A Season to Be Sinful (27 page)

Lily laughed outright. Your lordship is a fraud. She is everything dear to you.

I dont deny it. It doesnt mean, though, that she isnt also deuced inconvenient.

And unlikely to change her ways. Lily picked up the primers and cradled them in the crook of her arm. Perhaps leprosy will keep her from my door.

Lily.

Smallpox?

He shook his head. You will only make her more curious.

A summer cold, then. A very bad one. She did not give him time to dismiss this idea as well. When will she arrive?

Sir Arthur is one of my neighbors. His property abuts mine north of here. Aunt Georgia says she will leave on the morrow, but I think that means this morning. It is possible she will be here before the boys return with Pipkin from the village.

But that is no time at all!

As you intend to merely affect an illness and absent yourself for a week, I cannot see any reason for you to make haste.

Lilys free hand went to her hair. I must change this. I cannot hide it under a cap for a sennight. If she deigns to meet me, she will see through it straightaway.

Sheridans brows lifted. Dye it again, you mean?

I have no dye. I will have to use blacking, just as I did before.

Like hell you will.

She blinked. You cannot prevent me.

I forbid it.

Lily stared at him, incredulous. That is terribly high in the instep, even for you. You cannot mean it.

I do.

She would have thrown a primer at him but had too much respect for the books to do so. Has it not occurred to you that she might recognize me?

If that is even a remote possibility, then you lied to me. You are not no one . Aunt Georgia is not acquainted with no ones.

I did not say we were acquainted, only that she might recognize me. I certainly do not know her, not by name. And I am no one. I have no title, no fortune. My parents are dead, and I have no brothers or sisters.

Sherry was not appeased. That does not mean there is no family. Lady Rivendale does not know you from LAbbaye de Sácre Coeur , I am certain of that.

Lily was certain of it, too. I told you I left the abbey at sixteen.

You ran away.

Yes, but not because of anything that happened at the abbey, or rather not because of anyone there. I know you thought otherwise, and I allowed you to believe it because it is simpler that way.

And safer? he asked.

Yes. For both of us.

I do not require your protection, Lily.

I have a scar beneath my ribs that speaks to the error in your thinking.

Sherry gave her a sour look. That was an entirely different matter.

Dead is dead.

I should not have carried you back to your room this morning, he said, letting his eyes drop deliberately to her mouth. You and I would still be abed, and I would be making love to you as I meant to last night. If I was considerably fortunate, Aunt Georgia would surprise us flagrante delicto and you He paused. You know what that means, do you not? Flagrante delicto ?

I could understand the gist of it, my lord, whether or not I knew Latin. As it happens, though, I know Latin.

Yes, he said wryly. You would. As I was saying, you and I would be forced to make some explanation that would satisfy, particularly if she did indeed recognize you, and the whole of it would be out.

And then?

He regarded her blankly.

And then, what? she persisted. Once the whole of it is out, what is changed for the better? Do you think your aunt would condone an affair between us if she recognized me? i can tell you with complete confidence that the opposite would be true. She would drag me from the bed by my hair and send for a physician to examine you for the pox. Lily paused long enough to let that thought take hold and said, I do not have the pox, by the way.

Sherry gave her no chance to escape. One moment he was leaning comfortably against his desk and in the next he was pressing Lily back against the pocket doors.

My lord? Her face was raised to his; her eyes regarded him warily.

Sherry, he said.

I beg your pardon?

Sherry. It is my name. I should like to hear you use it. Whether or not she would have said it then, he didnt know. He was not about to pass on an opportunity to kiss her parted lips. There was sauce enough that would come from them later.

He angled his mouth across hers and felt her immediate response. The books, the ones he was almost certain shed considered throwing at him, thudded to the floor, and her arms lifted to his shoulders. He kissed her long and deeply, savoring the taste of her, remembering how she had lain so lightly in his arms. She did not feel insubstantial now. The languor that stole over her limbs made her require him for support, and he felt the comely shape of her pressed to him. Her simple muslin day dress was a suitably modest cover when viewed from any distance, but when she was flush to him, it was insufficient to keep him from knowing every long line and curve of her body. He felt the swell of her breasts above the neckline, the slope of her shoulder beneath the lace shawl. His knee insinuated itself between her legs, obliging her to stand on tiptoe. He welcomed the slim hands clinging to his neck and wished that she might always drink kisses from his mouth.

He lifted his head to inhale a shaky breath but did not draw back far. Was this a mistake? he asked. Tell me this was not a mistake.

Will you stop if it is?

No.

Her smile was a shade wistful. Then it is of no consequence, is it? This time she placed her mouth on his and kissed him with every bit of the yearning shed felt since waking alone in her own bed. It was not sensible, or right, that she should like or even desire him, yet she could no longer pretend that it wasnt so, and there was no reason that he shouldnt know it. This risk was hers to take, and he couldnt forbid her feelings any more than he could forbid her to change the color of her hair.

She broke off suddenly. Still clinging to him, she said, I must go.

He nudged her lips with his. Of course.

In the space of a heartbeat she was made breathless again. She tore her mouth away from his a second time. No, truly, I must go.

He nodded his agreement, but the movement of his head merely caused his lips to brush against hers. Hm-hmm.

Lily simply held on. He raised his knee, lifting her, grasped her by the bottom and carried her to his desk. Resting her on the edge, he used one arm to sweep across the top of it, clearing it of papers and quills and sealing wax. He rucked up her gown and petticoat while she fumbled with the buttons on his trousers. He stepped closer, spreading her thighs to stand between them, then he pulled her tightly against him, grinding against her once but not entering. He looked down at her flushed face and saw the centers of her eyes were very wide. Moreover, he saw that even the irises had darkened from leaf green to emerald.

She stared up at him, waiting, then realized he was waiting for something from her. She let go of her bottom lip and nodded.

Sherry lifted her hips and thrust deeply and hard. She was ready for him this time, wet and warm, the musky scent of her sex inviting his entry. He withdrew slowly, watching her, then watching them. She made small contractions around him as he moved as though she meant to hold him to her.

Lily sought purchase for her fingertips on the edge of the desk, then found she could not hold on. She lay back, stretching, and felt him plunge into her again. Her head was thrown back, her neck arched. She felt his hand slide over the fabric of her gown from her breasts to her belly. She wished she were naked. She wished the suck of his mouth was on her breasts and that he would take a nipple between his teeth and bite very gently.

The vision in her minds eye, as much as the rhythm he forced on her, made Lilys hips rise and fall. Her breath caught at the back of her throat. She pressed one knuckle against her lips and bit down to keep from crying out. Her heels banged the desk making it shudder under her.

Lily turned her head from side to side, not in negation of pleasure but in the acceptance of it. Every muscle in her body felt as if it were pulled taut. Last night Sherry had cradled her fall. This time he abandoned her to it. The strangled sound at the back of her throat was unrecognizable to her as her own voice. She gulped air, then held it as her body seized in the moment before her release. She arched, lifting herself up to him, wanting as much of him as she could take or he could give her. His thrusts quickened between her thighs, then he was in her one last time as powerfully as he was able. He gave a hoarse shout, then collapsed over her, taking his weight on his forearms.

Breathing hard, they stared at each other for a long moment, then began laughing.

If I had known you would shout like that, she said when she could catch her breath, I would not have bitten my own hand. She held it up for his inspection, showing him the knuckle shed abused with her teeth. Lily was only slightly mollified when he kissed it. Next time I will bite yours.

Sherry doubted he would mind, or even feel it. He said nothing to that effect, certain she would never allow him to have her on his desk again if she knew the extent of her power over him. He straightened, righted himself and his clothes, then helped her up. Since coming to Granville her hair had grown long enough to require a few combs to keep it neatly tucked. Two of the combs were loose, and one of them was lying on the floor. He bent and picked it up.

I hope you will reconsider doing anything to change the color of your hair, he said.

She raised an eyebrow as she tucked the combs back into place. So you are no longer forbidding it?

I lost my head for a moment.

Snorting delicately, Lily pushed her gown over her knees and stood. She shimmied once so that the hem fell neatly to the floor. It would be better, perhaps, if you did not follow me immediately. I am certain to have a difficult time composing myself if I meet a servant in the hallway. It will be impossible if you are sniffing after my skirts.

A coarse expression, but apt enough in this case. Very well. Ill let you go. Sherry straightened the shawl for her, fixing the tails so that they fell neatly between her breasts. But you mustnt think things are settled between us, Lily. You always raise more questions than you answer. You have only whet my appetite.

She raised herself on tiptoe and brushed his mouth with hers. And I was so certain I had satisfied it. Before he could respond, Lily ducked past him and hurried to the doors. On the point of leaving she paused only long enough to glance over her shoulder, cock an eyebrow at him, and make certain she had the last word. There was more than a trace of huskiness in her voice when she spoke it. Sherry, she said, then she was gone.

Lady Rivendale arrived late in the afternoon in a coach and four, followed by a second carriage with her servants and still more of her trunks. Sherry saw the coaches coming around the lake from his position in a field west of the house, lie did not immediately ride out to meet his godmother: rather he finished his random inspection of the corn crop and judged the early plantings were ready for harvest. He communicated this to his land manager, discussed at some length the proper way to turn over the field, and bid good day to his tenant farmers. When he could find nothing else to detain him, he turned Achilles toward the hall and headed back.

By the time he appeared in the entrance hall, his godmother had already been shown to her rooms. The servants, hers and his, were still unloading the carriages and settling in with varying degrees of equanimity to this disruption in their own routines. He inquired of the butler as to the precise location of her rooms and was informed she was indeed pleased to have accommodations in his own wing of the house.

Upon hearing it, Sherry released a breath he hadnt known he was holding. He had had some concerns that she would choose to take up residence elsewhere, and it was his wish to keep her as far from the scoundrels and Lily as was possible when he was not present to observe and mediate. The size of the hall should have made that a simple matter, but Sherry knew from experience that Lady Rivendale, with the very best of intentions, could manage to insinuate herself and annoy like a strawberry seed in a wisdom tooth.

Lily was in the right of it when shed said he loved his godmother dearly, but it was equally true that he could cheerfully throttle her when she got up to mischief.

Knowing he had tarried too long, Sherry took the stairs two at time on his way to greet her.

There you are! her ladyship cried, waving off her maid as Sherry poked his head in the open doorway. Come in, you dear boy, and give me a proper kiss. She held out her arms in welcome and proffered her cheek.

Sherry took her hands, gave them a warm squeeze, and bussed her on both cheeks. Can it be that you look lovelier than when I saw you last and that it was only yesterday morning that I took leave of you?

I detect flattery and censure there, Sherry. Flattery is all that is ever necessary. I do not accept criticism well, even from you. You must know I could not announce my intention to come here. You would fob me off again and feel very bad about it, I am certain.

Then you practiced this subterfuge to spare my feelings.