When the Viscount and his wife had finally had enough dancing, they all gathered for a customary end-of-the-evening cup of tea and trivial conversation. It took no time at all for Lord Belton to appear to have recovered from the awkward encounter, and so Peggy felt sure that the moment had passed, and they could both be free of it.
She allowed herself to sink into her chair with relief. The last thing that she wanted to deal with were unwanted emotions. She had no time for such things. She needed to focus on her son, not this strange attraction that had likely only developed as a result of some misinterpretation of his consistent kindness and would likely fade after a few hours of rational thought. The initial jolt could not have been controlled, but the ability to ignore it was within her power. Feelings were sometimes surprising but often not worth a second thought, she reminded herself.
When Peggy struggled to suppress a yawn, she stood and expressed that it was time for her to return home.
“Oh,” Lady Umberly exclaimed, “I sent the servants to bed ages ago. I was sure you would be staying the night.”
But Peggy could not. Tomorrow the shop would open for the first time, and customers would be waiting as soon as the dawn.
“Of course.” the Viscountess nodded. “I shall call to wake a driver.”
“There is no need to bother, Mama,” Miss Nora chimed in with a grin. “I’m sure Nash can take her home. He likes to drive the curricle.” Both Peggy and Lord Belton began to shake their heads, but the lady went on without pause. “I cannot say the number the times he has taken Lady Rose home when she has been unable to stay the night.”
“Lady Rose is married,” her mother replied. Then, she pursed her lips in consideration. “Though it is true that she was not always… and the ways of the country are not so rigid as that of London.”
“And Nash is entirely trustworthy,” Nora said. “It’s not like he’s a rake.”
“Of course not,” the Viscount snapped.
Besides, he has already taken Peggy home once before in the curricle,” Nora said.
With Jemmy, save for the last short stint, Peggy thought with a grumble, but she did not protest. In truth, a part of her wanted a moment alone with the man.
“It is not very far,” Nash added, and Peggy realized that he wanted a chance to speak with her privately too. The thought excited her, and yet, she thought, such a thing was dangerous. She should insist that Nora accompany them, but for some reason, she did not.
“It’s settled then. Nash is already here, and there is no need to wake the others only to have to wait another hour at least for them to dress and be ready to set off,” Nora added.
“You could ride with your friend,” suggested the Viscountess to her daughter.
“I could…” Nora said consideringly.
Peggy found it amusing that the females were making considerations as if her virtue were at all in question. Little did they know that Peggy had lost her virtue ages ago. If anything, her reputation might corrupt the good name of the Baron. Furthermore, she had no fear of being alone with a man on the ride to town, rather she feared her own leaping pulse being sent into another round of spasms at the prospect of that man being Lord Belton. She had not quite purged the recent shock from her mind.
“Come along then, Augusta,” said the Viscount to his wife, as if the matter was settled.
“I’ll go hitch the horse and meet you at the front door,” Lord Belton said.
Before there could be a word otherwise, Lord Belton was gone. The Viscount and Viscountess had hurried upstairs, lost in each other, which left Nora and Peggy to get their cloaks, since although the days were still warm, the evenings had begun to cool. However, instead of Nora donning her cloak, she helped Peggy with hers and then embraced her friend with a curt goodnight.
Miss Nora raised one shoulder in mock innocence, her eyes twinkling with mischief, and then she opened the door. Peggy stepped out into the night just as the curricle rounded the corner and came to a stop at the bottom of the stair.
“Goodnight,” Nora said again in a sing-song voice as she shut the door behind her friend.
Lord Belton abandoned his perch to hand her up. Careful to tuck the folds of her skirts away from the wheels, she pressed herself as far away from the gentleman as the narrow bench would allow. Still, they were hip to hip, and his broad shoulder bumped her whenever the vehicle jostled. This was madness!
The lanterns that hung from the front of the vehicle had gone unlit and for good reason because the moon had risen full and bright in the harvest sky. Peggy gazed out upon the open fields and pastures with awe. It seemed a distant memory, those years that had gone by when she had only seen the moon through the dirty panes of a London window. Those days now seemed far off though only a year had passed since her rescue.
They rode for a while without speaking. It was a pleasant silence, not at all undercut with the agonizing thoughts or nervous sensations that she had anticipated. Peggy lavished in the crisp scent of the fresh air and the gentle breeze that tickled her cheeks. She wanted to soak it into her soul. Cities were made for pressing down upon you. This was something quite different. It was as if the countryside was made to heal.
She caught a flash of movement across a silvery field and squinted her eyes to better ascertain what she had seen. The creature turned and froze.
“Look!” she gasped, and her hand landed upon Lord Belton’s forearm and pulled, forcing the reins to draw the horses to a halt. Her other hand shot out to point across his vision so that he was forced to turn his back to her to follow her gaze.
There stood an enormous stag with a pale white chest and tail. It moved not an inch as if frozen by the moonlight. The animal and the humans watched one another for what felt like ages. Peggy had dropped her free hand to her lap but the other remained upon Lord Belton’s arm, for she was afraid that if she moved again the creature would bolt.
“Well, I’ll be,” Lord Belton whispered. “Finch has been swearing up and down for years that he has seen a beast of monstrous size, and no one would believe him.”
“Now, you must,” she mouthed at his side.
The horse tossed his head and snorted, annoyed at having been stopped in the middle of the lane. The sound jolted the stag into action, and three bounds later it had disappeared into the wood.
Lord Belton returned to face the front of the curricle. The action brought the length of his arm within inches of Peggy’s front where she still knelt on the bench looking out over the field. Too close.
Her cheeks flushed when he turned to look at her, and she went still, not unlike the stag a moment before. Somehow, this time with little more than a glance, her body had gone all flushed and liquid. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest as she averted her gaze. Her ears rang, and she felt at once as if she were breathing through very thick air. Perhaps if she ignored it, it would stop? She knew that was a false hope when she could practically feel him asking the question that neither of them wanted to address.
“Miss Williams…” he said in a voice so quiet that she was not even certain whether he had spoken, or had she imagined her name upon his lips? “Peggy,” he said. He had never been so informal, and the thought sent a chill down her spine. No, not a chill… a thrill.
Her mouth opened in surprise as if to speak, but no words came out. Then, before she even realized that he had shifted, his mouth was upon her own. It was a brief kiss. Tender and sweet. A test or a question, or both perhaps. He pulled back, seeming to share in her surprise.
Peggy stared at him, her eyes wide and uncertain. The tilt of his head revealed that he was awaiting her reaction. His blue eyes filled with concern. Would she be cross? Had he been unwelcome in the advance? Her breath came in shivering gasps, but her mind had gone blank in the moment as her trembling hand rose to touch her lips.
“Peggy,” he repeated, but this time the word was filled with apology. “I’m sorry.” The words broke something within her.
Without taking the time to think about her response she reacted. “No,” she said. “Do not be sorry. I wanted to…”
She never finished the sentence. His lips came down upon hers again, this time filled with desire.
Feelings that she cared not to name exploded within her. Their mouths melded together with a strange familiarity, like they had been here before. It was as if their mouths, their bodies, had long known one another. Ages, lifetimes perhaps, longer than their brief acquaintance. She opened to him, surprised that it all felt so natural, so easy, so perfect.
His arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her closer. Peggy cursed the arrangement of the bench for nothing seemed close enough. She threw her arms about his neck, one hand splayed across his back and the other burrowed into his hair. She felt that she could not get close enough, as if she wanted to sink into him and meld their very beings.
Sensations and urges that had long been forgotten raged full force within her, and she was shaken by the pure power of it all. She wanted, and it had been so very long since she had allowed herself to want.
When his mouth moved to the curve where her jaw met her neck, she threw her head back in pleasure, gulping at the cool night air. His hands were clenched in her cloak, and she cursed the damn thing for its thick folds. She felt her body ache for him and tried to press closer, but there was no further to go. Like the slow burn of an ember catching a paper to flame, she felt herself ignite. Her mind was spinning, reeling, and luxuriating in every touch, every sweet press of his mouth to her skin.
His mouth returned to hers, and she met him passion for passion, unable to quench the thirst that had built inside of her. Never before, not even all those years ago, had she been thrust into such blinding ecstasy so quickly and with little more than a kiss.
His hand found its way beneath her cloak and settled at her waist. Even with her corset and gown, she could feel the heat of his palm burning like a brand against her skin as he held tight. It seemed as if the world were spinning around them, unstable, and they had only one another which to cling for support.
She shifted, trying and failing once more to press herself against him in the hope of satiating that need. The movement, through no fault of his, left his hand brushing against her breast, and she released a groan. No, she amended with horror, a moan.
The sound of her own wanton cry brought Peggy crashing back to reality, and she jolted away from him. She knew that her lips must be swollen, and her cheeks flushed with heat, her eyes wide and no longer glazed with passion, but shocked in the horror of her behavior.
“Oh God,” she groaned as she turned and would have leapt from the curricle, but he caught her elbow and drew her to a halt. He turned her to face him, and she heard, but mostly ignored, the stream of apologies that he offered.
“It isn’t you,” she said when she raised a hand to stop his proclamation of guilt.
“I shouldn’t have,” he repeated, seeming distraught by her response and ready to take full accountability, though Peggy knew very well that the fault was her own. When would she learn?
She shook her head and repeated herself. “This is not your fault,” she promised. “Please, just…” She did not know what to say, how to explain that she blamed only herself for what had occurred. For having given in to that terrible side of her that she had so long denied. Passion was a curse, her mother had used to say, and Peggy had learned that lesson far too well. “Just pretend it never happened. That is all I ask.”
“Pretend it never happened?” he asked in shock as if such a thing were unthinkable.
Peggy groaned and rubbed at her temples. She had made a mess of things, and if anyone ever discovered this misstep, then her reputation in Riversbend would be ruined. She cared not for her own sake but for Adam’s. Would she never learn, she scolded herself for the hundredth time.
“Please,” she begged. “It is all that I ask of you. Please let us just go back to the way things were. I beg you.”
“Back? No. Why?” He seemed hurt by the prospect, and she nearly laughed in his face. Such a dalliance would do little to a lord, she knew well enough, but nothing could come of it besides her own shame.
“This can never happen again,” she continued. “Ever. And I beg you, for my sake, to speak of it to no one.”
“I wouldn’t think of it, but why?” he argued.
“You must trust me,” she said with as firm a voice as she could manage despite the fact that her entire body was shaking.
“Peggy, please,” he offered in a tone far too gentle, for it made her feel like a heel. “This is my fault.”
“No,” Peggy said, when he interrupted.
“It is neither of our faults,” he proclaimed with surety. “I lay this firmly in my sister’s lap. You know Nora maneuvered the drive with this exact hope in mind, and we both fell into her trap.”
Peggy had to laugh at the folly of it all, and he joined her in chuckling. Suddenly, they were friends again, although the heat of the moment was still there underneath it all.
If her friend only knew that her meddlesome attempts had thrust her brother into the arms of a completely ruined woman with whom there would be no future. In some ways, she was honored that Miss Nora had even considered Peggy a viable prospect, for she certainly was not the type to have pushed them to drive together for only a tryst.
She sighed and nodded. “All right. Please drive on.” She put her hands in her lap and her eyes firmly on the road ahead as he released the brake and urged the horse forward. She feared it would be some time before she felt herself steady once again. They rode on in silence with two sets of eyes focused ahead and not a word between them.