AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“This is not wise. Last time we were caught. I still do not know by whom.”
“It does not matter. There has been no scandal, no hint of blackmail. It must have been a servant, who has since been quaking in fear that they were seen.”
Edward reached for her again but she kept him at bay and then slid from the horse to land lightly on her feet. Edward wasted no time in vaulting from the saddle to land with a soft thud into the ferns beside her. Harriet gave him a wild, wanton grin and then picked up her skirts and ran.
CHAPTER 28
Harriet giggled as she picked up her skirts and ran. Away from the trail they had followed through the woods, there was thick undergrowth of fern and wild garlic, covering a gently undulating landscape. It made it difficult to run quickly for a woman in skirts, but then she wasn’t truly trying to escape. Behind, she heard the heavy footfalls and crashing undergrowth as Edward pursued her. She tripped, falling to her knees, but regained her feet just before his hands closed on her waist from behind.
Squealing and laughing, she wriggled free of his touch and took off in another direction. She had never felt so alive! They were both abandoning their responsibilities and pursuing a base, animal desire for each other. In her own mind, she did not know how far she would let Edward go, how far her own desire would drive her. It didn’t matter. She only wanted to think about this moment, the sensations of it, and the heart-pounding thrill.
Suddenly, the ground dropped away beneath her. She tumbled with a yelp into a small dell that had been hidden by a fold of land view. Her fall was cushioned by the undergrowth and she ended up a few meters lower down, lying on her back amid a bed of bluebells. Her hair was in disarray and she felt sure her dress was ruined by grass and soil stains. Edward appeared over the lip of the dell and descended to her with haste but considerably more control.
He dropped to the ground beside her. She giggled again, squirming into a more comfortable position but remaining on the ground, on her back, one arm at her side, the other above her head. Edward reached out to stroke her hair back from her forehead, gazing down at her, propping himself on one elbow.
“You are a wild thing, aren’t you. A force of nature. I do not know how it is that when I am alone with you, I throw caution to the wind and follow my heart.”
“I do the same. I don’t think that I am a force of nature. I think it is the two of us together.”
Edward stroked her cheek and Harriet closed her eyes to focus on the pleasure of his touch. His finger traced her cheek, then the line of her jaw, and finally her lips. She pursed them, kissing the tip of his finger. Then she parted her lips and raised her head, biting at him gently. He allowed it and after nibbling on his finger, she let her lips caress it, opening her eyes to look into his and she sucked.
Desire was plain on his face, and that heightened her own. She ran her hand over his and down his arm, squeezing his bicep and then stroking his neck. He pulled free of her mouth, replacing his finger with lips and tongue, drawing excited breaths from her. He caressed her bosom, gently at first but then more firmly and with urgency, squeezing and kneading to bring gasps of pleasure from Harriet.
She lifted her leg, trying to hook it around his own and pull him on top of her. There was no art of expertise in her movements, she knew little about the art of love-making. This just felt like the right thing to do. Her imagination suggested positions that their bodies might combine into. Her skirts were a hindrance though. Edward reached down for the hem and pulled it upwards in one savage movement.
Skirt and underskirts went up as far as one of her thighs, exposing stockings that reached that high only. Beyond those stockings was pale, tender flesh. The feel of the warm air on her naked thigh and the prickle of leaf and frond on her skin stoked the fires within Harriet. Clutching Edward to her, she thrust her hips against his. Her reward was to feel his strong hand grasping her buttocks and pressing her loins against his own.
Harriet felt the rigid pressure from him, a pressure that was growing with each thrust. Its size frightened her even as it awakened a level of desire she had not imagined she could feel. That was when her more sensible nature reasserted itself, breaking through the wild desire that had governed her actions thus far.
I cannot. I will not. I do not want to be another of his conquests! I want to be his wife, and if that is not possible, then…I do not want to be anything to him.
The realization was abrupt and had the effect of a bucket of cold water. She pushed against his chest, forcing his body from hers.
“No, we cannot,” she gasped.
Edward looked at her for a moment, eyes hooded and face drawn with unbearable desire. Then he closed his eyes and his head fell to rest on her chest. She felt him nod against her.
“You are right. We are not thoughtless youths but responsible adults. We cannot simply forget ourselves. The consequences to you would be too grim to contemplate. I will not expose you to that.”
She put her arms around him, stroking his hair as his embrace tightened around her.
“Nor I. I do not want to marry the Viscount of Middleton. But…if I must…”
Harriet did not want to finish the sentence. She wanted Edward to complete it for her, using words that would make her heart soar.
“And if I asked you not to?” he said finally.
To be asked not to marry would make her happy, with the implication that he could not bear to know that she was another man’s wife. But it was not enough. There remained the thorny matter of duty. She could not remain unmarried.
“Would that be all that you would ask me?” she said breathlessly.
“That would be all I can ask,” Edward whispered sadly.
Harriet closed her eyes at the words and bit back the tears that wanted to rise. It was not unexpected and she had resigned herself to it over the last three months. But hearing it from him now, after the passion that they had rediscovered together, was a fresh heartbreak.
“For now,” Edward said.
Harriet’s eyes opened. He had raised his head and she looked at him in confusion.
