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CHAPTERTWELVE
Lucinda swallowed her giggle, rolling her eyes that a girlish sound wanted to spill from her throat. Still, she grinned in the darkness, holding on tightly to Alexander’s hand as they strolled down a pathway in Hyde Park. He had stayed in Derbyshire almost a week and had sent her a letter only this morning that he wanted to spend the night with her. Lucinda had planned to visit the club to partake in a round of card games planned by the girls but had conveyed her regrets and accepted Alexander's invitation.
His carriage had collected her at ten in the evening, and they had bounded away to Hyde Park, confident that the fashionable crowd had dispersed hours ago. They hadn’t kissed or behaved naughty at all in the carriage. He’d murmured, ‘come here,’ and she had went and sat in his lap. All the tension of the week had leaked from her, and she had rested against him, inexplicably feeling cherished.
They had traveled in silence just like that and had only spoken when they descended from the carriage, and she saw it was the park he had taken her to. The night felt peculiar with the lack of people about and the lamps that were too far apart to provide relief in the relenting darkness of the enormous park. What was bright and inviting in the daylight with its lush green flowers, rolling immaculately tended lawns, winding rivers and pathways, vibrant flowers, and shrubberies reeked distinctly of dangerous uncertainty in the night. Very much like the affair between her and Alexander.
He tugged her even closer to his side as they made their way down the pathway with the barest light from the half-moon perched in the sky. They rounded a corner, and she faltered to see a few candles lit in covered lamps on the lawns in the distance, a blanket spread out with a few cushions, champagne glasses, chilled grapes, and strawberries in a silver bowl with ice shavings. A rush of warmth filled her chest. “I’ve never had a picnic at night before.”Nor have I ever been wooed before.
“I find I have many first experiences with you, my lady.” A devilish spark lit his eyes. “I like that.”
Lucinda glanced up at him, wishing she could see the totality of his expression. “Where are the servants that did this?”
“They were instructed to leave immediately. I assure you, we are alone in the vast park.”
She believed him, for the night echoed with silence. He assisted her down to the blanket, and she toed off her half-boots and removed the pins from her hair with a sigh, reposing against the blankets. Lucinda grinned when he followed suit, removing his boots, jacket, and even loosening his cravat. Then he lay beside her, lacing their fingers together. “The sky is beautiful, isn’t it?”
“Even more so in the countryside. You should visit me in Derbyshire soon, so we might do this by the lake and stargaze.”
“I would like that. What are we to tell your family about my presence there?”
“I shall banish my mother to the dowager house,” he fondly said. “She will take Hannah with her.”
Lucinda laughed. “You will do no such thing. It will be exciting to sneak into your room with none being the wiser.”
A soft groan vibrated inside his chest, and Alexander turned his head to meet her regard. “Did you miss me while I was away?”
“Unspeakably so.”
“Isn’t it a bit irritating to have your mind constantly thinking about someone else?”
“No.”
He chuckled, and she smiled. “Do you ever think of having children, Alexander?”
“I have not,” he admitted. “I knew from I was a lad of fifteen I did not want to marry.”
She gasped. “So young?”
“Aye. That conviction never left me over the years, so I never thought of heirs or spares. My brothers are there. And they also have children. What about you?”
“Not in years.”
“Fuck!”
The curse spat from him, startling her. “What is it?”
“I had a vision of you just now…reposed on a bed naked, your belly swollen with a child. The damn thought aroused me.” How baffled he sounded, and she knew then it was his child he imagined.
Her heart raced, and their gazes collided. Her whole body ached with an instinctive response, and the flesh between her legs throbbed. A palpable, sensual tension had thickened the air surrounding them, yet he did not reach for her. And Lucinda understood. Beyond the lust they had for each other was perhaps something more, a yearning to understand each other.
“Did you love him?”
The unexpected question had her lifting a brow. “Who?”
“Your second husband.”
Her heart twisted. “No. I have never been in love.” They remained silent for a long time before she said, “My second husband was Viscount Bramwell.”
