She nodded, and he leaned forward.
“Oh, Jeffrey,” she said, breaking into his soliloquy, and running her soft, cool hands over what he knew were sure to be the lines on his face. His sisters were forever telling him that he needed to smile more, or he would continue to age at a far more rapid pace than would be desirable.
And he knew then, at that moment, that he now had what — or, rather, who — he needed in order to keep him young, to keep him much more happier, carefree, and understanding, than he would ever be alone, or should he have chosen a wife for anything other than love.
“You place far too much of a burden on yourself,” she continued, and he smiled, knowing her words to be true, and that she was beginning to know him better than most others.
“Such is the way of a man with four sisters, the responsibility of multiple estates, and a conniving brother who knows nothing of responsibility himself,” he responded. “Which is why it has proven fortunate that I find a woman who can look after herself, though I am unsure why such a thought never previously occurred to me.”
“Oh, is that the only reason you wanted me?” she asked with a laugh, and he shook his head slowly.
“I must confess, there was far more than that,” he said, no longer laughing himself as he gave into the thoughts and desires consuming him and wrapped an arm around her. He tugged her toward him so that she was flush against him, and he leaned down to kiss her. Just a taste, he told himself, and then it was on with business.
But his body, it seemed, had something else in mind, and Phoebe certainly did not seem to have any issue with it. He kissed her hard and fast, drinking in the woman he had feared he had lost forever. She tasted so sweet, like tea and pastries, he thought, though there was an edge to her that he had never before experienced with any other women. It was desire, he realized. She wanted him as much as he did her, and that drove him crazy with his longing for her.
The carriage came to an abrupt halt, and he pulled back dazedly from Phoebe to see that they had returned to her house.
“Is your aunt home?” he asked, his mind in a fog.
“No, I believe she was going out visiting this afternoon,” Phoebe responded, and Jeffrey let out a breath in an attempt to slow his racing heart, to quench the fire raging through him.
“Perhaps we should disembark and walk,” he said, his fingers tapping mercilessly on the seat beside him, knowing the only way he would be able to resist making love to her this very moment was to be somewhere public, somewhere he would not have a choice in the matter.
For his stubborn will was slowly seeping away from him. This woman had the power that no one else seemed to possess — the power to make him forget all, to throw away caution, and to allow himself to live.
She looked at him now with some incredulity and simply held out her hand.
“Come.”
He took it.