Free My Lord's Lady by Sherrill Bodine

Bemused, she could think of nowhere but the cabinet where she had hidden once before.
    Between his spread fingers, he watched Georgina step into the cabinet.
    “Father has a surprise for Lady Sherbourne, so we must leave them alone now,” Lawrence whispered with great importance.
    “Yes, we must wait for them in the parlor,” Leticia added, urging Tildie and Sabrina and Amesley out.
    Although Amesley appeared nearly overcome with laughter, something he would pay dearly for later, Vane realized his plan was working to perfection. He met Tildie’s dark eyes, and she nodded approvingly.
    He heard Leticia whisper, “Do you think you might become my real sister, Lady Sabrina? I’d like that ever so much,” before the ballroom doors were securely shut.
    His daughter’s fledgling female instinct had honed in on his own desire. It might not be easy to capture this new zest for living, but he would try. No, for the prize Georgina presented, he would do anything and succeed! It seemed incredible, but there the thought was clear in his mind—there was nothing he would not do to win her. Love, he discovered,
was
the most powerful emotion after all.
    He picked up an apple and weighed it in his fingers. Juggling it carefully in one palm, he strolled to the cabinet and slowly opened the door.
    Georgina’s heart leapt to her throat and stayed there, sending hot excitement coursing through her at his appearance in the narrow opening. He was haloed by the firelight. She couldn’t help but notice what beautiful coloring he had; the vibrant auburn of his hair, his gold skin where it disappeared enticingly into his open shirt, the brilliant blue of his eyes, and his dusky sensuous mouth. There were no barriers between them now.
    Suddenly he lifted the apple to his mouth and bit into it.
    “Forry, what is going on?” Was that really her voice, so sparked with fearful delight?
    “As Adam said to Eve. Take a bite and discover for yourself,” he drawled and offered the apple to her.
    “It was Eve to Adam, as you very well know!”
    In this instance, she fully understood what Tildie had tried to tell her. She looked at him and knew she loved him. She loved him, and she would not waste another precious moment!
    Trying vainly to control a strong inner trembling, she took the apple from his hand and bit into it. Licking the sweet juice from her lips, she slowly placed the apple back into his hand.
    With a bark of laughter, he tossed it over his shoulder. Then he stepped into the cabinet with her.
    There was room for two only as they stood so closely her body ached with the contact and her tense muscles yielded eagerly to his. Desire sprang up between them like a palpable force. She had wondered what his mouth would be like if the long sensuous lines ever deepened at the corners in a real smile. Now witnessing it, pleasure burst like bubbles through her veins, making her giddy.
    Raising her hand, she ran her fingertips over his warm lips. “You have a beautiful smile,” she breathed in a dreamy voice that sounded scarcely like her own.
    “You make me want to smile, Georgina. What do you think we should do about that?”
    There was only one answer.
    She reached both arms around him and pulled the cabinet door closed.