The Bachelor Bargain (Secrets, Scandals, and Spies)

by Michaels, Maddison

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  “While you and our men hunt the man down,” Seb informed Rowan, “I will take the ladies to Dewhurst Manor. I’ll be able to keep them safe there.”

  “Dewhurst Manor?” Livie exclaimed. She stood from her seat next to Charlotte, grabbed her cane from beside her, and walked over to Sebastian’s desk. Obviously, she’d been paying keen attention to his conversation with Rowan. “But doesn’t that property belong to your half brother, the Duke of Dalkeith? I’m sure I remember going there with my parents as a girl for one of their fox hunts.”

  “It used to be his. But it’s not anymore,” Seb replied.

  “It’s not?” Livie looked thoroughly curious.

  “Let’s just say he needed funds and was happy to offload the place to me,” he informed her. “I made use of the opportunity. After all, it’s rather difficult to come by grand estates. They don’t often go on sale, and I’d always wanted a property in Cambridge. Worked out well, actually. You’ll enjoy spending a few days there. The country air is so much more refreshing than here in London.”

  “I’ve already told you I cannot travel with you to the country.” Livie squared her shoulders, almost as if she were entering a battle.

  Seb pushed back his chair and rubbed his temples. Of course, she was going to continue to be difficult over the matter. When was she not difficult? “So, we’re back to this topic again, are we?”

  “We had not actually finished discussing the topic in the first place,” she pertly informed him.

  Seb pressed his lips together. “As I explained to you then and will explain to you now, I need to see you both safely out of London, at least until this threat has been contained.” He was amazed at how patient he sounded when all he wanted to do was shake the gravity of the situation into her. “Surely, a few nights at my country estate will be fine, considering it is being done to keep you safe, and indeed will provide the perfect protection against this man, as I will be able to see him and his men if they so much as try anything.”

  “I appreciate that might be the case,” Livie conceded. “And I know you are only trying to protect me, but I still cannot go.”

  “Why the devil not?” Seb felt his jaw begin to clench.

  “You know perfectly well why I cannot do such a thing. My father and brothers would never allow it, and as preoccupied as they all are with their own lives, I do think they will notice if I’m gone for several days.”

  “Well, you traipse about London at all hours on your own, and that doesn’t seem to trouble them.”

  He could see Charlotte and Rowan in the background watching their argument with equal expressions of interest and awe. It was rare to ever see anyone stand up and argue with him, as he knew only too well, and had definitely taken for granted.

  “That is because they have no idea of what I am up to.” Livie crossed her arms over her chest. “A carriage ride across town is one thing, but traveling to the country and residing under your roof for a few nights, alone and without a chaperone, is a very different story. And to pretend you are not fully aware of the ramifications of doing so is being obtuse.”

  “Obtuse?” He, too, crossed his arms over his chest, mirroring her physical position. “What? You think they’d make you marry me if they found out? Now that is amusing, as it is the very last thing they’d ever do.”

  “I still cannot go.” Her eyes were sparkling in defiance.

  The woman was being difficult. Purposefully difficult, especially when there was a madman on the loose.

  “Can’t Charlotte be your chaperone?” He was losing patience and fast.

  “My goodness, you are like a dog with a bone.” Livie leaned heavily on her cane and shook her head fiercely. “No, she cannot be my chaperone. She is younger than I am and unmarried in the bargain.”

  “You are a frustrating woman.”

  “And you are a frustrating man.”

  They stood glaring at each other, trying to stare the other down.

  He realized belatedly he’d never actually had an argument with a woman before, or that in doing so, he felt invigorated and somewhat liberated, too.

  Generally, in the face of an upset woman, even with his sister, he felt no anger or upset. But not so with Livie. The woman was damn well getting under his skin and making him behave in a manner he was unfamiliar with.

  “What about Livie’s godmother?” Charlotte’s voice was filled with calm reason as she stood and wandered over to where they stood. “Wouldn’t Lady Calder be a suitable chaperone? If anything, she’ll provide great amusement with her acerbic tongue.”

  Livie paused, her forehead furrowed in contemplation. “Well, of course she would be more than suitable. But she would never agree. It would be too scandalous. And besides”—she looked up at Seb—“how would I explain you?”

  Seb turned to Rowan. “Go and fetch the duchess, and if the lady won’t come, tell her that her goddaughter will be carted off to the country by the Bastard of Baker Street without any chaperone if she doesn’t come immediately, and I mean immediately.”

  Rowan nodded and headed for the door.

  “He can’t tell her that!” Livie exclaimed. “She’s going to have your head when she does arrive, you do know that, don’t you?”

  “Perhaps, but she will agree to accompany us,” Seb stated. “Particularly after I explain the situation to her. Your godmother may well be a veritable dragon, but she’s a canny lady and she will listen to reason, unlike yourself, my dear.”

  “And how will we explain your presence in all of this? I haven’t told her I’ve gone into a partnership with the Bastard of Baker Street, after all.” Livie could only imagine what her aunt would say to such a thing.

  “Tell her the truth that both you and Charlotte were kidnapped today after you attended the modiste, and that Charlotte’s brother is ensuring you are both protected by having me around until the villain is apprehended. And obviously you both need a chaperone to accompany you to the country.”

  “I suppose that is roughly the truth of it,” Livie grudgingly conceded. “It might just work.”

  “Good.” She was finally listening to him, albeit reluctantly. “Charlotte, why don’t you go into the sitting room and write your father a letter to let him know what is going on and to reassure him you’ll be fine.”

  “Yes, that is a good idea, for he’ll be worried, I’m certain.” Charlotte dashed out of the room, presumably toward the sitting room and the writing table within.

  “One thing you are not taking into account is that Aunt Demelza will never agree to travel to the country without her retinue of servants. Not in a million years.” Livie said, folding her arms across her chest. “I’d put a wager on it.”

  Sebastian grinned, returning his attention back to her. “You know I’m a betting man. What are you willing to wager?”

  Livie shrugged. “I don’t know? What does one wager? Fifty pounds?”

  “How about another kiss?” Seb knew he was playing with fire suggesting such a thing, but she looked so attractive standing there staring at him with ire, there was little else he could think of.

  “And if I win?” she asked.

  “Then you won’t go to the country, will you.”

  “That confident my aunt will agree?”

  “I never make a bet I am not certain I will win.” Seb winked at her.

  “Then why not just kiss me now?” There was fire in the woman’s eyes as she stared defiantly at him.

  “Excuse me?”

  “You heard me,” she challenged him. “Kiss me, then, if you’re so confident you will win this wager of ours.”

  “You’re a bloody bossy female,” Seb grumbled a moment before he whisked her into his arms and his lips slammed down upon hers. Rather than offer any resistance, Livie grabbed his arms and pulled him against her, her cane clattering t
o the floor with a thud. It was just the encouragement he needed, and he opened his mouth against hers. She tasted sublime.

  He’d been wanting to kiss her ever since scooping her up and nestling her against his chest back at the warehouse. But he’d restrained himself. Just. Knowing that while he’d been in such a high state of emotions, having just fought others and confronted death, that if he’d given in to tasting Livie and touching her then and there as he’d wanted to, he probably wouldn’t have been able to stop, not once he’d started. It had been safer to restrain himself.

  But now he couldn’t help himself, and she was returning his kiss with fervor.

  “God, I want you,” he murmured as he pulled his mouth slightly away from her, his hand sliding around the nape of her neck, with his thumb brushing against her cheek. “So bloody much, it scares me.”

  She was breathing heavily, her lashes half closed over her befuddled eyes as she tried to focus them on him. “I never knew I could feel such things…”

  A slow smile grew across his own face. “That’s just kissing, Livie, and wonderful though it is, wait until I show you what pleasure really is. You wanted me in your bed. You shall have me. Then you will feel things you’ve never felt before. That I can promise you.”

  “Show me, Seb.” Her words were a breathless little whisper and sent a shaft of desire straight to his solar plexus. “Show me what it’s like to feel pleasure with you, and you alone.” She leaned up and her lips found his again. Opening to him, her tongue tentatively flicked against his.

  He groaned, low and deep, as an ache settled in his soul for this woman. Wrapping his arms around her, he intensified their kiss, hungrily feasting on her softness like a man unfed for months.

  Then his lips trailed down the column of her throat, tasting every single inch of her soft skin that he could. She moaned in response, a breathless little sound that filled him with satisfaction. His lips got to the edge of the collar of her jacket, the fabric teasing him with a tantalizing swell of her breasts underneath, but with tiny little buttons lined along the center, blocking his path.

  He raised one hand and flicked open the top button, and then the next. He kept going, slowly exposing inch upon inch of her chest, until he gently pulled open her jacket to reveal her chemise and corset underneath. She took in a quivering breath as his eyes hungrily feasted on the top part of her bosoms, which were being cupped by her corset and creating the most enticing cleavage he’d seen.

  His finger traced along the edge of the material where it met her skin, and Livie’s whole body shuddered. “So soft,” he murmured, before he lowered his head and started trailing a series of featherlight kisses against the edge of the garment.

  With one hand, he cupped her breast through the corset, tenderly squeezing it in his palm while the fingers of his other hand swept in under the fabric, pushing her breast away from its confines.

  Livie moaned when Seb lowered his lips down onto her breast and stroked his tongue across the hard peak of her nipple. She arched her back, pushing more of her breast into his mouth, which Seb happily began to feast on. He sucked upon her nipple, teasing it with a flick of his tongue and marveling at how responsive she was to his touch. Her hands twined in his hair and she pressed his head firmly against her bosom. He pulled back from her, and satisfaction filled him to see she was breathing heavily.

  She also looked delightfully dazed.

  “How is it that I am panting like a race horse in a derby, yet you are entirely composed?” she managed to mumble between breaths.

  He took her hand in his own and placed it against the hard length of him that was straining mightily against his trousers to be free.

  Livie’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped. “Oh…”

  “Oh, indeed.” He winked at her before scooping her up into his arms and carrying her across to the settee. He laid her softly down on the cushions and carefully settled himself next to her, lying the length of his body beside hers. “Now, where were we?”

  His head leaned in to her and their mouths captured each other’s in a clash of fire.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Livie had never felt such sensation after sensation of pleasure as Seb teased her mouth with his. His lips, his tongue, everything he was doing to her she never would have imagined possible.

  The feel of him lying next to her with his hardness pressing against her belly was thrilling, sending delicious quivers of excitement throughout her entire body. And then, as his hand slid down the side of her waist and hips, softly pressing her in closer toward him, she couldn’t help another moan escape her lips.

  She nearly jumped off the sofa when his hand started dragging the skirts of her dress up her thighs, the tips of his fingers slowly tracing along her silk stockings with such agonizingly tender strokes that she whimpered.

  No man had ever touched her body before. No man had ever made her feel this way before. No man had ever wanted her before. And by all appearances, Sebastian Colver wanted her with a fierceness that took her breath away. She could see it in his very gaze.

  But then his hand started pushing down the stockings on her thighs, and suddenly the idea of him seeing her disfigured leg was like cold water being thrown in her face. If he saw that, he’d lose all desire for her.

  “Please stop,” she pleaded with him.

  He froze completely, his hand stilling halfway down her leg, and his head lifting from where he’d been trailing soft kisses down the column of her throat. “You want us to stop?”

  The pulse at the base of his neck was pounding heartily, and she could see the confusion in his eyes. Inwardly, part of her was desperately yelling to let him keep going, but the other part of her, the part that had to deal with the devastation of knowing she would never truly be wanted, not if he saw the scars and mottled skin crossing her right thigh, was telling her she must get him to stop. And it was this part of her she listened to.

  “Yes. I do.” Liar, her inner voice whispered. She suddenly found it difficult to look him in the eye.

  He nodded and in one swift move stood from the lounge and strode over to pour himself a whiskey. He was breathing heavily, and Livie could see he was trying to get his body under control.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, her voice a scratchy whisper as she pulled up her stocking and drew the skirts of her dress back down to cover her legs. She cleared her throat and swung her feet around so she was sitting properly on the settee, wincing only slightly as the muscles in her damaged leg protested. “I didn’t mean for things to get so out of hand between us.”

  Sebastian poured himself a decent-sized nip and downed it in one swallow before turning back around to face her. “It was my fault.” His voice was blunt and matter-of-fact. “I was the one who let it get out of control and will not do so again. My apologies.”

  The air was thick as they stared at each other, so many words unspoken between them.

  In reality, all Livie felt like doing was jumping up, rushing over to him, and begging him to continue. Not that she actually could. Her leg ensured that. Never had she been so miserable at having been injured as she was right in that instant. Her injury had always been a constant, aching reminder about the death of her mother. Now, it was also going to serve as a reminder that because of it, she’d potentially missed out on what could have been one of the most amazing experiences of her life.

  And though Society, her family, and even her friends would probably be scandalized senseless that she was considering giving him her virginity, that was the least of Livie’s concerns. She was never going to marry. What did it matter if she allowed the Bastard of Baker Street to show her what it was like to truly be a woman?

  If only she had the confidence to let him. But she didn’t. Even she could barely stand looking at her leg. She could only imagine what he would think of it, if ever he were to see it.

  She wished she could tell w
hat was going on inside his head. What he was thinking inside that complex mind of his. But, as usual, his expression was giving nothing away as he simply stood there with his feet crossed at his ankles, his upper body leaning back against the side table.

  Just then someone knocked at the door to the study, the sound reverberating around the room like a cymbal and jolting Livie the tiniest bit.

  Seb straightened, his eyes reluctantly leaving her own as he strode over to the door and opened it a crack, his body blocking the room from view.

  “The train has been organized, sir. And I’ve just spoken with the housekeeper, Mrs. Brooks, who assures me she will prepare the rooms and organize a carriage to meet you at the station in a few hours,” Simpkins’s voice murmured from beyond the door. “And your valet has packed you some essentials and clothes for the journey as you requested. I hope you do not mind that I took the liberty to include a note requesting the same for Miss Charlotte from her father, too. I sent one of the footmen to deliver it along with the letter from Miss Charlotte.”

  “That’s fine, Simpkins. When the others return, please let me know.”

  “I believe that will be them returning now, sir.”

  Sure enough, the noise of a woman hollering somewhat loudly traveled down the corridor. It sounded as if she was calling Livie’s name.

  “Give it a minute before showing the duchess in, please, Simpkins,” Seb directed his butler before closing the door and turning to face Livie again.

  “If you thought dealing with rival gangs was difficult, you have another thing coming with my godmother when she is in a mood, as it most definitely sounds like she is.”

  Seb shrugged and Livie got the impression it mattered little to him. “Well, you have your chaperone now, don’t you?”

  Livie cocked her head to the side and regarded him. “You’re really not going to take no for an answer, are you? About me going to the country with you and Charlotte?”

  “When it comes to your safety,”—his piercing eyes stole through her—“no, I won’t.”