have to lean an inch to kiss her. “Nell, I want you. Right here against the tree,” she mimicked softly.
Hearing the words made everything inside of him tighten. He’d been mad for her. When they’d finally surrendered to their passion, it’d been heaven for both of them.
“And you’d answer, ‘Take me here. Now.’” He looked deep into those turquoise eyes where her own passion had ignited, making her pupils enlarged. He could feel a cocky grin tugging at his lips. His eyes searched her face where her cheeks had flushed a brilliant pink. “My God, you’re stunning when you’re aroused.”
Immediately, he wanted to withdraw the words. If she had any doubt how she affected him, she knew it now. He couldn’t turn away from her.
Suddenly, the dining room door opened. They stepped apart quickly as if they’d just discovered they were poisonous to one another. He glanced over his shoulder and groaned silently. His aunt’s guests had just finished their meal and were spilling into the hallway. Conversations floated to them as the women made various remarks about the artwork and the Sevres vases that littered the hallway.
When his aunt saw them, she immediately headed their way.
Nell dropped a deep curtsey at the same time James bowed. All the while praying that the evidence of his arousal wasn’t noticeable. If so, then his aunt’s guests would be twittering about more than the artwork.
The duchess glided to their sides. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“Ma’am?” Nell asked.
“Your sister has disappeared. She wasn’t at the luncheon.” James’s aunt turned to him. “Nor was Harry in attendance.”
“We’ll find them.” James motioned for the ever-present Tipton to come forward. “Have you seen my cousin or Miss Ellison?”
“No, sir.”
“Would you find Miss Ellison and escort her to my study? Lady Whitton is prepared to leave now. We’ll wait for her there.”
Tipton nodded with a bow.
When James returned his attention to Nell, she had completely forgotten about him as she was in a jolly good discussion with his aunt. Both women had clasped each other’s arms with their heads bent together and were walking toward his study, the one his uncle had assigned him when James had come to live there as the duke’s heir.
James followed their path. His aunt glanced back and winked. The brightness in her eyes and her infectious grin made him smile. He hadn’t had much happiness with his first wife, Georgiana. They’d shared affection as a normal married couple would, but neither was in love with the other. James had married her for the wrong reasons. It was to push aside the pain of Nell’s jilting.
But when he’d promised his wife to put Valentina first, he was keeping that pledge. Hence, the search for a new wife. One who would provide him with the necessary heir, but she had to be a woman of impeccable breeding and from the highest echelons of society. As he strolled to his desk, the duchess and Nell were still enjoying each other’s company.
Valentina must have escaped from her nurse and had followed them into the room. “Papa? What are Harry and that pretty lady doing?”
“Don’t point, dearest,” James said as he followed the direction of her right forefinger. His daughter was pointing to a couple outside his study on the terrace. “Oh, my God.”
At the shock in his voice, Nell and his aunt turned to see what had caused such a dire reaction from him.
Harry had Christa enveloped in his arms, and it wasn’t just a simple kiss. No, it was as if they were making love with one another while still fully attired.
“No.” Nell’s voice trembled with pure anxiety.
The duchess immediately sprang into action. “Valentina, come with me.”
“What are they doing, Auntie?” Valentina smashed her nose against the window as she studied the couple, who proceeded to maul one another.
“Something they shouldn’t,” the duchess muttered.
“Will they be punished?” Valentina asked, then knocked on the window with her small fist, trying to get their attention.
Nell flew across the room and yanked the door open. “Christa!” Her sotto voice was sharper than a knife.
With a steely determination to wring his cousin’s neck, James followed Nell onto the terrace.
Harry and Christa finally broke from their embrace, both completely out of sorts. Their faces betrayed how lost they were in each other. James knew exactly how they felt. He’d experienced that same haze of passion.
With Nell, and only Nell.
With a mounting expression of haunted mortification, Nell’s sister looked their way. Harry’s normal carefree countenance turned into a look of unnatural