is being performed at the theatre. I should like to take you tomorrow night.”
Her eyes shimmered. “I should love to see a Shakespearean play above anything!”
He stopped halfway between his coach and her front door. “I can think of one more thing,” he said in a low, husky voice, his head dipping as he drew her close. He’d intended to gently settle his lips on hers, but once he found the velvety warmth of her compliant mouth, he was powerless to tame his hungry yearning. He devoured her in the rhythm of the moist, spiraling intensity of the kiss.
He could have gone on endlessly, kissing a trail to her enticing breasts, but for the proximity to her father and his sister bringing him back to his senses. “Oh, my love, I am most eager to make you—and only you—my wife.”
Still breathless, he stood back and regarded her. She was even more captivating than the Italian opera singer who’d so mesmerized him several years earlier. And this woman would soon be his.
Though she faced him, her dark lashes lowered, hiding her reaction to their kiss. But she could not hide the fact she was as breathless as he.
When he returned to the coach, he was so stunned by the powerful effect of Dot’s kiss he completely forgot that he was sharing the carriage with Annie. They were half way to their house when he remembered she sat across from him. Then he remembered he was out of charity with her. He glared. “I am unhappy that you’ve danced with Henry Wolf again.”
“Really, Timothy. You’re being quite the ogre. The man couldn’t be nicer to me. And he’s sinfully rich. I don’t know why you dislike him so.”
“I have my reasons. In the past, you’ve always trusted my judgment.”
She stomped her slipper. “I think you’re being an ogre.”
Being head of the family was no easy task.
Chapter 13
“Where’s Annie?” Dot asked as Forrester showed her into the coach the following night. Would this be the first time she would be alone with him at nighttime?
“She had promised to attend a musical with Sir Elvin’s sister.”
Dot frowned. “I shall miss her.” As fond as she was of Annie, though, she didn’t really mean it. Truth be told, Dot was thrilled to have Forrester all to herself, especially after the intoxicating intimacy of the kiss they had shared the previous night.
“You’ll be seeing much of my sister the rest of your life. I, for one, am happy to be alone with my intended.”
His statement delighted her. “We’ve been alone a good bit during our investigations.”
He put an arm around her. He smelled of sandalwood, and she was acutely aware of his breathing—things she’d not noticed when they were accompanied in the carriage by her father or Annie.
“But it’s different at night,” he whispered hoarsely.
Her pulse accelerated. His tone was intimate. She was not accustomed to Forrester speaking in such a tender voice. She wondered if he were going to kiss her again. Even though nearly four-and-twenty hours had elapsed since that heavenly occurrence, its magical effect was as vivid now as when she’d felt the first brush of his lips on hers and had nearly unraveled.
How puzzled she’d been later in the dark comfort of her bedchamber. How could an action as simple as a kiss cause such an onslaught of passion? Every part of her, body and soul, reacted. And how could she have the clarity of thought at such an intoxicating moment to realize that her lover did not find her inept? She swelled with an airy sense of wellbeing at that discovery.
Soon the coach pulled up at the theatre.
She was unprepared for the grandeur of the Theatre Royal with its fancy gilded boxes climbing the wall. Red flocked paper with an Egyptian pattern covered the walls, and crimson curtains festooned with thick gold fringe hung at each box. She was even more joyful when she learned that the Appleton family had its own box.
They took their seats on the front row of the box where a shiny brass rail offered an extra protection against falling into the pit. The Appleton box had a prime view of the stage below.
“Will anyone be joining us?” she asked.
“No, it will just be the two of us. When my other sisters are in town, the box becomes overrun with them and their friends.”
“A pity Papa didn’t come with us. We could have asked the elder Mrs. Blankenship to share our box, too.”
Forrester smiled. “That would undoubtedly