Reason to Wed (The Distinguished Rogues Book 7) (9 page)

However, once she wasn’t looking at her former lover, Esme didn’t think of him again until the next meal came around. But she would never let such a situation happen to her again, and would choose her future lovers with more care and consider their likely ambitions before becoming intimately involved.

Windermere eventually reined in, a fair distance from the manor. He turned his mount in a wide arc and then fell in beside her. “Discussion of the succession annoys me.”

“I did notice that.” She cleared her throat. “You don’t need me to suggest what must be done.”

“I must marry.” His grip tightened noticeably on the reins. “I know it.”

At his age, he’d better marry soon. “Do you want my advice or should I keep my thoughts to myself?”

He glanced at her with a smile. “I’d rather hear them today than be surprised later.”

“Lady Alice Beauchamp.”

His brows shot up. “Who is that?”

“She is a widow, a mother of two small girls. She has a passing acquaintance with your sister and is very kind and responsible. She might be young, but she has proven herself as a wife and mother.”

He stared at her for a long time. “By bearing daughters?”

“Yes,” Esme murmured, remembering the quiet little girls she’d met during the season. Windermere needed a son though. “The getting of an heir is up to fate unfortunately and cannot be predicted, but while her fortune is of no great consequence, her connections are excellent. She has the makings of a perfect countess for you.”

The man at her side grunted. “What happened to her husband?”

“A riding accident.” She winced. He did not appear happy with her choice or suggestion or the subject under discussion, but he had asked for her opinion. “Beauchamp’s death was sudden and her year of mourning ended some time ago.”

“I see. How well do you know her?” he asked.

“Enough to wish her a better future than her present.”

“All right, I’ll bite.” He turned in the saddle, one hand on his hip. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“She lives with her husband’s parents. The second son will inherit and she’s looked upon I think as if she’s let them down. The second son mocks her openly. I do not like that.”

Windermere fiddled with the reins. “I’ll think about it. After the house party.”

After their affair ended was the meaning she heard behind his words. She would be sorry when their time was up, actually. She had enjoyed his attentions a great deal the past few days. They hadn’t argued, but the time they spent together was filled with tension of a different sort. A pleasant excitement that never failed to arouse her.

After she left his estate, after the house party, she would have to make sure she never lapsed into foolish nostalgia because she felt certain she would remember every intimate detail of him.

He turned into the forest, and she let the matter of whom to wed drop. It really wasn’t her business when or who he married, but Lady Alice Beauchamp was a nice young woman who’d already proven herself in childbirth. The woman would be a good candidate if he’d but listen to her suggestion and make a wise choice this time around.

Esme held her mare in check when it would have followed him and stared across the valley behind her. To her left, farmland patched the valley floor and to the right, dense woodland stretched up to the highest peaks. The estate was a well-run enterprise with no loss of beauty or hardship for those who lived here. Behind her back was the forest marking the eastern border. Windermere kept his own woods sacrosanct and it had been rare he suggested a guest venture there, so she was doubly sure to enjoy such a boon.

She enjoyed the view a time alone then urged her mare to follow him into the dark wood. The trail appeared to take them far away from prying eyes and into a world of dappled light and quiet sound.

Windermere had waited for her a short distance in. He turned slightly in his saddle to see her. “Ride slowly,” he advised. “The branches are low in places and I’d not like you hurt.”

She lifted her brows. “Such a gallant gentleman.”

He grinned. “Compliments so early in the day? But it’s only eleven, Esme.”

“Ungrateful rogue,” she teased, with only half her heart in the rebuke.

Her breath caught as the real world fell far behind them. After a short ride, Windermere dismounted and led his horse toward a rough-hewn stone enclosure, almost a ruin. The place was likely private enough that no one would stumble upon the horses for some time.

She remained in her sidesaddle, watching him tend his horse with experience and familiarity in every movement. He was in his element, running away from his responsibilities and his guests to play with her. The idea of it pleased her immensely, if only briefly.

He came back to her grinning. “We’ll walk from here.”

“Where are we going?”

“Somewhere I’ve never taken anyone else.”

She leaned forward onto her knee. “Should I be honored?”

“If you like.” He caught her about the waist and lowered her to the forest floor, then stole a long, hungry kiss from her lips. He teased into her mouth with his tongue, feeding the desire that lingered when he was near. She was breathless when he drew back and then he smiled, one brow rising over his striking blue eyes.
Far too handsome for his own good.

He took the reins from her, tended to her horse then secured both mounts in the small space. She frowned at the meager barrier.

“Don’t worry,” he said, reading her mind. “They’re used to being left here and will remain calm until we return.”

He held out his hand and she slipped hers into it. “I am very intrigued, Windermere.”

“I hope so.”

They walked a further ten minutes through pristine woodland, though following a well-trod path that she could never see the end of. “Others must come here.”

“The family does, and some tenants if they’ve the stamina for the climb.”

She glanced at the canopy of leaves above her head, but couldn’t see the peaks above. “Are we going up the mountains today?”

“No, we’re here. Almost.”

The rush of water greeted her, a fast-flowing stream, tumbling over mossy rocks not far ahead. Windermere guided her to the stream and then away. They squeezed between two trees grown close together and her heart lightened immediately.

“Oh my.” He’d led her to a clearing, a grassy field protected by tall trees where the sun shone brightly through the gap in the canopy around them. “Heaven?”

“Very close to it,” he murmured as he stripped off his gloves and shoved them in his pockets.

She was drawn to the center and spun about in a slow circle. A tight feeling began in her chest and she set her hand over her heart. “I knew your home was beautiful but
this
I never expected to find hidden away.”

Windermere strolled toward her, dropped the blanket he’d carried and caught her face between her hands. “As beautiful as you. Are you done communing with nature alone?”

“Perhaps never,” she whispered, heart pounding at the wicked gleam in his eyes. Windermere removed her gloves and drew a straight line from the tip of her longest finger to her wrist. She swayed toward him a little.

“I’ll tempt you away somehow.” He kissed her, slid his fingers into her hair and held her against him tightly. When the kiss broke, he brushed her cheek with his. “I’ll spread the blanket.”

He chose a spot with a slight incline and removed his coat, waistcoat and footwear. He patted the space at his side. “We won’t be disturbed here. Come and lie down with me.”

Then he tugged his cravat undone and left it dangling around his neck. He stretched out on the ground, sprawling on his back, his gaze locked on the patch of blue sky above them without a care in the world.

Esme considered her surroundings a moment more. They were very alone and unlikely to be stumbled upon. She removed the dark-red jacket of her riding habit, and on a whim stepped out of the heavy skirt too. She stood in corset and shift beneath a soft undershirt but kept her footwear on, letting the sun bathe her in light and warmth. When she joined Windermere on the blanket, his eyes were fixed on her body. She held herself away from him and stretched her limbs.

The peace of the place enveloped them. After a time, birds darted overhead, moving from tree to tree, the stream bubbled off in the distance. But nothing else moved or caused sound to be made. It was as if they were the only two humans in existence. She found Windermere’s hand and held it. “How long can we stay?”

“An hour. A day. Forever.” He smiled lazily. “I’m in no rush to leave.”

His words, although certainly not intended that way, caused her pulse to jump. He made her think of intimacy and sex and his grasping hands no matter where they were or what they were supposed to be doing. Making love to him came so very easily and as she lay on the forest floor, an undeniable surge of anticipation filled her. She wanted him. She always seemed to want him the moment they were alone.

Windermere rolled toward her at the same moment she rolled toward him. They kissed again, lazy brushes of lip that set her body trembling. He cupped her breast and then dragged her close against his body. With the warmth of the sun and the scent of nature filling her lungs, her desire doubled.

She’d always enjoyed the outdoors but rarely enjoyed it half dressed.

Esme pushed Windermere onto his back and then straddled his lap, determined again to bend him to her will. Windermere slowly unfastened his trousers, pushed them down his legs and met her gaze. His cock was full, hard already.

“I need you,” she whispered.

“I need you too.”

He smiled as she moved to mount him. Her body was ready and moist and she ached in lovely places. The slide of his heat into her core sent a moan tumbling from her lips. “That’s what I want,” she whispered.

“On top again?” Windermere squeezed her bottom with both hands. “Ride me then, Essy.”

She overlooked the shortening of her given name. She had overlooked half a dozen things he had done in the last days that had previously annoyed her. All so she might make love to him again.

She let him slide in and out of her body, teasing herself, fulfilling her deepest desires to have her way. It had been rare to make love outdoors too. She’d never been this entirely private with a man outside and relished the sheer indulgence. She made good use of the occasion and expressed her pleasure openly, loudly.

She pleased herself, pleased her own body’s astonishing craving for Windermere. She made her pussy ache, shoving him deep then holding him at her entrance. She rotated her hips and ground down onto him until she could take no more. And still it wasn’t enough. She was still hungry for him.

She met his gaze and saw his eyes were wide, brow coated with sweat. His fingers dug into her thighs as she slid up and down his length. She was torturing him, exciting him. She couldn’t deny he did the same to her.

“Tell me what you want,” he whispered.

“I want to hear your voice.” She caught the ends of his cravat where it lay on his chest and tugged him up. “Tell me how you feel.”

He rolled up, one hand slipping between her legs, the other sliding over her rump. His panting breath tickled her ear. “I would fuck you three times an hour if I could manage it. I would spread you over my lap, everywhere in my home, and possess you. I want my mouth on you, my cock in you at the same time. Dear God, I’ve never been with someone who made me feel so alive, so bloody eager. It’s like I’m sixteen again and with my first woman.”

He squeezed her bottom again and she gasped. She tightened her grip on his cravat, using it as a tether, as reins as she rode him.

He teased the bud of her clitoris with firm, fast strokes.

She came undone suddenly. Caught unprepared, she screamed his name even as he shouted hers.

The shocks of her climax continued to roll on and on until Esme was left shaking and weak.

Richard caught her as she fell boneless into his arms, her grip on his cravat loosening. He eased her to the blanket with such gentleness that she closed her eyes. She had not experienced a release like that in her entire life and she hadn’t been prepared for the rush that had swept over her. She wanted to hold on to the feeling, the blinding contentment enveloping her, forever and never return to earth.

“What the devil?” Windermere exclaimed when she did not stir. He slapped her cheek very gently. Once, twice.

On the third, she opened her eyes and laughed at him. “I still breathe.”

He sucked in a sharp breath. “Did you just black out?”

Had she? “No, but I believe I’ve been to heaven and back in the space of a few perfect moments.”

His brows rose. “Perfect?”

“Oh, don’t let it go to your head.”

Unfortunately, he puffed out his chest. “I am very pleased madam is so thoroughly satisfied with me.”

She stared at him a moment then covered her face with both hands. “Gods, I thought you would be smug but that smile is beyond reason.”

“I’m satisfied too, you know. I did not know it would be like this. This good between us.”

“Well, now you do.” She lowered her hands slowly, just a little bit proud of herself as well. “Don’t ever doubt me again.”