Lord Sebastian's Secret (The Duke's Sons #3)(14)

“You’re not thick,” she said.

Sebastian hesitated, then shrugged. It had been quite clear during their courtship that she was the clever one. She couldn’t be expecting a sudden burst of intellect. “Well, I am. No sense denying it. I’m used to it.”

“Used to what?”

He held up one hand with all five fingers extended, then waggled his other thumb. “Being the dimmest Gresham brother.”

“Is that what you think?”

It wasn’t a matter of thinking. It was a proven fact. She must have noticed. He thought of telling her that she needn’t worry about wounding his sensibilities by acknowledging the truth. And then Georgina sat down, her skirts spreading around her with a soft slither, and indicated that he should join her. The sofa in here was small; he had to sit very close. All remaining wisps of thought went out of his head as he breathed in the enticing scent she always wore.

Quiet surrounded them. There wasn’t so much as the ticking of a clock in this little chamber, which didn’t look much used. In fact, it was quite a secluded spot. A thrill went through Sebastian as he understood that Georgina must have known this when she brought him here. At this hour, most of the servants’ work would be finished. It didn’t seem likely they’d be interrupted. Still. “Sisters gone to bed?” he asked.

“Yes.”

He gazed into her gray-green eyes and caught a hint of uncertainty. He wanted to crush her in his arms, but he needed some sign of her wishes. Had she brought him here—please God, no—to talk?

Georgina raised a hand. Slowly, tentatively, she reached over and touched his cheek with featherlight fingertips.

That was it. He kissed her.

It was their second real kiss. He didn’t count the hurried brushes they’d managed in town. And it was tender and sweet. Her lips moved experimentally against his—not at all reluctant, but obviously inexperienced. As his veins filled with fire, Sebastian reveled in the idea that he had something to teach her. He was all right, more than all right, with matters that involved his hands rather than his head. There was no buzzing cloud of words to plague the life out of him. He was dashed good with his hands. And right now, they were like racehorses waiting for the gun. When he thought of all the pleasures they could offer her—in good time, of course, not here and now—it was almost more exciting than his own growing arousal.

In fact, he couldn’t resist just a hint of what was to come for them. Deepening the kiss, he ventured a caress, running his fingers up the smooth cloth of her gown, letting them stray ever closer to the curve of her bodice. “Oh,” Georgina breathed when they reached their goal. She arched closer, encouraging him to continue.

Sebastian gladly complied. He teased and tantalized, and when the sleeve of her gown slipped off her shoulder, he took advantage of the opportunity to touch her silken skin directly. Georgina moaned. In an effort to press closer, she slid a leg over his knee. When she tightened her arms around his neck, he drew her nearer automatically. And then somehow she was straddling him, her lithe body straining against his, her lips warm and eager. There was every indication she was about to open to him like a flower. One of his hands had already found its way beneath her dress and was sliding over the top of her silk stocking on its way to show her further delights.

Somewhere in the castle at their backs, a door shut with a thud.

Oh God.

With every fiber of him aching to rush on, Sebastian drew back. What was he doing? They could easily be discovered here. Her father had seen them go off together. He might be looking for them right now. Sebastian hadn’t even been at Stane Castle one day. And while he yearned to carry Georgina off to his bedchamber and continue, he would never wish to embarrass or humiliate her.

He forced himself to abandon her lips, pleased to see disappointment on her face. Placing one hand on either side of her waist, he reluctantly lifted her and set her back beside him on the sofa. They were both breathing hard. Sebastian pulled at his ravaged neckcloth, trying to get more air. “Is there any reason to wait until September for the wedding?” he asked with a savage yank at the twisted linen. “Can’t see one myself.”

Georgina blinked as she emerged from a daze of desire. She was panting as if she’d been running. This must be what her mother had been talking about. Only, she’d had no need to tell Sebastian anything; he seemed to know just what she wanted, before she knew it herself. “None in the world,” she said. But as her mind steadied, countering the demands of her body, she remembered. “Or…your family is set to come here then. Papa is so looking forward to it.”

“Ah, right,” said Sebastian. “I don’t suppose we can change that. Mama plans their movements like a logistics officer. Always has sixty things to do.”

He looked morose. Georgina almost felt she needed to apologize. “We Stanes have very few relations, you see. Only some distant cousins that I have never even met. And with living so out of the way as well, there’s been very little opportunity for…family events. Papa likes the idea of gathering everyone together.” In fact, she was aware that this aspect of the occasion outweighed the actual wedding ceremony for him.

“Ha, it’s just the opposite with us,” replied Sebastian. “I feel like I’m kin to half the country sometimes. I could spend all my time at one do or another.”

And it occurred to Georgina—only then, for some reason—that the Duke and Duchess of Langford would be making a significant stay with her parents. She’d been so focused on the perils of her betrothed’s arrival that she hadn’t thought ahead. Unbidden, unwelcome, a series of scenes began to unfold in her mind. Sebastian’s oldest brother, Nathaniel, had recently celebrated his own wedding, to the extremely correct Lady Violet Devere.