Page 13 of The Way We Were

He pressed a soft kiss beneath her ear.

“I’d like you to accompany me on an outing tomorrow,” Lucy said in a dispassionate voice.

She must expect him to be dissuaded from his lovemaking—he was not. He let his lips travel down the side of her neck. “Hmm?” he murmured.

“It’s a public festival supporting local charities, one of which is affiliated with the Female Aid Society. Lady Dundas told me about it when she revealed you’d been seen here.”

Ah, the woman who’d meddled in his marriage. But he knew not to say that out loud.

“I’d like to arrive early and help them set up,” she continued, her voice more tentative this time. “Perhaps, you would like to help, too, to see the work that’s important to me.”

He straightened to look over her head at the dark water with the faint glow on the horizon. “I would enjoy that,” he said.

He gave her waist a gentle squeeze, intending to retreat and try again in the morning, but something stopped him.

“Lucy, please kiss me,” he whispered, rubbing his cheek against her hair. “I’ve missed you so.”

For a long moment, she seemed frozen, and he thought he’d made things worse. He’d kissed her in public earlier, when she couldn’t run away without making a scene. But here, alone in the night, he was risking a complete rejection of his love.

Then suddenly she turned in his arms and lifted her face to his.

He bent his head and kissed her, a gentle kiss filled with the yearning he’d found no other way to express. Her lips tasted of the sweetness that was only her, and his body, starved of passion for a long year, roared to life. He slanted his mouth across hers and deepened the kiss. He felt her breasts trembling against his chest and groaned at the knowledge that she wore no corset to hinder his exploration. With all his restraint, he kept his hands on her waist, before sliding them up her back and bringing her even closer. His thigh nudged between hers, and she gave a shiver that let him know she was just as affected as he was.

She broke the kiss. “Reggie—please. I—I’m not ready yet. So much has changed.”

“I love you,” he said hoarsely. “That hasn’t changed.”

She bent her head, resting her forehead against his chest. “Please, let me have time.”

It took everything he had to drop his hands and step away. He could not banish their problems with seduction; he would need to find another way.