Philippa tested dipping a finger inside. Tommy gasped for air. Philippa thrilled to learn which speed and which strokes earned the best little whimpers.

She broke the kiss and traveled instead down the svelte column of Tommy’s neck toward her small breasts, tasting as she went. The slight salt of sweat, the citrusy bergamot of Tommy’s perfume, the heat of her flesh.

Experimentally, Philippa licked one of Tommy’s dark, erect nipples. She was immediately rewarded by the muscles of Tommy’s vulva clamping briefly about her fingers. Philippa took the breast into her mouth, swirling her tongue the way Tommy had shown her, while stroking with her fingers the way she now knew drove Tommy to the edge.

“I…” Tommy gasped. Her slender hips bucked and she ground faster until her inner muscles spasmed rhythmically about Philippa’s fingers.

Tommy collapsed and pulled Philippa into her embrace with an exhausted, but contented, sigh. Philippa wrapped her arms about Tommy and held on tight.

“To be clear,” Tommy said drowsily. “We can do that all night long if you want.”

Philippa’s heart lurched as though it, too, wished to get closer to Tommy with every fluttering beat. Her lips curved. Neither her heart nor her body was cold or dead or broken. Philippa’s heart was in love. With the person whose arms she was in, whose bed she was sharing.

Lovemaking had been more than she’d dreamed. She wanted to do this with Tommy every day. Not just the marvelous sensual parts, but this. The snuggling, after.

It was a miracle…and a disaster. How was she supposed to continue on with an ordinary life, after experiencing this?

31

31

With her wig and wrinkles in place and a wicker basket clutched in one liver-spotted hand, Tommy accepted the Duke of Faircliffe’s assistance from his carriage.

“Can Northrup’s town house hold this many people?” Chloe gestured at the queue of coaches behind them. “Wouldn’t guests have been more comfortable if he held a smaller fête?”

“And detract from his glory?” the Duke of Faircliffe asked dryly as he held out an elbow to each lady. “With Northrup’s ballroom full to bursting, gossips will label it a major ‘crush of the season’ even before the season has properly begun.”

“I cannot wait to give the gossips something even bigger to talk about,” Tommy said. “The ‘scandal of the season,’ starring the soon-to-be-disgraced Captain Northrup. Tonight, we put the final gear in motion. Are you ready?”

“Of course I’m ready,” Chloe answered. “Is Philippa ready?”

“Philippa needn’t do anything,” Tommy said firmly. “She has a reputation to mind and will serve as a distraction whilst we dabble in a little light burglary.”

The Duke of Faircliffe slanted his wife a look of exaggerated shock. “Does not a duchess also have a reputation to mind?”