Desired by a Lord (Regency Unlaced 5) by Carole Mortimer

having been with him for years. The servants who did choose to leave usually did so to go to another position within the confines of the city. Emily was right, the servants at Whitney Park did not have that flexibility. Their families and homes were here. Fearing for the future of their positions at Whitney Park did not make for a happy household.
    Perhaps in future—
    “I am ready, my—Xander.”
    Xander turned from staring out the window, eyes widening as he took in Emily’s appearance. Her hair was just as loosely styled as earlier, and she wore a gown of deep purple velvet, which should have clashed with her red hair but somehow only complemented the color. But what captured and held his gaze was the tight bodice of the gown as it scooped low over her breasts and revealed their full swell.
    She looked more like a beautiful and desirable young lady today than the prim widow who had arrived at Whitney Park three days ago.
    Emily shifted self-consciously under the intensity of Xander’s gaze on the tops of her bared breasts. “I removed the lace tucker,” she admitted, having thought long and hard before doing so. In the end, she’d decided Xander was arrogant and forceful enough to remove it himself if she did not.
    Without that lace tucker covering her shoulders and the tops of her breasts, the purple gown took on a much more sensual appearance. She had also forgone wearing a corset, remembering how constricting it had been the previous evening. Her drawers, a relatively recent fashion, had met the same fate.
    “Is it too much?” She felt uncertain of Xander’s lengthy silence.
    “It is just perfect,” he assured her huskily as he crossed the room to her side. “Not that it matters particularly, as I fully intend to remove your gown completely the moment we are alone and private on the grounds.”
    Emily was aware of the heat in her cheeks and the catch of her breath in her throat. “There is such a place?”
    “Oh yes,” he assured her. “It is my favorite place in the garden. I used to hide there as a boy on sunny days such as this,” he confided. “Whenever my tutor attempted to make me sit and do a lesson I had no wish to do.”
    It seemed strange to think of this totally confident—even arrogant—gentleman, as being a young boy hiding from his tutor. And yet Xander would have grown up here, within the safe confines of Whitney Park.
    Emily’s own childhood home had not been as grand as this. But grand enough she remembered similarly thwarting her governess on hot summer days, and the freedom of running wild about the countryside.
    Xander’s fingertips brushed lightly against her cheek. “You are not allowed to have unhappy thoughts today.”
    She was saved from having to answer that remark, as Clarke appeared in the doorway. Besides, they had not been unhappy thoughts, merely wistful ones for the life she had taken completely for granted at the time, never having known any other, and which would never be brought back to her.
    “Do you wish one of the footmen to carry your picnic basket out into the garden and then serve it for you, my lord?” Clarke enquired.
    “No, I will carry it myself, thank you.” Xander dismissed the butler. He wished to have Emily completely to himself for the afternoon. His plans for the two of them did not include the intrusive gaze of a third party.
     
    “I had no idea this was here.” Emily was enchanted to find that what she had assumed yesterday was a high hedge at the back of the house was actually a maze.
    A maze which Xander had no trouble navigating as he took the two of them straight to the grassy center. Instead of an ornamental fountain, as might be expected at its midst, there was a huge oak tree spreading its limbs far and wide and further adding to the feeling they were the only two people in the world.
    Xander turned from spreading out the blankets beneath the oak tree. “Do you like it?”
    She nodded. “No wonder you loved it so as a