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Chapter 14

I miss the days when you were in London and we could write back and forth like a conversation I suppose we are now at the mercy of the tides Our letters must cross each other on the ocean Mrs Pentwhistle said she thought it was a char at each other across the water I think Mrs Pentwhistle drank too much of Reverend Pentwhistle’s Communion wine

Please tell Captain Rokesby that the little purple flower he pressed arrived in perfect condition Isn’t it reh to journey from Massachusetts to Derbyshire? I am sure I will never have the opportunity to thank him in person for it Please do assure him that I will treasure it always It is so very special to have a small piece of your world

--from Cecilia Harcourt to her brother Thomas

The little death

Surely the French had been onto sohtness that was coiling in Cecilia’s bodythe pulsing, inexorable need for so she did not even understandIt all felt like it was leading toward soasped "I can’t"

"You can," he assured her, but it was not his words that sank into her, it was his voice, pressed up against her skin as his wicked lips made lazy discovery of her breasts

He had touched her--kissed her--in places she herself had not dared to explore She was bewitched No, she akened She’d lived twenty-two years in this body and was only just now learning its purpose

"Relax," Edhispered

Was hethat rab and claw and yes, screae

Except she did not knohat that edge was, or what ed, and it didn’t even see for Because he did Dear God, she hoped he did If he didn’t, she was going to kill hiht her to the peak of desire And then, when her hips rose up, silently begging hier inside of her and flicked his tongue across her breast

She came apart

She cried his name as her hips lifted from the bed Every muscle clenched in unison It was like a syrown tight as a board, she finally drew breath and collapsed onto the er and lay on his side next to her, propped up on his elbow When she found the energy to open her eyes, she saw that he was s like a cat in cream

"What was that?" she said, her words more breath than voice

He brushed a damp tendril of hair from her forehead, then leaned forward to kiss her brow "La petite mort," he le syllable "That’s what I thought"

This seemed to amuse him, but in that lovely way thathi hi that would count for soe

She closed her eyes She had to stop thinking that way There was no e This was not a consu?"

She looked up Edas staring down at her, his eyes so bright and blue, even in the fading light of evening

"Cecilia?" He did not sound concerned, exactly, but he knew soht for so she could say that would actually be true And so she said, "overwhele the shape of her heart forever "That’s a good thing, isn’t it?"

She nodded as best as she could It was a good thing, at least right now As for next week, or next month, when her life would surely fall apart

She would deal with that when she had to

His knuckles brushed her cheek in a tender caress, and still, he stared down at her like he could read her soul "What are you thinking, I wonder"

What was she thinking? That she wanted hih she knew this rong, it felt like they were married, and she just wanted it to be real, if only for this one night

"Kiss me," she said, because she needed to take control of theoff into the future, into a world where Edward’s ser hers