No, she couldn’t risk her livelihood in that way. If Lady Gilpin were to catch wind of any impropriety on Juno’s part, she wouldn’t allow someone with such a base character to supervise her daughter. Juno would need to be on her best behavior until she left for Bath.
Cecilia approached her. “What did Lady Gilpin want?”
“To offer me a position helping her daughter. I assumed you’d told her I was looking for a new arrangement.”
“I did, in fact. I’ve known Penelope for years. Are you going to help Dorothy? She’s such a lovely girl but a rather awkward bundle of nerves.” Cecilia smiled faintly.
“Yes, I’ve agreed to help. Thank you for mentioning me.”
“It was my pleasure. I also came to tell you that you’ll be riding back to the house with the duke and me.”
At first, Juno had thought she was going to say only the duke. Because she hoped that would be the case? She couldn’t deny there were far worse things than sharing a coach alone with the duke.
“I’d hoped to ride back with Sir Edmund and Lady Gilpin,” Juno said. “So we could discuss Dorothy.”
“Oh dear, I think they’ve probably already left. They were in the first coach. Anyway, you’re the only person I trusted to ride with the duke. He frightens everyone else.” Cecilia laughed.
Juno wasn’t amused. Now that she knew the duke better, she understood his eccentricities. He wasn’t at all scary. “Is that true?”
Sobering, Cecilia pursed her lips briefly. “Not exactly, no. He doesn’t frighten most of the gentlemen, but they are all riding with their wives.” Right, and there were no other single gentlemen. By Cecilia’s design.
Cecilia turned toward the door. “I’d best oversee the departures. The conveyances are already outside.”
Juno finished her ale and set the empty tankard down on a table. As she started toward the door, she noted that most people had already left. Except the duke. He was waiting for her just inside the threshold.
“I understand we’re to ride back together,” he said. His voice was always so deep and tinged with that gruff growl that she liked more than she realized.
“With Cecilia,” she clarified, lest he think it was to be just the two of them. Would he have looked forward to that?
“Yes.” There was a darkness to the word, as if he were disappointed that they wouldn’t be alone. A delighted thrill shot through her.
They moved into the main room and then outside into the yard, where the last group was climbing into a barouche. That left a rather small conveyance for the three of them who remained.
Except a gig pulled into the yard, and it was driven by Lord Cosford. Grinning, he waved at his wife. “I’m here, my darling!”
“Oh!” Cecilia put her hand to her chest, then smiled broadly. “What a wonderful surprise.”
“I couldn’t let the entire outing go by without an appearance,” Cosford said. He looked toward the duke and Juno. “You don’t mind if I steal the countess away, do you?”
Cecilia was already walking toward the gig as he jumped down to help her inside.
What could Juno say? She glanced sideways at the duke, who gave her an infinitesimal shrug. Furthermore, did she even want to say anything? Now she would be alone with the duke.
Her suspicions that Cecilia was orchestrating opportunities for them to be alone crystallized into certainty.
“See you back at the house!” Cecilia waved as her husband drove from the yard.
“I suppose that means we’ll have the coach to ourselves,” the duke noted. He offered her his arm and escorted her to the conveyance where the coachman waited.
The duke helped her inside and climbed in after her. The space in the coach seemed smaller than normal. And dim. Intimate. The sun was low in the sky. Not quite dusk, though it would be soon. There was a lantern, but it hadn’t been lit. Presumably, they would arrive at the house before it was dark, so lighting it hadn’t seemed necessary.
Or perhaps Cecilia was trying to set a mood. Had she transferred her matchmaking to Juno now that Marina was gone? Juno didn’t need a match. She was quite capable of remaining on her own and happy to do so.
“I do think Cecilia planned this,” Juno murmured as the coach began to move.
“Do you?” The duke’s thigh wasn’t touching hers, but if she moved slightly, it would be.
Juno shook her head. “Who knows. We’ll be back at the house shortly.”
“Pity that.”
She jerked her head toward his. “Why?”
“Because there are at least a dozen things that have come to mind—and more by the moment—that I should like to do to you in a private setting such as this.” He angled himself toward her. “The question is, will you allow me to?”
The world fell away so that it was just Juno, the duke, and the crashing beat of her heart. Oh hell, she couldn’t keep thinking of him as “the duke.” “What do people call you?” she asked throatily. Swallowing, she added, “People you like, I mean.”
He grinned, and she nearly threw herself at him.
“Dare. It’s short for the courtesy title I held before I inherited—I was Marquess of Daresbury.”
“Dare.” That was possibly the best and worst name she’d ever heard. She didn’t want to be dared by him, and yet she was. Thoroughly and devilishly tempted.
His eyes slitted, and desire pooled in her core. “No one has ever said my name like that.” He was so close, she was enveloped in his rich, masculine scent. His raspy breathing filled the coach, matched only by her own short, shallow breaths.
“It’s a very short trip to the house.” She curled her hands around his neck. “We’d best hurry.”
Dare encircled his arms around her waist and hauled her against him. He slanted his mouth over hers and lost himself in the intoxicating rapture of her embrace.
This was spontaneous and reckless—completely at odds with who he was. He didn’t care. He couldn’t help himself. Everything he expected, everything he knew, disappeared next to Juno. She was a light, a temptation, an absolute craving.
He kissed her deeply, pouring all his pent-up tension and emotion into this moment. She clutched him tightly, her tongue sliding against his with a fervor that matched his. That she wanted this as much as he did made his spirit soar. This was bliss. He’d never felt it before.
Their positioning on the seat was awkward, made doubly so when they hit a bump on the road, and she nearly fell. Dare clasped her more tightly. She slid her leg over his lap and straddled him, rising over him.
“Better?” she murmured between kisses.
He growled into her mouth and kissed her again, one hand holding her nape and the other gripping her hip. Yes, better, but not good enough. He wanted her against him. Completely.
No, he wanted to be inside her. But there wasn’t time for that. They’d arrive at the house before either of them would finish. Or not. The level of his desire was a heretofore unknown height.
He tugged gently on her neck as he kissed down her jaw, his lips and tongue finding their way to the hollow of her throat. How he wished she was wearing something that didn’t button up so high.