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He shook his dark head as his big body covered hers. ‘I can’t wait, Hattie. I need all of you now.’
So she nodded, oddly calm all of a sudden, and ready for the next milestone. ‘Then you had best have me as I need all of you too.’
His kisses were tender and reverent as he eased inside her even though she was too ready for there to be any pain. Only at the last moment was there a little discomfort, and even that was so fleeting it was insignificant, because her body blossomed as he filled it. Welcomed the sublime invasion of their joining. Needed it as much as she needed him.
They watched one another as he began to move, slowly at first because he would rather die than hurt her, until her hips developed a mind of their own and rose to meet each stroke. As the passion built within her, she felt it in him too. The muscles of his back bunched beneath her fingers while his heartbeat quickened beneath his ribs.
His kisses became more fevered. His breathing more laboured.
And as the walls of her body tightened around him and she called his name, he told her that he loved her, that he would always love her as stars exploded behind her eyes and he came apart inside her.
‘I suppose I could either apply for a special licence or steal you away to Gretna Green like Freddie did Dorothea.’ Reluctantly, Jasper was helping her dress, taking more care over how her bosoms were arranged within her bodice than the task warranted. Not that Hattie minded in the slightest. Especially as he had done the same with her stockings, then ripped them off again to make love to her on his dining table. Not that they had the time for another repeat performance. Even if Mrs Mimms had walked Izzy back from the infirmary in Covent Garden via the most long-winded and convoluted route possible, which the unfussy clock on the drawing room fireplace confirmed she had, they would be home at any moment.
‘In fact, if I saddle a couple of fast horses, I could have you at the first coaching inn before nightfall.’ He raised his dark eyebrows. ‘Both literally and figuratively.’
‘As tempting as that is...’ Hattie lifted her hair so that he could lace up her gown. ‘There’s a part of me that doesn’t want to give the ton the satisfaction of us running away or scurrying off to marry behind their backs.’ She turned to button his waistcoat. ‘It makes it all seem forced and dirty somehow, as if we have done something wrong when the only thing we are guilty of is falling in love, which we did after we became friends.’
‘Speak for yourself.’ He feigned insult. ‘For you it might have happened after we became friends, but I fear my heart was lost the moment I abandoned my carriage on Long Acre and you smiled at me out of the Avondale carriage window.’
‘Liar.’ She snatched up his coat and snapped it open, then smoothed it over his shoulders as a feeble excuse to touch them again. She had a particular soft spot for those broad shoulders. ‘You did not fall in love with me then.’
He turned, holding out a palm full of hairpins and then watched her hastily poke them in her rumpled hair in the best approximation of a style that she could manage under the circumstances. ‘I didn’t realise it perhaps, but I definitely had an odd moment. I have a clear recollection of you smiling at me and something strange happening in the vicinity of my heart. It did not take me long to be certain of it. In fact...’ He rolled his eyes as she bent the last pin as she wrestled it into the scruffy bun, then took it from her to straighten it so she could attempt the manoeuvre again. ‘I was a lost cause before you seduced me at the infirmary.’
‘I kissed you, I didn’t seduce you, Jasper.’
‘Au contraire,mademoiselle, I can assure you that they were one and the same thing.’
To prove it he kissed her and thoroughly seduced them both for a few moments before he tore his lips away. ‘But I digress...we were discussing wedding plans and the limited, scandalous options available for the ruined.’
‘Well after my spectacular steeplechase earlier in front of that odious reporter from the Bugle, it will hardly come as a shock to anyone that we have to get married, so we might as well do it in style.’
His dark brows furrowed with interest. ‘Go on...’
‘If we are ruined anyway, then I say we be proud of it. Make no apologies for who we are or what we do.’
He pondered it for a second then shrugged. ‘It is certainly a philosophy which has served me well.’
‘Then why don’t we surprise the lot of them by doing things properly? Announce our engagement. Have the banns read at St George’s in front of all the good ton who worship at that church, then marry there with all the pomp and circumstance one would expect from the daughter of a duke and the heir to a dukedom.’
‘With Izzy as a bridesmaid, I presume, and Jim as what? An usher? The best man?’
‘Oh, that honour should definitely go to my idiot brother. His seal of approval for our match after all the nonsense trying to prevent it. But yes, Jim would make a fine usher and in a couple more weeks he’ll be out of his splints.’
Jasper sat on the arm of the sofa and dragged her to sit on his lap. ‘While I am all for it, what you are proposing is going to ruffle feathers as that is not the way things are traditionally done. We would be thumbing our noses at convention when misdeeds in Mayfair are supposed to be swept under the carpet and then whispered about for evermore in scathing tones at functions, they are never openly celebrated. Such a thing would be considered grossly improper.’
‘When have we ever abided by the laws of propriety, Jasper? And I am not sure if you’ve noticed, but we both get whispered about anyway whether together or apart. You have been a shocking scandal for years, I have become everyone’s favourite object of pity, and all eyes have been on us on the wallflower chairs for weeks.’
Hattie kissed his nose. ‘Besides, you are forgetting our secret weapon.’ When he blinked baffled, she pressed her lips to his mouth. ‘My mother! Nobody throws a party like the Duchess of Avondale and it would be a brave soul in society who turned down one of her invitations. If anyone can pull off the most scandalous wedding of the Season, it is her.
‘And talking of my mother...’ Hattie dragged him to stand and then led him by the hand out of the drawing room and into the hallway. ‘She will be worried about me and so will the rest of the family, so we should probably go and face the music.’
‘I suppose we must.’ He moaned this as if it was the greatest chore in the world. But as Hattie tried to tug him towards the kitchens and the back door beyond it, he planted his feet.
‘If we are going to do things your way, we are going to do it properly.’ He jerked his head towards the front door. ‘No more hiding. No more skulking around. And absolutely no more pretending that there is nothing going on between us. We are a pair, you and I, and I want the world to know it.’
Hattie sucked in a deep breath then slipped her arm through his. ‘Am I to presume we are walking all the way to Mayfair?’
‘That shouldn’t be a problem for a woman who claims to walk at least a mile a day.’ He slanted her a glance filled with mischief and love—and challenge. Because Jasper never, ever felt sorry for her.
‘I dare say the fresh air will do us both good.’ She marched to the door then held out her hand, smiling. ‘I only hope you have the stamina to keep up.’
He took it and laced his fingers in hers before he unlocked the heavy door and flung it wide to the world. ‘So do I, Hattie Fitzroy.’ Then in case any of the gossips outside were in any doubt about what exactly had been going on between them for the past month, he spun her into his arms and kissed her in front of everyone. ‘So do I.’
