Lisette (19 page)

Pamela laughed.

“Yes, well. I was such a fool. I had no idea
what I wanted or what I would feel for him. Becoming lovers quickly
became complicated too, because emotions are a big part of
intimacy, at least for a woman.”

“I don’t know if I could…” Pamela looked
away.

“Love yourself first,” Lisette told her
softly. “Love your body and the life inside it, the breath that you
nurture it with. Love the gift of pleasure, of letting yourself
feel, the wonder of being. Everything will be easier to accept. If
you never experience a different kind of love, at least accept the
beauty of Yourself... We are all different shape, size, and hue.
You have beauty in body and soul, and love in your heart. You’ve
simply got to allow yourself to acknowledge it.”

After Pamela was gone to change and see to
her own bath, Lisette went in search of Elisha, deducing he would
be in his chambers.

Pushing open the doors to his sitting room,
Lisette’s breath was snatched from her lungs.

Elisha was in the entryway to his bedchamber
with his back to her. Completely nude—all six foot four inches of
dark sinewy skin and muscle exposed. Her gaze caressed from his
heels, up his calves, over the backs of his thighs, an arse—that
made her want to moan—His taut waist and the flair of muscle in his
upper back and shoulders were deliciously, sexually, alluring. She
completely forgot what she was there for. He was so chiseled,
smooth, carved and masculine. His hair was wet, so strands
separated on his nape.

Lisette licked her lips recalling kissing
just that spot.

As if feeling someone behind him, Elisha’s
head turned and those silver eyes caught her in the act of ogling
his body.

He almost turned completely around, but fist
reached for something-that turned out to be toweling. It was draped
low on his hips when he did face her. “Come in.”

His tone sounded gruff. It went in her ear
and to all the right places his image had already stirred.

She managed, “You’ve got a valet?”

“No. Smith-er—Drew is here. He’s just telling
me about the sale of the house.”

She actually flushed. “Oh.”

Elisha grinned and leaned his shoulder
against the facing. “You’re blushing, Lisette.”

“I didn’t expect…”

Drew appeared beside Elisa. He was smiling
too. “Hello.” He passed Elisha and said, “I’ll just leave.”

“No. I—I" There was always an intimacy and
bond when she saw the two of them together, and she had the feeling
they had been talking about her.

“I’ll just…go.”

Both men laughed.

She looked between them turning redder but
saying, “I’ll see you both at dinner.”

Her hand was on the knob when Elisha drawled,
“I enjoy your voyeuristic tendencies.”

Too, close behind her, Drew said with a tease
in his tone, “That’s an indulgence we share, my lady.”

As she proceeded down the hall, she heard
their laughter blending. However, Lisette was smiling. They were
enjoying themselves and she was more than happy to suffer a little
blushing to hear their laughter.

* * * *

At dinner, which Pamela attended, they heard
that the London house was snatched up almost before the sale was
posted.

Drew said, “The duke sent a note around that
a gent at his club had the very thing for Marston. It is a
respectable size and well addressed. The furnishings are nice, and
everything is modern. He was good enough to send the man’s address.
All awaits Elisha’s approval.”

“I’ll send him a missive, and draft one to my
man of business. No tour is necessary. Anything will be an
improvement,” was Elisha’s answer.

“Famous. You’ll be decorating that suite
before you know it.” Lisette told Pamela.

Looking better from fresh air and sun,
wearing a gown of soft lavender, and having her hair up in a twist,
Pamela offered, “I hope you will advise me.”

“Of course. And my mama will come up too. She
is wonderful at that—and haggling. She has superb taste, though I
have warned you, she will have her pets with her.”

“She’s a delightful woman,” Drew told her.
“Completely without pretense, but has that unmistakable way of
carrying herself—even when she has a parrot on her arm.”

They laughed.

“Cake and coffee.” Elisha stood.

They all followed him, assembling in the
study. A warm rain began to fall, and it brought a waft of spring
air through the open French doors.

Seated on a settee with Pamela while Elisha
and Drew flanked it in winged chairs, they talked in quiet tones.
Lisette was glad Pamela joined in. She did not miss Drew’s smiles
at her either, and his warm way of speaking to Pamela. He was
obviously overjoyed she was coming out of her shell.

They were sitting there when Marston caught
Lisette’s gaze and offered quietly, “We have, each in our own way,
fallen in love with you.”

Her heart hammering, Lisette answered, “It’s
mutual. It is no secret that I fought it, Elisha. I was so afraid,
in my own way, of being confined, of having to live under rules and
by them, in a way that would suffocate me.”

“I know.”

“I didn’t. I didn’t know until you withdrew
and I could see you as you were, instead of—well, what my mother
presented you to me.”

He did that quirk of his lips. “You can thank
Drew for that.”

“I know.” She looked at the man who winked at
her. Then back to Elisha. “Even when I realized I wanted you, you
made me daft not showing all of yourself to me.”

Those silver eyes were direct. “Lisette, no
man wants to appear less than he is. It was not only failing to
protect my mother, my sister, to stand up to my father, it
was…everything that I became, to appease him.”

“I do understand. You felt that, but it would
have never seemed so to me. Knowing only deepens my impression of
your strength, Elisha.”

He looked from her a moment. “And it was what
I felt before he took himself out of the world. I knew he would.”
He looked back at her. “I knew what I was doing.”

Drew cut in, “It was his choice. His sins and
cruelty, Elisha. He did not apologize or feel guilt. He didn’t want
his real character exposed, but he didn’t have a moment’s regret
otherwise.”

“True.” Elisha released a tight breath. “But
it doesn’t change what I felt and experienced when what I told him
finally dawned in his eyes. I knew he’d end it—and I wanted it
ended.”

“I’m not going to judge you for that. I may
have done the same.” Lisette offered.

“I didn’t want to drag you into my past, or
my present.” Elisha told her. “You see the contrast. You live it.
Your family. But mostly you, Lisette. Even while my feelings are
stronger because you have been so kind Pamela, I still feel it. I
feel like we have brought something into your life, our shadows and
pain—that will change you.”

“Not in the manner you fear. Because I love
life and live it does not mean I am without compassion or that, I
am oblivious to horrific things. I do not live behind ivory walls.
My parents are not perfect. We were often times confused by their
relationship. As much as they love, they argue just as
passionately.”

She raised her hand. “The thing is, Elisha. I
did not want adventure and all that, in order to escape reality. I
never believed it was without risk. However, wanting in ignorance
of what lies within your path is something we all do. On the
contrary, I do not feel something has been taken from me since I
have met you, I feel a deeper understanding of why life and living
are precious. Why love is so profound.”

Lowering her hand, she looked at Pamela. “I
see the way we’re connected and feel that I’ve learned something
from all of you.” Looking next to Drew, she went on, “Rather than
making me cynical, it proves that love has many facets and there
are people whom you meet that can make life richer and more
meaningful.”

After she looked at Marston again, Drew
murmured, “Perhaps Pamela and I will leave. You two—”

Pamela was already rising…

Marston said softly, “I love you, Lisette. I
loved you before I uttered one word to you, but now, I love you
more than I ever thought possible.”

She was going to weep. She nearly got to her
feet, before he held up his hand and stopped her.

Lisette sat down again. “But?”

“I have written the duke, formally applying
for your hand in marriage.”

Her lips parted. “You have?”

“Yes. I also asked him, and the duchess, to
come here and allow me to speak with them.”

He slid up in his chair and his gaze sought
her understanding. “I feel they must know me. It is only right,
given that I first approached your mother, and how they opened
their home to me. More importantly, I want the duke to know I love
you. You may not see it Lisette, but you are the apple of his eye.
Though he lets the duchess have her way, and he trusts you, I could
see when I was there, that he was measuring me. He needs to know
you will mean as much to the man he gives you to—as you do to
him.”

Lisette swallowed the urge to weep. She could
see Marston release a tense breath before he looked up at Drew and
Pamela, who were standing just behind the settee.

“Do you understand?” he asked them.

“Yes.”

“Yes.” Pamela echoed Drew, but looked very
apprehensive.

Drew’s arm went round her. He was looking
between Marston and Lisette when he offered, “I must be honest
also. I have accepted friendships from them, and from the Marquis,
while being less than truthful. My name, my father…” He looked at
Lisette. “I have to confront the ghosts at some point. If I am
judged by who he was, it is my battle to prove I am my own man. I
have something to offer of value, and no reason to hide in the
shadows.”

Smiling, Lisette murmured, “Here, Here.”

They all laughed when Pamela sighed and
intoned dryly, “Love is much more difficult than I thought.”

On their feet now, Lisette and Elisha reached
out, and were holding hands. “Truth frees us. Even if it does not
wipe away what was. It frees us to love, deeper and stronger.”

Pamela and Drew slipped out of the room.

Lisette gazed up at Marston. “I love
you.”

“I know.”

“This need to speak with my father, and do
things properly—does it mean you intend to do um—everything
properly?”

He was nodding his head yes.

She groaned.

Elisha laughed and drew her into his arms.
“When I next make love to you, it will be as my wife. I can hold
you without worrying about for how long. We can make love until we
are sated. I never left you that I was not still hungry for you. I
want to love you as my wife, feel you make love to me, as the man
you now know I am.”

She had her arms around him. Tears stung
Lisette’s eyes. The beat of his heart sounded under her ear. “You
are a difficult chap, Marston, but doubtless that is why I am so
daft for you. I shall, of course, wait. And cherish you all the
more, because you made us both do so. I shall die, at some point,
having loved and been loved by the most wonderful man on
earth.”

One of his hands stroked her hair at the back
of her head. “As shall I feel, each day with you. But to save us
both from waxing too poetic—I should tell you—I have the most vivid
dreams and fantasies of what our intimate life will be like.”

She pushed back so she could look at him.
There was a twinkle in his eyes. It was absolutely beautiful.
Lisette retorted, “Thanks to seeing your beautiful arse today, I
will be so restless and sleep deprived I will look the hag when you
finally do make me your wife.”

“Never.” He kissed the tip of her nose, and
then murmured in her ear, “And I know you, my Lisette. You will
think of me and ease that restlessness.”

“For shame, Marston.” She breathed in and let
it out. When he lifted his head and their eyes met, she finished,
“You are playing your own naughty games, I see.” Her brow rose and
excitement rushed through her.

He kissed her, slow, languid and deep, and
when he lifted his head, lashes half-mast, he confessed, “I had a
very good tutor.”

She groaned in his mouth on the next kiss,
and then pushed away from him. They were trying to calm
themselves.

“Don’t make it too long after they
arrive.”

He said as she was leaving, “I’ve had the
license since you took my virtue in that cottage.”

At the doorway she turned, chuckling. “I did,
didn’t I?”

He nodded, grinning.

She obviously found that exciting.

He supplied, “I was seduced on site, tutored
in the most erotic foreplay, and ravished by an exciting and
adventurous woman.”

Snorting, she turned again and called,
“Ravishment indeed. I am just getting started.”

When she was no longer in site, Marston
released the tension in his breaths and murmured, “As am I.”

* * * *

The duke and duchess arrived two days
afterwards, the initial meeting taken up with welcomes and
introduction to Pamela, who bravely stood outside holding Lisette’s
hand when they alighted. She executed a graceful curtsy, and then
oversaw getting them settled in their chambers.

Lisette found herself blissfully happy about
what Marston had told her on the one hand—on the other, pacing and
chewing her nails in the back garden after dinner—whilst brother,
sister, and Drew, met privately with the graces in the study.

This was not easy for either of them, and to
imagine how much sleep Elisha must have lost, how hard it was for
him to tell the tale to her parents—and Pamela.

Lisette looked up about an hour afterwards
and heard her mother’s voice. The duchess had Pamela’s arm through
hers and they were walking the walkway together, talking quietly.
As much as she wanted to rush over and ask how it went, she stayed
where she was and watched them pause by a bench and sit. Her mother
would know how to draw Pamela out and would take her into her
heart, she did not doubt. The duchess was like that. She tried not
to think about what her father was experiencing sitting still
inside with Drew and Marston.