How to Wed an Earl (18 page)

Releasing a sigh of relief, she turned to seek a moment alone. She closed her eyes as the wind cooled her face, and she breathed in the grass-scented breeze. She was thankful to find a moment of peace amid the raucous laughter and music swirling about her.

“You look like you’re about to cast a spell on all of us, nymph,” Lucas whispered behind her.

She turned and gave her husband a serene smile. “I saw you talking to the farmers. Did you find their conversation edifying?”

“I hope you do not mind if I sometimes wander off to discuss crop rotations and fertilizers. It is what saved the Ravenstone fortunes, after all.”

“I do not mind at all, Lucas. I’m glad the villagers no longer act oddly around you.”

His brow arched in sardonic amusement. “They seem to be willing to forgive my reputation now that I have made an honest woman out of you.”

She laughed, feeling lighthearted for the first time since the reception had started. “I still haven’t forgiven you for letting Papa find your coat in my bedchamber.”

Lucas reached up to tuck a wayward curl behind her ear. “Let that be a warning to you, Penelope. I always get what I want in the end.”

She had a feeling he was not merely teasing. Then he took hold of her hand and all thoughts of who tricked whom scattered to the winds.

“Shall we dance, my dear?” Lucas asked, pulling her to the makeshift dance floor. “We can start the dancing and leave soon after. What do you think?”

“So eager to leave, my lord?”

He pulled her into his arms as the musicians struck up a waltz. “You have no idea,” he rasped against her ear.

They left the party shortly after, heading for one of Lucas’s smaller estates in Kendal. Her mother hugged her goodbye, and Papa shook her husband’s hand, telling them they would visit soon to discuss the several business ventures Lucas had advised him to invest in.

Colin and Sarah were eager to visit London, too. Even Gertie had given them a tearful goodbye. It was during the farewells that it hit Penelope how everything was about to change.

Her life was with Lucas now.

And as Bess finished fussing over her hair, she decided to make the best of the situation. She was married to the man she loved. It was already more than what most women could ask for.

Her logical side said she should be content. Lucas was taking her to London to share his life, which was certainly more than what Father had done for Mama in all the years they’d been married. But her heart yearned for things just beyond her reach, things that involved loving, loyalty and trust. Things she’d witnessed between her mother and stepfather.

Her heart was stupid. And impossible to ignore.

She didn’t even know anymore why Lucas had been so determined to marry her. Resorting to blackmail in the form of a discarded coat spoke of something more than duty. It was the action of a man who would stop at nothing to get what he wanted. It sparked a tiny bit of hope in her soul.

“You look wonderful, m’lady,” Bess gushed.

She surveyed herself in the mirror and had to smile in agreement. Bess had done wonders with Penelope’s hair, making it shine with highlights of red in the candlelight, instead of just the plain brown she was used to. Would Lucas notice?

“Thank you, Bess. I don’t think my hair has ever looked this nice.”

Her maid glowed with the compliment then excused herself from the bedchamber with a mysterious smile, as if she knew something Penelope didn’t.

But, of course, Penelope knew what was about to happen. What was taking Lucas so long to open the connecting door between their bedchambers? Was he giving her time to get used to the idea of having a husband at night? She didn’t need time to get used to the idea. Lucas had made her wait for more than twenty years already, and she was waiting no longer. It was time to take what she wanted.

With a deep breath, she smoothed the wrinkles from the frilly lace nightgown, barely registering the golden velvet drapes hanging on the four-poster bed she passed as she walked to the connecting door.

This was it
, Penelope thought. On the other side of the door was where her dreams lay, and all she had to do was reach out and take them.

Without another thought, she silently opened the door and walked into her husband’s chamber.

• • •

Lucas saw Penelope as soon as she came in — a forest nymph who’d ventured out of the woods, swathed in near transparent lace that whispered across her voluptuous body, the candlelight simultaneously hinting at and hiding the delights she had to offer.

Lucas could not help feeling a little awe. He’d been prowling his bedchamber, not certain whether he had the right to go to hers. He’d been at sixes and sevens since the wedding, a ceremony he’d ensured had as many witnesses as possible, in case there was a cause to question its legality in the future. He’d done it. The Ravenstone fortune was safe.

But it was a hollow victory. He wanted more. He wanted this nymph who’d enchanted him from the very first, the woman he’d tricked into becoming his bride. Penelope had teased him about it at the wedding reception, but he wasn’t sure if she meant it. Did she still want him now that he’d given her a glimpse of his true character? That he was not the noble, honorable man she thought he was?

Yet
she’d
come to him tonight. Looking lovely and seductive with her hair piled loosely on top of her head, the tendrils glinting with fire in the soft light. “You were taking too long to come to me,” she said in a throaty whisper that floated across the room. “I didn’t want to sit and wait for you again. I thought if I did, I could be waiting another twenty years.”

His eyes widened at her jibe. Only Penelope would think of claiming her husband on her wedding night instead of waiting in her bedchamber like a good girl. She must have sensed his indecision and made the choice for both of them.

She bit her lip as she stopped by the foot of his huge bed, and she rubbed her palms on her skirts, unwittingly giving him a better view of her lush form as he stood there by the fire. She was nervous.

He walked over to her, not certain if he had any right to touch her. He took her into his arms anyway. She felt so good to him. Her arms wound around his neck, pulling him down to her.

“I didn’t want to wait another twenty years to know what it’s like to be yours,” Penelope whispered against his lips.

He groaned in response to her sweet words. His hands roved up and down her body. She was rounded in all the right places, and he ached to touch and taste her. All of her.

“Are you certain this is what you want to do, nymph?”

The fire in the hearth shone in her hazel eyes, reflecting the flame coursing through him.

“I’ve been certain of it for years,” she whispered.

He wasted no more time mentally debating whether or not this was the right thing to do. He wanted her. She wanted him. They were married. Tonight, they would have each other.

He’d taken advantage of her trust in him, but this evening she had made her decision, and Lucas was not fool enough to refuse something freely offered. Not when he wanted it so much.

More than anything, he wanted to make up to her for the way he’d used their desire for each other to force her into marriage. He wanted to make sure that by the end of this night, Penelope would want this marriage as much as he did. So even if it killed him, he was determined to go slow tonight. This would be the wedding night she deserved.

“Come here, Penelope,” he said as he pulled her against his rigid planes, loving the feel of her body, so soft and so
right
against his.

Penelope kissed his neck, making him groan. “Lucas?”

“Yes, nymph?”

“I have never done this with anyone before.”

He nearly choked on his laugh. “I know.”

“But I have seen animals mate. At the farm.”

He lifted his head to stare at her flushed face. She said the damnedest things.

“What I mean to say is, now that we are doing this to make babies, would you require me to be lying on my front or on all fours?”

His hands stopped their roving for a second as he considered how the hell he was supposed to reply to her question. And then he cupped her face between his hands. “We’ll go with what feels right when the time comes.”

“But I want to — ”

He captured the rest of her words with his mouth. He kissed her gently, wanting to reassure her. But when she slid her tongue against his bottom lip, he let her have what she wanted as the desire that had been building between them since the moment they met exploded.

Growling deep in his throat, he lifted her up against him, wrapping her legs about his waist, then carried her over to the soft bed and gently laid her against the satin sheets.

Penelope watched as he took off his dark silk dressing gown, baring himself as he stood by the foot of the bed. She kneeled on the bed, getting closer to him, her eyes riveted on his fully aroused body.

Perhaps his size was scaring her. He decided to confront the problem head on.

“Would you like to touch me?” His voice sounded gravelly to his own ears.

“Like this?” she asked as she innocently gripped him in her tight little fist, torturing him.

“Christ, yes,” he rasped out. He held her hand, showing her how to please him.

She put her lips to the flat planes of his belly, and he almost came right then. He forced himself to hold back, determined to let her have her way with him. Who would have guessed this sweet country girl would be so uninhibited in bed? And she was his. Entirely, exclusively his. Lucas exulted at the thought.

He couldn’t take the torture long. “Enough,” he said, shrugging off her hand. “This night is for you, nymph.”

“But, I like — ”

“I know,” he ground out. “I like it, too. But if I let you go on any longer, the night will be over before it’s even begun.”

He captured her mouth again, drinking in the joy of her as his hands went beneath the flimsy lace that was her nightgown, touching her bare skin. She moaned and pressed herself against him.

“What do you want, love?”

Penelope’s eyes filled with an emotion he did not entirely understand. “I want you to see me,” she said softly. The statement was filled with longing and a wealth of meaning he could not grasp.

She slowly unhooked the front fastenings of her nightgown, letting it whisper down her body and lie in a pool of lace atop the bed sheets around her feet. He closed his eyes as his cock hardened to stone. She wasn’t wearing anything underneath. No stockings, no chemise, no drawers … nothing. Christ, this was going to be a long night.

Penelope stood on the bed, the fire from the hearth silhouetting her form. She was a vision from his dreams as she looked down on him.

“I want you to finally see me, the way no one else ever has,” she said as she laid her hands on his shoulders, easing the tension in the muscles there with her fingers.

He buried his face in her soft belly, inhaling her scent. “I see you, sweetheart.” His hands roved over her buttocks and thighs, marveling at the endless smoothness of her skin as he spread kisses down her navel.

“Lucas!” she gasped when his mouth found the damp, glistening curls between her legs. The scent of her arousal filled his head.

“I’ve been wanting to do this for so long.” He cupped her in his hand, looking for her core and then finding it.

He stroked her gently, tracing every fold and curve until his fingers were slick with her moisture. She was perfect. She started to make faint, gasping sounds, and her hands bit into his back.

“So responsive,” he whispered against her skin. “So eager.”

With one last kiss to the curve of her waist, he pulled her to him and laid her in the middle of the bed, following her down, then he leaned up to take in her full, wonderful body. He needed her to relax. “Look at me, Penelope.”

• • •

Penelope opened her eyes and touched her hand to his hard cheek as he hungrily gazed at her naked form. She could see his need, the barely restrained passion blazing in his midnight eyes, and she gloried in it. In this, at least, they were equal. Lucas may not care for her the way she did for him, but tonight he seemed as desperate.

“You have no idea how many times I’ve imagined seeing you like this,” he whispered hoarsely, his hands claiming her. “You are even more beautiful than I imagined.”

There was no chance to reply as his mouth claimed hers again in a fierce, devouring kiss that she met with enthusiasm. He was making her feel so wanted and needed, and he spread pleasure with every touch of his hand down her body.

One of his hands cupped her breast, and another rested on the curls between her legs. His tongue stroked inside her mouth in tandem with his hand kneading her breast and his finger moving on the incredibly sensitive nub he’d found at her core. She jerked against him, overwhelmed with the sensations rioting through her as his hand plumped her breast, circling the nipple, and his finger relentlessly caressed her center in ever-quickening circles.

She kissed him back with all the desperation she felt. She was riding a wave of tension, she felt herself tightening, raining moisture as his finger stroked faster, firmer. She sighed against his mouth and she sucked his tongue, his bottom lip, needing something she did not know if she could have.

“Lucas!” she gasped as he released her mouth to bury kisses down the length of her neck.

“I’m here, sweetheart,” he said as he nibbled on her collarbone.

His finger was driving her mad; her legs started to quiver as she opened herself wider, arching her hips to get more of his amazing caresses. And then she felt a broad finger slide deep inside her. She moaned then, unable to stop herself from thrusting her hips to meet him.

She clung to his shoulders, kissed any part of him she could reach, wanting to reciprocate the incredible feelings he ignited with his skillful hand as he slid another finger inside her and stroked her core more firmly. She moved with his hand, her chest heaving with each shallow breath, reaching for the peak she knew was just beyond her reach. And with one last push, she went past it, crying out as she climaxed, and streaks of the purest pleasure washed over her.