Rosalind let out a sigh, as Stefan pulled her out of her chair and flush against his body.
Ripe. She was ripe for him. Wanting him, needing him. Any more innuendos and she would freely ruin herself just for a taste of his exotic kiss.
"Lesson three," Stefan's lips said against Rosalind's.
"What's lesson three?"
His warm breath tangled with hers as his lips just barely touched onto hers. His teeth tugged her bottom lip as he nibbled.
"Mmm, better than pomegranates," he murmured against her lips again. "Now off to bed with you."
In a daze, Rosalind shook her head. "What? I don't understand, what's lesson three?" And why was her cursed body shaking so much?
Stefan laughed and looked to the ceiling. "Unsated desire, my dear. That shall be your third and final lesson for the night. Sweet dreams, my Rose."
Curse words that she only heard mumbled by the servants and her father blared like a horn in her head.
She couldn't very well kiss him! That would mean he was winning during this whole wooing business! But in her current state? Well, in her current state, she was already imagining what his skin would feel like against hers.
"Fine." Voice shaky, she did a small curtsy and nearly tripped on her skirts as she ran up the stairs and slammed the door. So much for trying to have a good night's sleep. What she wouldn't give for one of those sleeping spells now!
Stefan swore good and hard and pushed a chair. He tried roaring a bit but didn't want to frighten cook or Mary who were just in the next room enjoying their food. Nor was he inclined for Mary to think he was some sort of beast tearing apart the tapestries, making her feel the need to run in with cane raised high above her head like a savage.
What in the blazes had he been thinking? Torture her and then leave himself with such aroused need that he was ready to run around in the snow without clothes just to alleviate the pain.
"Well, that was brilliant," he mumbled to himself.
"What was that, Your Grace?" Alfred entered the room.
Ah, perfect, a friend to play with in Hades. "Nothing, Alfred. We leave tomorrow."
"Very good, Your Grace." Alfred bowed to take his leave.
"Alfred?" Stefan asked without turning around.
"Yes, Your Grace?"
"What do women like for their birthdays?"
Alfred cleared his throat. "I overheard cook talking about the lady's delight for fairy cakes, Your Grace."
"That will be all, Alfred."
"Yes, Your Grace."
Perfect. The one desert he could imagine bringing to the bedroom and licking off of her. Would his torture know no end? His body screamed at him, demanding that he go possess the girl. He made his way slowly up the stairs. Oh, she would get fairy cakes and a lot more if he had something to say about it.
CHAPTER NINE
All days are nights to see till I see thee,
And night's bright days when dreams do show me thee
~ Sonnet 43 — William Shakespeare ~
Rosalind decided it would be best to sit opposite Stefan and use Mary as a buffer. She needed a reason to stop his advances and could think of no one else up for the job but Mary, who indeed thought it best to bring her weapon along. Smiling to herself as Stefan looked at the arrangements, she gave him a little nod as he lifted himself up into the carriage. His body seemed to fill the entire side. And Rosalind immediately realized her mistake, for even across from him, his legs could easily brush against hers when outstretched. She found herself looking around for way to make herself smaller so she wouldn't somehow find herself touching him. Eyes darting around, she finally gave up and squished herself into the corner. She didn't need any more lessons from him.
Mary was perfectly happy sitting next to her if her smug grin was any indicator of her inner thoughts. The carriage slowly rocked forward and Rosalind found herself sighing in relief. The sooner they left, the sooner they got there and she could be away from Stefan's brooding glare and all too excitable kisses.
The groom was only too happy to ride Samson as Stefan relinquished his hold on the horse and decided to ride in the carriage. Rosalind knew it was to vex her. It had to be.
The carriage hit a bump and she scrambled to grab the seat so she wouldn't go sailing into his arms. Stefan smiled as if waiting for the opportune moment to pull her into his arms regardless of Mary's presence. She snuggled closer to the corner and laid her head against the glass window.
"Sulking?" Stefan asked in his silky deep voice.
Rosalind didn't answer.
"Ah, so you're ignoring me. Very mature, Rosalind, but why do I care if you wish to spend the entire journey cuddled into a corner when I've brought our picnic with us. I don't believe we had time to enjoy one on the day of your real birthday as promised. Though if memory serves, we did enjoy other activities."
At the mention of food her head snapped up involuntarily. She felt suddenly ravenous. Leave it to Stefan to hint towards any sort of inappropriate behavior within the same sentence.
They hadn't even had her birthday picnic and drat if she didn't feel her eyes well with tears that he would remember! But she didn't need to look as pleased as she felt, especially when her face felt so heated. For food was the last thing on her mind when that man's beautiful lips said the word activities.
"We wouldn't want the food to spoil," she said in a small voice.
"Ah, she speaks."
"Well?" Rosalind ignored his remark. "Where is our picnic?"
He flashed a brilliant grin. "Sweetheart, you must be so very hungry. Unfortunately, and I assure you it humbles me to no end to admit this to you, but that look in your eyes is for food and not my lessons." He sighed, and then moved his legs. On the floor next to his large outstretched feet lay a lumpy blanket. He pulled the blanket off revealing quite a nice little meal.
"Oh, my dear, oh dear, this simply will not do!" Mary put her knitting down and fanned in front of her face. "I cannot be in this carriage. Stop! Stop I say!"
"Is she having an apoplexy?" Stefan asked, then flinched when Mary's cane went flying wildly inside their tiny space.
"Oh, stop, stop, stop!" Mary yelled. If anything, the woman had just proved to everyone within a square mile that she had a healthy set of lungs at such an old age.
The carriage stopped, she hopped out, and Stefan watched as she climbed up top to where the footman was sitting. After bundling herself in a blanket she nodded her head and the carriage took off.
Rosalind sat motionless and angry. Mary and her reaction to any sort of food that carried even a hint of the color pink, was truly too much.
"What just happened?" Stefan had his hands in the air in total bewilderment.
"Well, to be truthful she despises anything resembling pink." Rosalind shrugged.
"It is beef. It's more red than anything," Stefan argued. "Blast if I knew pink to be such an intimidating color."
"Yes well, to her it has pink edges, so she had to leave." Rosalind rolled her eyes in exasperation.
"Right." Stefan still looked confused. "Will she be back?"
Rosalind contemplated lying but thought better of it because she was so blasted hungry. "No, I assume she'll stay next to the footman and Alfred until it gets too cold for her tender disposition."
"Tender disposition my—"
"—At any rate," Rosalind interrupted. "It was my birthday yesterday, and you did promise me a picnic. Are we to eat it or simply discuss it?"
"Have I told you how much I admire your moods? All twenty of them. And how you so effectively go from one to the other, quite exciting for a man. I'm never quite sure which woman I'll have the fortune to talk to. Most excitement I've had in months I assure you."
"The food?" Rosalind repeated.
"As you wish." Stefan pulled out a bottle of wine, rolls, meat pies, and some beef.
The smell of fresh food filled the entire carriage. Closing her eyes, Rosalind leaned back and inhaled the scent.
T
he noise of preparation stopped. She opened one eye and watched Stefan watch her and very slowly uncork the wine, all the while never taking his eyes off her throat. His unblinking stare could seduce a woman out of her good sense.
"Only barbarians stare with such hunger in their eyes," Rosalind stated as Stefan's eyes slowly closed halfway, becoming more hooded with desire by the second.
He shifted in his seat and looked quite uncomfortable with his legs stretching around the carriage. "Apologies, it seems age agrees with you. I found myself wondering how old you turned yesterday?"
Rosalind looked away and felt herself flush. "Old enough to be on the shelf, Your Grace."
"Deuced lucky shelf," he muttered pouring her a glass of wine and lifting her spirits at the exact same time.
Rosalind received the glass of wine and laughed. His large hands moved delicately over the foods as he chose her delicacies and then handed her the plate.
"Your food, my lady."
"You make a good servant, Stefan."
He threw his head back and laughed. "I'm good at everything. Including serving a deserving woman on her very important day, even if I'm a trifle late. Though to be fair, I had this brilliant plan on your actual birthday, so I believe credit and praise is still due." He winked.
"You know, my father once told me a woman's birthday is the most confusing day of her life."
Rosalind nibbled at her meat pie. "Why is that?"
"Well," Stefan helped himself to his own food, "it's the one time of year that reminds a woman that her youth is behind her, and more mature years are ahead of her. Women seem to speculate over years gone by with either regret or fondness. And swear to make the next year better than the last. If they do not meet their own expectations a birthday can be devastating. Yet another reminder that time is going by too fast."
"Then why is it also the happiest? That sounds dreadfully sad."
"Yes." Stefan sipped his wine. "It can also be a joy filled day."
Rosalind couldn't wait to hear what his definition of a woman's joy may be. No doubt he would say it had to do with a woman getting married or having a man to share her life with.
"It can be the happiest day of a woman's life because she has finally learned the one universal truth about herself."
Here it came.
"That with age, she becomes wise, self assured and confident. Consequently, the happiest women in the world are the ones that understand birthdays are a symbol of beauty. For there is nothing more attractive to a man than a woman who has truly lived. She who wears her age gracefully and with pride. Yes, birthdays for a woman are special. If anything, they announce to the world that you continue to grow more beautiful with time, like a rose coming into full bloom." Stefan leaned forward placing his large hand on Rosalind's leg. "And you, my dear, grow more beautiful each day I see you. I gather each minute you age represents another man's heart breaking with sorrow that you will never share your life or your bed alongside them."
Rosalind, quite literally had no idea what to say. In all her speeches about wooing, she had completely underestimated the man. His eyes crinkled into a smile and he went about his meal as if the sudden temperature in the carriage hadn't changed, as if she wasn't now positively charged with desire for him and confused as to where on earth he had come up with such beautiful words.
They ate their meal in silence and Rosalind found herself stealing glances in his direction constantly trying to find a chink in his armor. His arrogance it seemed was the only thing that still existed. She held onto that truth with a vice grip knowing if it was to shatter as well — she would have no reason not to allow herself to love him, and her heart simply could not take loving a man who did not love her back.
CHAPTER TEN
Love is a spirit all compact of fire.
~ Venus and Adonis 151 ~
Insert mind-numbing silence here with a large dose of madness, Stefan thought for the tenth time as he watched his delightful companion once again pull into herself as if she were hiding something. Well, it was of no matter. They would arrive by nightfall and in the time leading up to it he would do everything in his power to persuade her to see things his way.
Stefan watched through hooded eyes as Rosalind continued to shift in her seat until, irritated, he reached across the carriage and laid a hand gently across her thigh. His only intention was to stop her from moving, lest he throw her out of the carriage to join her mad godmother, but as his hand rested across her dress, it was as if every nerve could feel the heat emitting from the woman.
"Be still," he croaked.
Rosalind eyed him pensively before making a grand gesture of folding her hands in her lap and sighing.
"Shall I bribe you with sweets, my lady?" His hand was still frozen on her person; it would take a lot more than a pensive look from the lady to get him to remove any part of his body from hers, regardless of propriety.
Rosalind licked her lips, still not meeting his gaze. "Resorting to bribery? Interesting. It must be so terribly uncomfortable for you to sit in silence, Your Grace."
"The silence, it seems, is not one of my current grievances," he glanced down at his hand and then dipped his gaze to her parted lips.
"Sweets, you say?" She pushed his hand away and straightened her skirts.
"Ah, it seems I need to resort to many things in order to gain your approval and the pleasure of your conversation. Yes, fairy cakes to be exact. It is, after all your birthday."
Rosalind didn't respond. Sighing, he rummaged through the picnic basket and withdrew two wrapped fairy cakes. Slowly, he unfolded one cake and held out his hand.
She looked doubtful and mistrusting as her hand reached across the small carriage and quickly swiped the fairy cake away from his clutches. Wise decision on her part, considering he used the opportunity to grab her other wrist and pull her into his lap. Rosalind wasn't quick enough for his advance; nay his attack, and he relished the feeling of her bottom moving against him while at the same time hating himself for enjoying her torture. Well it wasn't as if he was getting any release from her anytime soon, so truthfully they were torturing each other.
Fighting him, she finally relented fairy cake in hand, but now his prisoner. He smiled at his fortune and brilliance as her chest heaved up and down in frustration. Caught like a rat with its cheese.
"That was not fair."
Stefan continued grinning. "Didn't you know Rosalind? Men, rarely play fair, or was it women? I get confused, but I do recall you repeating something similar to your good friend, Lord Rawlings."
Her eyes narrowed.
"It seems, your desire for a fairy cake trumped your logic and good thinking, for it was the bait in which I used to secure you, therefore making it possible to woo you the rest of the way to London." Which meant he had still but six hours to convince her to be his.
"Your Grace, if trapping a woman through sweets is another one of your ways of seduction, you are without a doubt the worst seducer to grace the country."
"Says the trapped little bird."
She squirmed under his brace, her bottom moving to and fro. His smile grew larger as blood roared through his veins. "My, my, how you play so deliciously into my hand."
"What do you want?" She relented her squirming and looked sadly down at the fairy cake.
"I want to feed you your birthday cake." He shrugged simply as if it was the most natural thing to do with a woman in a carriage.
"And if I allow it?"
"Then my wooing for the day is finished. I only ask that you endure as best you can."
"Endure…" She looked down at the fairy cake in hand. "And you promise to stop trying to seduce and woo me. And no more lessons?"
"For the remainder of the day, yes."
"I agree."
"I'm sorry it appears with age my hearing as declined. What did you say, my dear?"
A muscle twitched in her cheek as she answered through clenched teeth, "Do not push it, Your Grace. I said I agree and I mean
it."
"Wonderful," he released her arms and very carefully lifted her from his lap to the seat next to him. "Now, let's have the fairy cake, and I'll show you the proper way to eat such a delicacy in celebration of one's birthday."
Her shoulders slumped as she guilty handed over the fairy cake.
"Now," he grinned and unfolded the napkin holding the cake on his lap. "The best way to enjoy cake on ones birthday is blindfolded." Her indignant huff nearly did him in as he reached into the basket and pulled out a small napkin and motioned for her to turn so he could fasten it around her head. "Can you see anything?"
"No, but I gather that's the idea." She turned to face him and he found the idea that she couldn't see him sinfully erotic as his eyes boldly took in her plump bottom lip. Perhaps just a nibble…
"Perfect." He cleared his throat. "Now, open your mouth."
First, she nibbled her lips then apparently the idea of having a fairy cake won out, like a little bird ready to be fed, she opened her bow lips. He found he couldn't merely hand over the food and be done with this little experiment to get her to trust him. So, instead he dipped his finger in frosting and swiped it across her bottom lip.
Her pink tongue emerged and licked her bottom lip and he found himself once again entranced by her motions. Rosalind relaxed, just slightly, and Stefan found himself needing to see her eyes as she enjoyed the fairy cake. He pulled off the blindfold and stared in awe as her eyelashes blinked slowly at him then closed in ecstasy, giving Stefan the jealous feeling that he was missing out on the exchange between the participant and the object — frosting.
Suddenly, the carriage came to a halt. Stefan bellowed a curse as the door swung open. "I just cannot take the cold any longer, Your Grace. To think that you allowed me to even step outside the carriage is quite beyond me. Really you should have more manners. Oh, fairy cakes! Don't mind if I do!" Mary swiped the cake out of his grasp and comfortably positioned herself on the other side of the carriage.
Dumbstruck, Stefan didn't know if it was at all proper to say out loud the obscenities he was thinking in his head considering there was a lady present. Mary didn't count.