Chapter Eight

Bloody hell. I more or less propositioned Annabelle.

That didn’t deter his current plans, for after he handed her into the carriage, he told his driver to go through Hyde Park before eventually coming back to Mayfair and Harding House. Then he brought up the stairs, closed the door, and settled onto the bench opposite hers.

“I have missed you these past few days,” he said without delay, for there was no point in denying what was the truth. “How have you kept yourself?”

“Well enough. Spent time with my brother. Cornelius said he just missed you at the club last night.”

Andrew nodded. Awareness of her crawled over his skin. The subtle scent of lilies-of-the-valley teased his nose, and he couldn’t wait to kiss her lips, explore her skin. “I left early. Didn’t feel much like socializing. Was a bit out of sorts.”

“Oh? Why?” The breathless sort of inquiry went straight to his stones.

“Because I’d wanted to see you, but knowing your brother had returned rather intimidated me and I wasn’t certain of my reception.” He tamped down on the urge to sigh when the closed carriage finally lurched into motion. “Besides, I truly had business to occupy my attention.” And it had been hell, for he didn’t have a head for numbers. “I’m realizing how fortunate I am to have retained an intelligent man-of-affairs. I’m quite rubbish everything just now.”

“Don’t say that. It’s merely a matter of learning about these things again. You need to give yourself time.” She frowned and then peered around the black velvet curtain at the window. “Where are we going?”

“Hyde Park. I thought it would be the most private place. Relatively speaking.” He glanced at her in profile, and his heart constricted. Twin threads of anxiety and exhilaration went up his spine. Dear God, after this afternoon, we will be irrevocably bonded. “More private than being stuck in Mayfair traffic, but there is still the driver,” he said in a low voice as he yanked the kid gloves from his hands and tossed them to the bench next to him.

Not that it mattered, for his want of this woman superseded his embarrassment of doing anything where his driver might hear.

“I suppose it is rather difficult to sneak about clandestinely in London. We cannot very well march up to your front door and then go upstairs without there being a few wagging tongues.” Annabelle let the curtain drop back into place. Her eyes rounded with anticipation and a trace of apprehension. “Do you mean to…” She gestured between them with a hand. “To do that here, in this carriage?” Twin spots of color stained her cheeks. When he nodded, she sucked in a breath. “How lovely. I’d always heard of people doing such things in vehicles, but had never indulged in it before.”

“Does that mean you’re keen to try?” Never had he met a woman like her before…at least he assumed he hadn’t.

“Yes. If you are.” Slowly, and while watching him the whole time, she peeled off her gloves. Once she laid them on the bench next to her, she then took off her bonnet and set it atop the gloves. “Though I would have preferred to do this after a boxing match. You are quite impressive while engaged in fisticuffs.”

“Ah, you are good for my ego.” Andrew grinned. He couldn’t help it. She brought out so many things in him, and he refused to analyze why. It was enough to know he felt better when she was near. “Two people can get up to mischief any place if they’re inventive enough.”

“Why do I feel you have experience in this?”

He shrugged while a bit of heat went up the back of his neck. “While I cannot say I haven’t done it before, I can promise that this time will no doubt prove to be the best.”

“That assumes you are confident of your skill.” One of her finely arched eyebrows rose in challenge.

“You shall be the judge.” Need tightened his shaft, for her teasing made him hard like nothing else. Then, because he couldn’t bear to remain parted from her any longer, he took her hand, tugged her over the narrow aisle, and encouraged her onto his lap so that she straddled his hips. Skirting bunched between them, rose up her legs as she settled. The sensations imparted merely by that slight friction threatened to end the session before it got started. “Unless you’d rather not?” he asked against the satiny skin of her neck. “I thought I sensed a bit of either sadness or annoyance when we met just now, and I don’t wish to add to that confusion.”

“I want you, Andrew.” That throaty affirmation had him reeling but brought clarity with it he couldn’t understand. “I’ve been nearly out of my mind from desiring you since I first saw you box.” She held onto his lapels as she stared into his face, her expression entirely too somber for his liking. “But you are correct. Life is trying just now, for my brother thinks I should be matched more sooner than later and has set up meetings for me with men he knows.”

“What?” A wave of protectiveness welled in his chest. His hands drifted to her hips, and the warmth of her was all too tempting. “Is that something you want?” Fear played icy fingers down his spine. If she went out of his life, he would truly be even more lost.

“Not to them.” Her blue eyes darkened. “Which is why I’m here with you now.”

God, if he couldn’t puzzle out her underlying meaning, he was a bigger nodcock than he assumed. In the end, he was far too curious to know what she was thinking. “Do you only want me for the physical release or for something else beyond that?” His chest hurt as he waited for her response.

“Andrew, listen to me.” She lifted up on her knees, leaned her body into his, put her hands on either side of his head, and then peered into his eyes so intently there was no escape. “I have always chosen the men I partner with carefully even if it might seem hasty, and when I tell you that I don’t wish to be with anyone else in this moment, I am being nothing except forthright.”

“I appreciate that.” Slowly, almost unsure of his welcome even though she’d set his mind to rest, he drew his hands up her sides to cup her breasts. The half-stifled sound she made when he applied slight pressure spurred him onward and stoked the flames already sailing through his blood. “I feel much the same where you are concerned.”

“Good.” With a smoky chuckle, Annabelle delivered a fleeting kiss to the side of his mouth. “Now, show me I’m not wrong sensing that inexplicable connection between us.” While she watched him, she unfastened the frogs that held her moss green brocade pelisse closed.

“Gladly.” If he wasn’t the most fortunate of men, may God strike him dead.

“Ooh…” She sighed when he eased her bodice down on her moss green gown. “Such anticipation.” With a grin, he kneaded those glorious breasts, palmed them, rubbed the pads of his thumbs over her nipples until they hardened into dark pink nubs. A moan escaped her throat, and she gave into a shiver. “I have long waited for this ever since you first kissed me.”

“As have I.” It took all his willpower not to throw her onto the bench and claim her body. Instead, he kissed her, met her lips with his time and time again until the overture became something else entirely when they dueled with tongues for control of the embrace.

A shiver racked her shoulders. “I can’t think when you are touching me, kissing me.”

“Then give yourself over to me and merely enjoy.” With the sensation of freedom moving through him, Andrew drew a pebbled nipple into his mouth and set out to explore the charms her body held. Moments later, he wrenched away only to whisper, “Remember, though, that Bert is sitting right above us, but if you don’t care that he might hear your responses while being pleasured, I care not either.”

Wicked promise twinkled in her eyes. “Hmm, is that a challenge, Hazelton?” As he continued his ministrations, her back arched and she dug the fingers of one hand into his shoulder. “It matters not, for I’ve wanted this—” a moan interrupted her words when he rolled the other tempting pink bud from the root to the tip. “Wanted you from the start,” she finally finished in a rush.

“There is something about a woman who isn’t afraid of meeting scandal.” And she continued to amaze him with every passing moment.

“If only you knew the stories.” Concern clouded her eyes before desire engulfed it. When she wriggled her hips, ground her pelvis against his, the exquisite friction against his hardened shaft tugged a groan from him.

“Ah, Annabelle. Perhaps it was fate who led you to me after all.” With a certain smugness to his grin, Andrew spent the next several minutes teasing her breasts with fingers, lips, and tongue, and as her breathing became increasingly shallow, he set out to kiss her senseless, for he hadn’t had enough of that either. Every moment in her company, each time she returned his kisses, or her fingers went exploring, it was the sweetest welcome he’d ever had.

With her, he knew exactly who he was.

All too soon, he became lost without regrets. The warmth of her in his hands, on his lap, the lilies-of-the-valley scent, the faint sounds of pleasure she made, the way her fingers curled into the hair at his nape and into his cravat all worked to hurtle him closer to the edge. How was it that meeting this one woman had managed to turn his world upside down but had him contemplating a future where every possibility existed?

“Andrew.” The minx pressed a line of feather-weighted kisses to the underside of his jaw. When she found a spot he was particularly sensitive to that had him nearly launching off the bench, he eased backward merely to peer into her face.

“God, you’re beautiful.” She could be the angel of death or mercy and he wouldn’t care, for in this moment, she was his, and he would promise her anything.

“Such gammon.” Her eyes were wide and dark, vast blue pools he would happily drown it. “Being beautiful is commonplace, for anything can be that. Tell me why you think so.”

And she was intelligent to boot. “I adore your cleverness, your unwillingness to bow to traditions or silly rules.” At each point, he kissed a different part of her face. “Your determination to rise above the expected steals my breath, but the fact you embrace who you are without shame makes me want to do the same.” Lightly, he bit her earlobe, and when she gasped, he chuckled. “Teach me how to be strong and resilient in the face of this ever-present fear I have of not knowing who I am.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” she said into his ear then she followed that with a nip to his bottom lip. “The way I see it, since I found you, that means you belong to me for as long as you should have need of me, but I do ask that you get on with it else I’ll melt into a puddle right here.”

The urgency, the affirmation, in her whisper matched the hunger prowling restlessly through him. “As if I could deny you.” Because he could, Andrew spent the next several seconds kissing her neck, the curve of her shoulder, exploring the curves of her breasts, nipping and nibbling when the occasion demanded until she shook with need.

“Rogue.” Annabelle tugged at his cravat, loosening it so she could delve a hand beneath his clothing and kiss the bit of skin she’d exposed. Those heated lips were like heaven to him. “Touch me, Andrew. I want to feel your hands on every portion of my body.” Her voice caught. “I want to… You make me feel as if I finally belong.”

“Well, damn.” If he wasn’t seconds away from exploding, those words would have sent him there. “That is how it is for me,” he said in a barely audible whisper and held her closer. Never had he felt the way he did at this moment.

At least not that he could remember.

However, perhaps he was a selfish bastard, but he wanted more foreplay, so, he burrowed a hand beneath her skirting and didn’t stop until his fingers brushed the curls hiding that swollen bud at her center. Dear God, she was heat and heaven, sin and scandal all in one.

“Oh, yes.” Her eyes briefly closed. “I adore this moment when I’m hovering, before I climb that hill.”

How fortunate was he? Not knowing what to say, Andrew claimed her lips and kissed her as if that were his only task in the world, couldn’t have enough of her. Was it wicked to pleasure her in a carriage where a random stop could expose them to prying eyes or where the driver could get off his rocks from the soft sounds Annabelle was making? Yes it was. Did he care? Not in the least, for in this moment, she was his, and life was as perfect as it could get. Over and over, he strummed his fingers along that slippery button at her center, and as she gyrated her hips against his hand, as she plucked at various portions of his clothing, he continued to kiss her, taking every sound of pleasure into himself, gathering them all as if they were the finest jewels while he ignored his throbbing shaft.

“Andrew, oh dear, yes, continue that.” Obviously in great need, Annabelle pressed a hand over his, guiding him to where she wanted him, and damn but it was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. Seconds later, she fell into release, and he was awestruck as she threw back her head and arched her spine. Her body shook, and he took full advantage by deviling her slippery nubbin. He nipped and licked and suckled her nipples until he’d brought her to the brink once more. “Argh!”

“Bloody hell,” he breathed and lifted his head. “You will haunt my dreams like that.” Always, he would remember how she looked in this moment. Seeing her so responsive to his touch was incredibly erotic, and he couldn’t have enough of her. “I can’t wait to see you laid out on my bed, naked and needy,” he whispered against the satin skin of her neck. Was it odd he’d only just met her a week ago yet she was all he could think about?

“You and I are thinking along the same lines, but in my fantasies, you are the one naked, and I’m the one exploring,” she said, her dulcet tones breathless. “In the interim, you must work on your patience.”

How much was he coming to adore her? “It’s not one of my virtues—I think—but if you’d rather I leave off…”

“No!” She fought her way through layers of skirting before her fingers fumbled at the buttons of his frontfalls. The initiative she showed both shocked and exhilarated him. “Don’t leave me feeling as if I’ll explode with no recourse.”

“Not a chance, for I adore your daring and enthusiasm for this and everything else in life.” He batted her hand away in order to complete the task of freeing his hardened shaft. “I cannot wait until you show me the depth of your determination and how you will change the world.”

Annabelle snorted. “Let me start with London, then we’ll see.” Her eyes winked with humor and something he couldn’t readily identify. “Either way, I intend to take you with me.”

“I don’t doubt it.” In fact, he was counting on it. Did that mean she wished for marriage, or was seeking release in a carriage the only thing she wanted from him? “Are you sure you wouldn’t prefer a younger man? I might not be able to keep you satisfied.” The new worry lodged in his head and wouldn’t fade. “I’m rather aged compared to others—”

“Do hush, my lord.” She nipped at his chin, pressed tiny kisses to his cheeks, his forehead, the side of his neck in a dizzying pattern that left him impossibly hard and heated. “You are not a doddering old fool, and the last I checked, aged lords didn’t possess the form that you do.” When she claimed his lips, he was lost, falling down in a dizzying slide, nearly going tip over tail, but not knowing where the tumble would end was both terrifying and exciting. “Unless you are a disappointing lover, I believe we’ll have much to discuss regarding the future.”

“Let us pray to all the gods that I don’t make a poor showing.” Again, his hands gravitated to her breasts, and after he spent copious amounts of time bringing her to the shuddering edge, he thought he might explode right then. When she rose onto her knees with a knowing glint in her eyes, he guided the head of his member to her opening, and as she impaled herself on his length, never stopping her movements until he’d fully penetrated her honeyed heat, a broken sigh left his throat. “Damnation, this is the closest to heaven I’ve been.”

He rather hoped he didn’t say that any time he bedded a woman, for since he didn’t remember most of his life, sharing this act with Annabelle was much like being a green boy at university all over again, except it felt as if he were coming home to a place where he’d never been before.

“You are all too flattering, and too much more of that talk and I might just decide to keep you around.” Annabelle paused long enough to gently kiss his lips. Then, she moved again, and for the third time that afternoon, he was at sixes and sevens. Up and down, she moved her body, sliding with exquisite perfection along his shaft, holding his gaze with each pass. “This position is rather interesting, but I fear I’m far from a master of it,” she whispered against his lips and then was apparently distracted in kissing him or learning the secrets of his mouth.

Not that he minded, for there was much to discover about her. “If you are uncomfortable, we can shift positions.” In this, he felt comfortable that he could accomplish the task.

“Perhaps that’s the best. I need to feel more of you, feel your body sliding against mine.” Passion clouded the blue pools of her eyes and made her voice throaty. “Being here like this with you makes me feel protected, wanted, as if I’m not quite the failure I suspect that I am.” The tiny sliver of worry in her tone tugged at his heart.

“You could never be that, my dear.” Gently and with care as if she were the most valuable trinket, he urged her off his lap. If he weren’t careful, he’d explode, and their outing would end in embarrassment. With his lips at the shell of her ear, he said, “Lie on the bench. That should give me enough purchase.” As she did so, he followed her down and her skirting trailed around them. “Oh, if we were somewhere private…”

“Soon, perhaps,” she whispered as she reached for him, smoothed her hands along his shoulders, pulling him to her.

He settled between her splayed legs, planted his elbows on either side of her to encompass her body within the cage of his arms while holding her head in his palms. It seemed right, as if he were always meant for this moment. “More comfortable?” With one powerful thrust of his hips, he speared into her, burying himself in her tight heat until they were irrevocably joined. “Damn, but you are perfect.”

“Yes! Oh, dear lord, Andrew, yes.” Tears filled her eyes as she tucked her legs about his. “This is… This moment is one of my favorites, and you are…”

“Hush. I rather agree.” Then there was no more need for words. He set out to worship her body with his, to show her how much he was coming to adore her, how grateful he was that she’d come into his life and saved his.

Again and again, he stroked into her. Over and over, he lost himself in the glory of this marvelous woman. She held him close, encouraged him even closer with the subtle tightening of her fingers and legs, and he obeyed with an alacrity that both surprised and amused him. His body seemed to remember the steps of this ancient dance.

The rocking of the carriage, the clatter of the wheels over the road became an almost soothing backdrop, and for the first time since he’d awoken in Hyde Park, he felt at peace. As he stared into her eyes and she looked back, another piece of his heart flew into her keeping. Little by little, she’d sneaked into his life, accepted him, the mystery of his life, and all his flaws as if none of that mattered.

Forever, he would be grateful for that, almost as if he were coming to love her.

“Well, damn,” he whispered but he didn’t stop moving. Was that true? Was what he was feeling for her love? Or was it merely a by-product of her rescue and his thankfulness? The longer he joined with her, their bodies coming together in a primal ritual, the more he suspected it was the former. He was falling in love with Annabelle, and in that moment, he relinquished his hold on anything that would stop the slide.

Perhaps this was always how it should have been.

Emotions clogged his throat. His pulse roared in his ears while he blinked back the sudden moisture in his eyes. “I’m so damn grateful for you.” Andrew pressed his forehead to hers, hoped she understood to what he referred. When a moan escaped her, that tiny little sound broke the hold on his control. Need tingled through his stones, drawing them tight to his body. His rhythm changed, quickened, rubbing against the swollen button at her center, and as she whimpered, softly pleaded for more, he stroked into her with more authority, wanting to send them both flying.

“Oh, dear. Oh, dear. Oh… dear!” Already primed, the sweet woman slipped over the edge into bliss with a cry of surprise.

He kissed her, selfishly taking her sounds of release for himself, and with another forceful thrust, he hurtled into the abyss where the vortex sucked him under, and bright stars burst behind his closed eyelids. There was something sacred and magical about sharing this moment with her, and again, emotions surged into his chest. “You are amazing.” He ground his hips into hers in an effort to prolong the wild sensations coursing through his body. Damn, it seemed as if it had been an eternity since he’d bedded a woman, but lying there with a warm partner wrapped in his arms with her body fluttering around his member, that he remembered.

Eventually, his shaft ceased to pump, and he lay still with her cradled in his arms. For her part, she’d wrapped hers about his middle with her cheek resting against his and the echo of her heartbeat in tandem with his. “It wasn’t well done of me to do something like this in a carriage in the middle of the afternoon,” he whispered into her ear.

“Oh, do hush, Hazelton!” She playfully smacked his shoulder while a few tears fell to wet her cheeks. “I am as guilty as you, but I’ll tell you a secret.” With the swipe of her hand, she dashed the moisture away. “I never feel guilty, and I have no regrets.”

“There might be consequences from this coupling.” Would a babe result from this indiscretion? “I refuse to abandon you if there are.”

“Please stop talking else you’ll ruin it.” Gently, she laid the fingers of one hand against his lips. An odd sort of longing mixed with pleasure in her eyes. “I don’t want you out of obligation, for you will only resent me later even if you deny it now.” When he tried to protest, she tapped her forefinger on his lips. “There will be more than enough time to discuss a possible future. Not in this moment.”

An image of her and him standing by a lake somewhere glimmered to life in his mind’s eye, and what was more, he held a boy on his shoulder, perhaps not more than two years old, and he was the spitting image of her except with his hair and chin. “Annabelle…”

“I mean it, Andrew.” She didn’t remove her fingers. “A few years ago, that scandal I told you about resulted in a babe, but I miscarried in my fourth month, so I cannot guarantee you—or myself—anything. Thinking about that life, hoping for such, is irresponsible until we can both have several conversations about various realities and expectations.”

In this, as in everything, she had proved she was stronger than he would ever be. It left him in awe even as his mind spun at the implications of… everything. Slowly, while watching her the whole time, he took her index finger into his mouth, swirled his tongue around the digit before just as slowly withdrawing it. When her eyes darkened and the delicate tendons of her throat worked with a hard swallow, he grinned.

“I will wait. You deserve that, and I want to move forward with no secrets and my eyes wide open, but I will promise you this.” He took her hand and pressed a kiss to her palm. “You are the one I wish to court,” they both gasped from the admission, “and you are the one I am becoming enamored with, not what you might be able to do in the future, and certainly not to measure your worth in whether or not you can bear children.”

“Oh, Andrew.” The whispered exclamation sounded far too tearful, but she buried her face in the crook of his shoulder and held him all the tighter.

Not wishing to destroy the moment, he simply kept his arms about her, keeping her safe, hoping that he had managed to reassure her that all would be well… unless she wouldn’t want a man who couldn’t remember who he was, but he didn’t dare to ask.

For the moment, she was his and it was enough.