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“Ladyand Gentlemen.” He sent her a smile which she returned with a delighted nod of acknowledgment for the courtesy. “I am here before you today on behalf of a good friend of mine, Mister David Townsend. It grieves me to report than Mr. Townsend himself is unable to be with us today for the unveiling of what, I’m sure you will agree, is a momentous new addition to the genusOrchidaceae.”He swept his arm toward the flowering plants to his right. “I present to you,Oncidium Townsendiae Purpurea.”
“You did it!”
Emma laughed breathlessly as they both sank back in his carriage. “Oh, I knew you could! Thank you!”
Kit smiled at her from his seat on the opposite swab. “I’m just glad I managed to present your case well enough that they agreed to adopt the new name. And to acknowledge your entirely new sub-species.”
He sent a wry glance at the orchids, their purple flowers bobbing merrily from the crate on the floor. Emma put her fingers to her throat and touched the small silver locket that hung there, suspended from a new thin chain.
“I think Andrew brought us luck.”
“Yes. He’d have been very proud.”
Emma’s heart was full to overflowing. With pride, for the fact that she’d finally honored Andrew’s memory with something lasting and meaningful. With gratitude to the man opposite her, for overcoming his natural reticence to champion her cause. And with a poignant sadness that their time together was coming to an end.
She didn’t want it to end.She had enjoyed his company far too much this past week.
“What do you say to a celebratory glass of port at my townhouse, Lady Townsend?”
“I’d like that,” she smiled.
A sense of reckless urgency seized her.
Her ship, the Medusa, was in the process of being refitted and restocked. She would be leaving on another plant-hunting trip to Brazil in less than two weeks. But why shouldn’t she grasp this brief moment of happiness with Kit? She was twenty three and she’d never had a lover, and until she’d reencountered him she’d really not considered herself missing anything. But her body reacted to him in the most extraordinary ways and she was consumed by curiosity to know what it would be like to abandon all propriety and touch that incredible body of his without restraint.
To have him touch her in return.
She didn’t expect him to marry her, of course. But perhaps, as long as they took the necessary precautions to avoid pregnancy, they could share a week of passion before she sailed for the other side of the world.
Her stomach somersaulted at the thought. The carriage rocked to a stop, and she clasped Kit’s hand as he helped her descend the steps and led her into the entrance of his townhouse.
Suddenly self-conscious—because, really, how did one suggest to a man that you wished to become his lover?—she allowed the austere butler to take her cloak then followed Kit into what appeared to be a study.
She accepted the glass of wine he poured from the sideboard and smiled when he tapped the rim of his own glass against hers.
“A toast,” he said. “To a successful joint venture.”
“And to newadventures,” she quipped.
They studied each other as they sipped their drinks.
“I have something to ask you—”
“I have a confession to make—”
They both laughed.
“I’m sorry, you go first,” Emma said quickly. “What’s your confession?”
Kit’s grey eyes were steady on her own. “It’s rather scandalous, I’m afraid.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Well, if you must know, so is the thing I wish to ask you.”
He lifted his own brows in unabashed interest, but she gestured at him with her glass. “But I insist you go first.”
“Very well. I saw you bathing in the hot pool, back at Ashford court. On Christmas Morning.”
Heat scalded her cheeks. “You did?”
