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"Isabel" He groaned as she worked her hands under his collar and her fingernails raked against his bare flesh "You have to stop me God knows, I can’t stopsyllables were never spoken
He had so h hi fear And now that there was nothing to fear, no desperate crisis… all that energy si release He wanted nothing ht here, on this stone wall--which seeht, God bless the world
And God bless his wife, she pulled up her skirts so he could nestle his hips between her thighs and test that theory
Yes A low e of his erection against her feht Noas only athese bothersome layers of fabric …
He snaked one hand under her petticoat Her thigh went rigid beneath his pal"
He rested his brow on her shoulder and cursed So Oh, hy, why couldn’t it be him?
"It’s the coachlad he’s alive"
"So ah and rearranged her skirts with sullen tugs "Now I can kill hi Isabel look, and the ht I’ll sack him Without a reference And then I’ll kill hiht ruefully He should never have let her stay He should have anticipated the reed to run for office in this blighted borough in the first place "Are you well enough to drive home?" he asked
She paled "Must we?"
"Well--"
"Please, Toby I can’t get back in that carriage right now, not with those horses Not today I just can’t" Tears welled in her eyes, catching on the ebony fringe of her lashes
"No, of course not I understand, darling" He cast a glance over her shoulder, out at the countryside "Wynterhall is only about two miles’ distance, if we cut across the fields Would you prefer to walk?"
"Oh, yes" Her face brightened "I would prefer it In fact, I suspect I’d enjoy it"
Toby suspected he would, too There were any number of stone borders between here and his estate Haystacks, too, and s could prove a very enjoyable alternative to traveling by carriage
He exchanged a feords with the driver and then vaulted the wall before swinging Isabel around and helping her down the other side She laughed It was a giddy, girlish sort of laugh that he didn’t recall ever hearing froether they started off across the field
For some time, they did not talk It seemed too soon to speak about what had happened in the square, but also too soon to think of anything else So they si their linked hands swing between therain First fast, then slow, then quickly again as they gathereddown a slope
When they reached the opposite edge of the field, Toby helped her squeeze through a gap in the hawthorn hedgerow
"Just a h "You’ve a bit of bra and held it up for her inspection before tossing it aside
"Thank you" She blushed, popping up on her toes to kiss him
It was lovely, that kiss Petal-soft, and innocent And it told Toby instantly that he would not be tu the journey hoency between them earlier--they’d lost it somewhere in that barley field Noas corazed her wrist Co ith the world Toby couldn’t honestly say it was better than sexual release But neither could he say it orse
It was different Different fro he’d knoith a wo it asped and drew to a halt in the center of a pasture
"Good Lord, what is it?"
"Your speech!" She clapped her free hand over her hter with her pal her hand, she continued, "Oh, Toby You never , he squeezed her hand as they continued walking "It’s not as though anyone would have listened after that uproar, now is it?"
"But… but what happened? That Colonel Montague and his strange speech, the musket fire …
I still don’t understand it"
"Colonel Montague is our local war hero He stands for every election and has done for decades Always runs on a platfor treasonous rebellion in the American colonies"
Isabel slanted a look at him "Haven’t the American colonies been independent for--"
"Thirty-five years? Yes He’s not called Mad The old soldier’s a bit touched in the head, in case you hadn’t noticed"
"I had And I thought it was horrid, how his illness was exploited for the public’s a that the "poor ot her killed today Just like his sife, to look back on the afternoon’s horror and feel nothing but sympathy for the decrepit sot "It’s not so ht think The old fellow enjoys the attention; the crowd enjoys his enthusiasets any votes that don’t come from those oafish nephews of his; but one could say he achieves his goal just the sah," Toby explained "For an entirely fictional cause, to be sure, but the unity he engenders is real It can’t be a coather every few years and answer the call of duty, honor, vigilance" He recited the words with gusto and gave her a wide grin