Romancing the Heiress(24)
Author: Darcy Burke
Leah slid her free hand around to his lower back, but immediately wished she’d slipped it under his coat. To be able to touch him like this was more than she’d ever thought might happen, but exactly what she’d dreamed. He was so familiar, yet different, each sensation searing into her with indelible bliss.
Indeed, she wondered if it was actually happening or if she were somehow trapped in one of her dreams. Ah well, if that were the case, she was happily entwined in this pleasure and would remain within it as long as she could.
Phin’s tongue moved along her lips, and she opened her mouth to touch hers to it. She wasn’t entirely new to kissing. Aside from the young man she’d kissed at her last matchmaking festival, she’d stolen a few kisses in her earlier years in London from a handsome groom who worked in the mews. With dark red hair and shining green eyes, he’d reminded Leah somewhat of Phin. He’d at least been a reasonable surrogate as she’d nursed her wounded heart after leaving Marrywell.
But now she was with the actual man. Kissing him. And it far exceeded any experience she’d had or any attempt she’d made to wipe away his memory. As if she ever could.
Sliding his tongue along hers, Phin deepened this impossible kiss. Leah wondered if she would float away on a cloud of passion. She moved her hand to his neck, finding that spot of flesh just above his collar and cravat. Heavenly.
The sound of whistling intruded into Leah’s haze of delight like a sudden cold, drenching rainstorm. It wasn’t just any whistling. She recognized that tone and that tune.
She pulled away abruptly, horrified. And a little afraid. “That’s my brother,” she whispered.
Phin nodded. “It will be all right. I’m here with you, and I won’t leave you.”
“Can we hide?” she asked softly.
Head turning, Phin’s mouth tightened.
“Radford!” Barnabas Webster called, making Leah’s insides curl in on themselves. She instantly felt smaller and wished she could actually be that way too. Perhaps then he wouldn’t see her. “Is someone with you?”
Phin gave her an apologetic look before stepping away from her. “Afternoon, Webster. Yes, you may recognize her, in fact.” He barely moved his lips as he whispered, “I’ll keep him occupied, and you go on your way.”
“Thank you,” she murmured.
Her attempt to take a deep, calming breath utterly failed, and she ended up coughing. Forcing herself to move, she took a step away from Phin.
“Leah!”
Though she didn’t want to see Barnabas, her gaze shot toward him. He looked the same, but also different. His face was a little rounder, his shoulders broader. He also appeared to have gained a paunch. His wife, Dorothea, must be a good cook. Or, probably more accurately, Barn still liked ale more than he ought.
“Barnabas.” That was all she could bring herself to say.
“You on your way home for a visit?” her brother asked.
An absurd laugh threatened to bubble up her throat. “No. In fact, I need to go. It was good to see you, Phin.”
“Very good,” he said quietly, then escorted her from the folly, keeping himself between her and Barnabas.
“You can’t go already,” Barnabas said.
“I’m afraid I must.”
“I’ll be sure to give your best to Mother and Father,” he called as she turned away.
Leah hesitated, the urge to turn and tell him not to do that ever burning her mouth. But she didn’t. Instead, she took the path she always had: escape.
As she heard Phin engaging her brother in conversation while she hastened away, she fell even more in love with him. He’d always done what he could to keep her safe.
And today, he’d kissed her. It hadn’t been motivated by the curiosity of a young boy, but the desire of a man. At least she hoped that was what it was.
She wouldn’t allow herself to think of anything else. At least not today.
Chapter 10
As he watered the plants in the greenhouse later that afternoon, Phin couldn’t help but think of kissing Leah earlier. He hadn’t planned for that to happen at all, but once he’d entered the castle tower, he’d been overcome with the memory of kissing her when he’d been eight. Eight. What kind of boy kissed a girl and forgot about it for nearly twenty years?
Frowning, he finished pouring water into the pot holding a hibiscus shrub with a few pink blooms. He fixed on a particularly large one, its long anther jutting at him like someone sticking out their tongue. “What is wrong with me? Why am I suddenly attracted to Leah? She’s…my best friend. She’s not…”
What was she?
He recalled thinking that she was perhaps two different people. Mayhap it was three, actually: the girl he’d grown up with, the stoic companion, and the alluring woman who kissed like a siren. And where had she learned to do that?
Phin shook his head. That didn’t matter. None of this could matter. They were friends, not lovers, and anyway, he was supposed to be courting Miss Selkirk.
“Don’t look at me like that,” he said to the flower. “I didn’t mean to kiss her.”
But it had been so wonderfully divine. He closed his eyes briefly, recalling her violet and lavender scent, the feel of her curves pressed against him, the taste of her at first tentative, then bold tongue as she’d kissed him back.
His eyes flew open, and he abruptly turned from the accusing stare of the hibiscus blossom. He needed to put Leah from his mind. He must focus on Miss Selkirk.
“There you are, Phin.” Tom walked toward him from the door he’d just entered. “Mrs. Everden said I could find you here.” Stopping short, Tom frowned slightly. “Why do you look so dour?”
“Do I?” Phin wiped a hand over his face to expel the expression, if not the emotion behind it. “Too much on my mind.”
“More than the gardens?”
Yes, but he wasn’t going to reveal that to Tom. “Isn’t that enough?”
The steward gave Phin a sage nod. “Perhaps. I came to tell you that there’s a builder in town for the matchmaking festival. He examined the folly and says you’d be better off removing the rest of the roof and just making it another ruin.”