by Amelia Grey
She smiled and gasped. “I thought I had lost that. I couldn’t find it when I got to London. Beabe swore she’d packed it, but we couldn’t find it anywhere.”
“It was left here. Mrs. Post gave it to me.”
“I realize it’s almost empty, but thank you for not throwing it away.” She reached for it, but he drew it back and covered it with his hand.
“Not so fast.”
Perplexed, she lowered her hand. “Surely you don’t want a lady’s perfumed water bottle.”
“Oh, no, I do want this one.”
He wanted it? “All right. As much as I would love to keep it, after all you have done for me, I certainly can’t deny you. It’s yours.”
Morgan held the bottle up and looked at it. “Have you ever really looked at this bottle, Arianna?”
“Certainly.”
“What’s on it?”
“The ingredients. My father told me he wrote the ingredients on it so that it would be easy for me to have more made, if for whatever reason he wasn’t available to make it for me.”
“You didn’t question why he didn’t write them in English?”
She smiled. “Of course not. We lived in India. Why not write it in Hindi?”
Morgan shook his head and smiled.
Arianna was confused. He went from being angry at her to smiling. What did that mean?
“This is not written in Hindi. It’s another little-known Indian language, and my apothecary had a hell of a time finding anyone who could translate it.”
“Your apothecary?”
“I was going to have more made for you before I returned it, but I couldn’t. My apothecary assures me this is not a formula for perfumed water, as you call it, but it’s a eucalyptus-based formula that could quite possibly be a healing tonic for the lungs.”
A chill shook her body. “No.”
“Yes. You’ve been looking everywhere for your father’s formula to cure consumption, and it was written right here on your bottle.”
Arianna covered her face with her hands. Sweet relief washed over her. “I don’t believe it.”
He took hold of her wrists and brought her hands down from her face. He looked deeply into her eyes. “I have never lied to you, Arianna.”
It felt like her heart was bursting with love. “I know that.” She wanted to hug him so desperately but was afraid to make a move for fear he would think she was making demands on him. So she said, “I must get this to the Royal Apothecary Scientific Academy.”
She reached for the bottle a second time.
He pulled it back just short of her grasp again. “Too late.”
Her breath stalled in her throat. “Too late?”
“When you were not home for me to talk with you about this, I took matters into my own hands. I’ve already had my apothecary take it to the Academy under your father’s name. I’m sure their testing has already begun.”
“Oh, Morgan.” She threw herself into his arms so fast and hard that he stumbled backward, and they fell on the settee together.
Her lips found his, and she kissed him with all the love she was feeling. He responded eagerly to her advances and pulled her into his arms.
“Those better be tears of joy I’m kissing from your cheeks.”
She leaned away from him and dried her face with the back of her hands. She had no idea the tears had fallen, but she answered, “They are. Morgan, how can I ever repay you for what you’ve done for my father?”
He looked down into her eyes and smiled. “You could marry me.”
Her heart lurched, and she pushed away from him. “Marry you? No, no. I promised you I would not ask anything of you.”
“You aren’t asking, I am. Marry me, Arianna.”
“Morgan, this is not the time to tease me about this. My emotions are already on the brink. I am so filled with love for you, I can’t keep from telling you any longer, but I don’t want you to feel you have to marry me because of what happened between us.”
Morgan brushed a strand of hair from her face and wiped the last of the dampness from her skin, careful not to hurt her bruised cheek. “I don’t. I’ve not wanted to admit it before, but I think I fell in love with you the night you arrived at my door.”
“No, I remember that night clearly. You thought me the biggest nuisance you had ever encountered, and you just wanted to be done with me.”
He grinned. “That’s true, too, but it didn’t mean that you didn’t put your mark on my heart. I finally admitted to myself that I love you. I don’t want to live without you. I can’t live without you, Arianna.”
“Oh, Morgan,” she whispered, throwing her arms around his neck and holding him as tightly as she could. “I never thought to hear you say those words.”
“You had better say yes to my proposal, because I’ve developed one of your bad habits.”
She leaned back and looked into his eyes with wonder. “What?”
“Quite unaccustomed for me, yesterday I impulsively applied for a license to marry you!”
Arianna laughed. “You didn’t!”
“I swear it on Lady Elder’s copy of Lord Chesterfield’s letters. So don’t you think you should put me out of my misery and say, ‘Yes, Morgan, I will marry you’?”
She threw her arms around his neck and said, “Yes, yes, I love you, and yes I’ll marry you.”
They kissed sweetly, lingeringly, for a long time, with each enjoying the feel and taste of the other. When Morgan finally let her go, he said, “I’ll send word to Jessup’s family that we will both be over to pay our respects tomorrow. Right now we are going to see Master Brute, and from there, we are going to get on Redmond and ride to the coast.”
As he took her hand and helped her rise, she smiled eagerly. “The coast?”
“Yes.” Morgan pulled her into his arms. “We will be married as soon as we get back to London. But make no mistake, Arianna, you are already mine. All and completely mine.” He turned her loose. “Now go and get your heaviest cape. I’m going to have Mrs. Post pack us a basket of food and wine. We’re going to stay and watch twilight descend, and I’m going to love you the way I wanted to but couldn’t the last time we were there.”
Her heart felt so full she could hardly speak. “I don’t know what to say. I’m so overwhelmed, Morgan.”
He smiled. “Must I teach you everything? Say you love me and you can’t wait to be alone with me on the coast.”
Arianna laughed and threw herself into his arms again. “I love you, Morgan, and I can’t wait any longer to be alone with you.”
He kissed her hungrily for a brief moment and then turned her loose and said, “Good. Now go, and I’ll meet you at the front door in a few minutes.”
Less than an hour later, Arianna and Morgan made it to the coast. He helped her slide down from Redmond, and he then handed her the basket. While he hobbled the horse, she spread a thick blanket on the ground. The sky was gray but not threatening rain. When she took off her bonnet and let it fall to the ground, a brisk breeze fluttered a wisp of hair. She looked out over the dark blue water—the water that had brought her to Dorset, to Valleydale, and to Morgan. And now because of Morgan, her father’s work would be recognized.
Morgan’s arms slipped around her waist from behind, drew her back against his chest, and bent down and kissed the back of her neck.
“Mmm, you always smell so good,” he whispered.
She turned her head toward him and kissed his cheek. “Did I tell you how happy you’ve made me?”
He laid his chin on the top of her shoulder. “Yes, but you can tell me again if you want to.”
She turned in his arms to face him and slipped her arms around his neck. “My heart is so full of love for you.”
He grinned, stepped away from her, took off his cloak, and spread it on top of the blanket. “I like the sound of that. Tell me more.”
“I can never repay you for what you have done for my father.”
An overexaggerated wrinkle
formed in his brow. “Is that how I made you happy? I thought it was by telling you that I loved you and because I filed the necessary papers to marry you before I even asked if you would consent.”
She smiled when she saw he was teasing her. “That, too, of course.”
He reached up and untied the bow that held her cape on her shoulders and laid it on top of his cloak. “Good, because when I found out yesterday that you had left London, I almost went mad.”
“I didn’t mean to cause you such worry. I think I have loved you since you carried me to the drawing room and plopped me down on your settee like a sack of grain.”
He laughed and pulled her to him. “Did I do that?”
She reached up and untied the bow of his neckcloth and gently unwound it from around his neck. “Without an ounce of remorse afterward.”
Morgan started unbuttoning his waistcoat. “That was a heartless thing to do. I insist on making it up to you for being such an inconsiderate beast.”
She helped him shove his coat and waistcoat off his shoulders. “What do you suggest?”
His blue eyes pierced hers with love. “Lie with me, Arianna, and let me love you.”
A thrill of excitement and expectancy spiraled through her. She turned her back to him and said, “Unfasten me.” He quickly opened the buttons and helped slip the bodice over her head. Arianna slid the straps of her shift down her arms, and Morgan started pulling on the strings of her stays.
“I’m beginning to understand why you like to wear the sari, Arianna,” Morgan grumbled.
“Does that mean you will allow me to wear them once we are married?” she asked while unfastening the waistband of her skirt.
“In our bedroom, yes; anywhere else, hell no. Also—” As he pulled the stays from around her and threw them aside, he stopped speaking.
Arianna turned and faced him, holding her shift up to cover her chest. “Also what?”
Morgan ripped off his collar and pulled his shirt over his head. “You can dance for me anytime you want to.”
She gave him a teasing smile. “Perhaps I should do that for you on our wedding night.”
“Oh, yes,” he said, working the buttons on his breeches. “I think that would be a fitting wedding gift.” He lifted one foot and started tugging on his boot. “And what would you like from me?”
“For a wedding gift?” she asked, stepping out of her skirt.
“Yes,” he said, tossing one boot aside and starting on the other.
Arianna thought for a moment. “You have already given me everything I want.”
“Have I?” He threw the other boot aside. “I think there is something else you want and you are afraid to ask for it.”
“No. There’s nothing.” She smiled and let her shift fall to her feet, leaving her clothed only in her plain drawers. “I have you. What else could I possibly want?”
“Come here, beautiful.” He pulled her into the circle of his arms and wrapped her tightly to him.
His naked chest was warm against her skin, and his embrace immediately covered her against the coolness of the air. “Master Brute will be your wedding gift.”
She gasped. “Morgan! I can’t take your horse.”
“He’s already yours.” Morgan kissed the tip of nose. “You’re cold. Let me warm you.”
Morgan bent his head and slanted his lips over hers in a slow, tender kiss. Her lips parted, and with her tongue, she entered his mouth, tasting him, wanting there to be no part of him she didn’t know. He moaned his agreement and pulled her tighter against him. Her breasts flattened against his chest, and his hardness rubbed against the soft womanly part of her.
He breathed in deeply. “Did I ever tell you that I love the smell of you, the taste of you, and the feel of you in my arms?”
She smiled, kissing his cheek, his chin and his neck. “Mmm. Yes, but tell me again. I’ll never grow tired of hearing it.”
With slow movements, he shoved her drawers down her legs and then did the same with his breeches and kicked them both aside.
She watched his gaze sweep down her face to her breasts, her stomach, and lower, before scanning back up to her face with appreciation shining in his eyes.
“You are beautiful, Arianna. I am a lucky man because you are mine.”
“Thank you. It pleases me that you think so.”
“I do.”
She looked at his fine masculine body with the same loving tenderness he gave her and said, “You are a magnificent man, and I am blessed to have you.”
He laughed shyly for the first time. “I hope you always think that.”
They lowered first to their knees and then stretched their bodies out on the soft pallet he had made from the blanket, her cape, and his cloak. She turned willingly, eagerly, into his arms. Their bodies entwined, and their lips met. He pulled the sides of his cloak around them and kissed her fiercely. His hands stroked along her spine to her waist, over her hip, and down her thigh, sending chills of expectancy pulsing through her.
He lifted, stroked, and molded her breast with his hands. He sought and found her nipple and rubbed it gently between his thumb and finger, causing her to gasp with delight. Soaring hunger filled her. She spread her hands over his wide shoulders, strong back, and down to the flat firmness of his stomach, loving the feel, the firm texture of his bare skin. She didn’t know how long they kissed and touched, becoming familiar with each other, soothing each other, enticing each other.
Morgan reached over and gently touched her bruised cheek with his fingertips before letting his hand slide down her jaw to the base of her throat. Arianna saw Morgan swallow hard.
“You know I could kill Rajaratnum all over again for touching you,” he said in a gravelly voice.
She placed her fingers to his lips. “I took you at your word when you said we never had to think about that man again.”
He nodded and rolled her over on her back and rose up over her. He looked deeply into her eyes and said, “I almost went insane yesterday when I heard you had fled London with your trunks. I was ready to tear England apart or sail to India if I must to find you.”
“It was an impulsive thing to do.”
“A weakness you have?”
She smiled and nodded.
“Don’t do it again. You are mine, and I never want to be without you.”
She tilted her head up to meet his eyes. “Does that mean even when you think of me as Miss Tart rather than Miss Sweet?”
“I especially love it when you are Miss Tart.”
He kissed her sweetly, longingly, before letting his lips leave hers and kiss their way down her chin, along the column of her throat to the valley between her breasts. His tongue traced a hot, moist trail down to her nipple, where he caught it up in his mouth and sucked gently. He caressed each breast before moving his hand down to her waist, over her stomach to the most womanly part of her, where he let his hand linger.
Arianna moaned and sighed at the waves of pleasure tightening her stomach and her core. His hands caressed her waist, her hip, and her inner thigh. Sensation after sensation flowed through her body. His touch was gentle, strong, and sure.
Something deep and wanton stirred inside Arianna. She felt the way she had on the coast when Morgan had taken her breath away with what he had done to her with his hands. She wanted to please him that way but still knew so little about how to do it. Her hands left the broad sprawl of his shoulders to the small of his back and lower to the firmness of his buttocks. She loved the feel of his taut skin, and she kneaded his flesh. She smiled when he moaned his approval. When her hand touched his hardness, he gasped, and she quickly moved her hand.
“No, Arianna, it’s all right. I want your touch.”
And so she did, exploring his member, feeling its weight in her hand for the first time.
Morgan moved on top of her, his body stretching the length of hers. His lower body settled between her legs, and he fitted his hardness against her. A slow spreading of delicious, lan
guorous warmth spread through her, and she lifted her hips toward his. With a gentle push, he entered her and started an easy rocking motion that was pure pleasure. She joined his movement, her arms circling his back and pressing him closer, harder and deeper into her.
Their hips moved slowly at first, and as their passions soared, so did their movements, until Arianna once again felt as if she was going to burst with pleasure. Suddenly she cried out his name, and her body once again gave itself up to ecstasy.
Moments later Morgan whispered, “I love you,” sank deeply into her, and then collapsed on top of her with a satisfied sigh.
For a long time Arianna lay breathless, fully contented, enjoying the comfort of his body on her.
“Morgan, will it always feel this good? Will you always take my breath away and make me feel like I’m soaring?”
He raised his head, and with his arms, took his weight off her. He smiled confidently. “I will.”
“Then may I feel it again right now?”
He laughed and rolled her over on top of him.
Arianna gasped in surprise and looked down at him. “What do I do?”
Morgan rose up, slid his arms around her back, and cupped her to him. “Anything you want to, my love. When you are on top, you are in control.”
Her eyes brightened. “I might like that.”
“I have a feeling you will,” he said and then covered her lips with his.
Arianna thrilled to his touch.
Epilogue
My Dear Grandson Lucas,
I have no doubts that you Lucas, Lucien, and Alex are all better gentlemen and more set for life’s pleasantries and foibles because of the knowledge you’ve gained from my dear friend Lord Chesterfield. Here are more wise words from him that come straight from my heart to yours: “Be wiser and better than your contemporaries, but seem to take the world as it is and men as they are. I have been young, and a great deal too young. Idle dissipation and innumerable indiscretions, which I am now heartily ashamed and repent of, characterized my youth. But if my advice can make you wiser and better than I was at your age, I hope it may be some little atonement. God bless you!”