She was pretty as ever, vibrant and vigorous, and she aroused him beyond his limits. Their tryst had been stunning. He’d never participated in anything similar, and he was eager to do it again and already calculating how he could get her alone.
“Mrs. Merrick!” the twins cried together, and they leapt forward to hug her.
“There you are! I was in the village, and I heard you were here. I had to check for myself.”
“The earl saved us!” they exclaimed in unison.
“He rode into the market,” Nan told her, “and when he learned what had happened, he put us right up on his horse and fetched us home.”
Nell added, “He was so angry with Mr. Mason.”
“The earl was angry? You must be joking.”
“It’s true, it’s true,” they crowed as if Nicholas’s kindness was too extraordinary to be believed.
“I’m so glad,” Mrs. Merrick said. “I was very angry myself.”
Stephen imagined many derogatory comments about his brother might follow, so he made his presence known. Briskly, he stepped toward them as if he’d been marching down the hall all along.
“Mrs. Merrick, welcome.”
At his greeting, she beamed with pleasure.
“Lt. Price, how lovely to see you again.”
He supposed she actually had come to inquire as to Miss Wilson and her sisters, but he was vain enough to suppose that she’d come to visit him too. He was impressed by her daring.
The entire morning, he’d struggled to devise a reason to stop by the vicarage, but he couldn’t without calling on the vicar too, so he hadn’t gone.
“I was hoping to speak with Emeline,” she mentioned.
“I don’t have any idea where she is,” Stephen replied, and he looked at the girls. “Do you know?”
“She went to the village to run some errands for the housekeeper,” Nan said.
“Oh, drat,” Mrs. Merrick responded, “I was just there. I must have missed her.”
“She’s trying to be useful, so the earl doesn’t change his mind and decide we’re a burden.”
“You’re not a burden,” Stephen insisted.
“Of course they’re not,” Mrs. Merrick agreed.
“Would you like to wait for her?” Stephen offered.
“I probably shouldn’t. Oscar is expecting me by noon.”
But she didn’t leave.
“How about if I walk you?” he suggested. “It’s beautiful weather outside, and I’ve been cooped up with the account ledgers.”
“That would be wonderful.”
She said goodbye to the girls, and they hurried off, which gave him the opportunity he’d been seeking. He grabbed her wrist and dragged her down the deserted corridor to an empty salon at the end.
The drapes were shut and the furniture covered with sheets. There was no fire, so it was cold as ice, but they would generate their own heat.
He pushed her against the wood of the door, and he fell on her like a ravenous beast. This had to be why she’d come to the manor, but if it wasn’t, he cared not. He couldn’t see her and not desire her.
His tongue was in her mouth, his hands on her hips, her breasts. As he pinched her nipples, she moaned in delicious agony. He clasped her thighs and wrapped her legs around his waist.
In a matter of seconds, his loins were crushed to hers, the fabric of trousers and drawers all that kept them from coupling.
“What are we doing?” she asked, gasping for air.
“We’re racing down the road to perdition. How do you like the view?”
He fumbled with his trousers and impaled himself, filling her in one, smooth thrust. She wailed—loudly—and he slapped a palm across her lips to stifle the sound.
She straddled his hips, with him standing, so they were off balance and giggling like halfwits. The naughtiness of their actions, the recklessness, was incomprehensible.
He flexed once, twice, and they both came in a fiery rush. He was too disordered to remember to pull out, and he spilled himself into her womb. His knees were quaking, his face buried at her nape as his pulse slowed.
Finally, he drew away, and she slid down his torso until her feet touched the floor.
“My, my!” She was patting her hair, straightening her clothes. “Do all adults behave like this?”
“Only the ones who are mad.”
“I was perfectly sane before you arrived at Stafford.”
“So was I.”
“In a few short days, you’ve turned me into a lunatic.”
She snorted with mirth, smothering her hilarity against his shirt. He nestled her close, liking how her smaller body fit his much larger frame.
“What is happening to me?” she asked.
“You’ve missed having a man in your bed, and I’m happy to oblige.”
“You are going to get me in so much trouble.” She clutched the lapels of his coat and shook him. “And I’m not even worried about it.”
“Neither am I.”
She rose on tiptoe and kissed him.
“Thank you for helping Emeline,” she said. “She’s needed a lucky break.”
“I had nothing to do with it. It was all my brother’s idea.”
“There have been too many horror stories about him, so I won’t give him the credit.” She took a deep breath and let it out. Composing herself, she was once again the vicar’s quiet, unassuming sister.
“I really must be off,” she told him. “Oscar won’t sit down to his meal without me. If I’m late, I’ll never hear the end of it.”
“I could pound him bloody for you. Would you like me to?”
“Don’t tempt me.” She held her wrist to her nose and sniffed. “Ah, I can smell you on my skin! How will I endure a boring dinner with my brother? I can’t pretend everything is the same.”
“Don’t ponder sin or fornication or how much you enjoy the size of my—”
She wagged a scolding finger. “You! Be silent.”
“I can’t. Not when I’m around you.”
“Try a bit harder, would you?”
She opened the door a crack and peeked out. The hall was empty, and she hurried out. He followed.
“I’m walking you home,” he said.
“Only if you promise to keep your hands to yourself.” She frowned. “And you can’t keep looking at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you want to eat me alive.”
“I do want to eat you alive.”
She gazed upward and murmured, “Lord, give
