Just One Kiss (30 page)

“Really?” Edward grinned, not looking half as surprised as Daphne would have expected.  “What a remarkable stroke of luck.”

“Indeed, my lord,” Daphne said slowly, looking at her husband a little suspiciously.  But perhaps he had seen Anthony’s coach leaving somehow?  That would make sense.  She smiled again.  “We should tell my mother though,” Daphne nodded, and then sighed and rolled her eyes.  “No doubt she’ll be delighted.”

“Oh?” Edward cocked an interested eyebrow.  “And why is that?”

Daphne licked her lips hesitantly.  “My mother- my mother takes a somewhat
different
view of our situation
than
Anthony
does
.” 

Edward’s grin suddenly widened.“Is that so?” he br
eathed thoughtfully.  “Well now,
that
is
interesting.”

Not really
, Daphne wanted to whimper, but she couldn’t tell Edward how horrid her mother could be to her.  It was just too embarrassing.  Lady Margaret’s disapproval and censure she could understand, even if it was horribly unpleasant to endure, but the fact that her own mother had turned on her?  That was just unbearable.

“I think mother is in her sitting room,” Daphne murmured quietly.

Edward frowned slightly at her hesitance.  “You do want to come back to Packwood with me, don’t you, Daff?” he asked quickly.

“Oh- of course!” Daphne said instantly.  “Come, the sitting room is this way,” she said, leading Edward out into the hall.  They walked in silence through the corridors until reaching the sitting room, where Daphne hesitated for a moment, knocked and then entered.

“Daphne is that- oh!” Mrs.
Hargreaves
started in surprise as
the doorway of her
cozy
sitting room was filled by the imposing presence of her son-in-law.  “Lord Coventry,” she gasped.

Edward dipped his head in a bow, while Daphne frowned, she didn’t think that she had ever heard her mother sound so flustered before.  “Edward ha
s invited me over to Packwood, M
other,” she said coolly.  Mrs.
Hargreaves
eyes widened as her eyebrows lifted.

“You are of course welcome to join us, Mrs.
Hargreaves
,” Edward smiled charmingly.  Daphne felt a flicker of panic, but her mother smiled conspiratorially and declined Edward’s polite offer.

“I’ll see you later then, M
other?” Daphne said hesitantly.

“Yes, yes,” Mrs.
Hargreaves
replied, waving them out the door.  “Don’t hurry back on my account, dear.  I can manage quite well on my own.  Goodbye, my lord,” she said brightly, her eyes glittering with calculations that Daphne didn’t even want to think about.

“I’m so sorry about that,” Daphne sighed, once she and Edward were alone again.

“For what?” Edward chuckled.

Daphne didn’t feel much like explaining, so she
muttered something about needing
to get her wrap and then darted off to find it, returning to Edward just a few minutes later, pondering the exact etiquette of their situation.

“Do you think I’m suppose
d
to have a chaperon?” she wondered aloud.

“I’m sure your brother would think so,” Edward snorted.  “However, may I remind you, Lady Coventry, you are my wife, and already so thoroughly compromised you have no hope of getting rid of me,” he drawled huskily.  Daphne felt a jolt of pleasure shoot through her body.  She flushed breathlessly, and didn’t know quite what to say to such a remark.  “Is that understood?” Edward whispered, taking a step towards her so that they were standing quite indecently close.

“Y-yes,” she stammered, feeling herself keen towards him until she was heady with the masculine scent and heat of him.

“Good,” he purred, hooking a finger under Daphne’s chin and tilting her head back slightly. 

He was going to kiss her, Daphne trilled, in the middle of Dunnely’s entrance hall, with heaven knew how many of the servants peeking out from behind closed doors!  He was going to kiss her, here and now, with a complete disregard for propriety, and she wanted him to- she
desperately
wanted him to!

It seemed to take hours before Edward’s lips finally brushed against her own, and when they did
Daphne almost expected them to
spark, the passion simmering between them was so great.  His mouth burned possessively over Daphne’s as he sampled her sweetness, taking everything that she had to give him, and then demanding even more.  Daphne was dizzy and swaying unsteadily on her feet when Edward finally released her.

“We should go,” he panted, his breath whispering hotly against Daphne’s skin as he spoke.

“I think you’re right,” Daphne murmured quietly.  She knew where this was leading; there was only one place that it could possibly lead to now!  All of the hunger, all of the desire that they had put a halt to the day before was bubbling to the surface, demanding satisfaction.

“You brought your carriage?” she puzzled, pausing
on the front steps. 

“I thought it might be more… convenient,” he replied, casting Daphne a wicked glance.

She gasped.  “You don’t mean-!”

“It might rain!” Edward offered with an innocent smile and then helped his wife into
the carriage. 

Edward
said something to the driver that Daphne didn’t hear, and then
he climbed in beside her. He stared
at her in a way that made her skin feel too hot.

“Edward-” Daphne began shakily, but he didn’t let her finish.

“Don’t talk,” he growled, practically pouncing on
her.  “Just kiss me, Daff.
”

His mouth claimed hers once again, hot and insistent, not gentle but voracious, and his hands- his hands seemed to be everywhere- touching her everywhere, until Daphne was moaning wantonly beneath him, bucking her hips up against his hardness, begging him to take her.

“You shouldn’t do this to me,” Edward grunted, “You shouldn’t make me want you so much that I can’t even think.”

“I- I don’t mean to,” Daphne panted, thinking that the same charge could be laid at Edward’s door!  She was certain that no other man could reduce her to such a state!  But then, Edward was the man that she had been in love with all h
er life. W
hat was
his
excuse then
?

“Then come home,” he pleaded, reaching under her skirts, fumbling clumsily with her underwear because his hands were shaking so badly.  “I need you at home,” he groaned.  “This is torture!  Not being able to talk to you when I want, touch you when I want, take you when I want!”

There was something in what he was saying, a thread of truth, but also a fear- a fear that if she went back to Edward now then she would be nothing more than a commodity to him.

She succumbed to his kisses
all the way to Packwood
. When Edward finally
pulled away from her, and Daphne
realize
d
that they had arrived, she
gasped in
horror.
“How do I look?” she asked timidly.

“Like a woman who has just been ravished,” Edward said, with a definite note of male satisfaction.  Daphne gave a little whimper though, and tried harder to straighten her hair and neaten her dress.

“You are awful, Lord Coventry!” she sniffed, jolting with the carriage as they came to a complete stop.

“That’s not what you said a few minutes ago,” Edward grinned wolfishly, which earned him a light slap on the arm from his wife. 

He opened the carriage door himself then, not waiting for the footman. 

“My dear,” he smiled innocently and offered her his hand, which she took, although not without casting a few furtive glances around, to see who was watching it seemed. 

To his staff’s credit, Edward had to admit that no one was staring at Daphne too obviously.  He rather thought that he had Eldridge to thank for that little miracle.  Eldridge was a real butler, he thought with some satisfaction, not like the idiot they had working for them in London!

“Come along then, Lady Coventry,” Edward said, nudging Daphne up the steps.  “I need your opinion on the east wing.”

Daphne raised a suspicious eyebrow in his direction as they climbed the front steps towards Packwood’s large front doors.  “Do you really need me to see the east wing?” she asked slowly.  “Are you
really
having it altered?” she pressed.

“Daphne!” Edward feigned a look of deep hurt.  “What are you implying?”

“I believe you know, my lord,” she said, the corners of her mouth twitching. 

He did love her like this
, Edward thought to himself warmly, when she was playful and teasing, it was just what he feared that he would never be able to find in his marriage.

“Well, I am afraid that I must disappoint your nefarious mind,” Edward sighed heavily, but then flashed his wife a cheeky grin.  “I do mean to renovate the east wing.  William was looking into it, but- well, he didn’t get further than that.”

“And- and you really want my opinion?” Daphne asked, blushing with pleasure.

Edward blinked at her as though she was spouting nonsense.  “Well who else would I ask?” he said frowning.  “You’re my wife, you’re the mistress of Packwood House, and you
do
intend on moving in here at some point in the future, don’t you?” he asked, a note of desperation creeping into his voice as he finished.

He felt a flood of relief when Daphne nodded her head- that was a yes, she was coming back, she hadn’t yet said
when
, but she had said that she
would
!  Well… not said, but nodded, and that was something at least
.

Chapter 3
1

“This way then,” Edward said gruffly, leading his wife into the house, and through the hall, past Eldridge, and into the east wing of Packwood.  If Daphne found his change in mood strange then she didn’t say anything.  She followed obediently behind her husband, and then moved up beside him, slipping her arm through his, and Edward felt a little of his tension melt away.

“What were you thinking about doing here then?” Daphne asked, her voice a little more quiet and demure now, evidently she
had
felt his shift in temper after all.

“William had a few, very rough plans drawn up, he wanted to open up the rooms downstairs to create a large ballroom, turning the old, smaller, ballroom into the formal dining room-”

“And the dining room?” Daphne smiled slightly.  “What did your brother want to do with that?”

“Lord knows,” Edward grinned.  “Turn it into a billiards room I think.”  He watched as Daphne wrinkle
d her nose in
distaste.  “That doesn’t meet with Lady Coventry’s approval I take it?” he laughed.

Daphne blushed.  “Oh well- it’s your house and-”

“It’s
our
house,” Edward corrected her instantly.  “And I want to know what you think.”  He waited for his wife to nod, before continuing to recount William’s plans.  “My brother wanted the bedrooms upstairs redecorated and refitted as guest rooms.”

“But isn’t that the family wing?” Daphne frowned.

“Part of it.  It-” Edward hesitated, but then he decided to plunge on.  It wasn’t as though he had very much left to lose.  “It used to be the nursery, children’s rooms, schoolroom and such,” he said slowly.  “When the house was originally built at any rate,” he added.  “A fire a century ago saw it all gutted, and then it was rebuilt as a suite of bedrooms, but I was thinking of restoring it to its original purpose.”

He watched Daphne start out of the corner of his eye, and then she turned to him slowly.  “As a wing for our- for
the
children?” she asked slowly.  “That’s how you want to renovate it?”

Edward nodded carefully, trying to judge his wife’s reaction, and failing quite spectacularly.  She looked shocked, but he couldn’t decide if she looked shocked and pleased, or shocked and horrified.  “That’s what I was thinking at any rate,” he took a deep breath.  “What do you think?”

“I-” Daphne began, but she instantly faltered.  “I think… it’s a lovely idea,” she said, her voice sounding strangled. 

“Daff?” Edward frowned.  “It was just an idea.  Are you all right?” he asked.