A Scandal by Any Other Name

by Kimberly Bell

  Pillows. It was his first conscious impression of the room. Hundreds of pillows covered the floor and piled up at the base of little tables around the room. They were heaped into mounds, some of them looking deliberately placed. More of the sheer fabric covered the windows near the ceiling, coloring the light in diffused rainbow patterns. Great sweeps of thicker metallic cloths curved down from above, distorting the ceiling and forcing him to crouch. Hanging down at different lengths, all of them dangerous to his height, were little lanterns on chains that twinkled throughout the room. He had to duck around two to take his first steps in the room.

  “I was five when Papa made it for us,” Julia said from her pillow throne near the center. “I’m afraid it’s not designed with grown men in mind.”

  “So I see.”

  “The pillows are easier if you take off your shoes.”

  Who was he to argue with a Le Fey? Jasper pulled off his boots and made his way to where she was sitting cross-legged with her hands on her knees.

  “Sit, please.” When he was mirroring her, she smiled. “Don’t tell Nicholas I didn’t make you do the ritual of approach.”

  “There’s a ritual for approaching?”

  “Oh, yes. It’s very involved. We borrowed it from a Japanese emperor.”

  Now that Jasper was at the level the barrow was meant to be observed from, he noticed objects from all over the world. There were an abundance of trinkets and creations from India. A few from the Orient. Some from Africa. “The fairy court is very well traveled.”

  “Many adventurers bring us tribute,” Julia answered with mock seriousness. “And by many, I mean my father.”

  “Had I known, I would have brought something.” It was obviously her and Amelia’s place. There were signs of them everywhere. He was as delighted by the fairy court as he was by its ruler.

  Julia straightened her shoulders and nodded, apparently returning to some sort of internal script. “This is where I come when I want to hide. You told me once that you’d wait, until I was ready to show you all of me. Well, I’m ready.”

  The urge to reach for her bloomed strong, but he kept his hands on his knees.

  Julia stood up. She was wearing a simple day dress that tied in the front. She closed her eyes, took a few deep breaths, and undid the tie. The dress dropped to the ground. She was not wearing anything else.

  “It won’t always be easy for me, but I don’t want to hide myself from you.”

  He could be patient. He could be anything she asked him to be. She was breathtaking. The soft light spilled over her body, highlighting and shadowing the full arcs of her curves. It lit the proud tilt of her chin—a woman demanding to be seen. It smoothed the nervous lines around her eyes.

  “You are so beautiful.”

  She held up her finger. “Wait.”

  While Jasper watched, she turned a slow circle. With her back to him, she took another breath that lifted her shoulders, and swept her hair out of the way. An uninterrupted view of her from shoulders to calves was in front of him. There was a rough patch of scar tissue the size of Jasper’s palm at the base of her spine and a bump that rose slightly off her back. He saw it as he saw everything else—it was Julia.

  If he didn’t touch her soon, there would be disastrous consequences.

  “Well?” Julia asked over her shoulder.

  “You are no less beautiful. And if you realized what being eye level with your backside is doing to me, you wouldn’t ask that with such a cavalier tone.”

  A typical woman would have blushed, or feigned shock. Julia was so far from typical. Standing there, in her fairy fortress, naked as a nymph, the smile she sent his way was pure delight—at herself. She’d accomplished something just then, and she celebrated it.

  “Well.” She turned back around, hands fidgeting against her stomach. “What happens now?”

  “I would like to touch you, if you’re interested.”

  No one should be allowed to smile so wickedly and so innocently at the same time.

  “I’m interested.”

  He was looking at her the same. More intensely, even. Like he wanted to drag her down to the pillows and do deliciously wicked things to her. With her. The heat to his attention brought out the devil in her.

  He wanted her. He wanted her more.

  Julia stepped forward, navigating the pillows with a lifetime of experience. When she was in front of him, she pushed down the nerves and listened to the rippling thrill urging her on. She put her foot on his thigh.

  She was exposed. If he looked down, he would see what she’d been so desperate to hide from him. It wasn’t the only thing she was exposing to him. The answering flash in his eyes told her which had his attention. Her skin flushed. Julia was hit with a rush of excitement.

  Jasper pulled her closer, balancing her with his hands on her hips. He looked up at her, placing a kiss on the inside of her lifted thigh. His lips lingered. He licked. His teeth scraped.

  It was heaven. It was torture. The light callouses of his fingertips stroked down, exploring the lines of her thighs and calves. He traced the line of her buttocks, paying devoted attention to the way the curve creased her skin as it met the back of her legs. All the while, his lips were traveling closer and closer to her center.

  When his tongue stroked the center of her, it wasn’t the same as the day by the lake. Then, she’d been delirious with passion and he had answered her challenge. This time, he was teasing her. Taking her from interested to desperate. There was no plan in his rhythm. Nothing she could anchor her mind to and ride to that place where her body erupted. He swirled and rocked and made her feel impossibly good, but he never gave her anything she could hold on to.

  “Jasper.”

  He hummed against her. The baritone vibrations weakened her knees. “Are you more than interested now?”

  “I want you to be naked. I want to touch you. I want…” She wanted. All of it. Everything.

  Another hum. Her knees buckled. He lowered her to the pillows, sweeping her hair from her face and laying her out for his view. “Don’t move. I want to look at you.”

  He stood up, removing his cravat and jacket. His eyes stayed on her while he stripped off his shirt and dropped it to the floor. At his trousers, his hands stopped. “Julia, if I ask you to do anything you don’t want to do—don’t do it, all right?”

  “All right.”

  “Promise.”

  “I promise. Only things I want to do.”

  Jasper nodded and the lines of his face deepened again. Wolfish, that was how he looked.

  “Touch yourself,” he demanded.

  She didn’t even consider refusing. Her body ached in ways that begged to be relieved. Her hands swept down, covering her breasts, pinching her nipples. His eyes were riveted to her every move and it made her feel like an irresistible temptress. He pushed the trousers from his hips.

  Hers. He was hers. Every part of her body told her so. So did the look in his eyes. He was beautiful, and lean, and strong—and he was all hers.

  Julia’s fingers dipped between her legs, finding the rhythm he’d denied her.

  He groaned, standing over her and watching. “You have no idea—”

  “Yes, I do.” She could see it as easily as if he were a mirror. She was irresistible. She was a torture all his own. “I need you, Jasper. Don’t make me wait any longer.”

  The pillows shifted as he lowered himself down beside her. His fingers framed her chin, stroking her temple, angling her mouth. “No more waiting.”

  When he kissed her, that was different, too. They’d kissed as an exploration, and out of desperation. This time it was a recognition. He belonged to her and she to him. They wouldn’t deny what this was anymore, and kissing him knowing he was hers alone—she could have toppled mountains with how powerful she felt. She rolled toward him, taking ownership of the kiss. She drove him with her tongue and her hands in his hair, demanding more from him. He gave it to her.

  “Julia,”
he groaned.

  “Again. Say it again.”

  “Julia.”

  It did something to her, her name on his lips while their bare skin pressed against each other. Like no one had ever said it right before.

  Jasper pulled her thigh over his hip, bringing them closer together. His cock brushed against her curls, resting heavy and warm against her abdomen.

  She moved against it. “Jasper.”

  He put his hand on her hip, stilling her. “We’re not in a hurry.”

  “I am.”

  “Too bad.”

  He kissed her again, massaging the nape of her neck, calming her need. Meanwhile, the slow rocking of their bodies and the barest of friction where his erection pressed against her sent the need spiraling back up. She was trapped in a languid, sensory limbo. He kept them there for an eternity.

  Their hands explored each other, taking the time they’d never had before to learn every freckle and every shiver. Julia learned how to make his muscles quiver by scraping her fingernails lightly across his abdomen. He begged her out loud when she swirled her tongue against his ear. He did eventually touch her feet, curving his hands over them and massaging the tension from the arches, but she was too far gone to care.

  “You’re mine,” she said.

  “I am.” Jasper rolled them both, bringing her to rest on top of him while he lay back against the pillows. He folded his arms behind his head. “Do as you wish with me.”

  Julia pushed herself up, closing her eyes at the slippery shift of her spread thighs over his cock. She rocked against him, pushing the head against the aching cluster of nerves. There was electricity between them, and she could feel it with each brushing contact. Jasper watched her, and it made her wanton. She arched her back and pinched her nipples.

  He put his hands on her hips, guiding. The next rocking shift slipped the head of his cock inside her, just barely. Julia gasped. It was…so much more than her fingers. So different.

  His satisfaction came out in a hum.

  She shifted back, bringing him in a little farther. He whispered her name.

  Julia shifted forward, teasing herself with the feel of him at her entrance again. Back. Forward. She made infinitesimal progress, testing each and every new feeling as her body stretched around him. Jasper’s hands fell away, gripping pillows with white knuckles.

  “You will be the death of me,” he groaned as she brought them back to the start again.

  She sank back down, almost filling herself all the way. “Will you regret it?”

  “Never.”

  She brought them together the entire way. Their moans sounded in tandem.

  “Jasper, how do I—” It was so distracting, feeling him there, sending pleasure pulsing through every part of her body. “There’s a way we’re supposed to do this.”

  “Do whatever you enjoy.”

  “I want to be good at it.”

  His laugh was strained. “Trust me, you are. You’re doing far too well.”

  That was thoroughly unhelpful. Julia leaned forward, pressing her breasts against his chest and her lips against his ear. “Help me.”

  “Help yourself.”

  Julia swirled her tongue against his ear again. His hips thrust up, hands flying to her backside. She kept doing it, and his thrusts didn’t stop. He let out a moan that was almost a whimper and flipped them over. He buried his face against Julia’s neck as he rocked in slow bursts that pulled breathy sighs from her.

  “Julia.” It was a plea.

  She rocked against him, increasing their pace. “More.”

  He gave her more.

  It was too nice—too gentle. She needed… “Harder.”

  Jasper groaned.

  Perfect. Every thrust caused little surges of pleasure and they pulsed through her faster and faster until there was no space between them. They started mixing with each other, building on each other, sending her higher.

  “Jasper!” She bit into his shoulder and dug her nails into his back, fighting it and welcoming it.

  The crash came, and Jasper pulled away. He held her to his chest and whispered her name like a litany, the only sound she heard as she shuddered. She came back to herself with Jasper’s head resting between her breasts. His chest was rising and falling in time with hers. Neither of them could get quite enough air.

  “Jasper?”

  “Hmm?”

  “I love you.”

  He lifted his head. The gold flecks in his eyes practically glowed. “I loved you first.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Jasper stopped in to see Julia before his next cigar and whiskey session with Lord Bishop. The last one had involved an awkward discussion about the funds Lord Bishop intended to level on his eldest daughter. Apparently, Julia was an heiress. Jasper was vaguely familiar with the sum Nicholas had been awarded upon marrying Amelia, but they needed the money with Nicholas only being a second son and Nick’s parents not being thrilled about his marriage to Amelia.

  The situation for Jasper and Julia was much different. The queen might be against them, but Jasper was in no danger of being short on funds. Still, Lord Bishop would not be dissuaded. They’d finally settled on putting it in a trust to be disbursed back to Julia upon Jasper’s death, or evenly amongst their children if she preceded Jasper to the grave.

  Bridal contracts weren’t exactly Jasper’s idea of high romance.

  He hoped his blushing fiancée would deliver a much-needed injection of engagement excitement before he had to dive back into the mercenary world of father-in-law negotiations.

  “I hope you’re not trying to plan it all without me.”

  “See this.” Amelia pointed with the dip pen she was using to take notes. “You should have picked someone like Nicholas. He didn’t have opinions about anything.”

  “I’m going to tell him you said that, and no, thank you. I’m very happy with my choice.” Julia lifted her cheek for his kiss.

  He sat down beside her with the ease of a contented man. “So, what’s it to be? Are we traversing the aisle on the backs of elephants? Entering the ceremony on ostriches?”

  “I hadn’t thought of riding animals!” Julia’s face lit like a lamp, before falling into a scowl. “Which one goes better with a fairy barrow?”

  Just the mention of the barrow made him reach for her. For Amelia’s benefit, he feigned ignorance. “What’s this about a barrow?”

  Julia sent him a sly smile. “I’ve decided to theme our wedding after my favorite room in this house.”

  He was signing up for a lifetime of delicious torture.

  “Are you disappointed we won’t be at Westminster?” she asked, suddenly serious.

  Every DeVere for as long as he could remember had been married at Westminster Abbey. It was the sort of tradition that Ruby and his grandmother would have insisted on, under different circumstances.

  Jasper squeezed her hand. “Not a bit. Without the queen’s approval, the bishop would be arrested for performing it, and I’ve never put much stock in tradition.”

  “What about your grandmother?”

  “She’ll come around.” Just likely not in time for the wedding. Ruby had written to let him know the dowager duchess could not support his break with the crown by attending his ‘sham ceremony’. His grandmother wasn’t coming. He tried to tell himself it didn’t matter, and in the end, it wouldn’t, but it still stung. Ruby would attend, though, and that made him happy.

  Amelia tried to shift the subject back to more pleasant subjects. “Julia, tell him about the settees.”

  His fiancée lit up like the dawn. “I thought we could use settees and armchairs, instead of pillows on the ground, if we set them up just right. I’d want them in all white and gold.”

  “That sounds lovely.”

  “It sounds like it’s going to be almost as difficult to find as all these candles you asked me for.” Lord Bishop stood in the doorway, smiling over his daughters.

  With great exaggeration, Juli
a batted her eyelashes at him. “Papa, I know that you have been dreaming about funding an extravagant wedding our entire lives.”

  “Have I?”

  “Of course.”

  “Ever since you were a little girl,” Amelia added.

  Lord Bishop scowled at his daughters. “Albemarle, please tell me you’re ready for our meeting so I can escape these hoydens I’ve raised.”

  Jasper much preferred watching the sisters tease their father, but it wouldn’t do for him to get on his bride’s father’s bad side. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

  They didn’t have much left to discuss. The dowry had been haggled over, albeit in the opposite direction it usually took. He was hard-pressed to think of what else they needed to discuss.

  In the study, Lord Bishop poured the now-traditional afternoon whiskey. He swirled the glass between his fingers for a long while before he spoke. “I wanted to ask you, before it’s too late, if there’s any chance of your taking Julia to Boston and marrying her properly.”

  Ahh. “I could, but we wouldn’t be allowed to come back to England after that, and Julia couldn’t stand to be away from Amelia. She is dead set on challenging the queen.”

  Lord Bellamy chuckled, low and a little sad. “My daughter doesn’t have any shortage of nerve, does she?”

  “No, she does not.” Jasper picked up his glass. “You’ve raised formidable women, my lord.”

  “Maybe too formidable,” the older man murmured. He studied the bottom of his glass for a moment, before shaking himself. “All right. If this is what she wants, then she’ll have it, but what happens next? How does all of this work, after the ceremony?”

  Jasper nodded. It was a hard thing to discuss, but he was stealing the man’s daughter away. He owed Lord Bishop at least that much for going along with everything. “We’ll live together as man and wife. That’s how I’ll refer to her, and I’ll not allow anyone to disrespect her. As far as the law is concerned…”

  “She’ll be your mistress.”