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Chapter Twenty
Hattie awoke feeling warm and safe.
It took a few moments to realise that was because she was sprawled atop Jasper, snuggled within the cage of his arms.
Shamelessly sprawled on top of Jasper, because her head rested on his chest, her hand was splayed on his abdomen and her bad leg had hooked itself between his and was held in place by the solid weight of his palm on her thigh. It was a considerably more intimate position than the way she last remembered them. She recalled being swaddled in his lap, her cheek against his neck as he softly whispered reassurances against her hair while his fingers toyed with it. They had been upright then. That they weren’t now must have meant that either he had lowered them back once she had dozed off or, by the slow, rhythmic motion of his breathing, he had nodded off too and their bodies had found a comfortable way to sleep entwined.
Whichever it was, it was rather lovely as well as highly improper.
Hattie lifted her head to assess the best route off the chesterfield without waking Jasper, but as she was wedged against the back and her only option was to roll over him, that was unlikely to happen. Besides, he would only worry if she miraculously managed to sneak out without him noticing and that wouldn’t be fair, so instead, she kissed his cheek.
‘I should go, Jasper.’ Then, for good measure she placed a soft kiss goodbye on his mouth.
His lips responded sleepily, and he sighed his appreciation, the hand on her thigh sliding possessively upwards to her bottom. ‘Don’t go yet.’ His mouth was fully awake when it found hers again. ‘Stay for just a little bit more.’
The next kiss was thorough, and she revelled in it irrespective of the impropriety. Then she decided she did not care if it was improper because everything about her relationship with Jasper was technically improper anyway. What difference would a bit more impropriety make? She would be just as ruined if they were innocently found together in the little park with the duck pond as she would be here in his arms.
In fact, she decided, as she gave herself completely to the kiss, there was considerably less chance of that happening here than there. Besides, being ruined by Jasper wouldn’t exactly be the end of the world. In many ways, it might well be the start of it, so she kissed him some more.
He rolled to reverse their position and that was when she first became aware of the intriguing changes in his body and the insistent bulge which pressed against her lower abdomen.
Hattie knew what that was. One couldn’t spend half one’s life in the countryside and not notice how the farm animals procreated, and she had since filled all the gaps in her knowledge on the intricacies in human anatomy by flicking through the many medical books scattered around the infirmary. She also knew that if that part of Jasper wasn’t at rest like the rest of his big body, then something rather marvellous was afoot.
He desired her.
Her!
The wonkiest wallflower in the whole of Christendom.
It was heady knowledge to be armed with and instantly gave her wayward body a whole host of seriously improper ideas. Ideas which were much too tempting to ignore.
Feeling bold, she deepened the kiss, using her tongue and teeth to tease his mouth to play along, until he growled and took control again.
‘I’ve dreamed of this.’ His teeth found her ear and nibbled softly. ‘Craved you incessantly for weeks.’ His whisper sent a delicious shiver down her spine. ‘Tried to resist you but I can’t.’
How wonderful!
‘Then don’t.’ Intimacy was one of those milestones she had feared, yet suddenly, with Jasper, that fear felt redundant. If he wanted her and she wanted him, why fight it? Especially as this felt so gloriously right. Another moment to grab life by the lapels.
Because he seemed to like what she was doing and because the bottom of his shirt was untucked, she allowed her fingers to trail up his warm belly, to follow the crisp arrow of hair which led the way from his navel to his chest, and then to trace the shape of his nipples. They puckered instantly and he moaned against her mouth, the hard, male part of him now pressed against the apex of her thighs and awakening all the feminine nerves which lived there.
‘You’re killing me.’ His kisses were languid and lazy, but intense, as if he were in no hurry to get the job done despite his obvious ardour, so Hattie responded in kind while her palms learned the unique pattern of the bunched muscles in his back. When one of his hands found her breast, she arched against it, murmuring encouragement until he slipped his fingers beneath the fabric of her bodice and freed it. The fresh afternoon breeze blowing through the windows whispered over her skin at the same moment as his fingertips grazed the sensitive tip and she sighed her pleasure, feeling decadent and seductive and ripe for the picking.
Jasper moaned too, whispering her name as his lips trailed along her jaw, then down her neck, and finally encircled her aching nipple. ‘You’re so lovely, Hattie.’ His breath teased that sensitive flesh more and she felt beautiful. Powerful. Overwhelmed.
Wanton.
‘So perfect.’ The fabric of her skirts caught and ruched as he hoisted them upwards, so she adjusted her body to make that easier. ‘How on earth am I supposed to keep resisting you when I want you so much?’
‘I want you too, Jasper.’ Of its own accord, her body opened for him and then hummed and blossomed as his covered erection pulsed against the most sensitive part of her. Instinct told her to hook her legs around his to bring him closer. ‘All of you.’ And never a truer word was spoken. There was an ache in her womb which needed to be filled. Parts of her body which screamed to be touched.
‘I need all of you too, Hattie. All of you.’
Propriety dictated that she should have been outraged when he reached between their bodies to caress between her thighs, but by then she was so lost in the sublime sensuality of his touch that she had quite forgotten the meaning of the word. Instead, she surrendered to it. Welcomed it.
Within seconds, she became a puddle of fizzing nerve endings and a willing captive to her own pleasure, needing every stroke on that needy bud more than air. Craving every caress in a way she had never desired anything else ever. Desperate to climb higher and higher and step ever closer to the edge. To fly.
Then all at once—much too soon but far too late—her body pulsed and shattered as she cried out into his mouth, then floated slowly back to earth like an autumn leaf caught on the wind. Tumbling and twisting in utter, utter bliss.
