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“I’m glad you approve, Ashford.”
“I most certainly do not,” he all but growled back.
“So, what shall we do first when we arrive?” She asked, dodging his response completely. “I don’t imagine you’ve reserved a dinner box.”
“Of course not. God forbid Amberwood and his wife are in attendance. I’m sure Her Ladyship would recognize your silly self immediately, even with the mask.”
“I’ve never been allowed to wander around outside of the confines of a box, so I am glad you did not lease one.” Her brown eyes sparkled with excitement, and he couldn’t help but be mesmerized by their dark, endless depths. The carriage rocked into motion, knocking him out of his, quite frankly, ridiculous stupor.
“Have you seen the cascade yet?” he asked in an attempt to divert the conversation towards safer ground.
“No. The very few times I have been, it was not operating. My aunt only permitted us to come on the least busy nights. She always said I would get myself into too much trouble amongst the cover of a crowd.”
“Lady Smythe knows you well, then.” For he was sure that she planned to use the inevitable crush to her complete advantage to get him alone tonight. He could already hear her shallow complaints of being too heated from the crowd and needing some time in the fresh air, conveniently along one of the darkened paths, of course. Well, he thought as he resolutely looked at anywhere but the delicious confection before him, her little ploy would not work. Not in the least
“I promise to behave,” she said, as if sensing the train of his thoughts.
“That amounts to nothing where you are concerned, I’m afraid.” He didn’t trust her, not in the least, and would be extra guarded tonight. “Since you have yet to see it, the cascade seems the perfect thing, so long as you don’t stray from my side and risk discovery.”
“Wonderful.” She paused a moment and fingered the fabric of the bench, something he was beginning to learn signaled a coming bout of nerves. “I really am excited to go and see all the sights, you know. I don’t know when father will be coming to fetch me, and I am surprised he has left me alone for this long. It is only a matter of time before I am whisked away into obscurity. I plan to live my life to the fullest until then.”
A pang went through him at the thought of her leaving, one that felt uncomfortably close to his heart. “I am glad to be of assistance in the matter,” he said honestly, the prospect of her vivaciousness being dimmed by confinement unsettling him. “Within reason, of course.”
She laughed then, and it was a relief to see the brief sadness that had crossed her face banished away, even if the laughter grated on his ears. He didn’t think he would ever grow used to the horrid sound. “I don’t think this would be nearly as exciting without you here with me.” She said after settling down.
His chest fluttered at the statement, intensifying into something that felt just a little bit like fondness. Sebastian swallowed and adjusted his coat, trying to banish the uncomfortable feeling away.
**
As he’d predicted, the evening proved to be an absolute crush, as Fridays always were. It took them a good half hour to gain entrance to the place, the crowd not improving much once they reached the main area. Thankfully, they were just in time for the cascade, it being only five minutes until the famed fifteen-minute running of the contraption by the time they were able to meander their way to the location. He weaved amongst the crowd with Kitty attached firmly on his arm, trying to look anywhere but at her delicious collarbones, which were shown to great advantage without the cover of her cloak. Thankfully, no genteel persons they passed seemed to recognize her and barely gave her any notice as they walked by, likely thinking she was a mere mistress. The thought bothered him slightly, that she would be looked down upon so thusly, when she deserved nothing more than to be paraded around by a lord as his lady, something she would forever be denied through no fault of her own. Well, he thought with an amused twist of his lips as she pointed excitedly at the cascade, she wasn’t entirely blameless. That little visit to Barrow’s club certainly hadn’t helped things. She may have been able to secure an obscure country gentleman before that stunt. Though, knowing her spirit as he did now, she would be suffocated by such a life. Kitty Highbridge was a wild fox, much like himself.
“Oh! It’s starting!” She said with an excited clap of her hands. Her excitement was infectious, and he couldn’t help but smile in earnest at her sparkling exuberance. The crowd oohed at the impressive sight of the famed illusion, but he paid the contraption no mind, his gaze far too arrested by the dazzling creature before him and her naked happiness, that uncomfortable flutter once again lodging into his chest and spreading down into the pit of his stomach. She turned to look at him, a mischievous grin spreading across her face. He should have been wary, but was far too distracted to be concerned by her expression. “Catch me if you can, Your Grace.”
“What?” he replied blankly, before she backed away from him with a giggle and turned on her heel, taking off towards the garden paths.
“Little minx,” he said with a grin, irritation and affection flooding through him in equal measures. He couldn’t leave the woman to her own devices in this garden of vice, as she well knew, so he had no choice but to follow her down the dimly lit paths, which were nearly empty thanks to the spectacle of the cascade. Hell and blast, he’d fallen for her ploy entirely. “Stop this nonsense, you silly thing,” he called as he gave chase.
She threw her head over her shoulder, her saucy smile not abating as she trotted away amongst the famed lamps. “Make me.”
Lust, hot and heavy, surged through his blood and his cock grew rigid at the thought of laying her on the soft glass and parting those lovely thighs. Which he would not do. Absolutely not. Kitty turned down a darkened corner, and he followed within seconds, blinking as the dim path lay empty before him.
“Boo,” her voice whispered into his ear, her lips nearly caressing his skin. He whirled around and, too delirious with desire to think better of it, backed her against a stone wall. They were at the far side of the gardens, he realized hazily, far away from prying eyes. He braced his hands on either side of her face. “You won’t stop until you get what you want, will you?”
“No.” The smile remained on her face, but her eyes were wide with wonder and perhaps a bit of trepidation.
“Very well,” he replied huskily and, against all sense and the screaming of his rational mind, slammed his lips onto hers.
