The Heiress by Lynsay Sands Page B

erection and moved her hands to either side of the bench seat to brace herself.
    Daniel kissed her again, a hot, demanding one, and then shifted his hips to rub himself against her heat. Suzette tore her mouth away on a moan, and turned her head away, her hips arching into this new caress. He almost missed her murmured complaint, “So cold.”
    “I’ll warm you,” he promised, rubbing himself against her again. He then eased back a bit to reach down and clasp himself, intending that this next time he would enter her.
    “No. Not me,” she muttered with a small laugh. “Your hand. The one I’m holding.”
    Daniel paused. She wasn’t holding his hand. One of his hands was at her hip, to hold her in place and the other was about to steer his erection into her. What—?
    The thought died in his head as Daniel recalled George on the bench.
    “What’s wrong?” Suzette asked when he froze. Some of the passion left her face, pushed aside by concern as she noted his expression through the gloom in the carriage.
    Daniel hesitated and then shifted the hand at her hip to her back and used it to pull her forward and press her head to his chest. Only then did he look at first one of her hands and then the other. Sure enough, apparently all the jostling about had dislodged one of George’s arms from the blanket and it was his cold hand she was holding.
    “Dear God,” he breathed, dismayed that he could forget even for a moment that the man was there.
    “What is it?” Suzette asked, releasing the hand and trying to straighten.
    Daniel held her in place for a moment, but then allowed her to raise up enough that he could kiss her. This time it really was purely an attempt to keep her distracted. He didn’t wish to risk her glancing about to notice they weren’t alone, but he needed to tuck himself back into his breeches. Kissing her seemed the best way to accomplish the distracting while his hands took care of the tucking. The moment he had his breeches done up, Daniel broke the kiss and scooped her up off the seat. Fortunately, Suzette instinctively wrapped her arms and legs around him as he launched himself to his feet, else he might have dropped her.
    However, he didn’t, though the carriage rocked under the abrupt shift of their combined weight, and Daniel was forced to pause for a moment, knees bent and Suzette caught to his chest as he crouched in the center of the carriage. It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, however, since he was unsure about what to do next. She was half naked with her gown around her waist and her skirt up around her thighs as she hugged him with both arms and legs. And he wasn’t exactly properly dressed either without his cravat and both his vest and coat hanging open. They couldn’t get out of the carriage like that, but they couldn’t stay inside either. It was only pure good luck that Suzette hadn’t yet seen the blanket-wrapped body.
    “Where to, my lord?” his driver called out suddenly, apparently stirred awake by the violent movement of the carriage.
    “Brilliant,” Daniel muttered. The man apparently hadn’t awakened to any of the earlier movements of the carriage, but chose now to rouse from his slumber. Exactly when Daniel would have preferred he remain asleep.
    “Aren’t you going to tell him?” Suzette asked, trying to raise her head.
    “Tell him what?” Daniel asked, tightening his hold to keep her from being able to look around.
    “To head for Gretna Green.” Suzette’s answer came muffled by his chest.
    Daniel glanced down at her sharply, but the hold he had on her allowed him to see only the top of her head.
    “Is that not what you planned when you hustled me into the carriage?” she asked when he didn’t immediately answer.
    Daniel closed his eyes on a sigh as he recalled her happy, “There is nothing to be sorry for, my lord. I too am eager and can’t wait,” as she’d peppered his face with kisses. She’d thought he was rushing them off to Gretna, he