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He tightened his grip on her hand. “That pales compared to you tonight. Seeing your smile and knowing you share in the delight of attending a concert together. The pride I know in bringing you any joy.”
“Oh, Frederick! I haven’t the way with words you do. Just know that, yes, you bring me joy.”
After another squeeze of her hand, he asked after the state of the orange trees, laughing when she shared tales about the lad Thomas.
The driver’s sudden shout and tautening of the reins gave them warning, but even so, when the light, two-wheeled cab jerked to a sudden stop, it pitched them both forward. Frederick braced himself, but Molly’s slight form propelled from the seat.
He caught her by the waist and pulled her onto his lap. As if from a distance, he heard the driver’s coarse words to the errant pedestrian who’d dashed in front of them, but Frederick’s attention was on the woman he held. The vehicle lurched, continuing their journey, and Molly grasped his arms, wrapped around her waist.
“I have you,” he murmured. Her ribcage expanded and contracted with rapid breaths. This time, he brought his lips close enough to speak in low tones right next to her ear. “We’re safe.”
She nodded, but still made no move to return to her side of the small bench seat. Her now familiar lavender scent wafted from her hair, and she relaxed backward against him, arching her neck.
In the darkness, he could just barely make out her pale, slender neck and her dark hairline along her nape. Her hand stroked his over the cool satin of her cape, and the caress broke the last stitch of his self-control.
Her soft skin was cool in the late October air, and he pressed slow, open-mouthed kisses from the back of her silky neck across to one side of her jaw, warming her as he went. She turned in his arms, bringing her mouth to his.
His lips warmed hers, and hers warmed his soul. She kissed him back without demur. He hesitated just for a moment, wondering if this setting was appropriate to their first embrace, but then she threaded her fingers into his hair and urged him closer.
Oh, yes!
As the low-slung, agile cab rounded corners and weaved around larger conveyances, Frederick and Molly explored each other’s mouths and moaned at each other’s tastes with just as much abandon.
The vehicle’s jaunty movements gave him every excuse to hold her tight, and as soon as the cab slowed in traffic, he glanced up in shock to see that they were in line to be dropped off at the premier concert venue in London.
Burying his face in the crook of her neck for a last moment, he inhaled her scent, his eyes closed tight, and after a soft kiss to her throat, he withdrew. “We’re nearly there,” he said, shifting her to the seat next to him.
It was just in time, for now the gas street lamps were bright enough that had they lost track of their surroundings any more, onlookers on the street could have caught them in a romantic moment.
Frederick looked away first. Her desire-filled regard was the antithesis of what he needed now. Somehow, before they descended from the hansom cab, he needed to shrink the size of his swollen member.Itdidn’t care that they were about to arrive at the Hanover Square Rooms, where surely the musicians were checking their tuning now prior to the performance.
His eyes flew open as Molly slid the glove from his hand. Without taking her gaze from his, she lifted his bare hand and slid it between the folds of her cape.
“Moll—“
She brought his palm right against her small, silk-covered breast. He knew he should pull back at once—this moved him in the wrong direction for deflating his erection—but he couldn’t.
Her eyes fluttered when he gently ran his thumb along her soft swell, and her whimper filled his ears when he traced around her firm nipple through the gown, the circles growing smaller until his thumb pad rubbed her peak.
With a strangled sound, he retracted his hand as if burned, breathing hard. Through hooded eyes, he saw her confusion and hurt.
“Iwantyou, Molly, but”—he shot a glance at the building they were pulling up in front of—“not here!”
She gasped when she saw where they were. He replaced his glove just in time and helped her down. After paying the fare, he guided her to a spot along the wrought-iron gate between two street lamps.
“Forgive me, but I require a moment to…regain my composure before we go in,” he explained.
He prayed that in this dimness she wouldn’t see his tented trousers.No! He turned and gripped the metal railing, avoiding her curious eyes.
“It’s nothing to be ashamed of, Frederick. It gladdens me.”
He shut his eyes tightly and furrowed his brow in confusion. In their years of acquaintance, Molly had shown nothing but the strictest sense of decorum. There was never a hint of flirtation, even when he noticed her interest in him.
Then there was her fear of pregnancy!
Yet her voice now…perhaps it was his lack of sense and reason at the moment, but he would have sworn he heard warmth and welcome resonating in her words.
Could she truly know what sort of defiant beast he had betwixt his legs at the moment?
