Lord Rogue

by Patricia Rice

  Travis turned his grin to Alicia at her gasp. “Did you think Letitia would allow you to be sole heir to the Stanford fortune?”

  “You wretch! Why didn’t you tell me? Why does nobody tell me these things?”

  Laughter eased the path between father and son. Lord Royster gazed with pride and affection upon his eldest son. “I’ve only had one letter from Scott since he found you. Said you could not travel immediately due to the birth of your son. Is he here? Did you bring him with you?”

  With a straight face Travis assured his father, “Unfortunately, we had to leave Scott somewhere north of Natchez. I’m certain he will follow any day now.”

  Alicia had to bite her tongue, and meeting Lady Royster’s eyes, they both rolled their gazes heavenward. It was no wonder father and son never got along. They were both too annoying.

  Since Travis seemed determined not to utter a sensible word, Alicia answered for him. “Dale is asleep in one of the guest rooms upstairs. Our maid is with him now, but I will be happy to show him off anytime you ask.”

  “Dale?” Lord Royster lifted his eyebrows in inquiry.

  Maintaining an impassive demeanor, Travis explained, “Delaney Rochester Travis. We call him Dale.”

  “Delaney?” Lord Royster looked pained. “Is this another jest?”

  Travis shrugged. “No, just the American way of recognizing a title for what it is worth. Alicia is not fully convinced I am who I claim to be.”

  That puzzled the earl even further, but he did not try to pry the tale from them on the spot. With the courtliness of another era, he bowed over Alicia’s hand and asked for a dance. Travis offered for his stepmother’s hand, and the two couples swept out onto the floor.

  Relieved by the happy meeting, enchanted by the music and the company, Alicia danced in a euphoric haze. Knowing Travis’s dark gaze followed wherever she went, she smiled, happiness rising in her like the bubbles in champagne. Perhaps Travis didn’t love her, but he never looked at another woman, and her confidence rose another notch. If everything would work out as well as this meeting, she would teach him to love her by the time they sailed for England.

  Cries of “Foul!” followed their progress as Travis finally snatched her out from under the noses of eager suitors and carried her to the dance floor.

  As the orchestra struck up a waltz, Alicia melted into Travis’s arms without reserve, moving with the music and his motion as if they were all of one piece. She could feel the muscles of his arm tighten around her waist as the tempo increased, and the animal grace of his long legs guided her with superb instinct. Aware of the pounding of his heart close to hers, she dared look up and was captured by the heat of his stare.

  “Do you have any idea how much I love you?” Travis demanded fiercely, his hand tightening its grip on Alicia’s waist.

  Incredulous, not believing she had heard him rightly, Alicia blinked and grasped for words. “I don’t believe I have heard the subject mentioned,” she admitted. “When should I have taken notice?”

  A wolfish grin crossed Travis’s face at her discomposure. “I daresay the very first time I saw the delicate lady dressed in black dismissing an entire keelboat crew for bad behavior, but you will have to forgive my ignorance of the exact moment. I have never been in love before.”

  Feeling her breath catch in her throat and her heart playing skip rope, Alicia could scarcely tear her fascinated gaze from his. “What makes you think you love me now? Perhaps it is just a bad case of indigestion. Or too much champagne.”

  “I have had indigestion and champagne before,” Travis said solemnly. “They did not make me feel as if I own the world or spin me in such a turmoil that I don’t know if my feet are touching the ground. It has taken me a long time to admit it to myself, so I don’t expect you to accept it all at once. Just keep it in mind when I behave too outrageously; it’s all for the love of you.”

  Spirits soaring, Alicia slid her hand to the place where Travis’s hair fell down over his immaculate cravat, rubbing her finger against the exposed flesh of his neck. The immediate effect was to find herself so closely entrapped in his embrace that she could scarcely move and embarrassingly aware of the sway of his narrow hips against hers.

  “I think I fell in love with your gold earring first,” Alicia replied inanely, but Travis’s response was instantaneous.

  With a crow of delight he stopped in the middle of the dance floor to crush her against him. Then, to the delight and shock of everyone, he claimed her mouth with all the passion and happiness he had long suppressed.

  Heads turned at the shocking sight of the handsome couple locked in tight embrace upon the dance floor. But when the orchestra struck the final notes and the young lord danced his lady out of the crowd and toward the stairs, a ragged male cheer shook the chandelier. Time was too short for young lovers to waste on holding hands in public when there was a bed to be shared elsewhere.

  Lifting her narrow skirt, Alicia started up the stairway, Travis’s possessive hand burning a hole in the small of her back as he half pushed, half guided her upwards. Watching the sway of slender hips beneath the slippery silk, Travis groaned his impatience, and with decisiveness, caught her by the waist and swung her into his arms.

  “Travis! Everyone is watching!” Alicia buried her burning cheeks against his shoulder.

  “Let them. There will be no doubt in their minds whose woman you are. And by dawn there should be no doubt in yours.”

  The throaty rumble of this promise sent shivers through Alicia’s middle, and she clung to Travis’s shoulders as he opened the door of their room and carried her in. Without putting her down, he kicked the door closed, and his mouth swooped down to fasten upon hers once more.

  Sucked in and spun around by the whirlwind of his passion, Alicia found herself nearly breathless. Her lips parted beneath Travis’s hungry demands.

  Travis tumbled her on the bed. Stripping off his coat and flinging it aside, he joined her. His hand slid from the curve of her hip to her breast while his mouth returned to plunder hers.

  As his hand and mouth worked their magic, Alicia stroked the breadth of Travis’s shoulders, then traveled downward to explore the supple movement of his chest. Sliding her fingers beneath the opening of his shirt, she succeeded in unfastening it to slide her hand inside.

  The fragile silk of Alicia’s gown slid from her shoulders, and she gasped as his hand brushed her bare breast. Travis located the bodice fastenings and released them, pushing silk and chemise together to Alicia’s waist.

  The chill of the room did not reach her as he kissed her breasts. His weight pressed her into the mattress, and she circled his neck and arched upward, excitement shooting through her.

  Desire burned too heatedly to delay. Lifting her hips, Travis drew off her remaining clothes. Alicia cried out as his lips followed the path of her clothes, and she struggled to remove the last barriers between them.

  With a laugh of triumph at her show of eagerness, Travis sat up and tugged off his shoes, though Alicia hampered his efforts by running her fingers under his shirt and tickling his ribs. He caught her and pulled her over his lap, finding her kiss-swollen lips and tumbling backward until she lay over him, her breasts pressing against his half-open shirt. Alicia yanked it up and ran her hands over the hard musculature of his chest, eliciting a gasp of shock as she kissed a hardened nipple.

  Travis dug his hands into her upswept hair and sent all the pins flying with a tug that brought her lips back to his. “Now tell me it is my earring that you love, vixen,” he muttered against her mouth as his lips laid claim to hers once more.

  “Your earring and your mouth and your son and your boneheadedness,” Alicia agreed as his kiss whispered across her lips and up into her hair while his hands played erotic games against her skin.

  “Fie on you, woman, for not telling me sooner. I’ll make you pay for this, you know.” With those words Travis flipped her back to the mattress and stood to remove his clothing.

&n
bsp; Wearing only garters and stockings, Alicia watched him boldly. Free of the confinement of tight trousers and shirt, Travis fell back into the open arms waiting for him.

  She cried out in joy and surprise as he entered her without further ado. Within seconds she was riding high on the swiftness of his thrusts, and the world outside this searing sea of heat no longer existed. When Travis struck his claim, Alicia shook with the intensity of his possession.

  Travis covered her cries with his kiss, his hands searching out the soft purchases they had ached so long to claim. Once would never be enough. He moved gently against her hips, teasing her with his need.

  “Travis, you cannot!” Shocked as much by her response as his recovery, Alicia tried to wriggle free.

  “Oh, but I can, all night and all day.” With that warning Travis rolled on his back and carried her with him, holding her in place so she could not escape his impalement. “Just think of all the time we have lost, Blue Eyes, and resign yourself to a lifetime of catching up.”

  As he caught her hips and pressed them downward, Alicia learned the folly of thinking she could rid herself of this addiction. She surrendered wantonly to the pleasure.

  Chapter 43

  Lying beside Travis in the soft glow of dawn, Alicia curled closer to his warmth, despairing the time lost from listening to her head instead of her heart. Travis might possess the nature of an untamed beast, but she understood now that he did not intentionally hurt her. She might never understand the violence with which he protected what was his, but she would have to learn to accept it. To live without him had become unthinkable.

  “Do that again and I assure you, you will be ravished before you have time to protest,” Travis muttered as Alicia explored the length of his body with her fingertips.

  Propping herself on one elbow, Alicia gazed down at his closed eyelids and the relaxed line of his mouth and could not resist a good-morning kiss atop his nose. “Protest? Not I. But your son will wake the dead should I linger longer.”

  Travis lifted one eyelid, sighed with satisfaction and closed his eye again. “I thought, p’raps, I’d died and gone to heaven last night, but I can see you’re not an angel after all. Angels wear more clothes than that.”

  Gasping in outrage, Alicia swatted him with her pillow. Travis instantly pinned her to the bed and began to tickle her, until they were rolling among the bed covers, ruining what remained of the bed’s original tidiness.

  A knock on the connecting door returned them to propriety, and Alicia slid from Travis’s grasp. Grabbing a robe, she attempted to straighten her tangled tresses while Travis groped for sheets.

  After that, the day slipped away without control. A message arrived from Lord Royster commanding their presence—and Dale’s—at once. Suitable clothes had to be sent for. Alicia had Anne-Marie rearrange her hair half a dozen times before declaring herself satisfied. Dale had to be adorned in his best gown. And Travis watched the confusion with a jaded eye.

  The interview went more smoothly than expected. Dale became the focus of attention. Alicia sympathized over the loss of the Roysters’ son. The assumption that Travis would now return to England to take his rightful place went unspoken but undenied by anyone. In the event of Lord Royster’s illness or death, someone had to take the responsibility for the large estates, a young wife, and two little girls. Better Travis than an indigent second cousin with the brains of a turkey, as the earl quite succinctly put it over lunch.

  Watching Alicia as his father spoke, Travis contested none of his father’s assumptions. For the first time since spring Alicia appeared happy and content. She laughed and talked with Lady Royster with more animation than he had ever seen in her. This was her natural element: surrounded by the warmth and comforts of a gracious home and well educated, well-mannered people of her own kind. In time he would grow used to it, too.

  They returned to the townhouse that afternoon, preferring the privacy to the public attention of Lord Royster’s suite. Alicia sought the solitude of the bedroom while Anne-Marie tucked the fretful babe to bed in the other chamber.

  Travis found her standing in the center of the room, staring blankly out the window, her coat and hat discarded upon the bed, but no other semblance of unpacking her new clothes in evidence.

  He circled her waist, pressing a kiss to her temple. “Do your thoughts rate a penny?”

  Alicia leaned into his embrace. “I believe I am too tired for thought. Perhaps, like Dale, I need a nap.”

  Concerned, Travis turned her so he could see her face. Shadows underlay her eyes, and she seemed paler than she should be. He stroked her forehead and finding no fever, he concurred with her assessment. “You have done too much, too soon. Dr. Farrar will be furious with me. Lie down while the little monster sleeps and get some rest.”

  When he would help her with the buttons of her gown, Alicia sent him a mischievous look. “You had best go on about whatever business you are itching to get to or I will not rest and you will accomplish nothing. Anne-Marie can help me.”

  Travis caught her look, and with a wry grin lifted his hands from her shoulders. “I agreed too eagerly, didn’t I? Very well, I will be off, but make certain you rest. I cannot promise I will be so easily rid of tonight.”

  He kissed her just enough to leave her yearning for more, before striding from the room. Alicia watched him go with love and pride.

  After she woke from her nap, she felt more confident than ever about the path she had chosen. She loved St. Louis and her father and Becky and Auguste and their lovely home, but she loved Travis more. It would be hard to slip into the role of useless socialite again, but for Travis, she could do it. She would be the grandest Lady Delaney London had ever seen.

  Alicia sent the maid out to the market for some fresh vegetables for dinner while she searched the kitchen for ingredients for a pie. She would have Travis come home to a meal he could enjoy in the privacy of their home, where they could adjourn shortly after to the big bed upstairs.

  Dale lay in his cradle in the sunshine from the window, cooing in accompaniment to Alicia’s singing. Rolling her sleeves up and covering her gown with an overlarge apron, she worked the lard into the flour. She had seldom been allowed in a kitchen, but she had learned the knack these last months. In due time she would be banished from all work again. It was best to make the most of what freedom she had now.

  Engrossed, the song on her lips concealing all else, Alicia did not hear the front latch opening. Not until Edward leaned against the kitchen door frame was she even aware of another presence.

  Her heart stumbled to a halt, and her fingers knotted in the ball of dough as she recognized the sardonic smile on the intruder’s face. It had been a long time. Except for that brief glimpse of him on the tavern floor, Alicia had not seen her former beau since that day he had torn away her pride and self-respect and reduced her to a quivering madwoman. She would not have recognized him but for that cruel smile.

  “Get out,” she ordered. They had nothing to discuss, and she had no sympathy for his unhealthy pallor and disreputable clothes. He deserved whatever had happened to him since she had seen him last. As he had grown weaker, she had grown stronger. Travis had taught her courage.

  Edward just laughed. “Is that any way to treat an old friend? Living with savages has seriously rusted your manners, Alicia, my love.”

  “Out, Edward, before I scream bloody blue hell and bring my savage husband running. You wouldn’t like that, would you, Edward? You can’t bully Travis as easily as you did me.”

  Edward made a clucking noise with his tongue and folded his arms across his chest. “Such language! Your mother must be turning in her grave. There’s no need to scream, Alicia. I watched while everyone left. Your husband, if that’s what he is, is nowhere within hearing. I owe him one, but I’m not here to even scores. Is that my son?” He nodded toward the swinging cradle. Contented coos had turned to fretful whines when Alicia stopped singing.

  “Your son?” Alicia stare
d at him with incredulity. She scarcely knew the man who stood there now. His elegance had dissipated into a casual slump, and his smile held a hint of petulance. She loathed the very sight of him, and fear crawled along her skin.

  “Don’t play the innocent with me. Beauchamps have a long history of getting their wives with child on their wedding nights. If you hadn’t been so damned mule-headed, we could have been married before anyone guessed we had jumped the gun a little. You didn’t have to go looking for savages to give the child a name.”

  ”We have no child, Edward.” Alicia said the words slowly and clearly, but she could tell by the gleam in his eye that he did not believe her. As he straightened and stepped closer, she caught the smell of liquor, and her fear multiplied.

  “I’ll take you back to Philadelphia where you belong, Alicia.” He touched the gold locket about her throat. “This little bauble will pay our passage. Do you have others, Alicia? I would prefer to travel in style.”

  She wiped her hands on a towel and unfastened the necklace. Holding it out, she said, “Here, take it. You can travel comfortably on its worth. Now go, before Travis comes.”

  He slid the chain into his pocket, but he did not release her shoulder. “We will be gone before he returns. Get the child, Alicia. My father will be quite pleased when I return with both you and a child.”

  His fingers bit into her shoulder, and she felt her courage fading. She had no strength against him, but she would rather die than submit to that fate again. If only there were some way . . .

  She glimpsed the knife she had been using to chop apples. Swallowing hard, she inched away, closer to the one weapon she possessed. “The child is Travis’s. He would hunt you into hell before he allowed you to take him.”

  A feral gleam flickered behind cold eyes. “Don’t lie to me, Alicia. You were carrying my child when you left Philadelphia. If that one isn’t mine, where is it?”