~ Chapter 2 ~
Ten minutes passed and Jase rounded the same corner Heather had. He walked past the hedge display heading forward with focus. Wait. Jase turned back around and strolled through the figures. A few people were lingering about but there was no sign of her in there.
On his way out he passed by a striking piece. He remembered it from his childhood Jase’s sister often sat by it. He gazed down and saw Heather’s undergarment that should have been covering her lower half lying at his feet. With a couple now behind him he kicked it under the hedge.
Does the woman not have an ounce of subtlety? He ran his hand through his hair. I really almost want to walk away from this. I mean look at me. She has me chasing her down in the dark as she throws bits of her attire off her body.
Jase hesitated for a second before he reached out and took another piece of Heather’s underclothing from off a branch in front of him. The soft pink delicate silk glided in the most erotic way between his fingers. Jase drew the garment up to his face and took in the scent of her.
“Do you not want to kiss me?” She has asked him earlier that night. Her head tilted in such a way it caused him gaze in the other direction.
“Perhaps when we have a private moment and the time is right,” Jase answered her as he squeezed his eyes shut. The hidden hand from her balled into a tight fist out of frustration with himself.
From the corner of his eye he saw her draw closer. “You have to be curious as to how I kiss. What my lips feel like on yours. Aren’t you Marquis?” Her tone was sultry and her words seeped into him down deep where he had not wanted them to ever go. An unexpected tremble ran through him and he flinched.
Heather had not noticed as she had by then turned away from him. Jase stood staring at the woman who was to be his wife and the thought scared him. She scared him. He did not know if he could ever show her how he felt. It was not the way he was raised.
Jase shook his head from his thoughts and placed her garment in another pocket. This whole charade is ridiculous and it’s time to end it.
Fifteen minutes had gone by and he only encountered four couples walking in the opposite direction. Glancing up at the position of the moon he judged the time. “Ten o’clock about. Two more hours and her family will wonder where she has gone to.”
Just then a group of four men heavy in their drink walked towards him. They were all loud and stumbling. Jase looked to one of the men’s hands and saw Heather’s slip.
“Whose is that,” he barked.
The men all staggered to a halt. A man on one end said, “A lovely young lady who didn’t need it any longer.” He laughed and nudged the man next to him who then tumbled into the guy next to him.
Jase took a step closer and leaned into the man who he now wanted to punch. “Where is the woman who was wearing this?” He reached out and snatched it from the man in the middle.
“Hey,” he protested.
Jase coughed at the stench coming from him. “Bloody hell! Are you on a weeklong binge?”
“What is it to you? Give us back our lady wear. It’s for us not for you, chump.”
Jase began to see red. A thousand thoughts ran ramped through him and he wanted to start hitting until someone talked. He removed his coat. Began to roll his sleeves. “The first one who speaks will not be beaten and then hung. The rest of you will die tonight.”
They all stared at him. One idiot finally laughed. “It is four to one and you have not a single witness.”
“Ah yes you are correct but that’s the beauty about being a Marquis, I don’t need any,” Jase smiled at them.
With visibly shaken expressions they looked to one another.
“Well,” Jase said. “Who is to be first?”
“We found it up the path, Marquise.”
“It’s true!” another shouted. “We came across it on the ground.”
Jase eyed each of them. “And you saw no one?”
The men shook their heads and Jase sent them on their way. He took a deep breath and then walked on. He hated her for making him feel this way.
Three hundred paces ahead he spotted a bridge. As Jase drew closer to it he saw her dress draped over the side. His steady walk soon turned into a full on run. The pounding of his heartbeat pummeled in his ears.
Standing in the middle of the old wooden bridge he swung around every which way but did not see her. A surprising panic overwhelmed him. “Heather,” he bellowed as loud as he could.
His words were meant with silence. What do I do? She has to be close by. “Heather please,” his cry echoed in the still night.
“Jase, I’m here,” she said in a calm voice.
He whipped around and didn’t move as he took in the sight of her in the stream below. The moonlight shimmered off her bare shoulders. Her arms moved back and forth on the surface of the water making small ripples that hid what his eyes longed to see.
Walking slowly with heavy steps across the bridge and down to the shallow bank, he stopped. Heather ran her hand over the top of her head and down the length of her hair. His jaw clench tight. Water dripped from her milky skin in the most alluring way.
“Lady Houston, it is time to go.” He laid her dress down and turned from her hoping she would give in so they could leave. This is not so far gone as to have caused a scandal.
“Houston? A moment ago it was Heather.” She said.
He could hear swooshing of mini waves breaking behind him from her movements. Both his fists squeezed shut as he tried to force the urge to turn around out of his mind. Get a grip on yourself she is just a woman. Christ I’ve been with more than I can count so shake this off and get back to the estate.
Heather was watching his posture. She waited several minutes in quiet despair. The not knowing has plagued her since she first began to fall for him. Either he really does not desire me or he is just-
“Marquis,” she said.
Her silky tone reached him with potency. Jase’s breath caught. What the hell is wrong with me?
“Please look at me Marquis.” Her voice was soft and everything womanly it should be.
“I would like you to dress now so that we can leave. I will not turn to you now. It is not the right time.” He was barely able to maintain his voice from shaking. Jase started up the bank.
“Why do you fear me?” she asked.
Jase froze in place. His mind was blank. His body was burning with a heat he had never felt before. She asked the one question that he himself could not answer for him.
“Why do you fear this…us?” She asked in a louder tone this time. Heather needed to know right now if it was her he did not care for or if it was instead, what she dreamed and prayed for.
He couldn’t think of a reasonable answer. Why is it so important for me to stop everything I am feeling for her? The image of the way she gazes at him flashed in his mind and his heart leaped with cruel force. Standing with his hands on his hips, Jase gazed off across the lush fields.
Heather watched him turn to her finally. And even in the silver moonlight she could see his gaze had changed. A shiver smothered her in the humid night’s air. It was greedy and lustful and everything she had always wanted it to be.
Jase removed his coat. His hands found the buttons on his shirt and he slowly began working on them. “You are right. I do fear you. I fear us and the uncontrollable happiness that your eyes promise every time I look at you.”
Heather’s heart cried at his words. Every utterance was like a song to her heart, a melody she never wanted to stop hearing. She was still and waiting for more.
He freed another button. “I fear all the time the way I will finally feel when I kiss you. It honestly scares the shit out of me.” The second button was stuck and Jase fumbled with it.
She took in a breath to speak until she saw Jase rip open his shirt and toss it to the side. The magnificence of his chiseled chest stunned her.
He torn off his boots and socks. “What I fear most is that you may not feeling the way I do. Rejection. Heartbreak. The idea that once you find out whom I really am you will just start running and never look back. And me, I will be left with such a deep seeded pain my world will never again feel the same.”
Run? Like I was tonight. Oh how could I of been so foolish.
Heather stood up. Her naked skin glistened in the light. Jase’s eyes slowly trail down the length of her until the water stopped him mid-thigh. His firm arousal still inside his pants throbbed for her. Full supple breasts welcomed him. Pale smooth skin beckoned for his hands to explore wherever they desired to. The most beautiful velvety pink secrets awaited his discovery.
He began to remove the remainder of his clothing. “Since I am being honest here, I have the most wicked sinful fantasies about you. When we are together they torture me. So many times you titled your head to the right and I wanted nothing more than to kiss your neck.” Jase now stood on the bank not far from where she was and let her gaze at him. “Tonight, I will show you every little naughty desire I’ve carried for you, Heather.”
