Caversham's Bride (The Caversham Chronicles - Book One) (33 page)

“At Haldenwood, there are many servants, faithful to my family, who would protect you both from harm. There are already guards on the premises protecting my sisters and grandmother.”

“I see,” she said as she turned away from him. “Now I understand the need for the heavy security while we travel.”

He drew her onto his lap, holding her close, his arms enveloping her in his great warmth. He cradled her there in complete silence for several minutes, his lips pressed to her temple, as she watched the two boys playing in the distance.

“I have missed you these past few nights, wife.”

“I’ve not been far.” She gave him a slight smile. “Why have you really stayed away? I was beginning to think you had no more need for me now that I’ve conceived your child.”

“Never that, Lia, I assure you.” He chuckled, and she looked into his eyes, he seemed almost embarrassed in his discomfort, but she wanted to know. She quirked a brow, unwilling to let him off the hook for his absence. “You may find this ignorant or irrational, but...,” he hesitated, obviously uncomfortable. He looked away, toward the boys who sat on a fence a few yards away. “I’m afraid of hurting you or the babe. I wanted to ask Prescott, but was afraid he’d think me a dunderhead, and knew not who else to ask.”

“Why not ask me?”

“Because I assumed most women wanted the time away from their husband’s attentions.” He stroked her forearm lightly, his nerves preventing him from looking in her eyes.

“Not me,” she told him, amazed he hadn’t said anything about this concern sooner. “I am not most women. While you were seeing to Prescott’s cherry tarts, I asked him just that question. He left it up to me.” She pressed her cheek to his and whispered into his ear, “I feel wonderful.”

Their gazes locked for a moment, and his eyes darkened with desire. Ren nodded and placed feather-light kisses on her lips and cheeks. “Our dinner awaits,” he said.

“Or we can have desert before dinner,” she whispered into his ear.

He appeared shocked at her offering. “Are you sure?”

Lia nodded. Ren lifted her effortlessly, and carried her across the yard, issuing orders as they passed the guard. Something in her breast fluttered with excitement at the fact he still wanted and desired her, even when the goal of a child had already been achieved. She gave her brother thirty more minutes of play. “We won’t need more than that right now,” she told him. He took her through the inn and up to their room, passing the small dining room where their meal waited.

Ren locked the door to their room after setting her down. Lia quickly removed her boots and unlaced her pantalettes, dropping them to the floor. “We don’t have time to remove all our clothes,” she said as she climbed onto the bed. Ren managed the buttons on his breeches, but had difficulty with his boots.

“Come, quickly!” She bunched her skirts around her waist, and parted her legs for him. With breeches and drawers around his knees, unable to remove them because of the boots, he climbed onto the bed and explored the deepest and most private parts of her with his hand first, then with his mouth, driving her to the brink before moving over her. He entered her gently, but she wanted more. She needed to feel the full length of him inside her, touching with his rigid flesh where his fingers had caressed only minutes before.

Lifting her legs, she wrapped them around Ren’s hips to allow him deeper access. He groaned as she met each of his thrusts with one of her own. When he moved inside her, his strokes created magic within her, and it wasn’t long before he catapulted her to the edge of sanity—where she soared. She felt her husband tense above her and thrust deeply one last time, as he climaxed as well.

She gave him a lazy, satisfied smile. “I told you we wouldn’t need more time than that.”

He eased himself out of her, rolled over, and pulled her into his arms. His warm breath tickled the baby fine hairs at her temple as he worked to control his breathing. “Yesterday I longed to tell you how beautiful you are. You already glow if that is possible.”

“You’re seeing things. I’m a woman who gets sick at the smell of cook’s cherry tarts.”

“I won’t tell her,” he said. “Or, we just won’t have cherry tarts for the duration.” One of his hands rested on the curve of her hip as she sat on the edge of the bed. When his palm slid forward to rest reverently over her womb, he said. “I am very pleased.” He stroked her belly lovingly as their gazes met. “You must take care Lia, for the new Marquess Glencairn lies within,” he said as their eyes met.

“I know,” she said rising.

Lia delighted in the fact that he still desired her in this way. Hopefully he would continue to as she grew larger and more round. And she realized something else.

She loved him. She didn’t know when or how, but sometime over the past few weeks, she’ fallen in love with him. Lia knew it was too soon for Ren, because his thoughts were still focused on capturing his cousin and keeping them safe.

The sound of a child in boots coming up the stairs shattered the wondrous tranquility of the room. As they grew closer, Lia jumped from the bed and snatched her drawers and tossed them under the pillow, then rearranged the covers before checking her appearance in the mirror. Just as she did the child turned the knob only to find the door locked. Ren stiffened as the person on the other side then pounded.

“Who in hell....” Ren growled.

“Lia? Lia, are you in there?”

Lia stayed her husband with her hand. “
Sì, Luchino. Uno momento
.”

Ren stared at her while he managed the buttons on the front of his breeches. “Is this how he normally enters a room?”

As he worked the ribbon, she said, “Please, he’s only a child. I shall speak with him.”

“He will be taught manners.” His voice told her he would tolerate no argument on the subject.

When her husband nodded, Lia unlocked the door and let her brother in. His mop of curly dark hair was damp from sweat, and he had that pungent smell of a child that had been playing outdoors. It was a cross between wet dog and a freshly plowed field after a brief rain shower. As he passed she had to place her hand delicately and discreetly over her nose.

“Why is your door locked, Lia? Are you punished?”

“No, I am not punished. His Grace and I wanted some privacy.”

“Oh,” he said matter-of-factly. “Let’s go eat. I’m hungry.”

“While you’re eating, a bath will be delivered to the room across the hall. Please make use of it. Ask Ghita to help you,” Lia said. “You stink.”

“Where am I sleeping tonight?” he asked, without so much as a response to her request that he bathe.

“You will sleep across the hall,” her husband replied for her, “with your sister’s maid.”

Lia looked at him, worried about her brother’s safety. Ren nodded his head. “He will be fine.”

“Lia,” her brother said, “where are you going to sleep?”

“She will be sleeping in my room, with me,” Ren replied.

“Ugh! Why do you want to do that?” Luchino asked Ren, a look of incredulity on his face. “She makes you say prayers before you can go to sleep. She even snores sometimes.”

“I do not!”

“Yes you do,” her brother replied. “You just can’t hear yourself snore because you’re sleeping. But I used to hear it all the time at home.”

Suddenly her brother’s eyes grew wide and filled with tears. She knew he remembered their days in Naples, before the death of their parents. She wrapped her arms around him to comfort him. He tried so hard to be a little man, but he still had a child’s heart. One which bore many scars from the past year. She kissed the top of his sweaty head, and ruffled his curls.

“
Ora, tutto é buono
, Luchino,” she whispered. “All is well. Mama and Papa are watching over us right this minute. And Maura. Too. Do not doubt that they love us. I don’t.”

Upon entering the little dining room just beyond the base of the steps, a Caversham footman served their dinner. Her brother ate with gusto, and when he finished his plate of food Ren had the footman show him his room where the bath waited. When they were alone Ren turned to her and took her into his arms. His broad chest and strong arms comforted her, she drew her strength from him. He stroked her cheek lightly with a finger, then placed a kiss on her forehead.

He gently tilted her face up to his, and smiled a mischievous grin at her. “Will you make me say my prayers before bedtime, wife?”

T
he next morning her husband awakened her before sunrise. Not to love her again, but to give her a few spare moments, so it seemed to Lia, to ready herself for the rest of their journey to his home.

“If you wish to sleep more, I can help make you comfortable in the coach. We’ll be traveling slowly again.” He helped her onto the seat and wrapped a blanket around her legs, making sure to tuck the sides under her. “Prescott would have my hide if after all we’ve been through to see to the babe’s health, I now take chances by bouncing you around in transit.”

The babe’s health
. His words served to remind her what his primary desire was. Their child. Granted, she had known this all along, but she couldn’t help wanting him to love her as a man loves a wife. Especially since she now knew she loved him.

Laying her head back, she soon dozed off to complete her interrupted sleep. As comfortable as it was, the coach wasn’t nearly as soft and warm as the inn’s bed, with Ren’s arms wrapped around her.

And their babe.

C
HAPTER
S
EVENTEEN

A
towering canopy of ancient oaks lined both sides of the gravel drive like a regiment of veteran soldiers. The road itself seemed to stretch for an eternity, and with every inch the coach traveled, Lia’s nervousness became more pronounced. She gave up her attempt at a decent stitch on the baby blanket, and dropped the hoop down on the seat next to her with a huff. Looking at her husband, she decided she admired his ability to remain unruffled in any situation. The man never got nervous or upset. Angry, yes. And he manifested his anger in such a controlled, practiced way that, at times, it bordered on frightening.

But not today. Today her husband rested across from her, leaning against the side of the coach with his legs stretched across the seat, one booted foot dangling lazily over the edge. He opened an eye, raised a brow, and peered in her direction. “We have about ten minutes until we arrive. If you are so inclined, I could warm you up and help you forget your fears.”

“Oh, you!” Lia tossed her lap blanket over his face. “How am I ever going to convince your family that we met and fell instantly in love when you frustrate me to perdition?”

Ren lowered the material, and in a single swift movement, reached across and pulled her onto his lap. With one finger he turned her face toward his.

She did not want to look at his grinning countenance, so she squeezed her eyes shut, but that could not prevent her from hearing his laughter. Lia tried to pull away from him, but he held her tight. “You’re laughing at me,” she pouted.

“With you, not at you.” Ren stroked her back. “Relax, sweetheart. There’s nothing to worry about. My family is now your family. My home is now yours. The girls will adore you, and so will my grandmother.”

He continued his soothing gesture, as he began to describe his family. “Sarah, my youngest sister is six years old, and in dire need of someone to act as mother to her. She has the adventurous spirit of a boy three times her age, and it is rather disconcerting that she fears not a thing. I’m afraid one day I’ll wake to learn she has sailed to China, or South America. She will definitely need taming and instruction. Her nurse does what she can, the poor dear, but she is aged herself, for Mildred was my nurse all those years ago. I had planned to hire a governess for Sarah before her seventh birthday, but I will let you make that decision now.

“My other sister, Elise, has always had many friends with four legs, but not many who wear skirts.” Here her husband gave a worried sigh. “She and I shared the same mother, who died shortly after her birth. Father mourned for several years, and eventually remarried, I think so Elise could grow up with a woman in the home, though it was obvious to all that he grew to love Amelia. Since their deaths, Elise has been hiding in the barns, working with the horses.”

“I’m not sure if you do things as we do, but has she been presented at court yet?” Lia asked.

“No. She’ll be seventeen this summer, and were planning her debut for next spring. But,” he paused, thinking about the situation with his sister, “I don’t think she’s keen on coming out at all. She doesn’t act as other girls do. She never did get excited by the glamor of dresses and jewels. In fact, she would rather have a new pair of riding boots, or comfortable breeches.”

Lia stared at him, surprised that he allowed his sister such freedoms.

“Father and Amelia’s deaths affected her deeply. She began to spend more and more time out in the barn with the horses. She’s forever talking about them, training and riding them. To see what she can do with an unruly horse is rather amazing, if I say so myself. She turns a wild, untamed creature into a puppy that follows her around waiting for instruction.