then took her hand and helped her to her feet. A sudden blast of wind shook the trees, and the first fat raindrops spattered around them, bouncing the leaves. Alex barely noticed. Her face was turned up to his, her lips parted invitingly. The impending storm hung in the air between them like a static charge, and anticipation made the hairs on his arms stand up. His gaze dropped to her mouth.
Her smile faded as a new awareness filled her face, a recognition of the fact that they were alone in the middle of the forest, with no one around for miles. She licked her lips and took a step back toward the cover of the trees.
He followed.
“We’ve had terrible weather recently,” she murmured, and Alex almost smiled at the sudden nervousness in her voice. “They’re calling it the year without a summer.”
He closed the gap between them. She gave a little gasp as her back hit the trunk of a huge horse chestnut tree.
“Is that right?” he asked lazily.
She nodded, eyes wide. He regarded her from beneath his lashes and enjoyed the flush of pink that crept up her neck to her cheeks.
“Stop looking at me like that,” she said breathlessly.
“Like what?”
She shook her head and gave another flustered laugh. “As if you’ve just come to a decision.”
“Do I look like I want you?” His boots touched her skirts. “Do I look like I’m thinking of all the depraved things I want to do to you? Because I am.”
Her mouth dropped open in surprise, and he would have laughed if desire hadn’t been riding him so hard.
“I’ve wanted to join you in that carriage all day,” he admitted, ruthlessly holding her gaze. “I wanted to climb in there, push you back on the seat, and make love with you again.”
He leaned in, so his chest touched hers and he could feel her little pants of arousal. “I want to see you. All of you. I want to see my hands on your skin. Your nipples wet from my mouth. I want to see the look on your face when you come.”
* * *
Emmy could barely catch her breath. The way Harland was looking at her made her heart hammer against her ribs and heat pool between her legs. She’d been fighting her attraction for him all day. It was impossible to watch the grace and power of his movements and not imagine the weight of him on top of her.
His eyes were the same blue-grey as the clouds above them. Thunder rumbled overhead, as if someone were rolling barrels over the flagstone floor of heaven. Another gust of wind shook the trees, and the rain started in earnest, a steady hiss pelting the leaves and hitting the ground.
A matching wildness rose up inside her. She loved storms, the ferocity, the drama. She reached up, caught the lapels of his coat in her fists, and raised herself on tiptoe.
It was all the encouragement he needed; he kissed her, deep and openmouthed. It was hard, almost bruising, and it released a flood of dark hunger so intense that Emmy shuddered against him. She could taste the anger in him, the frustration. The desire that matched her own.
She groaned into his mouth at the forbidden pleasure of it. Her knees buckled, and she clutched his coat in her fists just to stay upright. His hands pulled up her skirts with rough urgency, and she gave an excited whimper of assent.
A deafening crash of thunder sounded directly overhead and both of them jumped. The panicked whinnying of the carriage horses echoed through the woods.
“Bollocks.”
Harland released her with unflattering speed and Emmy bit back a denial as her skirts fell decorously back around about her ankles. He bent to retrieve the box of jewels from the ground and sent her a look she found impossible to interpret.
“We have to see to the horses. Which way is the carriage?”
Her heart was still pounding, her lips still tingling, but she managed to gather her kiss-dazed wits. “This way. Follow me.”
She lifted her skirts and ran back the way they had come, careful not to trip on the sticks and rocks that littered the ground. The trees provided some cover, but they were still pelted with water droplets and by the time they reached the ruins they were both soaked to the skin. The rain streamed down, unpleasantly cold, and Emmy cursed as her feet were completely submerged in a puddle of muddy water.
When she finally spied