Lord Sebastian's Secret (The Duke's Sons #3)(34)

Georgina tried to copy the sureness of his touches, but in the next instant, his fingers began a tantalizing progress up her inner thigh, caressing, pausing until she gave a murmur of protest, then slipping closer to the center of desire. When he at last reached it, in the midst of a melting kiss, she lost all sense of anything but his touch. She didn’t know what she would have done if he’d stopped. But he didn’t. He didn’t tease any more. He answered the longing that carried her to the edge of taut endurance, and then broke like a cresting wave and swept her away.

Then he was above her, and inside her, and it hurt a little, but she was so loose and languorous that it wasn’t much. The possessive delight she felt as she held him while he cried out in release was far greater. She’d never felt so close to anyone in her life as when he relaxed in her arms.

Together, their breath and pulses gradually slowed. Sebastian turned on his side, pulling her back close against his chest. He reached over to the jumble of discarded clothing and pulled the wide skirts of her riding habit over them like a coverlet.

Georgina felt incredibly cozy with the fire before her and Sebastian’s warm body curled behind. Lost, outdoors, in a bramble-filled crevice, she was more content than she’d ever been in her life.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“I am quite wonderful.” He gave a little hum of approval, or perhaps pride. It made her smile. “And I’m absolutely going to love being married to you,” she added.

“That’s funny. I was thinking the same thing.”

His breath stirred the curls near her ear. It tickled. “That I would love being married to you?” she asked.

“No,” said Sebastian quickly. “The opposite.”

“That I am not going to love being married to you?” Georgina teased.

“No! That I would, to you.” He sounded frustrated.

“So, the same with shifting the pronouns, you mean?”

He didn’t think he meant that, because he didn’t understand it. But he was all too used to the slippery unreliability of words. “That I am the luckiest man in the world,” he replied. He was on firm ground there.

“Oh, Sebastian,” She turned in his embrace and kissed him with all her heart. And all else faded and was forgotten as they held each other close.





Seven


Georgina woke the next morning with a sensation of soft warmth at her back and cold, damp air on her face. She opened her eyes and saw the ashes of their fire, the small pool beyond, and the wall of the gully rising upward in dim green light. She was still lying under the skirt of her riding habit. For a young lady who had spent the night on the ground, naked and shelterless, she felt well. Better than well. She felt fine. Splendid, really.

Sebastian moved, and the welcome heat departed. She turned and found him gathering scattered clothing, preparing to dress. She watched him shamelessly as he put on yesterday’s garments, rather the worse for a night on the damp earth.

“I’ll make up the fire,” he said without meeting her gaze. He sat and pulled on his boots. “Won’t be a moment.”

She watched him push through the vegetation at the far end of their refuge. When he’d disappeared into the undergrowth, she made discreet use of the space behind a bush that they’d designated for such purposes. She was back under the makeshift coverlet when he returned with a great armful of dry branches. He went about rekindling the fire with the same calm skill he’d shown the previous evening.

“There. You’ll soon be warmer,” he said when the flame caught.

Georgina examined the handsome lines of his face, admired his powerful forearms and the muscles moving under his rolled shirtsleeves. She felt no urge to leave her rustic bed. Indeed, she was wondering how to ask him to rejoin her in it when he spoke again.

“There’s a great mass of deadfall just beyond the growth there,” he said, pointing. “I’m pretty sure I could climb it.”

The slight emphasis he put on the I told Georgina that the ascent wouldn’t be easy. She flexed her injured leg. A lance of pain shot through it, making her gasp. She didn’t think she could make a hard climb with this injury.

“I could go for help,” he added. His tone was oddly diffident.

“We don’t know where we are,” Georgina objected. “And you don’t know the country. It could take days for you to find someone on foot.” She didn’t want to wait that long alone in this desolate place. Its character would be entirely different without him.

“Or we could be close to a farm or cottage,” he replied.

She couldn’t dispute it.

“I thought of lighting a signal fire, but I’m worried about how this gully might funnel the smoke. It could swirl around in this opening and choke us.”

“We won’t do that then,” Georgina said. It was a frightening prospect.

“No. I could climb to the top and see what’s up there. Come back down if there’s no sign of people.”

It was a sensible plan, but she didn’t like it at all. “Do we have to go right away?” As the words escaped her, Georgina realized that she didn’t want their idyll to end just yet. Soon, yes. They couldn’t live this way for any length of time. But she wanted him to herself for a little longer.

At last he looked into her eyes. Georgina thought she saw doubt there, and yearning. “The food we have won’t last beyond this morning.”