Free My Lord the Spy by Audrey Harrison Page A

worry over Charles, but I can’t imagine ever—,”
    “Just promise me and mean it,” Edmund insisted.
    “I promise,” Clara said seriously.
    “Good, now come with me.” Edmund led the way into the clump of trees, so they were out of sight. He leaned against a tree and pulled Clara towards him. “I don’t know whether it is the romance of the day, or the sun, but, Miss Baker, I have the overwhelming urge to kiss you.”
    “Oh!” Clara said in surprise. She had not expected anything of the kind to happen, but she had longed to feel Edmund’s kisses since she had experienced them the first time. So, although she should have pulled away, she did not. It was wrong of him to put her in such a situation, but it was poor behaviour on her part that she did nothing to prevent further kisses. She would have been condemned by any of her acquaintances if seen, especially as she leaned into Edmund and snaked her arms around his neck.
    Edmund groaned with pleasure and pulled Clara against his body before joining his lips to hers. Her slight sigh as their lips touched was the only encouragement he needed, and he deepened his kiss, pausing only to check that she had closed her eyes, which he was pleased and amused to see she had.
    Kissing Clara in the open air was even more enjoyable than Edmund expected. He did not have a few glasses of brandy to deaden his senses; every part of him was wired to thoroughly explore her mouth and body. He kept his hands away from her hair, although it was torture. He did not wish her to have anyone realise what they had done, so he moved his arms, slowly lowering them until he had grasped her behind through the thick material of her riding habit and pulled her towards him.
    Clara gasped at the movement and pulled her face away from Edmund’s. “What are you doing?” she croaked, her voice husky and her pupils dilated.
    “I want you to feel what an affect you have on me; can you feel it?” Edmund growled out.
    “I don’t think ̶ ,” Clara started.
    “Don’t worry; you are perfectly safe with me. I wouldn’t do anything to put you or your reputation at risk, except what we are doing now, but we are not going to be discovered. I know I shouldn’t, but I can’t help responding to the effect you have on me,” Edmund said honestly and probably for the first time he had ever been truthful with any woman he had kissed.
    Clara smiled slightly. “It’s your turn to promise you mean what you say.”
    “I promise; this is not funning or flirting in the slightest,” Edmund said, squeezing Clara’s behind for good measure.
    “In that case, would you please kiss me again?” Clara asked and, although she flushed to the roots of her hair at being so forward, her need to be kissed was a more urgent desire than the need to be restrained or worry about impropriety at this point ̶ a feeling that was new and a little overwhelming. She pushed aside the thoughts that she should have been restrained, more like the lady she was supposed to be; she was too busy enjoying herself.
    Edmund chuckled his deep rumble of a laugh at her words and kissed her showing her how much he wanted her.
    Quite a few minutes passed before Edmund was able to release Clara. “I think we need to be returning to your cousin. We have been out of sight for a while now.”
    “Do we have to?” Clara asked, brazenly running her hand through Edmund’s hair. There was something about being with him that made her feel confident enough to want to enjoy his touch as much as he seemed to enjoy hers. She would never have been so forward but, with him, she was liberated in a way she had never imagined.
    “God, you are going to kill me, woman, speaking to me like that! It’s a good thing I gave you my word. Without that you would be thrown to the ground and ravished, uttering such an invitation!”
    Clara smiled a far more wanton smile than she would have ever believed possible. “I like kisses without consequences,” she