8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

T he trip to the village was an engaging distraction from being inside the house, but Juliet was glad to be back and spent the afternoon working on one of her paintings. She wished to finish it so that she could show it to Theo. She laughed to herself, recalling how he didn’t seem to enjoy the trip to town at all. Duncan needled him for much of the trip. It wasn’t good form, but Juliet couldn’t blame the man for trying. It was clear Lord Duncan had hoped to catch her interest.

She found Duncan to be nice enough, but he tried too hard, which meant he likely had some ulterior motive. Besides, she feared her heart already belonged to Theo. She sighed at allowing herself to admit to the feelings. Theo had no intention of marrying, and if his art was any indication, he wouldn’t be a faithful husband if he should ever take a wife. Warring with herself, she couldn’t let herself forget her plans for the art gallery, which had been her dream.

Juliet shook off her thoughts and resumed painting. She wanted to get the colors just right. The afternoon light in her room was perfect, and she didn’t wish to waste a single minute of it.

After painting for hours, Bess entered to help her dress. Once she was dressed and ready for dinner, she made her way to the salon. She wished Eliza was still in attendance. While she was delighted that her friend had reconciled with her love, she could benefit from her counsel. Eliza could help her sort through her feelings and make sense of things. Her friend would also tell her to guard her heart and prevent the pain and angst of giving it to a charming rake. But alas, she would have to reason things out on her own and do her best not to leave the house party with a broken heart.

Dinner was much the same as previous evenings. She wasn’t seated near Theo, so she was at the mercy of Lord Duncan’s conversation, mostly about himself. The tedious man had been seated on her left. Lord Knox was to her right, but he didn’t seem too interested in striking up a conversation with her. Lady Preston sat across from her, caught up in conversation with the Duke of St. Albans. Juliet had no choice but to spend the meal talking—or listening, rather—to Duncan. The man was funny in his own way. She wouldn’t call him charismatic, but when he let a bit of sarcasm slip, she found she laughed at his jests. Beyond that, there wasn’t much interesting or sincere about him.

Once everyone had finished their meal, the ladies retired to the salon. She chatted with Lady Preston and Lady Lily until the gentlemen joined. Lord Duncan came directly to Juliet and extended his arm to her.

“Might we take in the night air for a few moments?” he asked.

She placed her hand in the crook of his arm. “For a few moments, my lord.” Juliet glanced around the room and noticed Theo chatting with Lady Lily. She fought the irritation that the pair seemed to have formed a friendship of sorts. At least she hoped that was all it was. They seemed to have been amiable to each other when they were in the village.

Juliet allowed Lord Duncan to lead her to the terrace, but something didn’t quite feel right, and she knew she didn’t wish to be alone with the man.

“It’s a nice night out,” he said, looking up at the sky.

“Indeed, only a bit chilly.” Perhaps if she were cold, it would hasten her return to the salon with the other guests .

Lord Duncan turned to her. He brushed his knuckles against her cheek and caught her gaze. She didn’t like his touch, or the dark look in his eyes. Contemplating what to do, as she would not let the man attempt to kiss her, her eyes darted to a figure nearby.

Over the man’s shoulder, she saw Theo standing in the doorway, clenching his fists. She wanted to call out to him, tell him to come back and take her into his arms, to help rid her of Lord Duncan, but he turned and left.

Duncan began to lower his head, and she knew she must stop him.

“I find I am quite cold and must return inside,” she said, hurrying away from him before he might grab her to pull her back. As her body raced away from Lord Duncan, her heart hurried after Theo.

She didn’t see him in the salon and quickly continued towards the staircase. He was almost to the top of the stairs when she reached the landing at the bottom. “Theo,” she called out to him.

He stopped but didn’t turn around.

“Theo, please.”

He turned to face her, and she hurried up the stairs to where he stood. There was no indication that he would speak as he stared at her. A hurt expression marred his handsome face .

“That wasn’t what it looked like.” She stepped closer to where they almost touched.

“Oh? It wasn’t you on the terrace with a gentleman who was most certainly about to kiss you?”

She shifted on her feet. “Please come to my chamber. Give me a few moments to send Bess away for the evening, and then please come.”

“I’m not certain I should.”

She couldn’t allow him to believe she would have kissed anyone but him. Not that she was certain he would offer her the same courtesy, but he was clearly upset by the notion, and she cared far too much about him to allow him to think differently.

“Please, Theo,” she pleaded, taking his hand in hers. She was glad he didn’t pull it away, at least. “I wish to speak with you, and it must be in private.” She glanced behind them to confirm that no one should approach and find them alone together on the dark staircase.

“Very well,” he said, but he didn’t seem sure it was the right choice. “I shall be there in a quarter hour, assuming no one is moving about in the hallway.”

“Thank you, Theo,” she said, squeezing his hand before releasing it. She hurried away to her chamber. Once inside, she was pleased to see Bess waiting for her. Juliet had her maid help her into a night rail and then brush and plait her hair. She sent her away for the evening and waited.

Juliet paced her room, hoping Theo would arrive as he said he would. Then minutes, which felt like hours, later, her door opened, and she released a long breath when he stepped through it and locked the door behind him.

“Theo.” She sighed.

“You wished to speak with me.” His tone was far colder than she would have expected, and she took a step back. He had been with countless women. Why should he care if a gentleman had a mind to kiss her?

“Why are you so cross?”

“I’m not.”

Well, if the cutting edge of his tone was any indication, that was surely a lie.

“Theo, I wasn’t going to allow Lord Duncan to kiss me. I don’t want him to kiss me. Ever.”

“Is that so?” His tone was only slightly less irritated than before.

She took a few steps closer to him. “I don’t go around kissing men. I have only ever been kissed by you.”

His shoulders relaxed a bit from her words, but he contemplated her. Almost as if he was at war with himself.

“But,” she started again, “I am uncertain why it bothers you so. You have been with many women and will surely do so again once we both depart at the conclusion of the house party.”

He closed the distance between them and cupped her face with his hands, then pulled her lips against his. Sweeping his tongue in her mouth, he kissed her as if he were fighting for the air he needed to breathe. He broke their kiss and placed hungry kisses along her jaw and neck.

“Theo,” she moaned.

He stopped what he was doing and caught her gaze. They stared into each other’s eyes for a few moments. It was the most intense, charged moment of her life. She wanted him desperately, but she also knew at that moment that she had fallen in love with him. She thought she might have read love in his expression, but it was most likely the weight of his desire. He owned every piece of her heart, and even if it made her the most foolish woman in England, she wanted him.

Being with him even once would be better than never having him at all.

“I want you,” she whispered, still capturing his eyes with hers.

He opened his mouth as if he would say something and then closed it again. He swallowed hard, and she thought his eyes might have become glassy, but it was probably just the candlelight playing tricks on her .

“Are you certain?” he finally asked.

She nodded.

“You must say the words.” He clasped her hands in his.

She squeezed his hands. “I am certain that I want you, Lord Theodore Camden, in every way.” She had never spoken truer words.

Juliet knew she would marry him, if he asked, and have his children. Build a full, loving, passionate life with him. His was the face she wanted to see every day, the one she wanted to share in her excitement when she finished a painting, to ride their estates together, and cling to each other at night. She allowed herself to admit that she wanted it all, even if she was uncertain about admitting such a revelation to him.

She’d never thought she could want or trust a man as much as she did him, even if it was fast and she hadn’t known him all that long, but she wanted such a life with him. If that made her mad, then so be it. Her more reasonable mind knew that it was a schoolgirl fantasy. Theo didn’t want any of it other than what she offered him, but he could be hers for a while. And that would have to be enough.

He responded to her words by grasping the side of her night rail and pulling it over her head in a single fluid motion. He began working on the buttons of his shirt, while she released her hair so that it fell freely down her back.

She stepped against him and pushed his shirt off his shoulders once he finished with the last button, letting it fall to the floor. Juliet reached for his falls, but he wrapped his fingers around her wrist to halt her. “Not yet. I need to keep my wits about me.”

Her thighs were already damp, and that she was the one driving him to a similar state only made her want him more. He kicked off his boots and took her lips again. Backing her towards the bed while he kissed her, he ran his hands along her sides and continued until he clasped her arse. He lifted her against him, and she wrapped her arms and legs around him. His bulge was hard, and she undulated against it as best as she could while he held her standing beside the bed.

He broke their kiss and rested his forehead on hers. “You are going to make it impossible for me to go slow for you. You are intoxicating.”

“Don’t hold yourself back. I just want you,” she whispered.

He kissed her again, then laid her across the bed. She came up on her elbows and watched him unbutton his falls and push them to the floor. If she could live the rest of her life staring at him, she would .

Theo crawled onto the bed and hovered over her, his hard cock rubbing against her as if taunting her. He kissed her neck and worked his way to the globes of her breasts. He took one in his hand and massaged it before taking her nipple into his mouth.

“Theo,” she moaned. “I need you.”

He picked his head up and looked at her. “You shall have me, but you deserve to be cherished, and that is exactly what I am going to do.” He lowered his head to her other breast and repeated the same attention to her tightened bud. Her wet heat throbbed, the anticipation almost unbearable. She tried to move against him, hoping part of him might rub against her and sate some of her need.

When that proved not to ease the ache, she attempted to move her hand between them. He captured her wrist just as she clasped his cock. He moved it over her head and pinned it to the bed. Before she could make another attempt with her other hand, he clasped that one, too, and joined it with her other hand. He pinned them together with his left hand.

“Eager, are we?”

“Theo,” she whined.

“I am determined to make this good for you. It is going to hurt a bit your first time, and I want you to be so wet, and hot, and ready that perhaps it will ease the pain.”

She knew she must be soaking the sheets already from how he drove her to distraction. “I am ready.”

“Let me be the judge of that.” He smirked at her. He shifted his right hand down her body, gently squeezing her hip before brushing his fingers between her legs. She arched her back when he did, pulling against where he pinned her wrists. The anticipation made the action feel more intense than it had ever felt before.

He kissed her, massaging her tongue with his, and rubbed her sensitive place in maddeningly slow circles. As he rocked her hips, she felt him smile against her lips. He raised his head to look into her eyes and shifted his hand lower. It was her turn to smirk when he slipped a finger into her heat and his eyes shuttered closed.

“I don’t think you could be any more ready for me,” he groaned. He opened his eyes again to look at her. “Tell me again, you are certain. I can lick you clean right now, and we needn’t go any further.”

She pushed her hips against him as much as she could. “I have never been more certain. You are the only man I shall ever want.” She regretted her words, worried she would scare him away completely. He wasn’t a man who wished to wed.

To her surprise, he responded by kissing her. He released her hands, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him against her .

He placed his hands on either side of her head and positioned himself at her opening, the head of his cock just barely teasing her.

“I’ll do my best to allow you to adjust. Let me know if it hurts.”

She nodded, and he pushed himself inside of her, only an inch. He gradually entered her further, an inch at a time. He made one thrust, bringing with it a small rush of pain, and then he was completely inside of her, their bodies pressed together.

“Are you all right?” he asked, the concern evident in his expression.

Juliet nodded. “It only hurt for a moment. It’s mostly gone now.” She shifted her hips. “I need something.”

Theo grinned at her and placed several kisses along her jaw. He withdrew, and she clasped him tighter, hoping he would not leave. Then he thrust back inside of her, and she cried out. It was unlike anything she could have imagined, and that she was experiencing it with the man she loved only made it all the better.

“Wrap your legs around me,” he whispered.

She did as he said, and when he thrust again, he entered her even deeper. When she closed her eyes, she almost believed she was flying. He continued moving within her in long, steady thrusts. Each one was more intense than the last and drove her closer to the edge of ecstasy .

“Eyes on me, beautiful,” he said. “Do you like this?”

She opened her eyes and saw the tenderness in his expression. She cupped his cheek. “Nothing has ever felt better.”

He thrust into her again. “I quite agree.”

She whimpered, her heart melting into her insides. Theo quickened his pace. She gripped him tighter with her legs and dug her fingers into his back as she came even nearer to exploding beneath him.

Theo feathered kisses along her jaw until he reached her ear, taking her lobe between his teeth. His hot breath on her ear sent shivers throughout her body.

Brushing his lips across her ear, he whispered, “Come for me. Shatter around my cock and let me hear my name escape from your perfect lips.” He shifted his mouth so that he kissed her again.

Everything in her body clenched tighter around him when he thrust into her again and pushed her over the cliff of something she didn’t know could be so wonderful, and she indeed moaned his name as she rocked and shook from the longest climax she had ever experienced. Theo leaned down again and kissed her, swallowing the moans as she rode each and every second of unbridled bliss.

When she stilled, he thrust into her one more time before removing himself, and the warmth of his seed covered her stomach. He ground out her name as he spilled every drop, and she enjoyed watching his face when he did so.

He drew in a few breaths, still holding himself above her before he opened his eyes and caught her gaze again. The smile he gave her made her swallow hard and captured her breath. “Don’t move,” he said.

When he shifted himself off the bed, she immediately felt the loss of him. The cool night air made her more aware of how vulnerable and exposed she was to him, in more ways than just her naked body.

He returned with a cool, damp cloth and wiped between her legs, and then wiped her stomach clean. All the evidence and proof of what they shared was gone, at least gone from her body. The realization gnawed at her. How could she think that being with him in that way once would ever be enough? She schooled her features when he climbed back into the bed.

He placed himself in the same spot he had slept in the previous evening and reached for her hand, then pulled her towards him. Theo lay on his back and settled her to lie against him, his arms wrapped around her. Their legs intertwined and she draped her arm across his waist. She rested her head on his chest, thankful that he couldn’t see her face since she knew she might cry at any moment .

The silence hung between them for a few moments until he finally spoke. “I have never held another this way before.”

His words pushed her over the edge, and a tear escaped. She discreetly brushed it away so he wouldn’t see. She couldn’t speak, but also she wasn’t certain he expected a response.

“The mere notion of Duncan’s lips touching yours had me ready to thrash the man.” He kissed the top of her head, and the gesture touched her heart. “I’ve never felt that way about anyone before.”

She nodded against him.

He hooked his finger under her chin and tilted her head up towards him. “I believe you have ruined me, and I shall never get enough of you.”

She smiled at his words, still not certain she should get her hopes up for a deeper meaning behind them. Juliet swallowed hard, contemplating how to respond.

“I quite agree,” she replied, fighting away her tears and smiling at him with all the love she felt. She hoped he might read her expression and know without needing to speak the words.

He released her chin and stroked her back, moving his fingers lazily across her skin as they lay there together. The scene was so intimate and intense, and she longed for them to be just as they were every night of her life. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to dream of such a life, as dreams may be the only place where it would be true.