The countess laughed. “Miss Harrington is rather pretty and intelligent and not at all concerned with theton. Her connections are also non-existent. The opposite of any lady I thought he would marry. Perhaps he is still just a bit uncertain, which is natural for any gentleman who has been as opposed to marriage as my son.”
“We need to get him to the altar while he thinks I am sick. And I think I finally did it with my dying wish.”
“What?” the countess exclaimed in dismay, “Your dying wish? That is indeed too far, Mother-in-law. Much too far!”
“No, it is far enough. For now, he has agreed to set a date with Jane, so we may start making arrangements.” She took the countess’s hand and started doing a little merry jig.
Felicity made a choking noise, and the ladies whirled around. They both shrieked when she pushed the coverlet from off her and smiled sheepishly.
“Upon my word!” the countess cried, flushing.
Felicity stood and smoothed down her dress. “I was reading to Lady Wyndham and…I fell asleep.”
The two ladies stared at her with varying degrees of alarm.
“You…you are not ill, your ladyship?” she tentatively asked. “At all?”
“No,” his grandmother said slowly, her eyes narrowing on Felicity. “And you are not about to tell him.”
She closed her eyes, wishing she was anywhere but here. How had she gotten herself into this mess?Five thousand pounds, a veritable fortune, a small voice reminded her.
The dowager countess advanced toward her. “He has half of London languishing at his feet and refuses to select a bride. I must act in his best interest. You are staring at me, Miss Harrington, as if you expected something else.”
Folding her arms tightly across her waist, she said, “Yes. His lordship is one and thirty years old. He is the earl and what you should do is allow him the dignity of his own choice, your ladyship.”
The dowager countess narrowed her eyes on Felicity. “You agree that no one can force my grandson to marry?”
She thought of everything she knew about his character. “Yes.”
“Good. Hence should he marry you, gel, it hardly matters how it comes about and my role in it. After he is married, I will tell him, of course, I am neither ill nor dying.”
“I cannot—”
“Do not be foolish, gel. Do you not want to marry him?”
A longing seized Felicity around the throat. Was she so very obvious in her love and desire for Phineas? “I…”
“Yes,” the countess said with a soft, understanding smile. “We know you are in love with him, and I do believe Phineas holds you in a similar regard.”
Her heart pounding with hope, Felicity stared at the countess. “If that is true, your ladyship, the natural course of our attachment will happen without any interference.”
“Very well,” the dowager countess said imperiously. “You will remain silent on this matter. Speaking of this will cause unnecessary strife; it will ruin your current courtship and engagement, and certainly put us at odds with Phin. I am sure you do not wish to have something like this mar your entry to our family. It is my responsibility. I will resolve it with Phineas when the time is right; please do not force my hand. Give us that, and we will no longer prod my grandson or plot against him. We shall all agree to let this matter rest, Miss Harrington.”
Uncertain of what more she could say, Felicity dipped into a curtsy and departed the room. Once outside the door, she went to find Phineas. Felicity did not see how she could keep him in the dark about this matter. Their engagement was a ruse, so she had no hope of entering the family and ruffling any feathers in the way nanna had implied. Her concern must only be for him. But what if their current dance did indeed blossom into something more permanent? Could they forgive her for choosing him when with her silence now it would all be resolved peacefully? Nervousness coursing through her, she went through several rooms before she found him in what seemed to be the fencing room. One wall was set with swords of many kinds, and a mirror decorated one of the long walls of the room. However, currently, he pounded away at a sandbag and…good gracious, his chest was wonderfully naked.
She must have made a sound, for he whirled around. Fierce emotions leaped in his eyes and, somewhere deep inside, her belly quivered, sending powerful darts of longing through her. He prowled over to her, took her about the waist.
“I need you,” he muttered, his expression harsh and his eyes shadowed. “I need you so damn much, Felicity.”
“Yes,” she whispered.
Phineas slashed his mouth over hers in a passionate kiss. His taste was like honeyed wine, and her head spinning with heady arousal, Felicity clung to his shoulders as he lifted her in his arms. She gasped against his mouth when he pressed her against the door, reaching around her to close it with asnick. And not once did he stop kissing her.
She could feel such desperation in his touch, such raw passion it almost shook her. Amongst his frantic arousing kisses, he shoved the skirt of her dress to her waist and pressed her harder against the door. Phineas gripped her thighs and nudged her legs wide, so she straddled his waist. Reaching between them, he fumbled with his flaps, and his cock sprang forth. Taking himself in his hand, he pressed his thick length against her damp sex. He surged deep and hard inside of her. A wail of pleasure sounded against his mouth, and he groaned.
The biting stretch was almost uncomfortable, yet there was also a wonderful pleasure at being filled so by him. Felicity clasped his already sweat-slicked shoulders, a sob of pure need escaping her when he withdrew his length and thrust back inside her, sliding her back up against the door. He drove inside her harder, deeper, one hand on her hip holding her still, the other under her shoulders, his face buried in her throat. There was both pleasure and a stretching pressure-pain as her sex adjusted to his wild invasion, but she did not shy away from his vigor, her arousal climbing in blistering degrees. Felicity tunneled her fingers through his hair, and she held him to her as he destroyed her senses with ravaging passion. Her head fell back, a hard shudder wracking her body.
“Phineas,” she gasped as ecstasy blossomed through her entire body.