by Laura Martin
‘I lead by example, of course,’ the Earl was saying as Sam rose from his chair after suggesting it was probably time to call it a night. ‘Make sure my wife and my daughter are well turned out at the society meetings, that sort of thing.’
‘They’re a credit to you,’ Sam murmured.
‘This year I will see the fruition of all my work, with Mr Moorcroft as Prime Minister, all being well. Then I can really begin to influence some of the policies of this country.’
As soon as he could he bade the older man goodnight, wondering if there was anything he’d heard in the last two hours that might help with his confrontation with the Earl, but he couldn’t find anything of use. Sighing he climbed the stairs, turning into the guest corridor to find Miss Yaxley, Georgina’s friend, hovering outside his door.
‘Good,’ she said in a theatrical whisper. ‘I thought I may have missed you and you’d retired already.’
‘Should you be here, Miss Yaxley?’ Sam asked.
Waving a dismissive hand, Miss Yaxley then motioned at the bundle at her feet. Sam peered at it, but couldn’t make out what it was.
‘I’ve been friends with Georgie for longer than I can remember,’ she said softly. ‘She’s good and kind and loyal, and she deserves at least one night of happiness if she’s going to be pushed into a marriage she doesn’t want.’
Sam’s eyes widened at the idea of ‘one night of happiness’. Images of Georgina writhing beneath him, her back arching, her hips coming to meet his own, came unbidden into his mind. Surely that wasn’t what Miss Yaxley meant.
‘Georgie likes you,’ Miss Yaxley said, ‘and we all know nothing can come of it, but I’ve seen the way you look at her, too.’
Like he wanted to devour every inch of her and then spend the rest of time with her in his arms.
‘I sent her a note telling her to meet you by the pond at midnight. Perhaps you could show her what it is like to be wooed by a man who cares about her and not her title or her dowry, just for one night.’
Deftly she picked up the bundle at her feet and passed it to him. It was heavy and by the time he’d unwrapped it Miss Yaxley had disappeared down the corridor.
Inside there were two pairs of old ice skates. They were dusty and looked as though they hadn’t seen daylight in at least a decade, but from what he could see they looked functional. One pair was much larger than the other, but both had laces to help adjust the size. He wondered where Miss Yaxley had found the old skates—by the looks of them they’d been hidden away in an attic room or at the back of a cupboard for a very long time.
He debated. What he should do was put aside the skates and retire to his bedroom. Alone.
It would be beyond foolish to seek out Georgina at the pond, but, he reasoned, it wouldn’t be gentlemanly to leave her there waiting for him if he didn’t show.
Before the sensible part of him could object he went into his room, gathered a selection of his warmest clothes and made his way downstairs, slipping out a side door so as not to draw too much attention to himself.
She was already waiting for him, her figure silhouetted in the light of the moon. As he drew closer he saw she, too, had come prepared, dressed in a thick cloak, the hood lined with fur. Immediately he started to undress her in his mind, imagining peeling off layer upon layer until he reached the creamy softness of her skin. It was a tantalising thought and one he would not be able to put from his mind.
‘I wasn’t sure you’d come,’ Georgina said softly as he stopped beside her. ‘Caroline and her grand schemes.’
‘You knew what she’d planned?’
Georgina looked at him with a small smile. ‘She thinks I deserve to have one night of happiness before I resign myself to a loveless marriage.’
Sam swallowed. It was a lot of responsibility, the expectation he could give her that night of happiness, but he was damn well going to try. He watched her unconsciously sway towards him and knew he wouldn’t be able to keep his hands from touching her. Every time he saw her he felt a fire deep inside and soon it felt as though it would consume him.
‘And what would make you happy, my lady?’
In the moonlight he saw her tongue flick out between her lips nervously and he knew then that she wanted all manner of things she could never put into words. She was the daughter of an earl, a respectable young woman. It would be too hard for her to come out and tell him exactly what she wanted him to do to her.
‘Perhaps a kiss?’ he suggested.
Wordlessly she nodded and his lips were on hers in an instant. She tasted sweet and Sam felt his whole body tighten in anticipation. If he were a gentleman, he would walk away right now before Georgina did something she would come to regret. But he wasn’t a gentleman, he was a country boy made good, an ex-convict, a man who didn’t have to conform to society’s rules. So instead of walking away he pulled Georgina closer and tangled his hands in her hair.
At last he pulled away, aware that if he kissed her for a moment longer he might lose control completely and ravish her on the hard, cold ground.
‘Miss Yaxley gave me a present,’ Sam said, brandishing the bundle. With Georgina’s eyes on him he unwrapped it, pulling out the two pairs of skates.
‘Ice skating?’ Georgina asked, her voice incredulous, ‘Only Caroline could think of these things.’
‘Would you like to...?’
‘I’ve never skated before. Father has always said it is an activity the upper echelons of society should not engage in.’
‘Your father has some strange ideas.’
‘Have you skated before?’
Sam thought back to the cold winters of his youth, of his father taking him out on the frozen pond in the village for the first time, and then later occasions with friends. They didn’t have ice skates, of course, but that hadn’t stopped them.
‘Not for many years,’ he said, taking her hand and leading Georgina to a tree stump a few feet away from the edge of the pond. ‘But I’m sure it is something that comes back quickly.’
Deftly he unlaced her boots, pulling them off before pausing. He looked up into her eyes, both of them remembering the shoe-related incident that had put Georgina on the path to marriage. Unable to stop himself, he ran his fingers over the sole of her foot, feeling her tense as he did so.
‘One night of happiness...’ he murmured to himself. He wondered if that meant the same to Georgina as it did to him. He hoped so—for so long he had been keeping his desires under tight control, but tonight they threatened to overflow.
Taking his time, he fitted the skates on her feet, allowing his hands to linger on her slender calves, his fingers caressing just a little higher than was strictly needed. As he touched the soft skin just beneath her knees he heard Georgina inhale sharply and when he glanced up he saw her face was flushed, but she wasn’t giving him any indication she wanted him to stop.
He heard her groan ever so quietly as he pulled away to fit his own boots. This wasn’t a good idea, at least it wasn’t a sensible idea, but Georgina wanted one night of happiness and he was damned if he would do the sensible thing and walk away. He wanted Georgina, and, for a long time, Sam had ensured he got what he wanted.
‘Come on,’ he said, pulling her up onto her feet once his own skates were fitted. His boots were a little tight, probably a size or two too small, but it was worth the discomfort when he saw the smile light up Georgina’s face as they tentatively stepped on to the surface of the pond.
‘Is it safe?’ she asked as she gripped his arm.
‘The pond is small and frozen solid,’ Sam reassured her. ‘It’s safe.’
After a few minutes he had found his rhythm and, with Georgina on his arm, began to move a little faster. The quiet shrieks of delight that came from her as they glided across the ice made him grin and as he felt her body pressing against his he knew the unspoken desire between them wa
s unlikely to be kept under control for much longer.
‘Would you like to try on your own?’ he asked.
She looked up at him and shook her head, clinging tighter on to his arm. Slowly he spun her round, encircling her with his free arm as he did so, and in the middle of the frozen pond he kissed her again.
‘You’re shivering,’ he said, reaching up a hand, pulling off a glove and touching her cheek. It was icy cold. ‘We need to get you inside.’
‘I don’t want this moment to end,’ Georgina said quietly.
‘Me neither.’
They stood there for a few seconds longer, looking into each other’s eyes, and Sam had images of what it would be like to have Georgina in his life for ever. Pictures of them riding out through the Australian wilderness, collapsing into bed together at the end of the day and enjoying long, lazy mornings with just one another for company. It was a dream, nothing more, but in that moment Sam could imagine it so clearly.
‘Come here,’ he said, pulling her into his arms. He kissed her, feeling the chill of her skin contrasting with the warmth of her mouth, and knew tonight she would be his, even if only for a few hours. ‘Shall we go somewhere a little warmer?’
‘Perhaps...’ Georgina started to say, then trailed off.
Sam knew this was the moment where she decided whether to throw away her virtue, to sacrifice it for one night of pleasure, or whether to keep it for the first night of a loveless marriage.
‘Perhaps we could go to the old gatehouse,’ she suggested after a long pause. ‘The old couple who lived there recently moved out and Father hasn’t found any new tenants. All the furniture is still there...’
He kissed her again before she could change her mind and whisked her off the ice. It took a couple of minutes to change from the ice skates back into their boots, but then they were half walking, half running across the grass towards the gatehouse at the entrance to the estate.
Sam held Georgina’s hand tightly, ensuring she didn’t stumble in the darkness, and felt the anticipation build inside him. It felt as though they’d been building to this moment for so long. He was determined just to enjoy it, to enjoy her, bring her pleasure, and to put out of his mind the fact that this was their one and only night together before they both had to go their separate ways.
‘It’s locked,’ Georgina said, her face falling as they tried the door.
‘You forget,’ Sam said with a grin, ‘you’re in the company of a convicted criminal.’
‘You know how to break into a locked house?’ Georgina asked, her eyes wide.
‘Well...’ Sam shrugged and then pointed up to a window on the first floor that was the very slightest bit ajar.
Georgina giggled before turning serious. ‘But how will you get up there?’
The old gatehouse was built of stone, with enough handholds that Sam might have been able to scale the side of the building and manoeuvre himself through the open window. It would take a lot of effort, though, and if he wasn’t careful he might end up falling from the height of a good few feet.
Glancing at Georgina, he knew that risk was worth it, but anything to lessen the climb would be helpful.
‘Give me a hand,’ he said, moving over to where there were a couple of old crates pushed up against a wall. Together they moved them to the spot under the open window and with a loud groan Sam hoisted one on top of the other. Now it would only be a short climb to the open window.
Deftly he pulled himself up on top of the crates and then, testing the stone handholds, quickly covered the rest of the distance to the window. Within seconds he was through the gap, tumbling onto the floor of the dark room on the other side. He took a moment to catch his breath and then headed through the dark house to the front door, opening it to let Georgina in.
‘You told me you weren’t guilty of the crime you were accused of,’ Georgina said as she watched him throw a couple more logs on the fire. ‘And then I find you’re a master at breaking into locked houses.’
He grinned at her, that confident, charming grin that made her heart pound in her chest.
‘You’ve rumbled me,’ he said. ‘I’m the most wanted man in Australia.’
Poking the fire with an iron poker they’d found in the living room, Sam waited until he was satisfied the logs were burning before sitting down on the end of the bed beside her. The gatehouse came furnished and they’d managed to find some bedsheets and a thick blanket in a chest in the corner of the room. Everything was ready for them to sink below the covers and, as he turned to Georgina, he knew there was no turning back now.
* * *
Now the fire was burning brightly Georgina could feel that the chill of an uninhabited house had been banished and started to pull her gloves off. They were both still clad in all their layers, but as she met Sam’s gaze she knew this wouldn’t be the state of affairs for long.
Nervously she swallowed, realising that now there was no going back. She’d made her decision, a decision that most would think foolish. A duke had asked for her hand in marriage, but here she was giving her virtue to a man who had never promised her anything, a man who would be hounded from society if people knew the truth about his origins.
Still, it was her decision. Georgina didn’t get to control many things in her life, but this was something that was entirely her decision.
‘Are you sure you want to do this with an old criminal like me?’ Sam asked.
She nodded, unable to say the words. Reaching out, Sam deftly unfastened her thick cloak, pulling it from her shoulders. As it fell behind her on to the bed she shivered, but not with the cold. She saw his eyes devouring her, flitting over her body, and then his hands followed, fingers trailing across the material of her dress, working her up into a frenzy.
‘Tell me, Lady Georgina,’ he said with a mischievous glint in his eye, ‘what would you like me to do to you?’
She felt the blood flood to her cheeks as she stammered, ‘I don’t know.’ She did know, had been fantasising about it for many weeks now, but putting it into words seemed far too difficult, far too embarrassing.
‘Don’t lie,’ he reprimanded softly. ‘You know exactly what you want.’
He paused and then when she didn’t say anything he began trailing kisses across the skin of her neck, stopping every few seconds to speak. ‘Perhaps you’d like it if I kissed you here?’ he asked. ‘Or maybe you’d prefer it if I touched you here?’ He dipped a finger beneath the neckline of her dress, lingering for a moment before pulling away. ‘Or maybe you’d like something different entirely?’
‘Yes,’ she managed to stutter.
‘Yes to what?’
‘Yes to everything.’
She saw the fire flare in his eyes and immediately his hands were on her, unfastening her dress as if he’d done it a thousand times. He pushed down the thick material, allowing it to pool at her hips before she wriggled free. Underneath she wore a long petticoat and a cotton chemise, all layers to keep the cold out. Here in the deserted gatehouse the air was still chilly, despite the warmth the fire was giving off. Georgina felt her body tremble and saw the frown form on Sam’s face.
‘I’m being selfish,’ he murmured. ‘I’ve wanted to see you like this for so long.’
Quickly he ushered her under the covers on the bed, only pausing to shed his topmost layers before climbing in beside her. His hands were warm on her skin and she tentatively placed her palms on his chest, feeling the hard muscle through the cotton of his shirt.
‘May I?’ he asked, gripping the hem of her chemise. Wordlessly she nodded, her mouth too dry for her to form a coherent answer. With a little wriggling, and a fit of giggles when the chemise got tangled in her hair, they managed to lift it off and suddenly Georgina felt very naked. Never before had a man seen her like this and she’d always assumed it would only be her husband who did.
‘You’
re having doubts,’ Sam said, his hand falling still on her shoulder.
‘No,’ she said, repeating ‘no’ even more earnestly.
This might go against everything she had been raised to believe, but in this moment it felt good, it felt right.
To show him she meant it she gripped his shirt, pulling it over his head, and then, feeling a little brazen, slipped her fingers into the waistband of his trousers and insistently pushed them downwards. He groaned as her hand brushed against him and Georgina felt some primal satisfaction at the thought that she could do this to a man, her man.
Then his lips were on hers, his body above her, his hands caressing and making her writhe with pleasure. He dipped his head under the covers and slowly, teasing all the time, he took one of her nipples into his mouth and Georgina had to hold a hand to her lips to stop herself from screaming with pent-up desire.
She ran her hands over his back, feeling the smooth contours of the muscles, raking her fingers over his buttocks, and then pausing before taking his manhood into her hands. He looked her in the eyes, kissed her hard on the lips, and then began to push inside her.
The sensation was like nothing Georgina had ever felt before, but just as she thought it might be too uncomfortable Sam paused, stroked her hair, and kissed her long and hard. Slowly he began moving again, thrusting his hips backwards and forward gently at first, building with each passing minute. Georgina felt her own hips raise instinctively to meet his as deep inside a warmth was staring to build.
‘Sam,’ she murmured, with that one word begging him not to stop.
He looked down at her, his eyes intense, but that same familiar smile on his face. Faster and faster they moved, until Georgina felt the pressure inside build to such a level she knew it was going to explode. All at once her muscles contracted and wave after wave of pleasure spread through her body. Above her Sam groaned and tensed, and they stayed pressed together for a long minute while they both came back to earth.