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“Oh, Bridget, my dear! Over here!” her mother called out to her. Bridget immediately felt her sister’s warm touch on her hand. She had returned alone. Bridget could only hope that Sarah could explain her absence with the usual reason Bridget of endeavoring to do things on her own. She was brought before her mother and a few other ladies whose voices down died immediately upon Bridget’s arrival. “Sarah told me that you wished to find your way back on your own.”
“Yes, Mama,” Bridget smiled. After all, that explanation was close to the truth.
“I swear, dear, you must allow us to help you in such situations. You cannot go wandering about an unknown place on your own.”
“I shall make a note of it, Mama.” Bridget smiled in a way she had never smiled before. Her lips still burned with the heat of Joseph’s kiss, and once the onslaught of words commenced again, she retreated back into the world of her mind where she could kiss him over and over again, wondering whether she would truly have another chance to do so.
It was wrong. It was more than wrong. Her reputation could be ruined if they were found out, yet she could do nothing else but think of him and the way desire pooled out from the very depths of her very existence.
Chapter 12
Once all the gentlemen had retired, Joseph tried to come up with an excuse to leave as he was in no mood to chat about business or the state of politics in the country. Not after what he had just experienced. But he could not produce a good enough excuse, and within moments, Seth joined him, occupying his presence.
Seth started off a casual conversation regarding the upcoming Ascot’s race, something Joseph was not the least bit interested in although he politely nodded every few seconds or so. However, that was not enough to fool his cousin into thinking that Joseph’s mind was concentrated on the conversation at hand.
“What has your mind occupied, Joseph?” Seth wondered as the two men sat next to each other at a table in the corner of the room while the other gentlemen partook in a card game or a game of pool.
Joseph glanced at the glass in his hand. “Nothing.” He lifted his gaze at his cousin, almost daring him to contradict. “Why?”
“Well…” Seth adjusted himself in his seat a little, careful to throw a casual glance around to assure that there was no one close enough to overhear their conversation. “It has something to do with the blind lady.”
“Lady Bridget, you mean,” Joseph corrected him. The thought of someone referring to her asthe blind ladydid not sit well with him, even if that someone was his own cousin. “What of her?”
“Well, do forgive me for making such an assumption, and correct me if I am wrong, but I felt as if you were not that surprised to see Lady Bridget wandering around in your own home.”
Joseph snickered. “The Lady went to refresh herself. Am I to close off those doors to a lady in my home?”
“No,” Seth shook his head. “Of course not.” He leaned closer to him. “I know you, Joseph. I know when there is something you are not telling me.”
Joseph wished he could hide the burden of his attraction, but perhaps sharing it with someone he trusted might lessen that same burden. He swirled his glass then downed his drink in one thirsty gulp.
“To be quite honest, dear chap, thereissomething that I have been keeping a secret from everyone else.”
The very notion of a secret made Seth pull even closer to his cousin. The cheerful chatting of the other gentlemen assured them that no one paid any heed to them.
“It is a foolish, perilous thought,” Joseph started, “but I fear I am utterly consumed by it.”
“By what?”
“By her,” Joseph corrected himself. “Lady Bridget.”
“I knew it!” Seth exclaimed so loudly that a few gentlemen turned around to see who it was shouting in such an ungentlemanly manner. Seth smiled a little awkwardly, then the usual chatter resumed. “I mean, I knew that there is something going on between you two.”
“Nothing is going on between us.” Joseph shook his head. It was one thing to admit his own feelings regarding a lady such as herself, but it was a completely different matter admitting to what just happened in the darkness of that room. “I… I am merely confused.”
That much was true. He had never felt that way about a woman before. Usually, his infatuation with a woman would wane once she spent the night with him. Perhaps that would happen with Bridget as well, only she was not like the other women he was used to keeping his company with. They were merely distractions, nothing else. There were no emotions involved, just sheer need. With Bridget, he felt as if every sense inside his body was awake. He wanted to see her, hear her, touch her, speak with her, and worst of all, he wanted to taste her, trace his tongue down every part of her body and determine which part of her was the sweetest, only he could venture a pretty good guess.
Dammit.Thinking of her in that manner only seemed to make things even worse, even more confusing. The very fact that she was in this house, under the same roof as him echoed inside of him with so much possibility. She was close enough to touch again, but he could not. If he did that, he could not promise that he would ever let go of her again.
“What is it that has you confused?” Seth inquired, once he realized that Joseph had gotten lost in his own thoughts.
“Everything…,” Joseph sighed, feeling the weight of his emotions suddenly on his chest again, like an imp that would not let him be.
“You know you can speak to me about anything,” Seth reassured him of something he was already aware of, but the reminder felt soothing. “I will endeavor to help you in any way I can.”
“I’m afraid that no one can help me now, dear chap.”
“Perhaps speaking about it would,” Seth suggested. “Or about her?”
