’s restraintand self-control remained legendary within the prizefighting world.
Never one for rousing to turbulent anger or succumbing to ploys of provocation.
Yet one plea from Miss Griffin and he longed to wildly haul her from that seat to his lap, to grasp her slender nape and ravenously kiss her until her lips were torrid red, all restraint unleashed.
Silence remained his sole protection, fingers gripping the seat to prevent them from reaching out, his teeth gritted and body taut as before a fight.
At last he allowed his gaze to cover her. A mere shadow in the corner, but passing lamplight caught her features and never had he seen such dejection: lips pressed, eyes unseeing, brow furrowed.
He could not bear it.
“Miss Griffin, I have always deplored arrogant nobles who take advantage of their maids, so what kind of man would I be to kiss my governess in an enclosed carriage when she’d no means of escape?”
He sensed her turn.
“If I were not your governess, if I was simply an independent widow, or a barmaid at liberty, would you have acquiesced to my request?”
“But you are not–”
“Pretend, Mr Hawkins,” she said stridently. “What would you have done?”
Seth swallowed. He could lie, say he had no desire for sherry eyes behind golden-framed spectacles, that he preferred the barmaid in The Red Lion, that a pocket Venus was not to his taste.
Yet a bitterness coated his tongue and heart at the thought.
He was an honest man.
“I would have tangled my fingers in your silken hair and ravished your lips with mine till breath ceased for want of one another.”
There, that might silence her delectable mouth for once.
“I resign,” she said huskily.
“I beg your pardon?”
“I resign from your employ. I wish you to ravish my lips, Mr Hawkins, therefore if my status as governess is the lone reason for your refusal, then I shall resign. A kiss won’t take long, will it? And you can reinstate me a few moments after.”
The saucy wench.
A kiss could last for hours or whole nights. And her forthright assertion of want melted his resolve like morning mist before the warming sun.
“Why do you wish me to kiss you?” he hoarsely asked, fingers uncurling. Did she solely desire the pugilist for his protection and brawn…or the man beneath?
“Gosh, you do talk a lot. But to answer… Because you are thoughtful and kind and gentle. You perceive…me. The true me.”
Naught to do with his brawn there.
“And,” she added, “because I wish to feel your mighty pectoralis major press against me.”
At least it was last on her list, he’d take that, so he hastily lifted himself, hunching in the close confines and twisting to sit beside her.
She squeaked as he removed her spectacles and cupped her cheek, the motion of the carriage nudging their bodies close, then closer. He brushed a thumb across her skin – silken and warm.
This was an exceedingly bad idea.
