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She touched her trembling lip with one finger. “It is done by fighting for what matters.”
“Precisely so. You needed a few days to think…to breathe…and you took that. Not many would do so knowing the consequences of their actions. That was not weakness, Perdie. It takes a certain kind of strength to forge your own path when you have so many odds stacked against you. Whether those odds be fear, family, or society’s expectations. You don’t need anyone’s permission or approval to live, though if I were your brother, I’d want to know you were safe. If one of my sisters was missing, I’d be going mad. Anything to let me know she hadn’t died by the side of the road. But that’s courtesy, not permission. You’re a strong enough lass, to be able to take what you want from life without apologizing for those hopes and dreams, and I think you know that.”
She shook her head. “And what if they do not understand…what if they refuse to understand. I hunger for something different than the terrible predictability of how I am expected to live. There are so many places in England or even London I have not seen. How silly is that? But I am told my desires to visit those places are unseemly. What in God’s name is unseemly about that? Even my mother told me I should only concentrate on marrying and filling my nursery!”
“Make them understand.”
She laughed shakily. “With my rapier and bow and arrows?”
Unable to keep from touching her, he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. His fingers lingered when she shivered at his touch. Thaddeus twined a lock of her hair around his fingers but didn’t look away from her lovely face. “No…with your will and passion. Do not allow anyone to bend you. Be kind and considerate of those you love…and those who love you always. But not at the cost of your happiness. My da taught me that.”
The rumble of thunder forestalled him from probing further. Both he and Perdie turned their attention to the sky, boiling over with thick black clouds. As their heads were tilted up, the clouds split open and released a torrent of rain. Perdie gasped and tried to cover herself as her pale muslin dress turned transparent in an instant.
He caught her hand and tried to tug her back the way they’d come.
“The folly is nearer. This way!”
He followed her lead. In a mad dash, she tugged him farther into the maze of lush greenery. Past niches with sculptures, flowers, a fountain. Taking twists and turns until the far end of the maze opened to reveal a wide patch of grass leading to what looked like the ruin of an ancient Roman temple. Two of the pillars still stood around the small round edifice, the other side having crumpled, though the stairs still seemed usable. Ivy climbed the white stone.
“Are you sure?” By this point, his shirt was soaked through, and his hair plastered to his skull.
Her hair was also soaked. And so was the damn dress, and it revealed firm, high-perched breasts, a slim waist which flared into rounded hips and long, lithe thighs. Gritting his teeth, Thaddeus looked away. “You make for the shelter. I will make my way back to the village.”
“Are you mad? In this deluge?” she gripped his arm. “It’s built to look like a ruin, but it has a roof. Hurry!”
He followed her over the slick grass, grasping her waist to steady her when she lost her footing. She scrambled up the stone steps first and into the dry lee formed by the artfully crumbled ceiling. The temple had no walls, only the collapsed ceiling on one side and the still-standing pillars. They were out of the rain for the moment, but he wasn’t certain how much he trusted the structural integrity of the folly. Oddly, there was a chaise longue and a table positioned before it.
“Has it always been this way?”
She tore the ribbons of her bonnet away from her chin and laughed. “It was built this way. I promise you, it isn’t about to fall down around our ears. We can wait out the storm here.”
As if to punctuate the sentence, a fork of lightning flashed across the sky, followed by a quick rumble of thunder. Perdie seemed unperturbed. She shook her wet hair and wrung the moisture from it, letting it fall damply around her shoulders. Her hair probably afforded her more modesty than the dress did at that moment. He didn’t trust himself to look in her direction. A flash of lightning at just the right moment would illuminate the parts of her body he most craved to see. He turned away instead, watching the rain fall in torrents onto the hedgerows and the distant house beyond.
Water dripped behind him. Curious, he looked. She stopped wringing out her hair and hugged her arms to her chest, lost in thought. He held a hand out to her in invitation.
“Perdie?”
Her eyes were dark and unfathomable when she met his. She didn’t take his hand. Arms still locked around her body, she joined him between two of the pillars. It was almost enough. At least, it would have been if he’d felt at liberty to draw her into his arms. He held himself still and waited.
She dropped her arms from around her bodice, exposing the way the fabric clung to her, turning her skin rosy with the color. By will alone, he didn’t look away from her face, even though the way the fabric plastered to her fair skin called to him. His hand lingered by her ear, something he didn’t realize until she reached up to cup her hand over his. Her fingers were cold and damp but soft.
She said something, but it escaped him. Thaddeus could barely hear his words over the patter of rain. Perdie moved closer to him, lifted herself onto her tiptoes and pressed her mouth to his.
Thaddeus's world shifted, and for a precious moment, he forgot how to breathe.
Her kiss was as light as the flutter of a bird’s wing. It left him hungrier than ever, but he held himself perfectly still, pliant for her.
In a moment, as she drew away to readjust her position, he was rewarded for his patience. She cupped both sides of his face with her hands, pressed her body flush against his, and kissed him again. Boldly, hungrily, with so much passion, he held fast to her for fear that the moment would slip away.
“I have wanted to do that,” she whispered against his mouth. “I dreamed of kissing you, Thaddeus. Almost every night.”
He did not have the willpower to let her go.
The awareness shocked him even as he slid deeper into desire. Wanting to preserve her virtue, he tried to lift his head. Her hands tightened around his neck, and she bit into his bottom lip. “Perdie,” he said against her mouth. “We—”
She gripped a fistful of his hair and dragged his lips back to hers. “I should not feel like this about you,” she whispered, her voice hoarse with arousal and an emotion he could not place. “I crave you.”
That was it. He was lost.
Thaddeus had truly believed his curiosity would be appeased with a kiss. He’d been sure once he knew what Perdie tasted like he would be able to walk away and take the memory with him. Instead, her taste enslaved him and cupping her cheeks in his hands, he tilted her head and kissed her over and over.
It was magnificent. And if he had his way, it would never end.
