Summer Is for Lovers by Jennifer McQuiston

Author:Jennifer McQuiston
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2013-09-30T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

A THRUMMING BEAT STILL shimmered at the juncture of Caroline’s thighs a quarter hour later. If that had been her first lesson in the pleasures to be found beyond kissing, she could not imagine what her second lesson might reveal.

If David hadn’t pulled the flag, how much more might she have learned? She wanted to imagine he would not have taken her there against the wall of the bathing machine, but the urgency of his kiss and the primitive, vital response of her own body had quite shocked her.

How could she expect him to guard her virtue if her own feelings on the matter were so easily swayed?

Mr. Hamilton had joined them for the long, sticky walk home, drawing Penelope into a private conversation and leaving Caroline to fend for herself among the three remaining men. She breathed a grateful sigh of relief as they made their way up her porch stairs and came to a disorderly halt. At last she could count this ill-designed exercise at an end and find a way to slip out and meet David at the cove. She was already late, but there had been no choice but to return home first. The three men remained glued to her side from the moment she climbed, damp and disheveled, out of the bathing machine.

“Might I call on you for a walk tomorrow?” Duffington’s booming voice jerked her back to the hard reality of the parting niceties.

Branson elbowed his way closer and lodged a swift protest. “I was hoping to call on you tomorrow, Miss Caroline.”

To her surprise, given his seeming focus on Penelope, Mr. Hamilton was the next to pipe up. “It isn’t sporting to monopolize her time when there are also others who would enjoy a chance to call on her. I would like to call on her tomorrow, as well.”

Caroline tried to summon a smile, but it was hard to find one that fit the moment. The infantile verbal sparring between the men was starting to remind her of the gulls that squabbled over crusts of bread on the beach. Worse, they imposed on time she needed to preserve for David. She was going to need every second to teach him what he needed to know in order to win against Brighton’s more seasoned competitors on Monday.

And she was going to demand every second he owed her in return.

“I really must beg all of your leaves on the matter of a walk tomorrow,” she hedged, fanning her face. “I am unused to such . . . strenuous exercise.” She saw Penelope’s eyes round at bit at the lie. Not that she blamed her. After all, her sister was usually the one who had to explain the long walks Caroline took most afternoons to their mother.

When the last man had taken his leave and trooped off the porch, Caroline exhaled in frustration. “I am sorry, Pen. I do not know why Mr. Hamilton said he would call on me. He seems much more interested in you, truth be told.

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