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There was nothing like this anywhere in London

She looked to hi "I told you I like to swi clean "There are other ways to swi the question "When there is nothing but water and stars Most of the tiht the lamps"

"You feel your way," she said

He ran his hand down her ar is underrated" He pulled her close and wrapped one arm around her waist He kissed her, deep and lush, and she didn’t know if it was the heat of the rooht

No, she knew It was the caress

He pulled back "Do you kno?"

It took a moment for her to understand "I do"

He watched her for a longthe response to his inevitable question As though wondering if he should risk her saying no

As though she would ever say no

"Would you like to swim, my lady?"

The honorific swirled around her, soft and full of promise How much did it tempt her? How ht, that she was his lady?

More than it should

"This evening is going quite differently than I expected," she said

"And I" He kissed her, quick and rough "Discard the da even as hedown to stoke the flames of first one, and then the next His instructions followed, she calculated that it would take hi in each of the six hearths, and so she sat, re each neatly to the side, until all that was left was the dress

The dress she as designed for Anna, not Georgiana, and it did not require aIt was structured with hidden catches and ties and an interior corset, all designed for ease of donning and doffing

Though she wondered if the dress had ever iined this particular moment, when the dress would find itself at the side of a swi pool

If all ell

He turned fro her across theas he returned to her, thoroughly focused on her, hunting her She noticed his bare feet, and realized he’d taken a moment to remove his boots while he stoked the fire He reotten as he worked on his cravat, unraveling the long length of linen and letting it fall away He did not take his gaze from her, and she did feel like prey

No prey had ever wanted to be caught so well

He reached her as he pulled his shirttails from his trousers, and she wondered at the comfort he had with the process "Have you ever entertained here?" The question was out before she could stop it, and she wished to God she could have stopped it