‘Yes. I doubt that state will change.’
‘We can bathe in the copper tub.’
‘In freezing water, in the middle of a storm?’
‘The copper tub always has a fire beneath it. It’ll be embers now, but the water will still be hot.’
‘You keep hot water in the barn?’
‘The goats don’t like being bathed as a rule, but on days like this they appreciate a splash of hot water on their hooves. And Buttercup enjoys a wash. It’s why she’s out in the rain.’
Of course the goats enjoyed a splash of water on their hooves. Of course Adam would spend both money and time ensuring that innocent beasts enjoyed slightly more comfortable lives. Of course there was another piece of tenderness to him, another kindness, that Susan had managed to miss despite growing up alongside him. ‘I see.’
She shifted slightly in Adam’s arms as he walked to the other end of the barn, where an enormous copper pot lay shining on wrought-iron slats. The water steamed gently; Susan held out a curious hand, marvelling at the heat of the liquid as she brushed against the surface.
‘Thank goodness the other barn has been finished. The men will take the herd there—it’s closer to the larger fields in any case.’ Adam gently set Susan down next to the tub, brushing a strand of wet hair away from her face. ‘And there are blankets too, from where the women were here spinning.’
‘You care for everyone. Everything.’
‘Because I care for you, and you are everyone and everything. Love spreads outwards.’
‘We speak too much, as a rule.’
‘Very true.’ Adam smiled. ‘We’ve spoken so much, and so badly.’
‘Then let us stop talking.’
Adam nodded. Susan only had time to smile, to marvel at the beauty of her oldest friend, before his lips met hers.
Bathing with Susan felt right. Taking the bar of Marseilles soap and drawing it over her body felt right, as did the sensation of her soaped hand on his own skin. Cleaning one another in the enormous copper tub, their bodies revealed and gently stroked free of rain and mud, felt like the righting of some ancient wrong.
It was impossible not to kiss her. Not to run his mouth over her clean, damp skin with passionate attention, tracing every inch of her with a kind of wonder. As Susan wrapped her arms around him, welcoming him to her with a quiet, contented sigh of belonging, Adam knew that he needed no excuse for what they were about to do. No doves, no panthers, no bulls… nothing but him, nothing but her. Nothing but the scent of her clean skin, of the woollen blankets as they finally sank down onto them, and her gasp as he began to explore her body.
No. Not explore. He already knew her by heart, all of her—this was the righting of a wrong. A chance to show her, as he kissed his way over her breasts with a shiver of pure delight, all the ways he could give her pleasure.
‘Christ.’ He bit back greater blasphemy as Susan eagerly reached for his cock. Thank God it worked both ways—her touching him, her hands on his bare skin, was like fireworks every time she did it. They lay entwined, his mouth still firmly on her breasts, his hand snaking between her thighs to stroke her as intimately as she stroked him.
Yes. She was ready for him, hot, slick as he parted her inner lips. The urge to taste her there came upon him like a tidal wave, unavoidable; he lifted his head, unable to go another minute without asking.
‘What’s wrong?’
‘Nothing. I don’t know.’ Adam bowed his head, unable to say the words while looking into her eyes. ‘All I know is that I want to kiss you everywhere. Especially.. here.’ He stroked her. ‘May I?’
The soft pleasure in Susan’s voice washed over him like water. ‘Always so polite, Merry.’
‘Don’t tease me.’
‘I’m not.’ Susan’s hand was suddenly under his chin, surprisingly firm as she pushed his head up. Now he had to look at her, Adam could see the love in her eyes. ‘Please kiss me there. Please kiss me everywhere you can.’
Her cry filled him like music as he licked her, the taste of her as divinely sweet as he knew it would be. Adam buried his face between her thighs, all pretense at restraint gone, lapping at her pleasure for long, delicious minutes until Susan’s fingers tangled in the roots of his hair.
‘Now.’ Her eyes were wild, her tone definite. ‘Now, please.’
There was no need to ask what she meant. As Adam moved upward, his cock at her entrance, he rejoiced at needing no more words.
This was all he needed now. Her slow, reverent sigh as he thrust his hips, her tightness, her heat. The sensation, strong as wildfire, of the word finally making a perfect kind of sense.
The hay was warm, and the woollen blankets were clean and soft against her skin. Susan stretched gently, her fingers and toes still tingling from the heat of the water and the intensity of the passion that had flooded her, before resting her head against Adam’s shoulder with a sigh.
‘You sound dissatisfied.’ Adam’s voice was full of gentle humour. ‘I can only assume we must begin again immediately.’
‘You mistake a lack of satisfaction for an abundance of contentment, and you’re doing so deliberately.’
‘Yes. I like teasing you.’
‘I like doing everything that we just did.’
‘Really? I’m quite indifferent.’
‘You beast.’ Susan pinched Adam’s arm, laughing in response to his sly laughter. ‘You absolute monster.’
‘You’re only making a second bath more and more unavoidable.’
‘That water is not fit for man nor beast.’
‘I’ll go out into the rain and fill every bucket I can find.’
‘You’re not going anywhere.’ Susan smiled as she brushed the tip of her nose against the base of Adam’s neck. ‘You live here, in the palace of my arms, and you shan’t set foot outside.’
A long, tender stretch of silence passed. As Adam’s face changed, growing slowly more pensive as he held her to him, Susan softly stroked his cheek and leaned to murmur in his ear.
‘What are you thinking about?’
Adam sighed. ‘Your mother’s death. Her funeral.’
Susan blinked. ‘Is this something people are meant to discuss in bed?’
‘No, but we’re not people. We’re us. And we’re not in bed—we’re in blankets.’
‘I can’t help but feel you’re avoiding speaking to me plainly.’
I can’t stop thinking about that day—you were so sad, so desperately sad, even though you tried not to show Diana. I could have been there for you as—as the man who loves you above all else.’ Adam shook his head, resting his lips against her forehead. ‘I’ll never forgive myself for that.’
‘You were there as my best friend. That’s no second prize, and you know it.’ Susan gently cupped his face, marvelling at the man’s ability to take the weight of things that weren’t his to bear. He had been acting as her lover, her husband, even when there was no suggestion that they would ever be anything more than friends. ‘Come now. Think of something better—something brighter.’
‘Help me think of it. Ask me something foolish.’
‘Whatever happened to the panther?’
‘Ah. A fine enquiry. There never was a panther.’ Adam spoke quietly, his eyes closed. His tone changed to one of luxurious satisfaction. ‘I had the maids make the trees move with poles. Bits of black velvet tied to the top for fur, you know.’
‘Oh.’ Susan thought for a moment, slowly moving her arm over Adam’s chest. ‘Now that I think about it, it was desperately unconvincing.’
‘It didn’t need to be convincing. It needed to bring you to the house.’
‘I would have come to the house if you had said you’d seen a sparrow. A flower. A tuft of grass.’
‘None of those would have inspired such passion in us.’
‘I don’t know.’ Susan smiled, remembering how desperate she had been to push Buttercup into Old Horror’s pen. ‘The right tuft of grass may have managed it.’
‘If only I had known.’
‘No.’ Susan softly kissed Adam’s upper arm. ‘The panther was wonderful.’
‘You said it was desperately unconvincing.’
‘It was. But I’ve spent my life ignoring the fact that I love you. That seems much less likely than a panther made of poles and velvet.’
‘I’ve loved you forever.’ Adam said it with such gentleness, such lightness, that the depth of the sentiment felt like the most natural thing in the world. ‘And without being arrogant, I think you may have loved me forever as well.’
‘Not arrogance, but accuracy.’ Susan sighed. ‘What took us so long?’
‘Lord knows. I’ve loved you ever since you were the Wild Girl of Hallwood.’
‘And did you prefer the Wild Girl of Hallwood?’
‘The Wild Girl of Hallwood hasn’t gone anywhere. She’s lying beside me, her hand on my chest.’ Adam smiled as he looked at her. ‘There can be no preference. Susan Withersham and the Wild Girl of Hallwood are both mine.’
‘And Adam Merricott, Earl of Merston, is mine.’
‘And the person you were meant to marry?’
‘He told me that a marriage without love was preferable. He seemed affronted at the very idea of being in love with one’s wife.’
‘How fashionable of him.’ Adam pulled her closer to him. ‘He’ll have to be affronted at his prospective wife marrying someone else.’
‘I doubt he’ll even notice the change in his fortunes. He’ll find another wife to not love.’ Susan shivered. ‘Thank goodness he never proposed.’
‘Why? Would you have accepted?’
‘Probably. To not offend him.’ Susan looked up at Adam. ‘But then I would have had to jilt him at the altar, which would have caused many more problems.’
‘Do you think Mary will find the changing circumstances difficult?’
‘No.’ Susan thought about Mary’s face when she had spoken of Lord Walcote. ‘If anything, I think the current circumstances are exactly what she’s been hoping for.’
They lay in comfortable silence, listening to the sound of the storm outside. Susan gently stroked her finger along Adam’s chest, marvelling at the feel of him, her old friend and new lover becoming one and the same.
She felt free. She had confined both Adam and herself to friendship, thinking it would be enough. It would have been enough, if he hadn’t felt the same… but thank the Lord, thank every angel in the vicinity, that he felt as she did.
A strange sound broke into her reverie. Frowning, Susan lifted her head.
‘What’s wrong?’
‘Can you hear that?’ Susan strained her ears, trying to hear above the rain. ‘What is that?’
‘I can’t hear anything, I’m afraid. Apart from the rain, and a woman who’s madly curious about an outside sound that needn’t mean anything for us.’
‘Stop it.’ Susan smiled as she closed her eyes. The rain was omnipresent, yes, but there was something behind it. An odd, discordant series of cries…
Her eyes flew open. ‘Oh, Lord.’
‘What is it?’
‘Oh, goodness.’
‘Susan, if you keep exclaiming I’m going to have to find something more interesting for the both of us to do.’
‘It’s Buttercup. And Old Horror.’
‘What do you mean?’ Adam sat bolt-upright, dislodging the blankets. ‘Are they fighting?’
‘No.’ Susan collapsed into giggles as a particularly strangled cry from Old Horror rose above the rain. ‘I think they’re doing the opposite.’
At first Adam stared blankly at her. When his own eyes widened, a burst of disbelieving laughter warm on his lips, Susan couldn’t help laughing harder still.
‘Well.’ Adam lay back down on the blanket-covered hay, pulling her to him. Susan blew away a stray wisp of hay that had landed on his bare chest, stroking over the skin with a final giggle. ‘All the beasts of the field are happy tonight.’
The next day dawned bright and clear, the storm chased away by a stiff breeze. It was difficult creeping back into the manor in muddy clothes—still more difficult, with a giggling Susan in his arms—but by the time they were safely ensconced in Adam’s bedroom, Adam felt more physically adept than any superhero.
‘I’m astonishingly athletic.’ He murmured the words into Susan’s neck as he kissed her, not caring about her muddy gown. ‘I can’t believe I managed to bring you in unobserved.’
‘Lavinia saw us. She was cleaning jam jars in the kitchen as she passed.’
‘Lavinia?’ Adam looked at Susan, confused. ‘She doesn’t even work here!’
‘I think she may work where she pleases. She’s a very independent young lady.’ Susan smiled, gently brushing away the stray curls in front of Adam’s eyes. ‘But she was smiling. I think she may be happy about the developments.’
‘I don’t care a whit for Lavinia’s happiness. Well—not beyond the necessary requirements for happiness.’ Adam thought of the maid with a touch of gratitude as he kissed Susan again. ‘And I certainly don’t require her advice for the next stage of developments.’
With many intriguing diversions, at least one hour of pleasure and a hot bath prepared by a determinedly uninterested footman, they managed to dress themselves for the day. Soon they were walking hand in hand towards the Witford estate, Susan’s hair blowing about her temples as Adam looked on tenderly.
‘Perhaps we shouldn’t tell anyone today. We were only meant to be taking tea, after all—it’s hardly an event that warrants an announcement.’
‘My love, I’d announce this news even if there was a coronation today. You can’t possibly prevent me.’
‘I certainly don’t wish to prevent you, but I’m sure Diana will be terribly shocked. The poor thing—she chose my gown so very carefully, in the hope that Lord Walcote would see it.’
‘I imagine she’ll recover with time.’ Adam paused, sighing with a touch of gloom. ‘And I imagine you won’t be teased mercilessly for it.’
‘We’ve already discussed this, dear. Suddenly deciding to marry the woman you’ve all but grown up alongside is very much worthy of teasing.’ Susan looked at him, her eyes glinting with mischievous humour. ‘You should be roundly mocked for such a delayed examination of one’s heart.’
‘I can only remind you that you were hardly hasty with your affections.’
‘I’m the gentler sex. I can dally for years, and no-one will ever call me terrible names if I am appropriately cold towards the chosen object of my affections.’
‘Appropriately cold?’ Adam pulled her to him, savouring the sweet, heady perfume that clung to her. How he had ever lived tranquilly with Susan Withersham next to him, he couldn’t possibly guess. The woman required devotion, as plants required light and water in order to flourish. ‘I don’t recall our time in the barn as cold.’
‘It was when you kicked the blanket away.’
‘I wanted to see you. No man could ever be condemned for such a desire.’
‘If you keep kissing my shoulder, we shall never arrive at the house.’
‘And why is that?’
‘Because I’ll pull you into the woods, and we’ll scandalise every bird that happens to fly over.’ Susan pulled away from him, laughing as Adam struggled to keep pace. ‘Who knows—perhaps we’ll have time for that later.’
Witford House stood in sunny splendour on the horizon. As the distant shames of Adam and Susan grew clearer, the inhabitants and honoured guests of the house attempted to bury their plotting as thoroughly as possible.
‘The important thing is looking surprised.’ Wesley spoke gravely to Diana, Samuel and Reginald as they sat in the Witford drawing room, afternoon light streaming onto the elaborate Turkish rug. ‘We must manage to look very surprised indeed.’
‘I don’t look surprised even when I am surprised.’ Reginald scowled. ‘I refuse to look surprised about something we’ve all known about for a week.’
‘For a lifetim
e, really.’ Samuel’s shoulders began to shake as he laughed. ‘I can’t believe they’ve only just realised. It’s ridiculous.’
Diana frowned. ‘I think you mean lovely.’
‘Lovely, delightful, glorious. All of those adjectives are entirely fitting.’ Samuel began to laugh again. ‘As is ridiculous. You can’t deny it.’
‘I’m not denying it.’ Diana smiled, as did Wesley; Samuel’s laughter had always been infectious. Even Reginald’s eyes were softening, although his mouth remained an unbroken line of annoyance. ‘But it can’t be the thing we concentrate on. They’ll be so terribly embarrassed.’
‘So they should be.’ Samuel’s laughter was becoming more and more unrestrained. ‘They’ve been in love with one another for their entire lives, and never so much as looked at each other before Diana changed Susan’s gown? They’re blind!’
Reginald smiled reluctantly. ‘They are terribly silly.’
‘Oh, Lord.’ Diana smiled, shaking her head as she looked at her husband. ‘How on earth are we going to arrive at the wedding with straight faces?’
‘Let’s not try, my dear.’ Wesley took his wife’s hand with a broad smile. ‘Let’s not even attempt to try.’
THE END
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