Pent up passion poured down onto her lips, and Cordelia revelled in the kiss. At once forceful and gentle, Timothy only took from her what she was willing to give – though his desire for her was obvious. He had one hand clasped tightly around her waist, drawing her into his warm and strong chest where her hands were clinging as the waves pushed them backwards and forwards. His other hand was at the base of her neck, fingers entangled in her hair as it shed its pins and started to roll down her back.
She had never felt this way before – nothing else compared to this. Warmth was flooding through her veins turning her at once burning hot and freezing cold, and the tug of the tide on her skirts was nothing to the tugging in her heart that was pulling her towards him. Her heart was fluttering faster than she had ever experienced, and she could not help but let out a solitary moan as he delved deeper into her mouth, his tongue gently caressing hers.
This was what it was to be alive, thought Cordelia wildly, this was living, this was true freedom! And with a man whom she had met less than a week before! Try as she might to find something wrong with this kiss that was leaving her completely breathless, it felt completely right; as though she had pulled into port.
“Oh, Cordelia,” he murmured in her ear as he wrenched his lips from hers. “I cannot tell you – I do not have the words to –”
Her eyelids fluttered open as she took in the wildness in his eyes and matched it by lifting her willing lips up to him once more. He groaned as he sunk into her, the kiss stronger this time, and more certain.
This was a true man, one that made her feel stirrings she had never countenanced for herself. Why, thought Cordelia as her hands wandered past his cravat and into the dark locks of hair, if she took the caring and concerned man in her letters and placed them alongside the strong, entertaining, and kind man before her, she could almost say that she had found the perfect man! Add to the mix this heady yearning that was physically overpowering her . . .
A wave, larger than the others, crashed into them, soaking them on one side and breaking them finally apart. Their laughter was matched by the cries of the seagulls as they soared through the air above them.
Timothy lifted a hand to her cheek, and smiled gently. “Here you are; the woman that I first found in a letter, and then on a beach. Like driftwood looking for a friendly shore, you were deposited before me and I had not even valued it until it had been swept away from me.”
“And yet here I am,” she whispered, heat still flooding through her body. “I had not drifted far.”
“I will dedicate my life to ensuring that you never drift too far away ever again.” His voice was determined, and she could not help but beam at it.
“I am still most aggrieved.” Her tone was mockingly haughty, but her smile did not disappear. “It was most wrong of you to continue the pretence once you realised who I was.”
He nodded. “I know. But I was afraid that I would lose you – that you would think I had known all along, and then you would disappear and I would never have got the chance to really explain how I feel.”
She raised an eyebrow. “I hope you are ready to repent completely, for I shall not permit such trickery again.”
His answer was a kiss, and it lasted so long that his breath was almost stolen from him, so lost in her he became.
“In that case,” Cordelia murmured eventually, “there is only one thing left to do.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Just one?”
She nodded, now nestled happily in his arms and unwilling to move. A wicked smile danced across her lips as she said, “Miss Cordelia Honeyfield. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”
Timothy laughed. May she never change, this strange woman of his who never ceased to amaze him. He tried to contain his laughter as he replied, “Dr Timothy Walsingham. How would you like to change your name to mine?”
No response was required; no verbal response, anyway. Cordelia’s intentions were made perfectly clear as she kissed him hungrily, another wave breaking over them and coating them with a glistening layer of salty water as they clung to each other in the ever-shifting tide.