“No, it’s my turn,” Jacqueline told her uncle, and pulled Damon away again.
Back in the center of the dance floor, where they would be temporarily shielded by other couples, she didn’t even pretend to want to dance. She did put her arms around Damon and leaned up to kiss his red cheek, whispering, “Better her than him.”
“Funny you should mention that,” he said cryptically. “I do understand, you know. You’re their only daughter. I twice caused them anguish, which I heartily regret.”
“I suppose it will take time to smooth those edges.”
“I would expect so.”
“But they will relent when they see how happy you make me.”
He drew in his breath. “Do I?”
“Well, that depends on why you’re here.”
“I’m here to ask you again to marry me. I wasn’t teasing before.” He had started to lead them in the dance, but stopped as he waited breathlessly for her answer.
“I wasn’t ready to hear it then, but now I am. Shall we sneak out now?”
He began to laugh. “Shouldn’t I ask your—”
“Good God, no. You can’t ask him or we’ll never get out of here.”
“I was going to say your mother. One parent’s approval would be nice.”
Jack rolled her eyes at him. “She just slapped you. She’s not ready to approve, either.”
“But I’m heir to two titles now. Will that make a difference to your father?”
She laughed. “No, but—two? How did that happen?”
He told her briefly about finding his mother, and the lie that had been told to her to keep them apart. “I can’t even be angry at Cyril for lying to her—well, I can, I am, it cost me so much. And yet if it hadn’t played out as it did, I never would have met you.”
“I beg to differ. You and I were destined. We would have met somehow.”
He smiled. “You think so?”
“It’s what every woman in my family would say.”
“But not you?”
“Don’t be silly. Who am I to dispute a consensus that big?”
“You did, as I recall. You would have made your destiny wait a full year.”
“Not anymore.”
His turquoise eyes perused hers, and he looked a little too serious when he said, “Are you sure? Because I haven’t actually heard you say yes.”
She grinned. “Yes.” She kissed his cheek. “Yes.” She licked his ear. “Definitely yes.” And slid her lips across his face to say against his mouth, “D’you need more convincing that I’ll marry you?”
He crushed her to him for a moment before he said, “The first yes did it, but by all means, continue.”
She shook her head. “If we’re going to slip out, we probably need to do it now, before my uncle tells my father that you’re here.”
“He already knows. Frankly, I’m surprised he hasn’t ordered the doors locked and the crowd to part.”
“He wouldn’t want to feed the gossip mills. He doesn’t care about creating scandal about himself, but wouldn’t want even a whiff of it to spread to me, so he won’t make a scene. It’s mostly my extended family here tonight, but there are still other members of the ton in the room.” A quick glance around her and she had to amend, “Actually, a lot more than were invited. But that would be why he hasn’t ripped you out of my arms yet. He probably does know exactly where we are and is just waiting until the music ends.”
“Wonderful.” Damon groaned.
“We can elope to Scotland and inform them afterward.”
“Impulsive as ever.”
“No, but now that I’ve decided I’m not waiting for next year after all, I don’t want to wait another day. Although it’s going to take more’n a day to get to Scotland.”
“But less than a day to get to Essex, where my father already has a special license for us.”
Her brows went up. “That sort of title?”
“Yes—and an extra name. If you marry me, you will be Jack Reeves Chandler. I’ve just met my real father.”
She started laughing and wouldn’t stop.
“It’s not that funny, Jack.”
“Oh, but it is.”
Then Judith bumped into them deliberately and exclaimed with wide eyes that swept over Damon, “So this is him? And you haven’t eloped yet?”
Jacqueline grinned. “We were about to. Damon, this is my cohort in all things secret, my dearest, dearest cousin and best friend, Judith Malory Tremayne. Judy, meet Damon Reeves. He’s got a third name, but if you don’t know it, then my parents won’t be able to pry it out of you and figure out where we went, so it can wait. Give us an hour’s head start before you let them know I’ve hied off to get married. Tell them I’ll send word tomorrow where the after-wedding party will be held.”
“They’re going to worry.”
“No, they’ll be too angry to worry, and they’ll hear from me before that changes.”
“Are you sure you don’t want a big wedding like mine?”
Jack grinned. “The family and I enjoyed yours just months ago, and besides, you know my father was never, ever going to give his blessing, no matter what, not for Damon, not for any man. I was giving him an extra year to get used to the idea, but it just wasn’t happening. So, fait accompli instead, which is more exciting and fun!”
They didn’t run out of the room, which would have drawn people’s attention, but they did move rather quickly to the entrance and then started running along the curb to Damon’s coach. Jacqueline was laughing, so happy she couldn’t help it. And Damon’s driver had been warned, so the moment they were in the coach, it started moving, and they started kissing. She couldn’t help that either! It had been far too long since she’d seen him, tasted him, felt him in her arms.
“Wait—” he tried.
“No!”
He chuckled. “Just for a moment.”
He was getting something out of his pocket, and he brought her hand to his lips to kiss it before he slipped a ring on her finger. The beautiful large emerald was surrounded by so many diamonds, Jack laughed.
“It’s the perfect wedding ring to receive from a pirate,” she teased. “Are you sure it’s not ill-gotten booty?”
He smiled tenderly. “My father gave it to me, a Chandler family heirloom. They are expecting us. They were as hopeful as I that you would say yes. They’ve missed so much of my life, they are thrilled to be part of our elopement. We have their blessing, at least.”
“You know we might have to marry again someday for my parents.”
“If they ever accept me, certainly.”
“My mother approves. She did invite you to the ball, after all.”
He rolled his eyes. “Just so she could slap me.”
Jack grinned. “You had to expect that, and it may even happen a few more times. But she wants me to be happy, and she could see that I am with you.”
“Are you?”
She kissed him soundly to answer him, but it wasn’t long before she wanted more. “Can the driver go any faster?” she asked breathlessly.
“I think this is as fast as we can go at night without running off the road. Besides, considering what we’re doing, I don’t want to face a clergyman and my parents just now.”
She laughed and reached under her gown to pull off her drawers before climbing up on his lap to make love to him. The bouncing of the coach was exceptionally nice once she felt him inside her!
In the throes of passion, she cried out, “Faster!”
“I told you the driver—”
“Not the driver. I meant you!”
“Now that I can happily accommodate.”
Chapter Fifty-Two
THEY ARE ARRIVING,” DAMON warned.
It was morning. Jacqueline had been awake for only a few minutes but had heard the carriages and voices below their window, too. She probably shouldn’t have sent off that missive to her parents last night, right before the wedding.
Damon’s parents
had welcomed her warmly and led them into the parlor, where they’d awakened the clergyman who had been standing by all evening. The room had been filled with every flower on the estate! Although the man was a bit sleepy, he’d performed the ceremony with dispatch, but in a moment of confusion he’d asked, “Who gives away this woman?”
But Jacqueline had laughed. “I do!”
After she and Damon had taken their vows to be man and wife, they’d raced upstairs to their bedchamber. Not that they hadn’t already made love twice in his coach on the way to Essex. But missing him as much as she did while they were apart had made her insatiable, and she hadn’t gotten her fill of him yet.
“I’m not leaving this bed,” Jacqueline said now.
She climbed on top of Damon to straddle his hips and was only a little surprised that he was already hard enough for her to mount. She grinned down at him and wiggled her hips.
“Do I need to teach you that you should let me lure you into—”
“Do I need to divorce you already?” she countered.
He went very still. She punched his shoulder. “You’re the one who needs teaching about what’s a tease and what isn’t. You’re never getting rid of me—Bastard.” She giggled as she said it.
He rolled his eyes. “You really do find that funny, don’t you?”
“Don’t you? Especially since your real father has already legitimized you as his firstborn and heir. By the by, I like him and your mother. At least one of us can say that about the other’s parents.”
“I’m sure I’ll like yours—someday.”
She chuckled. “Probably not.” Then she gasped as he twitched inside her.
A lambent light entered her eyes just before she leaned down to put her lips to his. She hoped, she really did, that this need to devour him would settle down eventually . . . well, at least settle down to moderation. Once a day, maybe twice. Had she really thought when she was on the ship with him in a sea becalmed but with her passions running wild that one more week of him would have sufficed? Such a silly notion.
The kiss got hot. Gooseflesh spread across her bare back where his hands moved. They were both naked, never having put on any nightclothes last night, even when he got up to pour them wine, or when she got up to stoke the fire in the wee hours when it got a little chilly in the room. They had made love for most of the night. Maybe it wasn’t morning and was afternoon instead?
He finally gripped her hips for a harder thrust, but he gasped and tried to flip her over. She fought to stay mounted. He let her win. She rewarded him by grinding her hips to his, but she got the reward, that beautiful explosion of sensual delight.
And the gasp “Oh . . . my . . . God!”
He laughed as she threw back her head to enjoy the full luxury of that climax, but then he did the gasping as he followed with his own. She ended up staring at him and marveling once more that he was hers. She hadn’t been glad of the day she’d met him, but if she’d known then what she knew now, she would have been. So many variables could have revealed the truth sooner if he hadn’t been desperate to help the father who raised him, if he hadn’t hated James for taking his mother away, if he hadn’t had to get a pirate back in prison one way or another . . . if . . . if . . .
She shared one with him now. “Half of my rage when we first met was because I wanted you even then, but knew I couldn’t have you.”
“Do I need to say again how sorry—?”
She put a finger to his lips and smiled. “No, but you can promise never to keep any secrets from me again.” She gave him a wicked grin. “Imagine how much sooner we could have been doing this if you’d been honest from the start.”
“Or you might have killed me.”
“I had my chance and merely gave you a paltry wound. What does that tell you?”
“How lucky I am?” He cupped her cheeks and gazed deeply into her eyes. “I love you, Jack. I think I have from the start.”
Emotions bubbled up inside her and made her eyes a little glassy. She couldn’t have found a more perfect husband if she’d conjured one up. He’d given her adventure and excitement, passion and now love. He’d stirred every one of her emotions, bad and good.
With only the good ones remaining, she could tease, “I figured you must, since you’ve braved my family to have me. But it’s nice to hear.”
He raised a brow, saying pointedly, “Yes, it is.”
She chuckled. “Of course, I love you—now.”
“Now?”
“Did you think it was instantaneous?” She laughed. “No, no, only the lust was. Love took longer, although it probably happened sooner than my stubbornness allowed me to admit. But it’s well seated now, this glorious feeling. And we wouldn’t be married if I didn’t now love you wholeheartedly.”
The sudden pounding on the door had Damon leaping out of bed because he hadn’t locked the door.
Jacqueline yelled, “We’ll be downstairs shortly!”
Damon glanced back at her to whisper, “You know that was probably him.”
“Probably.” She grinned. “Pour us a bath to share in that lovely bathing room you have. My father can wait a bit longer.”
“I’ll share it,” he said on his way to the little attached room. “As long as we just bathe. I really don’t want to keep him waiting.”
“I make no promises.”
JACQUELINE DID ACTUALLY MAKE one while she was drying off after their bath. With a blush, she said, “I promise our lovemaking won’t always go so quickly.”
“I’m not about to hold you to that, love, at least for a few more weeks. Even then, I may have to make that same promise to you, I want you so much. But eventually we will take our time.”
They did finally get downstairs. Jack was wearing her pale green ball gown again and hoping her mother had thought to bring her some clothes. The marquis’s mansion was nearly as big as Haverston. Following the sounds of conversation, they headed straight for the large parlor, where tea and crumpets had been served. It appeared that more of her family than she’d expected had come here for this reckoning.
Grinning like a fool because she was so bloody happy, she took Damon around and proudly introduced him. The women gave congratulations and hugs, the men were more hesitant or droll in their remarks.
Jeremy chucked her chin, his expression as bland as their father’s usually was. “I don’t need to ask if eloping was your idea, when we know you don’t have a jot of patience, Sister. But you couldn’t just settle for sex and let us kill him?”
She pretended to give it a moment of thought. “A lifetime of sinful sex or I give you some legitimate nieces and nephews? D’you want to ask that question again? And you’re the worst chaperone ever, Jer!”
He finally grinned. “Actually, by definition, I was the best. But it’s written all over you, how happy he makes you, so”—Jeremy glanced at Damon—“welcome to the family, mate. Just don’t tell my father I said that.”
“Understood,” Damon said as they shook hands.
“And you might want to steer clear of him,” Jeremy warned. “At least today, or for a week, actually—”
“I get the idea,” Damon cut in.
“No, I’m not sure you do. He’s really not happy with you, and that equates to a lot of pain for you.” Then Jeremy looked at Jacqueline. “This won’t be like his war with Nick and Warren and settle down to mere verbal barbs. You’re his baby girl.”
She smiled. “Yes, I’m exactly that—and more like him than you know. If I’m not worried, you shouldn’t be.”
Anthony joined them and put an arm around Jacqueline’s shoulders, his tone quite droll as he remarked, “You might want to turn off that bloody glow, puss. It’s throwing salt in the wound.”
“I haven’t found a switch for that, Uncle Tony.”
He stared at Damon. “Well, my condolences, youngun. You should have run while you had the chance.”
“I did run, in the only direction possible. I’ll always run straight to Jack.
She holds my heart.”
“Gad, let’s not wax maudlin,” Tony complained, then to Jack: “Your mother isn’t known for patience.”
Jacqueline laughed and grabbed Damon’s hand again to head to her mother. Georgina, standing with Danny and Kelsey, ignored Damon but put her arms around Jack. “You’ve denied me the joy of planning your wedding.”
“If I had done it the way everyone else does, Mother, would it ever have happened? Father walking me down the aisle and giving me away? Really?”
“I could have talked him around,” Georgina insisted.
“With someone else, maybe, but with Damon?”
Georgina tsked and nodded toward James, who was talking quietly with Sarah Chandler. “Possibly. He knows Damon’s mother and has regrets concerning her.”
Jack chuckled. “He already relieved himself of those regrets by not trouncing Damon in the Caribbean. He won’t give him any more boons.”
“I heard, and I was partly to blame for his not returning to help Lady Chandler. Which is why I won’t slap her son again.”
“If you really want to have that big wedding, he’ll marry me again just for you.”
“Will you come home in the meantime?”
“No.”
George snorted. “Then there’s no point.” But then she hugged Jacqueline fiercely, whispering, “Give me time. I’ll get used to this.”
“I love him, Mama.”
“Good God, children grow up too fast.”
Jack grinned. “Was that your blessing?”
“Yes, I believe it was. Now go make peace with your father, but do not take your husband with you. You can leave Damon safely with us.”
Jacqueline didn’t hesitate. She marched straight to James and put her arms around him. “Don’t be mad.”
“I’m not mad.”
She peered up at him. “Don’t be furious, either.”
He didn’t deny that one.
“Fine. But no more bruises on my husband’s body or I’m going to have a very, very long wedding trip.”
“You’re having one?”
“He has his own estate in East Sussex. I was going to opt for a week or two alone with him there before we allow visitors—as long as there are no more bruises.”
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