Chapter 14

CHAPTER14

Seth didn’t hesitate. He took Bridget’s hand and led her back into the music room.

He couldn’t suppress his envy. It had encompassed him completely as he had been put down by Lord Burnington over dinner, but to have Bridget now before him, begging to be with himand no other, how could he possibly resist?

He released Bridget’s hand and then grabbed the small chair that accompanied the harp, jamming it beneath the handle of the door to the music room to make sure no one could get in. By the time he turned back, he found Bridget had lit a candle from a tinder box on the mantelpiece over the fireplace.

“I wish to see something more this time,” she whispered, almost nervously.

He quite adored that nervous look. She hid from the world quite often, yes, but with him, she was a little more daring. With him, she was the true Bridget.

“What do you want me to show you this time?” he asked, moving toward her.

Seth slipped off his frock coat, then his tailcoat, eager to be near her, to touch her, to feel her hands on his skin as he had felt them before raking over his bare chest.

“More,” she whispered. “You did something for me last time. Is there a way to do something for you?”

Her interest and the way she raised her eyebrows made him instantly hard beneath his trousers. The fact that she wanted to pleasure him at all was incredible.

No, I will not take my end. I want her to feel everything, to know all sorts of pleasures.

He couldn’t help thinking that if Lord Burnington ever did get his hands on Bridget, he would take his own pleasure and give her none in return.

“I know of some things we can both enjoy,” Seth whispered as she reached for his waistcoat and hurried to unbutton it.

He watched, enamored, as her pink lips parted, and her chest rose and fell with each breath. Rather desperate to see more of her this time, he reached for her back, slipping one hand around her waist first, until he found the laces at the back of her gown. He undid the bow with one pull.

She halted what she was doing, her eyes wide.

“Do you wish me to stop?” he asked. He would stop if that was what she wanted.

“No, do not stop.” She shook her head and then did something that had him in danger of spilling in his trousers.

She released him and took hold of the sleeves of her gown. Slowly, tortuously so, she slipped the sleeves down her arms and dropped the gown, revealing her corset and the chemise beneath.

She kicked the gown to the side of the room, along with her shoes, as Seth undid the last of his waistcoat buttons and threw that aside too.

“You remember that feeling?” he whispered in her ear, peppering her neck with kisses. “That pleasure as if there was an eruption?”

“I can’t forget it.”

“You’ll feel it again. I promise you that now.”

He urged her backward, toward a settee at the side of the music room. The passion was overwhelming him now, along with the desire, as he needed to get closer and closer to her.

She reached for his cravat and then his shirt. They were all tossed to the side, revealing his bare torso. When Bridget ran her hands over his skin, exploring his chest, he tipped his head back and groaned at her touch, wanting more of it.

He laid her down onto the settee, taking control, so she was flat on her back. The blush on her cheeks, her parted lips, and the way her chest rose and fell was everything to him now. It was as if he intoxicated her, and the two of them together were some heady mixture of need and desire.

Seth pushed up her skirt in an instant, trying to explore her as much as he could. He bent down, kissing the tops of her thighs and hips, moving fast. Some kisses were fleeting, the mere brush of excitement, and yet others were longer. He sometimes nipped her softly too. The way her back arched off the settee and her head tipped back made his length harder than before.

He pictured releasing himself from his trousers and entering her here, making love to her, watching as she moaned his name, her legs wrapped around his hips. He had a feeling the intimacy between them would be more intense than any other feeling he had experienced before.

Was it because he wanted her so much? Or was it just because it was Bridget?

He placed his lips on her core, and she arched her back even more. He was firmer this time, bolder in his touches, reaching up within seconds to enter her with his fingers. He worked her body as if she were one of the fine instruments in this music room, and he could play her to make the perfect sounds.

Her legs quivered, widening a little.

He wanted something more, somehow, to make it seem as if they were truly simulating sex.

He slid his hand under her waist, capturing her in his arm, and then shifted the pair of them together. He was sitting back on the settee, and she was now straddling his legs. His fingers were still inside her, thrusting up and down, but now his thumb was circling her bud.

Seth could look Bridget in the eye now. He could see the mounting pleasure, see her eyes glistening in the candlelight, watch as her chest rose and fell with her rapid breaths.

This is it…

He tilted his hips up toward hers, watching as she tipped her head back. She was picturing it now, as he was—picturing what it could be like between them.

His other hand grew impatient. He reached for her corset and tore it open. He feared he may have ripped one of the laces, but she didn’t seem to care, nor did she stop him. She let him pull the corset off her and toss it to the side, then he reached for her chemise and tugged it down so he could have access to her breasts.

Bending down, he kissed the mounds of her breasts, then found her nipples, taking one in his mouth. The sudden excitement that filled him had his hips griding against hers again.

Her moans grew louder, and her hips drove down, taking his fingers further into her core. The heat was so great between the pair of them now, he was lost in it. In fact, if she had asked him to take her completely, he would have done it. He would have ripped off every remaining stitch that was between them, until they wore nothing at all, and pleasured her as much as he could.

She was nearing her peak now. He could feel her body tightening, and her breathing grew faster and faster.

He shifted the two of them again. Laying her down on her back, he moved above her, wrapping one of her legs around his hip as he thrust his fingers into her, his thumb paying particular attention to her bud.

Her trembling began. One of her hands gripped his chest as the other pulled at the cushions underneath her head. When her climax hit her, it washed over him. He grunted as he bucked toward her, imagining he was sheathed inside her.

“Seth…”

His name on her lips had him quivering with the want of more, but he held himself back. This was what tonight was about—showing her pleasure, all of it.

My name. Not his, but mine!

He removed his hand from her core and bent down, kissing her fast. Her arms rose and wrapped around his neck.

If we could just stay like this and forget everything else. If only that were possible.

Bridget continued to kiss him, showing no sign of pulling back. But sooner or later, Seth knew he would have to. She was not truly his. She never would be.

* * *

Bridget was breathless, her whole body still tingling in the aftermath of what they had done, as she pushed herself up on the settee. Seth followed her, his torso glistening with a thin sheen of sweat, as the two ended up quite capitulated together, their arms and legs entwined.

“That was…” Bridget inhaled sharply, uncertain how to describe it.

“I know.” Seth chuckled deeply. “Believe me, I know. There are no words to describe it.” He raised a hand and ran it through his hair. “I’ve enjoyed our lessons. I’ll be sad when they have to end.”

They have to end?

Bridget tried to ignore reality whilst she was with Seth. She was ignoring the fact he would never marry her, and that her only hope for a husband was Lord Burnington.

I wish they did not have to.

“If I ever wished to know more… to know everything,” she began nervously, before Seth turned toward her. His hand slid up to the back of her neck, and he tilted her head to his, capturing her lips in a kiss.

Everything Bridget was about to say died on her lips as she kissed him. This was a far cry from their last heated kisses, the passionate ones that had been exchanged in the heat of the moment. It was gentle, soft, even tender, and as Seth angled their heads together, his hand went wandering, toying with some of the locks that fell out of her updo.

Slowly, he pulled back, his fingers continuing a path at the back of her neck that was both teasing and warming.

“If you ever asked it of me, I would show you everything,” he said, his voice deep.

The duality of the husky voice and his promise made Bridget shiver with excitement. Her spine quivered, and she moved toward him, wanting another one of his kisses.

His lips brushed against hers, fleetingly this time, like the wings of a butterfly.

“But you would have to be certain,” he added, pulling back an inch from her. “I never want you to do something you’d regret, Bridget.”

“Regret? Why would I ever regret it?”

Suddenly, Seth was gone from her touch. He was on his feet, reaching for his discarded clothes and pulling them back on. Bridget moved toward the edge of the settee, glancing at the closed door of the music room and fearing what noises she had made.

Had she been too loud in their explorations? Was there a chance at all that someone had heard her on their way to the parlor?

I pray not!

Then, a mad idea occurred to her. If something of what had happened between her and Seth was discovered, then surely there would be no expectation for her to marry Lord Burnington.

Yet, that is what I am trying to do, is it not?

Her head wanted one thing, but her heart wanted another.

“I know why we are like this, Bridget,” Seth spoke with his back to her, pulling his shirt over his torso. “As much as the attraction between us is eating us both alive, you and I know what you want.”

He found his boots next from where they had been kicked under a chair and pulled them on. In his fast and flustered movements, Bridget felt strangely still, watching him.

“You wish to marry Lord Burnington. Quite frankly, I am not sure I can show you everything whilst fearing you are picturing him.”

“God’s wounds.” Bridget hurried to her feet and crossed toward him. His hurried movements stilled at once. “In your lessons—”She struggled for the right word to describe their meetings. “I have not once imagined you were Lord Burnington. Please, Seth, do not think that I have.”

Seth reached for her hand and grasped it. Turning her hand over, he brought her wrist to his lips and kissed the inside of it. It was a soft touch and, just like their kiss on the settee, strangely gentle compared to the passion they had both been lost to only minutes before.

“Good.” It was the only word he managed as he lowered her hand again. “Now, I’ll go out first, so no one knows what we have done. All right?”

She didn’t want him to go. She wanted to stay longer, to make sense of why her stomach was knotting at the thought of him going, but he had clearly made up his mind, as he was already moving to the door.

She nodded, allowing him to go. “I think I’ll go straight to bed,” she said softly, turning to face him as she straightened her chemise and corset. “If my sisters ask whether you have seen me, would you tell them I had a headache and have already retired?”

“Of course. I shall tell Lord Burnington too if he asks it.” Seth smiled at her, then slipped out of the door.

As it clicked shut behind him, Bridget returned to the settee and sat down. She didn’t bother to change yet or even pick up her clothes which had been thrown to the floor in their eagerness to explore one another. She just lay very still and thought of dinner, with her eyes closed.

She saw Lord Burnington beside her talking about clothes and other such nonsense as matching cravats and handkerchiefs, then she saw Seth’s mischievous smile as his leg brushed against hers under the table.

“I am such a fool,” Bridget muttered to herself as she opened her eyes once more. “I have gotten myself into this mess, of trying to marry one man and yet falling for another.”