Chasing Eliza (15 page)

Eliza
didn’t hear him enter and gasped at the shifting of a dark shadow
in the doorway, swinging around in alarm. The wet shirt clung to
the tips of her breasts as she stared at the intruder.

“
Edward?” She gasped, her shoulders relaxing on a tide of
relief for a brief moment before she sensed the tension practically
throbbing in him.

“
What’s wrong?” She snapped, glancing past his shoulder to the
empty corridor beyond.

She
shivered at the stark look on his face as he slowly crossed the
room towards her, only pausing when his chest was practically
brushing hers. His eyes searched hers for any sign of
embarrassment, or reluctance to his nearness but he could see
nothing but innocent concern.

“
God, you are so beautiful.” Edward whispered huskily, his
eyes sliding sensuously over the milky white skin of her long neck
to the dips and hollows of her shoulders. His manhood called for
satisfaction as his eyes absorbed the teasing shadows behind the
soft white material of the shirt valiantly clinging to the dusky
tips of her nipples. The dampness of the material did little to
hide her modesty and left him with the driving need to sample their
weight in his hands, and taste her to see if they really were as
sweet as they looked.

Without
bedding her he knew that one night with this woman would never be
enough. He knew from the curiosity and concern in her gaze she had
no idea of what she was displaying for his delectation, yet hated
to embarrass her by making her aware that he could see everything
she had to offer. He swallowed harshly against the raw pain of his
arousal and flicked one last, long look at her breasts before
handing her a towel from the washstand.

He
turned his gaze towards the wall and coughed to withhold the words
he really wanted to say. “I don’t know about you but I am starving.
If you have finished, we’ll eat.”

Walking
casually across the room to the waiting food was the hardest thing
he had ever done. Everything within him screamed to take what she
so innocently offered; to succumb to the driving needs of his flesh
and give her a lesson in the delights of the flesh. The urge to
possess her was so strong his fingers trembled with the raw need
coursing through his veins.

Keeping
his eyes on the food, he busied himself filling the plate with
foods he knew he wouldn’t taste and waited for her to join him,
hopefully with her modesty covered.

He
mentally swore when she sat down on the chair opposite, the still
damp cotton shirt clinging lovingly to her curves. She was
definitely sent from hell to test his fortitude, he decided
wondering if he should just drag her across the table and forget
the food.

Gritting
his teeth he kept his eyes on his plate and began to eat, every
sense tuned in so acutely to her every move, her every bite and the
soft movements of her mouth as she ate that by the time she had
finished sweat beaded his brow with the effort it took to keep his
hands off her.

His
stalwart determination forced his thoughts towards their current
situation. He could make love to her. After all she was already
ruined due to the fact they had already spent two nights alone
together. A third night sharing a room would be the clincher.
Although she wasn’t entitled and wealthy and had no relative or
guardian to demand recompense for her ruined virtue, his own
conscience wouldn’t allow him to press her into making such a life
changing decision as sleeping with him.

He also
had to consider his own reluctance to marry. When he had agreed to
help Peter, the last thing he had expected was to land himself in
the middle of a mad flight across country, being chased by
marauding smugglers. But she was a woman and like most women of his
experience, trouble was her middle name. He shouldn’t be surprised
to find himself in the middle of the mess they were in but that
didn’t mean he had to like it, and it didn’t mean that he had to
change his future plans to avoid matrimony.

He
considered the wealth of trouble she brought with her. Even if they
did get to Padstow and back to Leicestershire in one piece, there
was still the not insignificant problem of elusive Jemima to
resolve. Not one, but two bundles of trouble. Moreover there was
Peter to consider. While he was happy to help Peter find his
wayward obsession, he had no intention of sacrificing his own wants
and needs for anyone. No matter how deliciously tempting they might
be.

Despite
her earlier hunger, Eliza ate sparingly. Glancing across the table
at the muscle ticking steadily in his jaw, she wondered what had
happened to annoy him so.

“
Is there any sign of Scraggan’s men?” She wondered if he had
seen them and that was what had disturbed him.

“
Nope.” Edward murmured, refusing to look at her.

Eliza
frowned across the table at him, wondering if she had done
something to raise his ire.

“
Eat your meal.” Edward ordered, barely flicking her a glance
before pushing away from the table and move his chair to sit
directly facing the fire. “When you have finished I suggest you get
some sleep.” His voice was distant, as though he had already closed
her out.

Eliza
grew increasingly certain he was angry with her for some reason but
for the life of her couldn’t fathom what she had done to cause it.
With a frown she pushed away from the table and stood, wondering if
she would ever understand the complexity of men.

She was
half way to the bed when she shivered as the cold material of her
shirt brushed her skin. She glanced down at the cloth covering the
damp material of her chest and felt her cheeks heat at the near
nudity she saw. There was very little unidentifiable through the
damp cloth.

She
swallowed and felt a little sick as she considered just exactly
what Edward had seen. Clearly he was uncomfortable at being faced
with her ignorance but was too much of a gentleman to draw her
attention to her faux pas. With a trembling hand she pulled the
soft folds of cloth off her chest and winced at the coolness of the
damp material. She had been so intent on the food and Edward’s
strange behaviour she hadn’t felt the coolness of the cloth against
her skin.

Glancing
quickly towards the fire she studied Edward’s rigid back, a tiny
pang of hurt blossoming within her chest. The sight of her near
nakedness had done little but make him awkward and uncomfortable
rather than aroused. She felt a surge of humiliation as she slid
between the covers on one side of the large bed, taking a moment to
tug the sodden shirt off and shake it out. With nowhere to put it,
she draped it over the end of the bed and quickly lay back down,
tugging the covers up to her ears before curling into a tight ball
of misery.

She knew
she was plumper than most women, with more curves than was wise but
she wasn’t fat. Although she didn’t scare children, nobody could
class her as beautiful. Jemima was the one who usually had men
turning themselves into fools over her. Eliza wondered if Edward
would have shown more interest in Jemima had she been with him and
secretly she knew so.

She knew
she should be vastly relieved he didn’t have any sexual interest in
her, and her virtue was safe in his presence, but it still stung
her feminine pride that a man like Edward could see her nakedness
displayed so brazenly and not be affected by anything other than
awkwardness.

Edward
slid between the covers later that night, well aware that Eliza was
still awake. He had taken a few moments to shake out her wet shirt
and drape it over the back of the chair to dry and had seen the
flutter of her eyelids as he had turned.

From her
position perched on the last two inches of the bed, she couldn’t be
comfortable. He could feel the tension shimmering around her and
knew she had realised what she had so unwittingly revealed to him
and felt embarrassed about it. Was she as disappointed as he was
that he hadn’t taken advantage of the opportunity to bed
her?

“
I’m trying to protect you.” He murmured softly into the
darkness, wondering if she understood.

“
I know.” She whispered after several lengthy minutes of
stilted silence. “I’m sorry for not realising about my shirt. I
didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

Despite
his offer of help, he was only trying to help his family. If you
ignored the fact he was only there through moral obligation to his
family, there was a social distance between them that couldn’t be
overcome. He was a member of the Ton; aristocracy. She was the
daughter of a magistrate and at best lower gentry. They had no
future together even if they did make their association intimate.
It would be sheer folly to allow anything to develop between them.
The only thing she had left was her virtue and she couldn’t in all
conscience throw it to one side to lie with someone who could never
be hers.

Eliza’s
heart clenched painfully in her chest and she wondered if she would
ever find anyone half as wonderfully frustrating as the man beside
her. Somehow, she knew she wouldn’t and the thought hurt. A
lot.

“
I’ve seen worse.” He replied, a small smile of mischief
twinkled in his eye as he recalled the delectable, highly
distracting sight she made eating her meal practically
naked.

Silence
settled around them and within minutes Eliza heard his low snore.
She concentrated on blanking out all thoughts except for his
rhythmic breathing and within moments slipped quietly into
sleep.

He
waited for her to relax beside him and stared blankly into the
darkness. He frowned and considered the affect she had on him.
Everything he had considered he wanted for his future suddenly
seemed so mundane and boring he wasn’t sure he would be happy with
it. The image of domesticity earlier that morning flittered through
his mind and left him wondering if he wasn’t being a coward by
refusing to consider sharing his future with her.

After
all, despite his best attempts at avoiding it, like his brothers he
was now mired knee deep in the troubles brought to his door by a
female who had more of a claim on him than he felt comfortable
with.

Although
there was the class issue, it was easily surmountable. He moved on
the very edges of the Ton through choice and had no intention of
becoming steadfast member who worked the social circuits. The last
thing he wanted was a wife who desired that kind of lifestyle,
feeling she was being cheated by spending prolonged periods in the
country.

Life for
him for the foreseeable future would involve long hours of hard
work to get his estates established and thriving. He didn’t need
the encumbrance of a wife, even one as delightful and sexually
appealing as Eliza, but could he live without her? A shadow of
concern lurked in his mind and left him in no doubt that he had to
reconsider his own future and seriously contemplate the possibility
that his future was already entwined with Eliza’s.

He woke
up just before dawn to find Eliza already up and dressed and
waiting in the chair beside the roaring hearth.

“
Good morning.” His deep voice was husky with sleep as he rose
on one elbow to study her. Although wild horses wouldn’t be able to
drag it out of him, he wanted – needed – the first thing he saw in
a morning to be her. Inevitably, sometime during the night his body
had searched out hers and had only truly relaxed once she had
settled against him.

“
Morning.” Eliza turned from her study of the flickering
flames to offer him a quick, fleeting smile.

“
Did you sleep well?”

She
could hear the rustle of his clothing as he dressed and moved
across the room to sit in the chair beside her. “Yes thank you.
Shall I ring for breakfast now?” She didn’t wait for his answer and
moved to the bell pull beside the fireplace.

They
waited for breakfast in silence, each lost in their own
thoughts.

“
I hope that today we will be at the inn I have asked Peter to
meet us at.” His eyes met and held hers solemnly. “Unfortunately
that means another long ride ahead of us.”

Eliza
winced and shifted uncomfortably on the hard chair, feeling the
bruised flesh of her bottom acutely against the unrelenting wood of
the seat. Reluctantly she nodded her agreement, realising that this
would be the last meal she would share alone with Edward. She felt
a sense of loss so acute that tears stung her eyes and she had to
blink several times to stop them falling.

Edward
studied her with a frown, watching the array of emotions sweep over
her face. Reluctance followed by discomfort, then fear, followed by
sadness. He considered the demands of yesterday with a wince and
knew he was pushing her too hard.

“
We’ll take some food to eat on the journey; enough for
luncheon and tea, but if we don’t make our meeting place tonight we
will find somewhere else to stay and meet Peter tomorrow morning.
He’ll wait.” Edward added, his voice laced with an air of certainty
Eliza didn’t think to question.

Still,
she didn’t complain and instead accepted his explanation with a
curt nod. Inexplicably he had the urge to sweep her into his arms
for a hug, but given what had happened last night didn’t trust
himself to lay even a finger on her.