His Scandal Page 23

  He suddenly froze, his dark, wicked eyes staring at her breasts covered only by her thin smock. “No corset?”

  She shook her head. “When I received your mother’s letter, I had no time to dress properly.”

  “My lucky day,” he murmured, as he pooled the gown at her waist.

  She slid his shirt over his head. The broad expanse of his chest was fascinating, and she trailed her fingers through the scattering of hair about his nipples.

  Alex slowly pulled her smock down and her breasts were revealed in the dim light. The rumbling of the carriage over rutted streets made them bounce, and she wanted to cover them. But he groaned and buried his face between them, his arms around her body as he held her tightly.

  “Em, you’re so beautiful,” he whispered in a husky voice.

  For the first time, she truly believed him. He held her breasts with both hands, looking at each as if he didn’t know which to choose. She savored the rough skin of his palms and the admiration in his eyes. As he bent his head and leaned her back in his lap, he locked his gaze to hers and they stared at one another as he opened his mouth to her breast. She knew his touch would feel wondrous, but the searing pleasure that rocked through her as he drew her nipple into his mouth made her cry out and convulse against him. He pressed his erection hard between her legs, sucking on her nipple. When she didn’t think she could take such wild pleasure for another moment, he moved to her other breast, this time licking gently as if she were a sweet he’d not treated himself to in a long time. She clutched his shoulders and held on as he ran his hands down her back and beneath her skirts. She groaned and pressed herself even harder against him.

  The touch of his hands on her bare buttocks was a wicked shock. He squeezed her, rubbing her hips against his. She was lost in what he did to her, in the rise of hot desire that had her yearning for what only he could give her. What was this terrible need that raced through her body, centering between her thighs?

  Suddenly she found herself rolled over on her back on the seat. Looking into her eyes, he seemed to flinch.

  “What is it?” she whispered.

  “I’m getting wet,” he said with a lazy grin. “There’s a leak in the roof.”

  He leaned aside, and a few raindrops splattered across her breasts. She caught her breath at the cool sensation, then almost choked when he bent and licked each drop off, following the winding path of water between her breasts and even to the very peaks. For an endless moment, he suckled one nipple and caressed the other with knowing fingers, until she was squirming beneath him.

  “I need to see you,” he said, sliding her out of the rain. He knelt down on the coach floor between her thighs.

  Her face hot, she whispered, “Really? Are you certain?”

  He gave a deep laugh, even as he rolled her skirts up and bunched them with her bodice. She was naked to him above the waist and below, and she tried to clutch her thighs together, but he stopped her.

  “No, love, let me look upon your beauty. How wondrous you look with your hair tumbling about your breasts and that flush on your cheeks.” He sat back on his heels, running his palms in slow circles up her inner thighs then spreading her legs wider.

  She couldn’t stop shaking with the incredible sensations he evoked, even as she covered her face in embarrassment. But she peeked between her fingers as he bent his head. She felt the gentle kiss he placed between her thighs like bolt of lightning. Her hips lifted off the bench in a spasm as she cried out his name.

  She should beg him to stop, but she was mindless with the rising surge of pleasure that rocked through her. She felt his hot breath a moment before his tongue swept over her, parting her.

  “I knew you’d taste like the sweetest wine,” he said hoarsely, even as his fingers spread her wider.

  She couldn’t speak, couldn’t think as he bent his head and licked her again. He suckled the most sensitive nub of flesh into his mouth, and the pleasure roared through her in waves that buffeted her body and shuddered across her skin in a final release unlike anything she’d imagined. She was mindless and aware at the same time. Even as she sagged in his arms, she thought, This is what brings women and men together. This is why women risk everything for love. And she would, too.

  Moments later, the coach slowed and they heard the coachman call out to the gatekeeper.

  “Oh, sweet heaven,” she whispered, sitting upright on the bench. “We’re home.”

  Alex groaned and laughed at the same time, dropping his head to her shoulder for a moment. “Ah, how I wanted to join you in such bliss.”

  “I—”

  “No, you mustn’t worry, love. Here, let’s get you assembled.”

  Together they tugged up her smock and gown, and pulled her skirts down about her legs. She buttoned her bodice while watching him slide his shirt over his head and tuck it back in his breeches. He looked down at himself, then back up at her with a grin.

  “What?” she asked in confusion as she did her best to pin up her hair.

  “You’ve made me damp in a rather inconvenient place.”

  She didn’t understand until he tied up one of the curtains and she saw the wet stain across his breeches. She gasped. “That’s from…me? From when I…”

  He kissed her quickly. “That’s your body preparing for me—and nothing could excite me more.”

  “But you didn’t—we didn’t—”

  He slipped on his doublet and collapsed beside her. “Believe me, I know. But I didn’t want your first time to be in a leaky coach.”

  She stared at him, wishing she could ask what this all meant to him, hoping he knew what it meant to her.

  When the coachman threw open the door and helped her down, she looked back up at him.

  “I can’t come out,” he said with regret in his voice.

  “I know.” She blinked the rain out of her eyes and asked, “Will you come to visit me?”

  He grinned. “Nothing could keep me away.”

  The coachman closed the door, then climbed up above to take up the reins. As they headed back for the gate, Emmeline linked her hands behind her back and went around the mansion, avoiding the front entrance. Her legs felt wobbly and she was getting wet—but she needed to think.

  Heading down the sloping gravel path toward the Thames, she breathed deeply of the spring flowers and tried to plan what to do next. She couldn’t keep giving in to Alex, or “The Seduction of Emmeline” would turn into “The Ruination of Emmeline.” How could she convince him they belonged together, that he’d be happy married to her?

  She felt a hand on her arm and she turned, expecting her sister. Instead she looked up into the faces of the Langston brothers. Stunned, she opened her mouth to scream, and they stuffed a gag in instead.

  After Alex had changed, he and Edmund rode their horses to Langston House to confront Lady Elizabeth and her brothers once and for all. A maidservant graciously showed them into the great hall, with its old black-beamed ceiling and stone walls. When the girl reappeared, her plump face had taken on a decidedly hesitant demeanor.

  “My lady is not feeling well, my lords. She requests that you visit another day.”

  “That won’t do,” Edmund said, walking toward the door the girl had just come from.

  Alex stayed at his side, brushing off the maid’s distress. “We won’t harm your mistress, girl, we just need to speak with her.”

  A woman was trying to escape out the glass doors into the garden when they entered the room.

  “Elizabeth!” Edmund called, running to catch her arm and haul her back inside.

  “Let me go!”

  Her pink cheeks were flushed, and blond tendrils of hair framed her lovely face. Alex could see why Edmund had allowed himself to be swept away.

  “All we need you to do is answer our questions,” Edmund said gruffly. “I know I’ve wronged you—and I promise to make it right—but that is no reason to send your brothers after my friend. And only you could have told them such a thing. W
hy did you do it?”

  She pulled away from him and stood with her head held high. “I had no choice!” she said coldly. “I had already dishonored myself. The only way I could atone to my family was by offering them a husband more suitable to them.”

  Edmund’s face reddened. “I was good enough to pleasure you, but not to marry?”

  She whirled to face him. “That is a crude thing to say!”

  “But ’tis the truth, isn’t it?”

  Alex stepped between them. “You both have much to discuss, but right now we need to tell your brothers the truth. Where are they?”

  Lady Elizabeth stiffened. “I don’t know.”

  “You’re lying,” Alex said flatly, advancing on her. She backed up step by step. “I have done nothing to you, but you’ve made sure your brothers stalked me, robbed me, and kidnapped me. Last night they took my brother in my place. I will have this done, my lady, and it won’t be in marriage to you! Tell me where they are!” he shouted.

  She looked away. “I don’t know what they mean to do. All I heard them say was that they planned to hurt you in any way that they could until you agreed to marry me.”

  “In any way that they…” Alex’s words faded as a chill of foreboding seeped through him. There was only one real way to hurt him now. Hellfire. “Edmund, they’re after Emmeline.” He grabbed the stunned girl by the shoulders. “Where have they taken her?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” she cried, her wide eyes frightened.

  Edmund gripped him from behind. “I believe her, Alex. Let her go and listen to me.”

  Alex was stunned by the blind rage that had seized him. But he released her and she ran out of the room.

  “I just left her at Kent Hall,” he said slowly. “I didn’t even see her to the door. All I could think about was my problems with Spencer.”

  “Before we jump to conclusions, let’s see if she’s at home.”

  Thankfully, Kent Hall was nearby and Alex’s galloping horse covered the distance in only minutes. But his fears were confirmed when a servant told him that Emmeline had not returned from her morning visit to see him.

  Frantic now, he ran behind the house into the gardens, calling her name. No one answered, and a chilling bleakness overcame him.

  Edmund caught up with him. “Alex, she’s not here. We must think about where they would take her.”

  “Edmund, what if they—”

  “I don’t think they’d hurt Emmeline. They just want our attention. I’m assuming they wouldn’t take her to your brother’s home, nor to Langston House and risk tainting their sister with another scandal. Where, then, could they have gone?”

  Alex had never felt so irrational. He wanted only to pound their faces into a bloody mess. But he forced himself to consider what the Langston brothers’ purpose could be. “Well, if they want to hurt me, they’ll want me to know about it. So where could they wait, knowing I’d come?”

  At the same moment, they both said, “The Rooster.”

  Chapter 27

  Running up the rickety stairs to his lodgings over the Rooster, Alex was afraid to imagine what he’d see. Out of breath, he flung open the door to find the Langston brothers pacing, and Emmeline gagged and tied to a chair before the hearth. The great fools, they hadn’t even been watching for him. The brothers fell back to guard her, their swords up.

  Alex brought his pistol up and aimed.

  Kenneth, the older brother, stared aghast at the weapon. “You have no honor!”

  “Honor!” Alex said, knowing Edmund entered behind him. “What honor is there in kidnapping an innocent woman?”

  “What honor is there in hurting our sister?”

  Edmund stepped to his side. “He didn’t do it. She’s been lying to you, so she could make a wealthy marriage. We just spoke with her.”

  The two men exchanged glances, as if they knew what their sister might be capable of but hadn’t thought it through.

  “We don’t believe you!” said the younger brother wildly. “You deserve to suffer as you’ve made her suffer.”

  “Harold—” began Kenneth.

  “No! They’re lying! We tried to take away his reputation, his money, to humble him as he’s humbled our sister. Well, it’s time for you to suffer, Thornton! If this girl means so much to you, then you can watch her be humiliated. We’re going to compromise her!”

  Alex gave an obvious glance at his gun. “I seem to have the power to stop you.”

  “Cease this foolishness!” Edmund commanded. “You will listen to me. It wasn’t Alex who compromised your sister, but me. I’m here, ready to marry her or whatever she’d like, but you will let my friends go free while we discuss this like gentlemen.”

  “I still want to shoot one of them,” Alex said darkly.

  “If they don’t put down their swords, you can.”

  But the Langston brothers weren’t quite that foolish. They let Edmund take their swords and lead them out of the room. Kenneth looked abashed, and Harold was sulky. Alex dropped to his knees to remove Emmeline’s gag before starting on the ropes.

  She moistened her lips before speaking. “So is it all finally settled?”

  “We spoke to Lady Elizabeth and got her to admit the truth. Frankly, Edmund should refuse to marry her, after the lies she’s told.”

  When he had her hands free, he rubbed them gently. “Are you all right? Did they hurt you?”

  She shook her head and smiled. “I am fine. Your deeds were quite heroic this day. Maybe you should write a poem about it.”

  “‘The Rescue of Emmeline’?” he asked, feeling a strange warmth flow through him as he watched her sweet face.

  This wasn’t just relief; he was feeling something else, something that made him want to remain at her side always. She had become more important to him than his own life. He had spent years protecting himself against this kind of pain, yet somehow she had slipped past his wall of defenses.

  Men like the Marquess of Kent didn’t give their daughters to scandalous younger brothers. And he’d already seen how dutiful Emmeline was to her family. He wouldn’t set himself up for disappointment—nor did he want her to once again feel the pain of her father’s disapproval.

  He kissed Emmeline’s forehead before helping her to her feet. She smiled up at him, and he had to turn away.

  Emmeline felt her chest constrict. Alex couldn’t even meet her eyes. He was doing it again, retreating from her and the emotions she inspired in him. Soon he’d be joking as if nothing had happened. But the look on his face when she’d been in danger—he had to be in love with her!

  As he led her down the back stairs to his horse outside, she just kept looking at him with all the love she felt shining from her eyes. He mounted his horse, then lifted her up to ride across his lap, never looking into her face.

  She leaned back against his chest and let the afternoon sun bathe them in warmth. He and she were so alike in many ways, both resigning themselves to life without happiness, as if there were a limited supply.

  But no more. She deserved a good life, a good marriage, and she’d find that only with Alex. She had to discover the courage to make it happen, especially knowing she had to face her father. Once again, he would try to tell her a man wasn’t good enough for her.

  But this time she was truly in love, and she would fight for her happiness.

  That evening, Emmeline stood outside her father’s private withdrawing room and tried to steady her breathing. She knocked on the door and pushed it open when he bade her to enter.

  “Father?”

  He sat behind his massive desk, parchment and account books spread out before him. When he saw that it was her, he only harrumphed and looked back down.

  “I am busy, Emmeline. Can we discuss whatever it is in the morning?”

  “This is important, Father—it can’t wait.”

  Though she seated herself on a bench before his desk, her father didn’t look up.

  “Then sp
eak your mind, girl, but be to the point.”

  “Very well, then,” she said, straightening her back with defiance. She took a deep breath. “I am in love with Sir Alexander Thornton, and I wish to marry him.”

  Her father didn’t move, and the room was so quiet she could hear the last embers crackling in the hearth.

  “Did you hear me, Father? I am in love with—”

  “I heard you.” He gave her a piercing stare she couldn’t read, and sat back with his hands linked across his stomach. “You’ve done it again, Emmeline. You’ve chosen a man who is not possibly suited to your station.”

  “I disagree. His brother is a viscount, his father was well respected. Sir Alexander has estates in the north to keep us in sufficient wealth.”

  “You are the daughter of a marquess,” he said, his voice only slightly louder. “You could marry a duke!”

  “But a duke doesn’t want me, and a knight does.”

  “Then why isn’t he here begging for your hand?”

  “Because he doesn’t think you’d accept him,” she said, hoping she wasn’t lying.

  “Then he was right; I won’t.” He gave her a patronizing smile, as if everything would be fine just because he’d said so. “Now, put aside this foolishness, Emmeline. There will be other men.”

  “For Blythe, perhaps, Father, but not for me,” she said, her desperation rising. “I am in love with Alex, and I want to marry him.”

  “I forbid it.”

  Without thinking her words through, she said, “I might be carrying his child.”

  Her father slammed his fists on his desk as he vaulted to his feet. “He attacked you!”

  Emmeline stood as well, facing him with her chin high. “He did not attack me! I love him! Now, do you want a scandal that will shake all of England, or will you quietly allow me to marry him?”

  He wiped a hand down his face. “Emmeline, how could you risk such a thing? We have a good life here. You take care of your sister—surely you love her. And you practically have your own households to manage.”