Rosa had given little thought to the intimacies of marriage he would be entitled to. Speechless with dismay that he would come up with this unthought-of condition of his own, that he had considered everything with the cold and calculating brain of a man who was used to making his own decisions and doing everything his way, Rosa stared at him, her cheeks flushed, as he continued to hold her gaze. The thought of having children with him shocked her—but also, in a strange way, it touched her heart.
‘Do you like children, Rosa?’
‘Of course,’ she replied without a second’s thought. ‘I like children very much.’
His eyes locked on hers. He did not doubt for one minute that behind her demure exterior hid a woman of passion. He wanted her, despite the conditions he had set down. When the time was right he meant to capture her, to turn this calm young lady into a tantalising creature of desire, who, when aroused, would breathe a sensuality she was not even aware of, to take her to the very heights of passion.
He ran a gentle finger down her cheek, relieved that she did not pull away. ‘Eventually you will be my wife in every sense, Rosa. That I promise you. Do you agree with what I have said?’
Rosa’s heart gave a little leap in answer to the sheer, powerful masculinity he emanated. She looked at him, not with acquiescence, but she was determined not to let her emotions get entangled with being his wife. She hesitated before giving him an answer as she thought of the enormity of what she was committing herself to. Dazed by confusing messages racing through her brain, driven by the need to make this beautiful house her home and by something less sensible and completely inexplicable, she conceded.
Her hesitation to answer brought a slight smile to his lips and he fixed her with a look, and for a fleeting moment, Rosa felt they were bound together, as if she was being inexorably drawn towards him.
‘I think a kiss would not go amiss to seal the deal.’
Unable to tear her eyes from his, she froze to stillness as he lifted his hand and ran his finger along the line of her jaw and down the column of her throat. Rosa caught her breath as a shot of heat surged through her, for it was an oddly sensuous and erotic gesture. There was a silence as he gazed down at her flushed face and time stood still.
‘Please don’t look at me like that,’ she whispered, her voice quavering. ‘It makes me feel uneasy.’
He smiled. The light fell upon her face, glinting on her hair and outlining her small head.
‘You are very lovely. Has anyone ever told you that?’
‘Yes—once.’
Gently, he touched her cheek with the back of his hand. ‘You are blushing.’
‘Yes—I suppose I am.’
He looked at her for a long moment and then very slowly moved closer still and curled his hand around the back of her neck. Suddenly the garden seemed to close in on them, making each aware of the closeness of the other, of the warmth, the intimacy. The pull of William’s eyes was far harder for Rosa to resist at that moment than the frantic beat of her heart.
‘Oh...’ she whispered, hardly trusting herself to speak. ‘Are you sure you want to kiss me?’
‘Absolutely. Would you like me to?’
‘Yes,’ she whispered, her eyes fixed on his lips. ‘I do believe I would.’
‘Then we are in accord.’ He took her chin between his thumb and his forefinger and lifted it, forcing her to meet his steady gaze as he quietly said, ‘I promise you that it will not hurt. A little kiss here and there is quite harmless. You might even enjoy the experience.’
‘A little kiss here and there could be dangerous,’ she countered, thoroughly convinced of that premise where he was concerned.
She turned her head away. The powerful force of sensual persuasion that he was capable of launching against her could reap devastating results. She must guard her heart. She was very susceptible. But when he placed a finger against her cheek and brought her face back to his, when his eyes delved into hers, he all but burned her heart inside out and touched at its inner core.
There was something in his eyes, something intense and passionate. They were clear and nothing had prepared her for the thrill of excitement that gripped her now, beginning in the middle of her chest where her heart lay and trailing delicately through the whole of her body. She was aware that this was an important moment in her life and a great revelation, but she could not comprehend it.
With aching tenderness he reached out and took firm hold of her, drawing her close and slipping his arms around her. ‘It’s all right, Rosa. I’m not going to hurt you,’ he murmured, his lips against her hair. ‘Try to relax.’
As if awakening from a deep trance, Rosa began to do just that. She was too vulnerable, too inexperienced to object to his embrace, and besides, he felt so warm and strong, his arms comforting and his voice soothing. She made no effort to free herself—and William seemed to have no intention of letting her go while she was content to remain there. She could feel the hard muscles of his chest and smell his maleness and the spicy scent of his cologne. A tautness began in her breast, a delicious ache that was like a languorous, honeyed warmth.
Recognising the change in her, William slackened his arms. His senses were invaded by the smell of her. It was the soft fragrance of her hair—the sweet scent of roses mingled with a musky female scent that made his body burn. Curling his long masculine fingers around her chin once more, he tilted her face up to his. Her eyes were large, dark and soft. It seemed a lifetime passed as they gazed at each other. In that lifetime each lived through a range of deep, tender emotions new to them both, exquisite emotions that neither of them could put into words. As though in slow motion, unable to resist the temptation Rosa’s mouth offered, slowly William’s own moved inexorably closer. His gaze was gentle and compelling, when, in a sweet, mesmeric sensation, his mouth found hers. Rosa melted into him. Although his lips were soft and tender, they burned with a fire that scorched her. The kiss was long and lingeringly slow. Closing her eyes, Rosa yielded to it, melting against him. A strange, alien feeling fluttered within her breast and she was halted for a brief passage of time.
William tasted the sweet, honeyed softness of her mouth, finding himself at the mercy of his emotions, when reason and intelligence were powerless. Savouring each intoxicating pleasure, he gloried in her innocence, her purity, painfully aware of the trembling weakness in her body pressed against his own.
As his mouth moved against hers, Rosa could not have anticipated the rush of sensation that took her breath, nor the frantic beating of her heart. The kiss was long and lingeringly slow.
When William finally lifted his head and stared down at her flushed face, he was stunned by his unprecedented reaction to one virginal kiss from an inexperienced young woman who hadn’t seemed to have the slightest idea of how to kiss him back. It had proved what he suspected, that she had not the least idea of the mechanics of sexual intimacy between men and women. He had sensed her ignorance in such matters. He had seen it reflected in the shocked expression on her face when he told her he was going to kiss her and had sensed it in her body’s lack of response when he had. So much for the young man she had known on Antigua—it was evident that Rosa Ingram hadn’t had much practice at kissing.
But he was encouraged by the fact that her lips had answered his kiss. They had been soft and sweet and pliable beneath his own and he would have liked to educate her further, but seducing Rosa Ingram was not in his immediate plans. The warmth of affection he was beginning to feel for her was too disconcerting for his peace of mind. He was attracted to her by the sincerity in her gaze, sensing that her charm and personality made her unlike any other woman he had known. She had a distinctive beauty of which she seemed totally unaware and a natural femininity which remained unflawed by self-interest.
But his instinct told him that he must be wary, otherwise he would find himself drawn deeper into something over which he would have
no control. For the time being, somehow he would have to cool the lust gnawing at his very being and try to forget how soft and sweet she had felt in his arms, to ignore that she had set her hooks into him and to control the attraction that seemed to bind his heart and mind to her.
Kissed and caressed into almost unconscious sensibility, Rosa let her slumberous dark green eyes flutter open.
William smiled down at the incredibly desirable young woman who had the power to set his body on fire. He had only wanted to kiss her, then walk away. Instead he’d ended up wanting to make love to her. Her magnificent eyes were naked and defenceless. His tanned features were hard with desire. ‘Well, Miss Ingram,’ he murmured, his voice a purr of pleasure, ‘you have hidden talents I knew nothing about.’
Rosa trembled in the aftermath of his kiss, unable to believe what had happened and that she desperately wanted him to repeat the kiss that had stunned her with its wild sweetness. William was still holding her gaze and she looked with longing at his lips.
‘Don’t look at me like that unless you want me to kiss you again, Rosa,’ he murmured huskily, his eyes dark with passion.
With her heart beating hard against her ribs, slowly she raised her eyes to his and, leaning forward, again boldly touched his mouth with her own, feeling her breath sucked from her body as, unable to resist what she so innocently offered, he pressed his mouth to hers once more, causing the blood to pound in her head and her senses to reel as her mind retreated down an unknown, forbidden path, plunging her into an oblivion that was dark and exquisitely sensual.
Drawing a shattered breath, and out of sheer preservation, an eternity later William raised his head, astounded by the passion that had erupted between them, astounded that this woman had the ability to make him lose his mind completely.
Rosa felt almost drugged as she stared at him bemused, her eyes large and luminous. As reality began to return and she came back to full awareness, she was shocked by the explosion of desire she had felt, shocked by what she had done. What had happened surpassed anything she had ever known.
With her eyes aglow with passion and her lips trembling, he smiled down at her. ‘Well, Rosa’ You are full of surprises. Perhaps the arrangement I spoke of will become void sooner than either of us thought. I don’t think either of us will be disappointed when we are wed.’
Her cheeks flushed and her heart beating quickly, Rosa turned from him, wanting to conceal how deeply she was affected by what had just happened between them. Marriage to him was no longer straightforward. Considering what he had told her about his failed relationship with Lydia Mannering and her ultimate betrayal, she understood how his trust in women had been shaken and his reluctance to form a serious relationship with another. But when she thought of the kiss, how it had stirred her feelings, her desire, and how she had wanted him to go on kissing her—his desire equalling her own, then she didn’t expect either of them would be disappointed.
Turning to face him once more, she was anxious to run from the truth of what had just happened. ‘I—I really do think I should be getting back. Clarissa will be concerned that I have been gone so long.’
‘Of course,’ he said, taking her elbow.
When they stepped into the hall the butler was opening the door to a visitor, who sailed forward. A tall confident woman, about thirty-five, was attired in a stylish vermilion riding habit and matching hat perched at a jaunty angle atop her warm, ash-blonde curls. She was not beautiful, or even pretty, but tall and stately, handsome, alarmingly lively and arresting. She had everything a woman could ask for, in a physical sense at least. Rosa noted her plump lips, parted to show small perfect teeth, and how her eyes sparkled like dark sapphires as they passed over them, coming to rest on Lord Ashurst.
William stood watching her in silent fascination, then he smiled as their eyes met and he excused himself to Rosa and stepped forward to meet her. Much to Rosa’s surprise, he embraced the newcomer warmly.
‘Lady Willoughby! It’s good to see you. It’s been too long.’
‘It certainly has,’ she replied in a deep, husky voice that was curiously fascinating. ‘I came as soon as I heard you had arrived at Ashurst Park. So much has happened here—we have much to talk about.’
Rosa watched the meeting between these two, strangely resentful and fascinated at the same time. Just moments ago she had commandeered William’s attention and now felt forgotten as she surrendered the centre of the stage to another woman. Nothing could have prepared her for the remarkable presence of Lady Willoughby. Rosa imagined she could enchant the company about her with her sophisticated presence and charm with no effort at all.
Recollecting himself and remembering his manners, William turned to Rosa, who stepped forward. ‘Allow me to introduce Miss Ingram. She is also a neighbour of mine. Rosa, this is Lady Caroline Willoughby.’
Interest kindled in Lady Willoughby’s eyes. ‘You are Amelia Ingram’s granddaughter from Antigua?’
‘Yes—Rosa Ingram.’
‘I see. I was sorry to hear of your grandmother’s demise. My condolences. She was a good woman—well liked and respected.’
‘Thank you. It is kind of you to say so.’
‘Not at all. It’s the truth.’
‘Miss Ingram is just leaving,’ William said. ‘What can I do for you, Lady Willoughby?’
‘Forgive my impropriety and bad manners for calling on you like this without an appointment and unannounced, but good lord! How tiresome good manners can be where there is something to be done, something one has to say. I have a proposition to put to you, Lord Ashurst and since I am to leave for London shortly I would like to talk to you about it if you can spare the time.’
William was intrigued. ‘Of course.’ He turned to the butler. ‘Show Lady Willoughby into the study. I’ll be with you shortly.’
‘Please don’t worry about riding back with me,’ Rosa said, stepping out of the house. ‘Go and see to your visitor. I’ll be quite all right alone.’
‘I won’t hear of it,’ he replied, signalling to the boy bringing her horse from the stable. ‘Escort Miss Ingram to Fountains Lodge, Martin.’
‘But I really don’t need an escort—’
‘Not another word. I insist,’ William said as the boy hurried back to the stable to get himself a horse.
Before parting William reached out and placed his hand over hers as she was about to mount, turning her to face him. Relief flooded ridiculously through her. He had not forgotten her after all. She could still gain his attention even though Lady Willoughby, on instant acquaintance, seemed to treat him as if he was her special passion.
‘Have we reached an agreement that is satisfactory to both of us?’
She summoned up her spirit to try to bewitch him, her eyes glowing with brilliance and fire. ‘Yes, I believe we have.’
‘Even though I may prove to be a purchase you will regret?’
‘I agree to the arrangement. I will not renege on it. You may have many failings, but so do I, and what good is wealth if one cannot use it to one’s advantage?’
As Rosa rode away from Ashurst Park she could not shake off the unease she felt on leaving William alone to entertain his visitor. Lady Willoughby was unlike any woman she had met. She had the magnetism to seduce and enchant and had the power to hold any man in the palm of her hand. Rosa felt vulnerable and gauche and, worst of all, very young and strangely inadequate, knowing she could never compete with the fascination and worldly experience of the older woman.
William returned to the study, curious about Lady Willoughby and what she wanted to discuss with him. She was pacing the carpet with an impatience that seemed inbred in her. Her very manner was purposeful and he suspected that everything Caroline Willoughby did was done in a hurry.
‘Now, Lady Willoughby, what can I do for you?’
‘I’ll come straight to the point. It’s not my way
to beat about the bush. I have a proposition to put to you, Lord Ashurst, and owing to your circumstances—you are in dire straits, I believe—it cannot wait.’
William cocked a brow. ‘You are well informed, Lady Willoughby.’
‘I make a point of keeping abreast of what is going on. I have spoken to my lawyer, who has spoken to your lawyer. The proposition I am about to put to you will be beneficial to us both—if you agree to it.’
‘Then I will be happy to hear what you have to say. Please, take a seat.’ William was wary, his guard up.
As soon as she was seated, Lady Willoughby chose directness, saying, ‘I have come to ask if you would consider selling your estate—to me.’
* * *
Riding back to Fountains Lodge, Rosa didn’t know what to think about what had happened to her when William had kissed her. She wasn’t certain of his feelings, or hers, either. All she knew was that when she looked at him, at his hard, handsome face and bold light blue eyes, it made her feel tense and alive. She knew she had liked it when he had kissed her. Added to his other attractions it was something else that drew her to him. She sensed that behind his hard, knowing façade and rugged vitality, William Barrington had a depth that most people lacked. Could she ever love him? she asked herself. Her heart gave a gentle leap.
‘Yes,’ she whispered. Yes, she could. Over time it would be nurtured by appreciation and shared experiences and a knowledge of each other. She smiled, feeding her imaginings of future bliss. A rosy blush spread over her cheeks and everything that was in her heart was shining in her eyes. She was unable to believe her good fortune.
* * *
In an agitated state Clarissa was waiting in the drawing room by the window for Rosa to return. Clarissa turned when she entered the room, her face ashen.
A Vow for an Heiress Page 12