“I’ve never …” Evie broke off, teeth working her lip.
“It’s no matter.” Jamie could barely speak. Her lip reddened, the moisture beckoning. Jamie dragged her to him and kissed her once more.
Her mouth was a place of splendor, where he wanted to linger for a long time. As the kiss went on, Evie moved her hand on his cock, up and down, up and down. Her kiss turned deeper, and Jamie pulled her closer, drawing her lip between his teeth.
As Evie’s hand worked its magic, Jamie’s hips left the seat, wanting to thrust. He wrapped his arms around her, his head going back on the cushions while she brought him nearer and nearer the brink.
“No. Love.” Jamie jerked her from him as he came, no longer able to control himself. His body was on fire, amazing sensations pounding at him, stealing his breath.
Evie slid to her feet while Jamie caught hold of his cock, he trying to swallow his groans of pure pleasure. He shook all over, the release powerful.
Good thing he’d brought a change of clothes, Jamie thought dimly. Tucked nicely into his valise on the rack above them.
Jamie forced himself to settle, his heart still racing. He wanted to be in a bed with her, where he could thrust inside her and finish this properly, wanted it with deep yearning.
He turned his head and gazed at beautiful Evie, who had returned to the seat beside him, watching him with uncertainty. His eyes were half-closed, his face flushed with warmth.
“Sorry, lass.”
Evie swallowed. “Was that supposed to happen?”
“Aye, it was.” Jamie pulled his kilt up over his bare lap. “A beautiful thing. I’m trying not to frighten you.”
A smile touched her lips. “I’m not frightened.”
No, she was fearless. “Thank you for giving me that gift, love. I’ll return the favor, in due time.”
“Return it?” Evie’s eyes went starry with her blush.
Did she have no idea a woman could feel the hot rush he’d just experienced? Possibly not. The thought of teaching her this truth made Jamie begin to harden again.
“I will, indeed. Not here. When we have time. I want to do it properly.”
Evie’s joy faded a bit. “I can’t … I might not marry. I don’t want to have a child. That is … I mean, I do want …”
Jamie laid his fingers over her lips, hating the pain he read in her. She did long for a child, but he knew what she meant. She did not want a baby borne in shame, shunned by the world.
“You don’t have to worry about that with me, love. I can give you much pleasure, and let your virtue remain intact.”
Now she frowned. “How on earth are you going to do that? My virtue is stained already just by being in here with you.” The frown softened. “Not that I regret it.”
“I’m glad you don’t. I don’t regret it either.” Jamie touched the tip of her nose. “Trust me, love. I will show you worlds of pleasure.”
To his pure delight, Evie’s smile deepened. “All right then.”
Evie tried to act normally when they disembarked the train, she leaving the compartment well before Jamie did to mingle with the Mackenzie cousins. As she’d closed the door behind her, Jamie had been reaching for his valise, sending her a wink as he told her goodbye.
Her hands in her resumed gloves tingled. She’d never touched a man like that before. Hayden had been adamant about saving everything until after the wedding, and Ethan and she had been too innocent to truly know how to explore each other.
Jamie had showed her a different world that existed between men and women. A brief glimpse, to be sure, but what visions that small glimpse promised!
The boisterous Mac Mackenzie led the family out of the train car at Newmarket, his beautiful wife, Isabella, never far from his side. Ian and Beth emerged from a private compartment at the end of the car, Ian more relaxed than Evie had seen him, Beth surreptitiously straightening her bodice.
Evie blinked a moment when she realized what that meant. Good heavens.
Several landaus waited to convey them to a nearby hotel. Evie piled into one with Gavina, Belle, Megan, and Mac’s two daughters, the carriage soon filled with feminine laughter. Evie searched for Jamie, who dashed from the train, valise in hand, to leap into an open landau with the dangerous-looking Alec, his brother Malcolm, and the sunny-faced Robbie Mackenzie, maker of the fake Greek pot.
Evie barely had time to refresh herself at the hotel—she would room with Gavina—before they were back in the carriages, heading for the racetracks.
There Evie met Lord Cameron and his wife, Ainsley, as they entered the box reserved for the Mackenzie family. Lord Cameron was a huge man, a few inches taller than his brothers, with a granite-like face, his expression harsh.
That expression smoothed as Gavina danced to embrace him. Lord Cameron looked much more human as he returned his daughter’s hug, his pride in her evident. Stuart Mackenzie, Gavina’s younger brother, who had been helping his father with the horses, greeted Evie with an amiable welcome.
“Where is my other good-for-nothing son?” Cameron asked the crowd at large.
Jamie answered from where he stood with Alec and Mal. “Daniel will be here tomorrow. He and Violet and family are motoring down.”
“Daniel and his motorcars.” Cameron pretended exasperation. “Bloody infernal machines.”
“Which you love to be driven in.” His wife teased him. Ainsley Mackenzie had very fair hair and gray eyes—Gavina resembled her greatly. Cameron was never far from Ainsley, who grasped his arm comfortably, the love between the two evident.
Later, after the first race—Evie joining in the mad cheering as Cameron’s filly sprinted to the finish—Hart, Duke of Kilmorgan, and his duchess arrived.
Evie had seen Hart Mackenzie’s photograph in newspapers and spied him at London theatres the rare times she had attended with her mother and sisters. Gossipers had been happy to point out the famous duke, tall and forbidding, stonily leading his wife to her seat in their box.
When Beth presented Evie to him, she saw that the hard face, like Lord Cameron’s, disguised deep feeling, which shone out through his eagle-like eyes.
The duke did not question Evie’s presence. Beth said, “And this is Miss McKnight,” as though the duke knew all about her and had only been waiting to meet her in person.
Evie remembered how to curtsy, though she wasn’t quite certain what one did when meeting a duke. Her parents’ circle contained one baronet that everyone fussed over, but no one actually curtsied to him.
The duchess, cheerfully addressed as Aunt El by her nieces and nephews, wrapped a firm hand around Evie’s arm and led her away from the duke once polite greetings had been exchanged, no curtsies needed.
“Now then, Miss McKnight,” Eleanor said once they were on the other side of the box. “Tell me plainly. What are your intentions toward our Jamie?”
Chapter 24
Eleanor Mackenzie pinned her brilliant blue eyes on Evie and waited for an answer.
“Intentions?” Evie floundered. “We are friends. Old friends. I pushed him in a river once. Not on purpose.”
Eleanor’s smile flashed like sunshine. “Yes, I have heard the story, which is quite delightful. But I am asking whether you are in love with him.”