A Season for Scandal

by Golden Angel

  As she was already at her climax, the addition of new sensations and Elijah’s taking control sent her reeling, the pleasure almost too much to bear. Tears slid over her cheeks from the sheer intensity of the pleasure gripping her. She might be riding him, but he was still the one holding the reins.

  When he surged one final time, his hands holding her tightly against his groin, filling her with his seed, Josie shuddered, then collapsed, panting on his chest.

  Elijah

  Sore and aching all over, his wounds throbbed even more, and he was far more out of breath than he should have been, but with Josie laying atop him, also out of breath and completely satisfied, he had to grin. She certainly should have no complaints, despite his injuries.

  “Mmm.” Nuzzling his shoulder, she tucked her head into the crook between his neck and his head. “I am still angry with you.” The small bite in her voice was completely ruined when she ended the sentence with a yawn.

  “Oh, yes, I can tell.” He ran his hand over the smooth skin of her back, fighting back his own yawn. He needed to send her back to her own room, but having her cuddled against him felt far too nice. A little longer would not hurt anything. The servants were all abed, so there would be no one to see or gossip.

  Here in his arms, he knew exactly where she was and that she was safe, and after tonight, he needed that reassurance.

  “No more walking at night without telling someone where you are or preferably, taking someone with you.” He made a noncommittal noise, and her tiny finger poked at his chest. “I mean it. Or else I will be the one going out at night to look for you.”

  A growl of displeasure rumbled through his chest, and his hand—which had been trailing his fingers over her lower back—slid down to grip the curve of her buttocks.

  “Try it, and you will not sit for a week,” he threatened, meaning every word. His blood ran cold at the thought of Josie out at night, searching the streets for him. What if she had done so tonight and found her way into the Warrens? She was impetuous enough to do it.

  Josie scoffed, not threatened at all. She could not see his expression from where she was tucked against his chest, but Elijah frowned. Had the past few nights without any of his more deviant desires given her a false sense of security when it came to his threats of discipline?

  Well, he would have to fix that immediately. Closing his eyes, Elijah patted his wife’s bottom. Rather than tensing, her breathing slowed and evened out. She was falling asleep on his chest. He held back a snort. Some disciplinarian he was turning out to be.

  There was another Society of Sin event coming up. By which time he should be fully healed and able to do exactly what he wished with her, if not before then. Though if she did misbehave between now and then, he would have no qualm about turning her over his knee.

  Thoughts drifting, he did not even realize how exhausted he was, falling asleep before he could return Josie to her room.

  Chapter 24

  Josie

  “Bloody hell!” The explosive curse, combined with the sudden lack of warmth surrounding her, had Josie lurching to wakefulness. Sitting up straight in bed, disoriented, she cast a frantic gaze around, but all she saw was Elijah rolling away from her, wincing as he did so.

  The evening came back to her in a rush—her worried pacing to his return home and his injuries to their lovemaking before falling asleep in his bed. That was partly why she was so disoriented. She was in his room for the first time, and she had spent the entire night there, wrapped up in his arms. That was why she was cold—he had rolled away from her, depriving her of his warmth.

  She could not be too angry when she saw the bandages and was reminded of his wounds.

  “Are you all right? What hurts?” Going onto her knees, Josie let the sheet drop. The curtains were still drawn, though she could see sunlight coming in through the edges, letting her know it was well into the morning. She was surprised Daisy had not—oh right. Of course. Daisy would have checked Josie’s room and, not finding her there, would be waiting until Josie reappeared.

  “Nothing!” Elijah snapped, turning with a glare that had Josie rocking back on her heels and snatching the covers back up to hold against her as if they were some kind of protection. The look in his eyes softened, but he still had storm clouds over his face, clearly upset about something.

  “Then what on earth is the matter?”

  “You slept in here last night!”

  Josie’s jaw dropped open. Really?! That was what he was making such a fuss about? Her presence in his bed? The pain that lanced through her chest was sharper than a knife, stabbing deep and emanating outward. Despite how angry she had been at him last night, falling asleep in his bed had felt like a new step forward, like an emotional hurdle they had overcome together, and an indication his feelings for her had grown along similar lines as hers for him. Discovering otherwise was gutwrenching.

  “What does that matter?” she snapped, tightening her hold on the bedsheets as she scooted back and off the other side of the bed, wrapping them around her. If he was going to snap at her, he did not get to look at her nudity. It also made her feel less vulnerable.

  “I did not mean that the way it sounded.” Elijah scrubbed his hands through his dark hair, leaving it wild and sticking up on top. Another time, she might have giggled, but right now, she was too hurt and angry to find amusement in his appearance. Unlike her, he seemed perfectly comfortable naked as he paced back and forth. “But Devon saw you.”

  Devon was Elijah’s valet, a perfectly affable chap and hardly the kind of prig who would take issue with them sharing Elijah’s room rather than sleeping separately, as was fashionable. Even if he had been, Josie could not see the issue. Why should they care what the valet thought? She wanted to keep Daisy’s good opinion, but if Daisy were to judge her for something, which was none of her business, that would hardly be Josie’s problem.

  “Oh, well, sound the alarm. The valet knows we slept in the same bed.” Extremely grumpy now, Josie stalked toward her door. She did not have to sit there and take this abuse. The inside of her chest ached as though she had been dealt a physical blow, far deeper and more painful than any hurt Joseph had ever managed to inflict on her. Elijah could hurt her far worse because her feelings for him had become far deeper… for all the good that knowledge did her.

  “He could tell someone, and that could put you in danger!” Elijah roared, throwing his hands out.

  Josie spun about to look at him, eyes widening in shock, as much at his loss of control as his words.

  “Me in danger?” That did not make any sense. How could sleeping in Elijah’s bed put her in danger?

  As if only now realizing what he had just said, Elijah suddenly straightened up, his mouth snapping shut and jaw clenching. Josie scowled, taking a step toward him.

  “What on earth did you mean by that, Elijah?”

  Elijah

  Hell and damnation. He was never at his best first thing in the morning, and this particular morning, he might even be at his worst. Thrown off by Josie’s presence in his bed, too worried to watch his tongue, and not thinking about the consequences, he had blurted out the truth.

  “Elijah.”

  Josie snapped out his name, and he pressed the heels of his hands to his temples. Why did it suddenly feel like his head was pounding? He had not imbibed much the night before, yet it felt as though he’d swallowed a whole barrel of ale. From the moment Devon had opened the door—immediately closing it, waking Elijah up enough to wonder why, then realizing it was because Devon had seen Josie in his bed and had chosen not to disturb them—it was as though his whole brain stopped.

  “Elijah, don’t you dare ignore me!”

  “The note I received on our wedding day threatened my life,” he finally answered, unable to think of a reason not to at this juncture. He had meant to keep her well out of things, but she would be like a dog with a bone if he did not fess up now. “It clearly was directed at me, and only me, after I married you
and thwarted the traitor’s plan to distract my father with a scandal between you and Joseph.”

  Her face went from pink with anger to sickly pale.

  “You should have told me!”

  “What good would that have done, other than worry you?” Elijah asked, throwing his hands up. Of course, that was her response, illogical though it was.

  “How would you feel if I told you I had received a threat upon my life weeks ago, too?” Josie spat out the words, and Elijah froze.

  He had not even considered the possibility, which now seemed like a massive oversight. Josie had not been a part of the threat. He did not want Josie to be part of the threat. No matter what happened to him, he needed to know she was safe.

  “When?” he demanded, springing into action and virtually leaping toward her across the room. Clutching the bedsheets to her chest with one hand, she held up the other, shaking her head.

  “I did not say I had. I asked how you would feel. That answers that.”

  She scowled up at him, which did nothing to help his temper. Now, not only his head was pounding, but his heart as well at the mere thought she had been in danger, and he had not known.

  “That is different! I am your husband. It is my job to protect you.”

  “It is not different at all! It is not about protection. It is about trust! It is about sharing our lives together instead of moving about the same house as strangers, only coming together at night in the bedroom.” Despite her deshabille state, Josie looked like a haughty queen as she railed at him, her cheeks flushed with emotion, blue eyes glittering.

  He could not gainsay her since he had not been thinking in those terms, but she was absolutely right. Elijah gaped at her like a speechless fish.

  After a long moment of staring wordlessly at each other, she made an exasperated sound and stomped through the door adjoining their rooms. The ends of the bedsheet trailed after her until she whisked them through, right before slamming the door and locking it.

  Elijah stared dumbly at the wood barrier between them, which had taken on a new significance. He was used to being yelled at by Josie, sniped at, bossed, grumbled, teased… but not her silence.

  He had a lot of thinking to do.

  Josie

  The blundering nitwit. Dashing tears from her eyes, Josie sniffled.

  “My lady?” Daisy’s concerned tones cut through Josie’s bout of self-pity. Getting to her feet from where she had been sitting in a chair, Daisy hurried over.

  “I am fine, Daisy. Just… husbands are a lot of work.” Elijah in particular. Daisy’s lips quirked, her demeanor relaxing as she slipped the bedsheet off Josie and cast a scrutinizing eye over her mistress’ body and finding no injuries. What would she have thought if she had seen Josie’s spanked bottom last week? That would certainly make for an interesting conversation.

  If it ever happened again.

  Yesterday, the idea would have made her flushed and excited, tingling between her legs. This morning, she felt nothing but sad and frustrated. How could Elijah have kept something so important to her? And how the devil had she forgotten the note in the first place?

  Oh, she knew. The same way she had this morning. He had dazzled and distracted her with passion and pleasure. She had been focusing on her growing feelings for him more than anything else while he had been doing… well, his spy things. Josie did not like to think of herself as self-involved, but in this case, that was exactly what she had been—focused on her relationship with him and apparently blind to and forgetful of everything else.

  She knew he did not believe she and her friends should be involved in something so dangerous as hunting a traitor, but that was hardly the same thing as not telling his wife there had been a threat against his life. His brothers knew. His father knew. They had all read the note before Elijah had tucked it away.

  Well, Josie was not the type to stew in her own silence without letting her displeasure be known. Last night, he had distracted her with passion and pleasure, or she would have thought to question him then. He had used her body’s senses and reactions against her.

  Scowling, she thought hard for a long moment.

  “Daisy, I will break my fast in here. Please have cook send up a tray,” she said finally, her thoughts racing. Let Elijah stew in his own thoughts for a bit. If Uncle Oliver was at the table, or either of his brothers, they would want to know where she was, then Elijah could explain himself to them. The men. Who mattered.

  She ground her teeth.

  What she truly needed was some advice on how to manage such a hard-headed man. Thankfully, Mary and Lily would be at Lady Chesterham’s tea in a few hours, and she could corner Mary there. Of course, Rex loved Mary, so it was not the entirely same, but Josie did not know who else to turn to. Rex was as bossy as Elijah and not easy to manage. Besides, Mary and Lily had both known Elijah for as long as Josie had.

  “Yes, my lady,” Daisy said. “Would you like to dress before I fetch your tray?”

  “Yes, please. The blue jonquil, I think.” It would be light and airy on this warm day and perfect for tea. She did not need heavy fabric weighing her down—her own thoughts were more than enough.

  Chapter 25

  Elijah

  “What did you do?”

  Both of his brothers and his father glared at him from around the table after they had been informed Josie would not be joining them for breakfast. They had all caught the glance her maid had sent Elijah when she peeked her head in to whisper to the footman, who had passed the message on.

  He had been waiting on tenterhooks for her to come down and join them, formulating both an apology and an explanation. Planning to ask her to walk with him after she had broken her fast, so they could speak about how they wanted to live. Something they had not done with the whirlwind of events that had precipitated their marriage. Hell, if they had done so before their wedding, or even immediately after, he would not have known what he wanted from her.

  Now he did, and it was not that he wanted them to lead completely separate lives, far from it. He had not known, could not have known, back then that he would feel this way now. So, he would apologize for leaving her out and hope she would understand he was not used to having to be a true partner to someone and that he would try to do better.

  Except she was not here. Only his brothers and his father, all glaring suspiciously at him and awaiting his explanation—probably as Josie planned. Despite his annoyance, a thread of amusement at his minx’s machinations trickled through.

  He did not explain how it had come up since, so far, he had managed to conceal his injuries from the rest of his family, but he did admit he accidentally let the threat on his life slip to Josie and that she had not taken being left out very well. Adam and Joseph scoffed, shaking their heads and sitting back, evidently no longer blaming him.

  “Of course, you did not tell her,” Joseph said. “She, Mary, and Lily are already far too involved in everything, thanks to Evie. If you had, they would have been sticking their noses into everything about the note.”

  “Not to mention, what could she do but worry?” Adam shrugged, picking up a piece of toast to nibble on.

  Only Father was silent. Elijah turned his head to look at him. Staring off into the distance somewhere at the end of the room, Father’s eyes were unfocused, as though he was seeing something none of them could.

  “Father?” Joseph asked, frowning. Adam looked up, noticing their father was not in agreement with them.

  “I would have told your mother,” Father admitted, giving his head a little shake and refocusing his attention on his sons. They all gaped at him. Father was the one who had drilled it into their heads that the women were to be kept well out of everything and protected, the way they had not been able to protect Evie after her parents died.

  “But… why?” Joseph sounded almost lost at the realization Father would have done things differently. Elijah felt the same. He had not thought about it at the time, but he had assumed he was
acting as his father would have in the same situation.

  “Because your mother and I were partners.” Father looked down at his plate for a moment, then back up, taking a moment to get his emotions under control. He did not often speak of their mother. Adam was already leaning forward, hanging on his every word. Being the youngest, he had the fewest memories of her. “I know it is not common among our set to marry for love, but we did love each other. We were part of each other’s lives, and I would not have hidden something so important from her, nor would she from me.”

  “Josie did ask me how I would react if she had received a similar threat and kept it from me.” Which still stuck like a pebble in his gut. Josie had been absolutely correct. The others all bristled at the idea. “I did not think of things like that. I wanted to leave her out of it entirely.”

  “That is how many of our peers operate in their marriage,” his father said with a kind, sympathetic smile, which made Elijah feel even worse. “There is no shame in that.”

  Except Elijah did not want a marriage like his peers. At least, not the peers his father was talking about. He wanted more than that. It had just taken him a while to realize it.

  Joseph looked as if he was thinking deeply and was not entirely comfortable with his thoughts. So, at least Elijah was not alone.

  Josie

  Lady Chesterham’s tea was well attended, but it was easy enough to find a secluded corner where she could drag Mary and Lily, so they could speak more privately. There were many small tables set up around the patio and gardens, so the ladies could gather just outside the house if they preferred or wander through the flowerbeds and admire the scenery.