Free Enchanted Summer: (Regency Romance) by Gloria Gay

would not have to cut her day in two. She was certain her mother would object but since she and Bella had much to occupy them in their new house, the objections would be faint-hearted.
    As she glanced at the watch she saw with joy that the meeting hour had arrived! She gathered her art things, folded the cloth and stuffed everything quickly into her utility duck bag. Then she walked briskly down the narrow dark path toward the agreed-upon meeting place.
    Lord Merrick was waiting for her already and her heart started to thud madly at sight of him. How he looked with his tan breeches, black Hessians to the knee and dark blue coat of superfine! His dark brown hair was almost black and slightly wavy, and had chestnut highlights that glistened from the light in the crescent meadow where they had agreed to meet.
    He walked a few paces, dropped the walking stick he carried and took both Celia’s hands, surprising her in a way that made her breath catch and her knees jelly as his hands held hers tightly, sending shivering tingling pleasure throughout her body. She made no move to release her hands but smiled at him and moved closer, looking into his wonderful blue eyes.
    “I—” She was unable to continue as she just looked deep into his eyes.
    “I feel the same way, Miss Meade,” he said as he moved even closer, dropped one of his hands, which then went to her back, pressing her closer to him, and kissed her full in the mouth.
    Celia was startled but did not move back. His lips on hers were the most ecstatic feeling she had felt in her life and she was not about to cut it short. Her knees wobbled and had Robert not been holding her she would have slipped onto the grass, unable to hold her quaking legs. A jolt had sped through her body and she was still feeling its aftereffects as she roused herself to listen to what Lord Merrick was saying.
    “I can’t say I’m sorry, Miss Meade, for I have been dreaming of kissing you for a long time. Ever since I first laid eyes on, you, in fact.”
    Celia’s response was a bright smile as he led her to the trail which he explained would lead them to the wildflower meadow. He had recovered his walking stick and with his other hand he held Celia’s hand.
    Silence was their only companion as Lord Merrick led the way down the trail, now and then holding back a branch that had encroached upon the narrow path so that Celia might go through, and his dog skipping after them.
    Celia was silent, still feeling the aftereffects of his kiss and his warm words.
    “Our grooms cut the foliage back from the path now and then but it grows back fiercely, particularly in the spring,” he said.
    As the saying went, the devil take tomorrow, thought Celia. She was considered a spinster, and spinsters had a right to grab a little happiness from wherever source it came. She knew a kiss from Lord Merrick meant nothing but the pleasure of the moment, yet she reveled in it and would dream about it again and again.
    Then the light that filtered through the trees was now stranger, as Lord Merrick pressed back a few branches so that she might get through.
    Then he pulled back so that she could see the meadow.
    “Oh!”
    Celia’s reaction to the wildflower meadow was instant and full of joy. She had never seen a concentration of wildflowers in a myriad of colors, like a splattering of colors in a palette gone wild.
    “It’s so beautiful,” she said, her glance encompassing the wide round meadow on which new light green grass grew and beyond a circle of slim dark toned trunks of trees contrasted vividly. Her artist’s imagination was reveling in the sight as Lord Merrick smiled beside her.
    “I was certain you would love it,” he said. “Miss Molly told me you liked to paint and have sold many of your sketches.”
    “Yes,” Celia replied and sat where he directed where they had the view of the wide meadow.
    “I’ve never seen a place where wildflowers grew in so many different hues,” she said.