by Diana Quincy
He raised a questioning eyebrow.
“Much more thoughtful and forward thinking,” she said, eyeing her surroundings.
“Perhaps I’ve realized seducing you is as much an endeavor of the mind as it is of the body. Ah, here we are.” They came to a stop in front of a new structure that appeared too large to be a cottage. “This should be of special interest to you.” They entered the empty building, which smelled of new construction. “It is not quite ready yet, but I hope to have it well in hand soon.”
The entire bottom floor was one large bright room. Generous windows ran along both sides, allowing sunlight to stream inside.
“What is this?” Charlotte asked as she slipped her hand away from Cam’s arm to walk around and get a better look.
“It’s a schoolhouse,” Cam said.
Charlotte’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. “For whom?”
“The workers’ children.” He adjusted a bench near a table. “We also hope to eventually offer evening lessons for the workers themselves who cannot read.”
“How much will you charge them?”
“For the adults to learn, nothing. For their children, five pence for each day they miss.” He smiled at the confused look that came over Charlotte’s face. “All mill workers will be required to send their children to this school.”
“Who will pay for it?”
“The mill is covering the costs. We have engaged two teachers. They will live in comfortable quarters above stairs.”
Her mouth fell open. Cam was offering a free, compulsory education to working-class children, the very thing she’d championed in her writings for years.
Tears blurred her eyes, closing her throat. “Oh, Cam, it’s beyond wonderful.” She ran her hands over the new wooden shelving, taking in its rich aroma. She pictured the books that would soon fill the shelves and the students whose imaginations would flourish here. Her heart felt ready to burst. “How did you come up with his concept?”
“The homes, the church, the town was from my own imaginings, but a mandatory education, free of cost for the working class?” A fierce look of soft emotion passed over Cam’s face. “Why, Charlotte, isn’t it obvious? That portion was all from you and your lofty ideas.”
Her heart felt light in her chest. “My ideas?”
He laughed flashing his white teeth, the rich, rumbling sound echoing deep into her core. “From that first night at Willa’s in town when you talked of free education for all. It didn’t take at first, but as my town project developed what you had to say began to make sense to me. And then, when I read your essay—”
Her eyes rounded. “You really did read my essays.”
He nodded. “Once I began to think seriously about building a schoolhouse I referred to some of your essays for direction. After all, you are clearly much more informed on this subject than I.”
Charlotte felt dizzy. She recalled the salon Willa hosted last year at Hartwell House when she’d argued publicly funded education would strengthen society. The occasion also marked the first time she’d laid eyes on Willa’s incomparable cousin. She’d been aware of him from the moment he’d bounded into the room, all sleek elegance and masculine assuredness. Back then, though, he’d seemed to react to her ideas with cynicism. Yet now, here he stood, putting into action what Charlotte had only dreamed of until now. She might be a forward thinker, but he was the true progressive.
“You were so passionate in your beliefs.” He cradled her jaw in his hand. “How could I not respond to your passion?”
The burning intensity in his amber-green eyes caused her pulse to howl under her skin. She reached up to devour this enigma who could be both imperious and surprisingly kind, who was so much more than she could ever imagine.
Cam met her lips almost ferociously, driving his tongue inside her mouth with demanding strokes. His hands roamed over her body, touching and kneading, pulling her tight against his solid length, their bodies intertwined. They stumbled against the wall, sidestepping work tools, which littered the floor, doing a clumsy mating dance, feeding on each other while twisting and turning, with her back against the hard surface first and then his.
Her insides churning, she pressed herself harder against him, wanting to lose herself in him. He groaned, his iron-hot man’s flesh throbbing against her. She moaned in response, pushing closer, melding her body to his.
“Oh, Lord, Charlotte,” Cam rasped, trailing hot, wet kisses down the side of her neck. “You undo me. You make it difficult for me to hold on to reason.”
“Then don’t.” Breathless, she pulled at his cravat, anxious to feel the bare skin beneath it.
His hands moved over her sides to her bottom, massaging the soft swells. When air whooshed over her legs, she realized Cam had hitched up her skirt. He reached into the soft dampness between her legs. Startled, Charlotte thought to stop him. But then Cam touched her in a way that made her arch and scream softly from the pure pleasure of it.
“You feel so good,” he crooned into her ear, his breathing labored. “Charlotte, Charlotte. What you do to me.” Stroking and teasing her with his fingers, he brought his lips back to her mouth.
“We can do it together, you and I,” he said against her mouth, reaching in again to taste her. “Come and join me. We can make this mill town an example for others to follow.”
A hurricane of need raged inside of her. Her body felt like it was hurtling toward an unknown destination as his words resonated in her mind. They could do it together. What a team they’d be.
She grabbed his shirt out of his breeches, flattening her breasts against him while running her hands under his shirt to feel the warmth of his skin. Cam dropped to his knees in a swift graceful movement. Hitching up her dress, he hooked one of her legs over his shoulder exposing her to his gaze. She froze when a rush of cool air blew over her most intimate area.
Something soft and wet touched her where his fingers had been. His tongue. A shock of pleasure reverberated through her. She fell back against the bookcase, moaning and squirming under Cam’s expert touch. The image of him standing much like she did now, with another woman on her knees giving him satisfaction, passed through her mind. Only now that magnificent imperious creature knelt before her, fiercely offering indescribable pleasure. She began to tremble, unsure of how to handle the swirling sensations barreling through her.
He seemed to understand. “Yes, Charlotte,” he crooned, still laving her. “Let it go for me. Give in to the pleasure.” He intensified the movements of his tongue, adding gentle glides of his teeth. The mounting pressure made Charlotte let loose a strangled scream of wonder. Tremors overtook her until the tension in her muscles shattered. Sensual euphoria undulated through her in waves of warm, rippling pleasure. She floated blissfully on a suddenly calm, sun-kissed sea. When she came back to herself, her shaky legs sank to the sturdy floor. Cam shifted around, pulling her onto his lap as he came to a seat with his back against the wall.
“Sweet, Charlotte. So sweet,” he murmured, wrapping his arms around her and burrowing his face into the side of her neck. “We’ll make a good team, you and I.”
Her senses still reeling, she leaned into his warm strength. He tightened his arms in a possessive embrace, offering safe harbor to her spent body.
Nestled against him, she reveled at the feel of his clamoring heart beneath her cheek. What a mistake it was to let things go so far with Cam, but she couldn’t bring herself to regret it. What had just occurred between them was beyond anything she could have fathomed. Shutting her eyes, she sucked in his scent, memorizing the feel of his strong body pressed up against hers, clinging to a moment that could not last or be repeated.
After a few minutes, she took a deep breath and pulled away, ignoring the keen sense of loss she experienced after leaving the warmth of Cam’s arms. She felt his eyes on her as she stood and tidied her clothing, fussing with the details because it gave her an excuse to avoid his gaze. Pushing to his feet, he moved to help her right her clothi
ng, but she edged away.
“Charlotte, I intend to go and call on your brother.” Cam cleared his throat, seeming to mistake her silence for embarrassment. “To ask him for your hand in marriage.” He put his hand under her chin, gently forcing her to look up into his glistening eyes and sculpted masculine features. “If you’ll have me.”
Her heart stopped. “No.” She backed away, searching for a safe distance from his piercing radiance.
“No?” he echoed, confusion in his eyes.
“No, I will not have you.” Her chest throbbing, she struggled to make her voice firm. “I thought I had already made that abundantly clear.”
“That was before you allowed me certain intimacies.” Fierce emotion lit his eyes. “I took liberties with your person.”
She staggered to the window, which put the table between them. “Come now, this was a pleasant interlude.” She forced the words out despite the anguish wringing her body. “Very like what you enjoy with Mrs. Fitzharding.”
He bolted to her side, grabbing her arm and pivoting her around so that she had no choice but to face him. “It was nothing like that and you know it.”
“I know nothing of the sort.” Scratching behind one ear, she spoke in a calm tone, which belied the calamity she felt inside. “Please don’t make this into more than it is.”
“More of it than it was?” The chords of his throat pulsed. “Am I to believe this meant nothing to you?”
Forcing herself to hold his gaze, she contorted her features into a mask of calm. “I am surprised a gentleman such as yourself would make so much of it.”
Vulnerability flashed across his face before his expression steeled. “Tell me, will the stable boy have his face between your legs by this evening?” When Charlotte gasped in shock, he brought his lips to her ear. “Will you let him let him satisfy you as I have? Do you think he can?”
“Stop.” She fought to stop the shaking in her voice, to keep from shattering into a million pieces. “The answer to your proposal is no. No. No. No.”
Cam’s demeanor changed. He approached her with predatory coldness, his face statue-like. “Very well then. How are we to proceed, Miss Livingston? Am I to be allowed to indulge in more pleasant interludes?” His voice dripped with false civility. “May I look forward to finding pleasure between your delectable thighs during the occasional stolen moment?” His long, elegant fingers reached out to tantalize her breast through her clothes and, despite everything, her body sang under the soft ruthlessness of his touch. Ribbons of pleasure streamed to the pit of her belly, prompting the sensitive place between her legs to ache for him again. He flicked a gentle finger over the eager point of her breast, his mouth curving with brutal satisfaction at the evidence of his effect on her. “Will your body continue to say yes, even when your mind says no?”
“Such base language and cruelty are beneath you.” Instead of shoving his hand away, or giving him a well-deserved slap across the face, she dropped her hand to where his still rested on her breast. Cupping his hand with both of hers, she brought it to her lips and placed a tender kiss on the inside of his palm.
He flushed and jerked his hand away as though touched by fire. He turned his back, and the wide frame of his shoulders trembleds. “I apologize.” He turned to face her, anguish lighting his eyes, his voice strained. “I am a scoundrel of the worst kind. As you have had the misfortune to witness on more than one occasion.”
Charlotte smiled, knowing she would never believe the worst about him again. “You are far from a scoundrel, Arthur Stanhope.” She gestured around the schoolroom. “You are the most decent and honorable of men. The room in which we stand is proof of that. Any lady would be proud to call you husband.”
“Why then do you refuse me?” His searching gaze caught and held hers, making it impossible for her to look away. “Despite your efforts to pretend otherwise, I know you care for me.”
“It is for the best. Please believe me.” She forced herself to breathe through the ache in her lungs. “There are factors of which you are unaware. Circumstances I dare not share with you.”
“What is it, Charlotte?” Capturing her hand, he held it to his chest with both hands. “Have you compromised yourself with Fuller? If that is what concerns you, worry about it no more. We can overcome it.”
Her mouth went slack. “You could put something as serious as the loss of my virtue aside?”
For a moment he seemed unsure, but then a look of fierce determination crossed his face. “If that’s what it takes to win you, then yes. Whatever is required. Come and share my life with me, Charlotte. Please.”
“You will never know what your offer has meant to me.” Her throat tight with love for him, she gently withdrew her hand from his clasp. “If I were at liberty to accept it, I would without hesitation.”
His jaw clenched. “This isn’t the end of it.”
“Yes,” she said sadly. “It is.”
Chapter Nine
“It was beyond imagination.” Charlotte reached for another breakfast roll. “Truly breathtaking.”
Cam watched her animated eyes gleam with excitement. “Definitely breathtaking,” he murmured from his seat next to hers. She flushed in response, casting a furtive glance around the table to make sure no one else had heard.
His chest expanded as he watched Charlotte. Another part of his body followed suit when he remembered the taste and feel of her, the indescribable joy of giving her pleasure. Here, finally, was a woman who both challenged his intellect and filled his senses. Although he’d left her alone on the ride back yesterday, he still fully intended to make her his marchioness. Even though seducing Charlotte was proving far more difficult than he’d anticipated, he fully expected to triumph in the end.
He could already envision them married, and reveled in the idea of her inhabiting his life, and bed, for the remainder of his days.
“I should like to write about it. All of it,” Charlotte said. “The town, the school.”
Gazing at her, he sat back in his chair. “Perhaps you should wait until the school is up and running.”
“Perhaps.” She considered his suggestion over the rim of her cup of chocolate. “That way I will truly be able to communicate how well the students are doing.”
Willa smiled at her friend’s zeal. “You are already assuming the children will thrive in school.”
“How could they not?” She sipped her chocolate with great enthusiasm. “Children are made to learn. They absorb everything so much more quickly than adults.”
Digby, the butler, entered the breakfast room. “Your Grace, you have a visitor.”
Hartwell tossed aside his cloth napkin. “Who is it, Digby?”
“The constable from the village, Your Grace. He says it is an urgent matter.”
“Constable Henley?” Willa looked at her husband. “What could he want?”
Hartwell shrugged his soldiers. “Show him in, Digby.”
A man of average height entered the room. He carried a little extra weight around his middle and a serious look on his face. “Your Grace.”
“Good morning, Henley,” said Hart in a friendly manner. “What brings you around so early in the day?”
Henley flushed as he looked over at Willa and Charlotte. “Perhaps Your Grace would like to speak away from the ladies. My news is of a delicate nature.”
“It is quite all right, Henley.” Hartwell flashed an amused look at the glint of irritation in his wife’s eyes. “My wife will demand to hear the news as soon as you take your leave so she may as well hear it firsthand from you.”
“Very well, Your Grace.” Henley cleared his throat. “The Ludders are agitating.”
“We are aware,” answered Hartwell. “The marquess and I just returned from examining the damage done to our mill near Manchester.”
“Yes, Your Grace.” The constable shuffled his feet. “But I regret to inform you there have been a series of attacks over the last several days in Lancashire and Derbyshire.”
Cam frowned. “How widespread has it become?”
“My lord, I fear the threat is so serious in Nottingham that 120 stocking frames were destroyed in a fortnight.” Henley twisted his cap between his hands. “Three hundred special constables have been assigned to patrol the factories.”
“I see. That is concerning.” Hartwell rose. “Fortunately, Cam and I have already posted armed guards at our factory.”
Willa breathed in. “Oh no, Hart. I hope it does not come to that.”
Paling, Charlotte rose from the table and walked to the window. “No good can come of any of this,” she said almost to herself. “It will end badly.”
“Is that all, Henley?” asked Hart.
“No, Your Grace,” he said casting another quick look at the ladies.
“Speak freely, Henley. Get on with it.”
“Your Grace, it is my sad duty to inform you that we believe none other than Ned Ludd, the despicable leader of the Luddites, is in the vicinity.” Henley spoke quickly, seeming anxious to finish the task of delivering his distasteful news. “He was spotted as recently as a sennight ago in Northwich.”
Cam inhaled. “That is but a day’s ride from here.”
An anguished sound escaped from Charlotte’s throat, causing them all to look at her by the window.
“Miss Livingston, are you all right?” He went to her side, surprised that someone as sensible as Charlotte would be so distressed by Henley’s news. “There is no cause for alarm. You are more than safe here.”
She regarded him with apparent confusion then appeared to recover herself. “Of course, I am. It’s just—” she stopped and looked into his eyes. “Oh, Cam, people will be killed,” she whispered. “It seems as if the worst is truly happening now.”
Cam’s heart clenched at the anguish he saw in her soft blue eyes. He wanted nothing more than to take Charlotte into his arms and comfort her. Instead, he could only offer calming words.
“I received news of a government directive this morning. We are sending 12,000 troops to affected areas to quell the agitators.” He rushed on when he saw the horror in her eyes. “No, it is a good thing. You must trust me on this. The risings must be put down quickly and decisively. Fewer people will be hurt if the government response is overwhelming and implacable.”