Wolfsgate by Cat Porter Page A

her to play with their circle of friends. It was then that Richard began a slow degeneration into his own world.
    Thereafter, Uncle Richard barely registered Justine’s presence and often left her on her own at Wolfsgate, relinquishing responsibility of her under the pretense of the country being a better place for her to grow up. Richard and William would spend many months at a time in London on their own enjoying society and its entertainments. They would return to the country whenever it pleased them, which was seldom, and Justine would accompany them to town on rare occasions.
    Brandon winced at the memory. He had left England then and gone on his tour of Venice, Rome, and Florence with his good friend Charles while Justine had been left behind at Wolfsgate with only his father and her governess for company.
    “Brandon, do you remember when Annie and I found you and William here swimming, and you wouldn’t let us swim with you?” Justine’s voice was light, her face upturned, her eyes relaxed. “It was so very hot that day, and we were desperate for a swim.”
    “Yes, I do.” The edges of Brandon’s mouth curled up. “Annie got quite annoyed, and you both took our clothes. You saw us naked.” He let out a laugh. It felt good to remember a summer afternoon when children’s pranks and swimming in a cool creek were their only cares. “Ah, Justine, the look on both your faces!”
    “I was frozen to the spot, I couldn’t move. William was so mad at us.” Justine’s unfettered laughter rang out over the surface of the water, and an unfamiliar warmth spiraled in his chest. “He was yelling, carrying on all the while completely forgetting he was standing there before us without a stitch on him!”
    “Annie only made faces at him.”
    “Yes, she did, then she threw all your clothes in the water, grabbed my hand, and we ran all the way home.”
    “Such silly girls.” He splashed water at her.
    “Oh!” Justine splashed him back. He splashed her again, moving closer towards her.
    Justine let out a squeal and smashed her hand through the water in his direction. “Stop it!”
    “You stop!” he shouted back at her laughing. “Or I will have to resort to extreme measures.”
    She only laughed harder, and he launched towards her with his two hands ready to plunge her down below the surface. His hands gripped her shoulders, and she turned to twist out of his grasp, but ended up twisting deeper into him. She shoved at him, but her hands slipped against the wet skin of his bare chest. He held her fast.
    She bit her lower lip, and his gaze fell on her mouth inches away from his own, then it dropped lower. Her wet bosom was plainly obvious through the sheer wet fabric of her chemise which now clung to her body. His nerve endings lit up like a flame, and he broke away from her diving under the cool water. Within moments, he came back up for air, but Justine was no longer in the water. She now stood on the shore by their pile of clothing.
    “Justine? Are you leaving?”
    She turned to answer him and instantly blushed, obviously realizing too late she was showing him her naked body under her soaked chemise. Softly cursing under her breath, she quickly turned, but in doing so, offered him a full view of her rear.
    “I’m cold,” she said, gesturing in the air with her hand. She snatched up her skirts and got into them, then wrapped her corset around her torso, quickly fixing the stays. She tucked and smoothed the clingy, damp fabric around her fetching body.
    Brandon floated on his back on the water and enjoyed the view of his wife. He took in her full breasts, her shapely bottom, the curve of her hips. Justine was no longer a girl. She had grown into a woman. A very desirable woman. His body tightened. It had been a long time since he had been aware of that particular reflex and was pleasantly surprised by it. In fact, that burn now flared through him. Maybe it was one of his body’s strange new reactions to having