Page 22 of Charlotte's Kisses

Charlotte would roll around naked in apples, currants, and sugar and then allow him to lick it from her body if he’d look at her with that much desire. What would it be like to have him eat from her breasts? Or lap up delicacies from between her thighs?

Crossing her legs, she tried to halt the tremors deep inside her secret feminine place.

“Charlotte? Oh, Charlotte.” Hugh waved his hand in front of her. “You seem to be in another world.”

Her cheeks caught fire. “Where were you going?” she asked primarily out of curiosity. However, the question had the added benefit of changing the subject and saving her from having to admit she was engaged in sensual food fantasies.

His brow furrowed. “Going?”

“When I arrived. It looked as if you were leaving.”

He nodded. “Aye, I was.”

Without saying goodbye to her? Well, that hurt like the dickens.

“My father says you got yourself into trouble at your job, so your cousin asked him to look out for you. He claims he hired you to investigate something for him.”

Hugh sucked on the inside of his jaw. “Did he tell you what he wants me to investigate?”

She’d so hoped he’d deny getting himself into a jumble at work. “Something about his tenants.”

Unblinking, he stared at her as if trying to see into her soul.

“But I do not believe him,” she blabbered, “something else troubles him, but I know not what. However, I am certain Lady Chesterhill is up to no good.”

“She is an unscrupulous harpy,” Hugh said.

How did he know her stepmother? Charlotte sat forward. “Was she here? Are her men the ones who bloodied your nose again?”

“What happened to your dress, Firefly? ’Tis lovely, but something or someone has damaged it.”

This man was a master at evading questions. Since she did not care to lie to him, she’d tell him the truth. “My stepmother’s latest amusement is destroying my clothing.”

“What the bloody hell?”

Charlotte flicked her wrist as if it did not bother her in the least, even though it crushed her heart and strangled her soul. “I believe one of her lady’s maids does it. She has three, so it could be any one of them. Perchance all of them. She also ruins my embroidery.” Charlotte clamped her lips together before she fussed about the constant insults to her weight and physical appearance.

Hugh was so easy to talk to that she continued blabbering. “I am worried she will abuse my pets. I do so love animals. I am certain she did something to my lovebirds. Their names were Romeo and Juliet.”

Hugh’s jaw dropped. “And your father and brother do nothing to stop this?”

“I do not think they are always aware. She is quite devious, and they are often preoccupied with other things.” Charlotte shrugged. “They are quite busy with the marquessate.”

“It seems you defend your father when he should be chastised for being so oblivious. And your brother can be an absolute arse.”

Tarnation, the truth hurt. “But I love my father and brother.”

Hugh sighed as he pushed away from the table and stood on wobbly legs. “Would you be so kind as to help me to the bed before you leave?”

“Of course,” Charlotte said. However, she was not going anywhere. She planned to spend the night watching over her handsome patient.

Chapter thirteen

Damn, this woman madeHugh feel foreign sensations. Her contagious smile was akin to the sun coming out on a rainy day. Those innocent blue eyes made him want to be a better man. Her feminine curves, so ripe for exploration, made every other woman’s figure a bland, uninspiring topography. Frigging hell, her luscious full bosom drove his desire to a dangerous precipice. He’d leap in order to suckle at her plump nipples. He’d conjured their likeness dozens of times since first seeing them bared, the moonlight dappling over her sweet areolas. He could picture them now—pebbling and reaching for him. So beautiful and beyond delicious.

And the pinnacle of it all? That first kiss. A kiss that had changed him forever.

But all of this perfection juxtaposed against those damnable holes in Charlotte’s dress broke his heart.