“But I have you, Ivy. Now I have a reason to stop behaving like a fool.”
“The only reason you have me is because of the children.”
“Yes,” he said wryly. “I wanted a governess to keep them from disturbing the arrangement I thought would bring me happiness.”
“And aren’t we both glad that I arrived in time to rearrange the course of your life?”
“You are my life,” he said, turning his face to hers.
She stared up into his eyes and felt a flame kindle inside her. “Am I?”
“Whether it is because I love you so deeply or dislike Sir Oliver as much as I do, I wonder if there isn’t more to the attack on Fenwick than what it appeared to be.”
She frowned. “What more could there be?”
“There are no valuables in the house?”
“No.”
“No more jewelry like the pearls you tried to pawn?”
“Nothing.” She felt drowsy, her eyes closing as she answered him. “Perhaps I should have traveled with the children. You and Wendover probably have a few things to talk over.”
“I can talk to Wendover when we reach London. It’s not often you and I are alone together.”
“There was talk once that gold was hidden somewhere inside Fenwick,” she murmured.
He stirred. “How long ago was this?”
“Before I was born. The family decided it wasn’t true. The manor is almost bare to the bones. Wouldn’t someone in the family have found it in all these years?”
“Not if it was hidden as well as you and your sisters were.”
“It kept us safe for years,” she said ruefully.
“Villagers were afraid to visit Fenwick,” he mused. “Even my coachman warned me about the dangerous women who lived inside the manor.”
“Yet his warning didn’t stop you.”
“An intruder being killed and hauled off by the magistrate for everyone to see might give the rumors credence.”
“I wish I’d been there for them,” she whispered fiercely.
“And I am grateful you were not.”
“I’m tired, James.”
“Rest, then.”
She nodded, the rhythmic jolting of the carriage lulling her into a brief sleep. When she opened her eyes, she realized that it was twilight and her head was resting in James’s lap. He smiled at her. She smiled back, drowsy and relaxed until she realized he had undone her gown and was languidly stroking his knuckles across her breasts.
“Help yourself,” she said with a laugh.
“I need you, Ivy.”
She sat up, one hand covering her breasts in an attempt at modesty. His wide shoulders shifted under his coat. “We’ll be apart again once we reach London. There is a stool under the seat on which you may kneel.”
The tone of his voice made her blood tingle. She slid back onto the opposite seat and stared down at the floor in confusion. When she looked up again, it was to see that he held his heavy sex in one hand. His other hand reached around the nape of her neck. He kicked out the tapestried stool before she descended in a submissive position between his outspread legs.
“James—what am I to do?”
“Make love to me with your mouth.”
“I’ve no idea where to start.” This act was beyond anything Ivy had dreamt he would ask of her. Or perhaps it wasn’t. One could have an intuitive understanding of certain things without having actually experienced them.
“I’ll show you what to do,” James said. “Do try not to bite me.”
She blushed furiously as he nudged her face to his organ. She placed her hands upon his thighs for balance and parted her lips. The knob of his sex glistened with a bead of moisture. She pressed her mouth to it and then he flexed his hips, suggesting she was expected to do more.
“James, I have no practice in this art.”
“Take me into your mouth. Suck me.”
Her heart sped up. She grasped the silken underside of his sex and guided it to her mouth, suckling gently.
“My God.” His hips bucked. She withdrew slightly, letting her tongue glide in a circle around his shaft.
“Was it that bad?” she whispered.
“No. It was that good. Sit beside me and lift your skirts. I don’t want to spill my seed on your gown.”
“I should hope not.”
“Here.” She could barely see what he was doing over the pile of skirts, petticoat, and pelisse he had lifted to give him access to her body. She noticed that he looked out the window for a long time. “You don’t think anyone will see us, do you?”
“No,” he said, smoothing his hands down the insides of her thighs. “I wanted to make sure we have no stops ahead for a while.” He reached up and drew down the leather curtains. “Does that make you feel better?”