Reese's Bride (22 page)

What mattered, he realized, was that he loved his son. Had come to love the little boy when everything inside him warned him not to.

What no longer mattered was that he had begun to fall in love with Elizabeth all over again.

Or perhaps, as his brother said, he had never truly stopped loving her.

He let his head fall back on the sofa.

“You can stay here, if you like,” Royal offered, “until you figure things out.”

Reese shook his head. “I have to go home. I have to make sure the boy is safe.”

“If Elizabeth agreed to forfeit Jared’s inheritance, Mason has no reason to hurt him.”

“I know. If I had known he was my son, I might have suggested it myself—though it galls me to reward that bastard for trying to kill both Elizabeth and the boy. On the other hand, now that I know the truth, I don’t want Jared taking anything from Aldridge.”

“So you’ll tell Elizabeth to go ahead with the abdication?” Royal asked.

“If that is her wish.” He sighed. “I’ve got to go back. I’ve missed seven years of my son’s life. I don’t want to miss anymore.”

Another lengthy silence descended. Rule poured himself a drink, as well as one for Royal. He carried his brother’s glass over and handed it to him.

“You’ll figure all of this out,” Rule said. “Just give it a little time.” He took a sip of brandy. “I’ve got a bit of news that might take your mind off your troubles for a while.”

Reese straightened. “What is it?”

“I had a meeting with Lady Sandhurst.”

One of Reese’s black eyebrows arched up. “A meeting? That is what you call it?”

Rule grinned wickedly. “I told you we were acquainted. Her husband is away and the lady was lonely.
After our…meeting…she was pleasantly relaxed. Enough so that when I asked her about her husband, she was willing to talk.”

Reese sat forward. “What did she say?”

“She said she was the one who told Sandhurst about the journal. She was angry at Travis for the way he had treated her. I took that to mean putting such an abrupt end to their relationship.”

“So Sandhurst didn’t just overhear. His wife goaded him into making those accusations.”

“Perhaps. But she also told me that until three years ago, Lord Sandhurst was in desperate financial straits. Fortunately, events began to turn in his favor and there hasn’t been a problem since.”

Reese swirled the brandy in his glass. “There is big money in spying, which means Sandhurst may, in some way, be involved.”

“You’re thinking he may be the one who is buying and selling secrets,” Royal added. “Finding out about the journal was information he could use to his advantage.”

“It seems plausible,” Reese said. “It would certainly account for his sudden influx of money.”

“I agree,” Rule said. “Sandhurst has any number of connections. From what I’ve heard, not all of them are with people of the highest reputation.”

Reese pondered that. “I’ll get the information to Travis. Maybe he can find a connection between Sandhurst and someone in the Russian community.”

“I’ll talk to Night and the others,” Royal put in, “see what information they might be able to add.”

“Once you collect all the facts,” Rule said, “perhaps the picture will become clearer.”

“In the meantime—” Royal shot a pointed look at Reese “—try to keep a clear picture of what is important to you. Sometimes people make mistakes. I nearly married the wrong woman and for all the wrong reasons.”

“Perhaps Elizabeth regrets what happened,” Rule added. “Perhaps she was hoping the two of you could make a fresh start.”

Reese made no reply.

“Think about it,” Royal urged.

Upending his glass, Reese swallowed the last of his brandy, set the crystal snifter down on the table and started for the door.

“Thanks for the information,” he said. “And for the advice.”

“Take care, brother,” Royal called after him as Reese walked out the door.

A
t the sound of the butler’s voice coming from the door to the drawing room, Lily Dewar set aside the feather-trimmed bonnet she had been sewing.

“What is it, Rutgers?” She and Royal yet remained in London. Royal refused to return to the country as long as his brother needed his help.

“You’ve a visitor, Your Grace. Lady Annabelle Townsend. Shall I send her in?”

“Why, yes, please do.”

Lily felt a stirring of excitement. She and Annabelle had become friends when Anna had helped her and Royal as they worked to regain the fortune that had been swindled from Royal’s father.

“Lily!” Annabelle hurried forward, heavy silk skirts rustling as she moved. “It is so good to see you!”

“You as well, Anna.” The women briefly embraced. “It has been too long since last we spoke.”

“Yes, it has.” Lily rang for tea and they chatted pleasantly until the tea cart rattled into the drawing room.
Seated on the sofa, Lily filled two gold-rimmed porcelain cups, added lumps of sugar, set two sweet biscuits on each saucer and offered a serving to Annabelle.

“I hope you don’t mind my intruding this way,” Anna said, stirring her tea and sending the scent of jasmine into the air. “It isn’t my usual behavior.”

Lily smiled. “Not a’tall. I am grateful for the company. Royal has been busy lately trying to help Reese and his friend, Captain Greer.”

Annabelle’s cheeks colored faintly. “Actually, that is one of the reasons I am here. As you know, Captain Greer is my friend, as well. I was very close to his sister.”

“So I understand.”

“Beatrice was a lovely young woman. It broke all of our hearts when she died so young.”

“Childbirth, wasn’t it?”

Annabelle nodded. “Beatrice was one of the few people who knew my true feelings about her brother.”

Lily’s interest heightened. “You’re speaking of the captain?”

“Yes. I fell in love with Travis when I was just fourteen. He was young and so very handsome. My affections grew over the years. By the time I was eighteen, he was a dashing cavalry officer and even more attractive. Unfortunately, he didn’t return the sentiment. He wanted a life of adventure. Until recently, I never knew he had noticed me at all.”

Lily sat forward on the sofa, her cup and saucer balanced carefully on her lap. “What happened?”

“I went to see him. Suffice it to say, I believe my attraction to Captain Greer is returned. The question I came here to ask is what I should do about it?”

Lily frowned. “Why are you asking me? I am hardly an expert on matters of the heart.”

“I am asking you because you are a married woman whose opinion I trust. You see, I am considering having an affair with Travis.”

Lily swallowed the bite of biscuit she had just taken. “I see.”

“Normally, I would talk to my close friend, Lady Sabrina Jeffers. But she is younger than I, and the subject of an illicit relationship is hardly a discussion fit for a virgin. Besides, I don’t think she could begin to understand.”

Lily nodded. “I imagine you are right. Love isn’t something you figure out until it happens to you.”

Annabelle released a slow breath. “You realize I am speaking of an affair, not marriage. Neither of us has that in mind.”

Lily made no reply. She didn’t believe for a moment that if Annabelle loved Captain Greer, she would be happy until he loved her in return and they were husband and wife.

“I trust you, Lily,” Annabelle continued. “You are one of the bravest women I have ever known. I knew you were in love with Royal the moment I saw the two of you together. Even when he was engaged to marry another woman, you had the courage to follow your heart.”

“And now you wish to follow your own.”

“Yes. Do you think I’m a fool?”

Lily smiled softly. “Not in the least. A woman has to do what she believes is right—as long as she is willing to face the outcome.”

“You mean the heartbreak once the affair is over.”

“Exactly.”

“Even if I decide that is what I want, Travis won’t pursue
such an arrangement. He is too worried about my reputation. I shall have to be the one to make the first move.”

“He sounds like an honorable man.”

Anna smiled. “That is one of the reasons I’ve always loved him.”

Lily brushed a crumb from the skirt of her gown then looked up at her friend. “Do what your heart dictates, Anna. That is my advice to you.”

Annabelle set her cup and saucer down on the table in front of the sofa. She leaned over and caught Lily’s hand.

“You are a dear friend, Lily. I promise when this is over, I shall not come here to cry on your shoulder.”

“I wouldn’t mind, Anna. I know what it is to love a man and have your heart broken. I am one of the few who managed to find a happy ending.”

Annabelle just nodded. “I’m afraid I must leave. There are plans I must make.”

“Remember I am here if you need me.”

“Thank you, Lily. I am fortunate to call you friend.”

As Annabelle left the house, Lily wondered if she had given her friend the best advice. Perhaps Captain Greer would fall in love with Anna, as Lily and Royal had fallen in love.

But as with any affair of the heart, there was always the chance there would be no happy ending.

Reese hadn’t realized how much he would miss her. Oh, she was there in the house, but they no longer shared meals together, no longer talked after the meal was over. At night, Elizabeth slept in the room next to his but he didn’t go to her, didn’t make love to her until both of them were sated, their bodies warmly entwined.

He hadn’t realized how much he would miss the laughter that no longer echoed through the halls. He hadn’t guessed the gnawing lust he had felt for her before would return with such powerful force.

And mingled with all those emotions was the anger that rode him morning to night, the knowledge that she had betrayed him far worse than he had ever imagined.

He had a son. A boy he loved and might never have known existed. And he wasn’t even able to tell Jared the truth of his birth. It would be years before the child was old enough to understand the difference between his biological father and the man his mother had married, the father who had not wanted him when Reese wanted him so badly.

Elizabeth had done that. She had kept him from his son for all of those years. She had married a man who had abused the boy, if only by withholding his love. Just thinking about it brought a renewed surge of anger. Elizabeth had denied him his son.

And yet, as furious as he was, he still wanted her. A moment didn’t go by that he didn’t lust for Elizabeth. A glimpse of her climbing the stairs made his loins grow thick and heavy. The brush of her skirts as they passed in the hall made him go rock-hard.

He was hard now just thinking of the times they had made love.

His fist slammed down on the desk in his study. She was his wife, dammit! Whatever she had done, she belonged to him. He imagined her naked and responsive, free from the fears Aldridge had instilled in her and once more the passionate creature she had been as a girl. He was her husband. As such, he had the right to her beautiful body.

The day passed and the hour grew late. He had seen her several times during the afternoon but they had not spoken. Still, the lust was there, goading him, driving him to think of her beneath him, her legs spread in welcome. He imagined filling her with his hard length, pounding into her until both of them reached an explosive release.

He wouldn’t force her. God’s blood, no matter his need, he wasn’t like Aldridge. But these past few days, each time he had seen her, each time they had chanced upon each other in the corridor, he had glimpsed the same need in her lovely gray eyes that burned in his own. She wanted him, just as he wanted her.

Seated behind his desk, Reese looked up at the brass hands of the clock on the mantel. He knew she had gone into the library to read after supper. He had asked Longacre to inform him when she retired upstairs to her room. The butler had done so just moments ago, retreating quietly afterward, silently closing the door.

Reese left his study and headed upstairs. At the sound of his uneven footfalls, Timothy Daniels stepped into the corridor, there to help him undress, but Reese just shook his head and Timothy slipped off toward his own room farther down the hall.

Reese walked past his suite. When he reached his wife’s room next door, he didn’t knock, simply turned the silver knob and walked into the bedroom. Elizabeth gasped at his unexpected arrival, her eyes going wide and uncertain. She had begun to undress and stood clothed in only her corset and petticoats. Her little maid, Gilda, pulled the last of the pins from her silky black hair.

Reese’s groin tightened. Desire hit him like a fist in the stomach and his shaft began to fill.

“That will be all for tonight, Gilda,” he said, his voice rough and husky, dismissing the maid, who turned and scurried out of the room.

Elizabeth didn’t move, just stood frozen, her gaze locked on his face. Reese moved toward her, reached out and caught a lock of her curly raven hair. It felt silky between his fingers, and heat slid into his groin.

“I’ve missed you,” he said softly, and her eyes filled with tears. He steeled himself. That wasn’t the response he wanted. He wasn’t there to offer forgiveness. The anger he felt still burned inside him, nearly as hot as his need.

“I’ve missed you, too,” she said.

Reese ignored the unwelcome tightening in his chest. Instead, he bent his head and settled his mouth very softly over hers. He felt her tremble and moved to the side of her neck. “Perhaps I should have said I have missed making love to you.”

Elizabeth stiffened. She understood his meaning. Nothing had changed. He hadn’t forgiven her. Desire was all he felt. He wanted her and he had come there to have her.

Resting his hands lightly on her shoulders, he lowered his head and kissed her again, began to gently coax away her reluctance, to tease and sample until he felt her body soften, felt her full lips meld into his. On a sigh, she opened to him, giving him access, and his tongue slid into her mouth. She tasted faintly of citrus and he inhaled the fragrance of roses.

His arousal strengthened. His shaft was so hard he
ached with each beat of his heart. He wanted release and he intended to have it. In return, he would give her the pleasure he had promised her from the start.

He glanced down at her lovely breasts, swelling above the top of her fancy lace corset, the one he had bought her at the lingerie shop, one of those that closed up the front. He kissed her as he unfastened the hooks all the way to her waist and her breasts spilled forward, into his waiting hands. He lifted each one, bent and took the fullness into his mouth.

A soft moan escaped. Her nipples were like firm, un-ripened berries, diamond-hard and so sweet his mouth watered at the taste of them. He bit down on the tips and suckled gently, kissed her neck, her shoulders, then returned to her breasts, laving and caressing until she swayed against him and he knew that she was as aroused as he. He wound his fingers into her heavy black curls, and tilted her head back, pressed his mouth against the rapid pulse beating at the base of her throat.

Slow, deep, erotic kisses had her trembling and Reese on the edge of control. Lust nearly blinded him. Desire rode him like a ravenous beast. He began to urge her backward, kissing her all the while, a slow, sensuous journey that brought her shoulders up against the wall.

“Lift your petticoats.”

Her gaze found his, her eyelids languid and heavy. She trusted him in this, in making love, trusted him to make it good for her, and he intended that very thing. She caught handfuls of the soft white cotton fabric and hoisted it above her knees.

“Higher,” he softly commanded. When the petticoats reached her waist, he kissed her again, deeply and thor
oughly. He wanted to be inside her more than he wanted to breathe.

“Don’t let go,” he instructed, reaching beneath the fluffy fullness to untie her drawers. They whispered down over her hips and pooled at her feet. Elizabeth made a soft little mewling sound, but she didn’t let go.

Skimming his hands over her naked flesh, he circled her navel, moved over the flat spot below, ran a finger through the nest of raven curls between her legs, dipped between the soft folds of her sex.

Her hands were shaking. She was wet and ready. Elizabeth moaned as he began to stroke her and her hips arched toward him. She was hot and slick and it was all he could do not to bury himself to the hilt. Instead, he unfastened the tabs on her petticoats and slid them down to join her drawers, leaving her deliciously bare to the waist, her luscious breasts quivering, spilling from her corset, an offering he couldn’t resist.

He suckled each of them, unzipped his trousers and freed himself. Kissing her deeply, he found her core, parted her flesh, and eased himself deeply inside.

Elizabeth moaned. Her fingers dug into his shoulders as he lifted her and wrapped her legs around his waist.

“Easy…I’ve got you.” He took her with one penetrating stroke after another, took her and took her while Elizabeth clung to his neck and made soft little incoherent whimpers that nearly drove him over the brink. His control was slipping badly. His body burned with the need to spill his seed. He clamped down on the urge to satisfy his lust and continued the deep penetrations until her body clenched around him and Elizabeth cried out his name.

His control completely snapped. Every muscle in his
body clenched, and hot seed spilled from his loins. Satisfaction poured through him, and a rush of pleasure unmatched by anything before.

No other woman could make him feel this way. No other woman but Elizabeth.

The knowledge sobered him. His need of her was too strong, too powerful. He couldn’t afford to let it grow even stronger.

And yet, it felt so good to be inside her. So perfectly right.

Once he had loved her.

He couldn’t afford to love her again.

Holding onto her waist, he withdrew from her tight, comforting warmth and set her back down on her feet. With her raven hair tousled and her breasts nearly bursting from the corset, she made the most erotic picture he’d ever seen.