“Yes.” A simple word, but it held endless possibilities.
They were both quiet for a moment. His eyes shifted to the clock on the mantle. “Eight minutes,” he said. He had exceeded her expectations.
“Yes,” she said again.
Patience leaned in toward him. He took both of his hands in hers, rose, and then pulled her to her feet. “I hope you don’t mind if I use all of them,” he said.
She placed her lips next to his ear. “I would be very disappointed if you didn’t.”
He dropped her hands and threaded his fingers into her hair at the nape of her neck. “Your hair has driven me to distraction ever since the sun shone through it that first day, when I pulled away the curtain you were hiding behind.” He kissed one curled ringlet. They were much tamer now than they had been at his house. Hair like hers most likely required a maid.
“We have seven minutes left, and you are going to spend it kissing my hair?”
Anthony laughed. He lifted her chin and rubbed his thumb over her lips. How often had he dreamed of tasting them in the last three months? His quick kiss before going back to Miss Morgan had only whetted his appetite. There would be no rushed kiss now. He would take all the time he needed to show Patience how much he had missed her and cherished the joy she had brought into his life. “No, I’m not.”
He kissed her nose first, because he knew it would infuriate her. And then her ears.
By the time he moved to her eyes, she had put her hands on her hips. “Anthony . . .”
He had never met someone more inaptly named.
He moved to her neck, and she stopped complaining. Her pulse, just under her chin, intrigued him. As he traced it with his index finger, she shivered, and he kissed it again.
He checked the clock. Three more minutes.
“Are you looking at the clock?”
“I’m never late. I pride myself in it.”
She huffed. “How much time do we have left?”
“Three minutes.”
“Three minutes! We have—”
He covered that broad, outspoken mouth of hers with his own. Her lips were just as he remembered them—soft and responsive, moving along the top of his. He reached for her waist and pulled her closer to him. She sighed and collapsed into him, throwing her arms around his neck. He would have waited three years for this. His hands travelled up her back until his fingers found her hair again.
Patience pulled away just enough that she could speak. “Don’t mess it up—I have to face my brother after this.”
He nodded and kissed her again, breathing in her scent. It was lavender and sunshine. Never in his wildest dreams had he considered that he might marry so well, and it had nothing to do with Patience’s rank. She had brought him joy and showed him he was more than enough. His eyes slid to the clock once more.
One minute. He closed his eyes and pulled her closer to him.
They were going to be late.
Chapter 24
“Should we light the fire in the music room?” Patience sat on the edge of Anthony’s desk, waiting for him to balance one last ledger. They had been married two weeks already, and he claimed he had never been so far behind on his work. But he always said it with a smile, so she didn’t worry about it much. “Mama might want to sing for Harry and Augusta when she gets here.”
Anthony nodded, but he didn’t look up from his paper. “I will tell the maid to do it once I finish this one”—he struck a line though one long number “last”—he jotted down a different one—“thing.” He slammed his pen down and stood. His hands were immediately at Patience’s waist, pulling her off the desk. He took one look at her, then buried his face in her hair.
“But I thought we could do it together.” Patience tilted her head to one side to give him better access to her neck. She bit her lip and made a soft noise in her throat. It only encouraged him.
“What about your dress?” he asked, his breath warm on her ear.
“I’ll wear an apron.”
“I don’t want your brother to think I can’t keep you respectable.” He moved to the other side of Patience’s neck.
She laughed and pulled away from him. “He wasn’t able to, so he can’t judge you for the same problem.”
“Still, your family will be here so soon . . .” he lowered his head back down to the side of her neck that had received the least amount of attention and traced kisses up her jawline.
“I like how your face looks when the flames first flare into life.”
He stopped trailing kisses, took a step back, and caught each of her shoulders in his hands. “Go get your apron.”
Patience jumped up, placed a kiss on his cheek, and then turned to fetch her apron. She didn’t even get a step away before she was pulled back by a hand about her wrist.
“Two weeks of marriage and already I am reduced to only receiving kisses on the cheek? At this rate, by next month we shall only be shaking hands.”
“You know that isn’t true,” she said.
“Prove it.”
Patience laughed and placed an even shorter kiss on his mouth, then jumped away.
“That hardly counts.”
But she was already halfway out of the room. “Come help me with the fire, and when your face is lit up and the fire is going, I will kiss you more thoroughly.”
Half an hour later, the fire heated the music room. Patience had delivered on her promise to Anthony. His usually sharp features still held the dazed glow of a man who had spent the last ten minutes being kissed by his wife. It was her favorite look on him. Her apron was gone, her face and hands cleaned from any soot. She was completely respectable and presentable. Anthony had nothing to worry about.
Then Nicholas and Mama were announced.
“What have you done to your hair?” Nicholas said as soon as Mr. Gilbert showed him into the music room.
Anthony and Patience exchanged a glance. She had been so concerned about the soot that she hadn’t thought to check the condition of her hair, and Anthony never minded a few loose curls here and there.
“Oh, Nicholas,” Mama said. “She isn’t your responsibility anymore. And if you would like to be invited to newlyweds’ homes in the future, you would do better off not to notice such things.”
The slight tinge of pink along Nicholas’s neck was almost worth his earlier reprimand.
Anthony gestured toward the four chairs set up for them. Mama moved to her seat first. “Harry and Augusta will be here shortly. They have prepared some songs for you.”