One of her friends stepped up helpfully. “No, it isn’t, Lucinda. The man who was to have partnered with you took ill. So your next dance is free.”
Lucinda pursed her lips. “What a happy coincidence,” she said with difficulty. “Then I would be happy to dance with you, my lord.”
He offered an arm to her and led her to the floor. As the music lifted and they began to move together, Wintermaine looked down at her with an expression that could only be described as a smirk.
“I must say, my lady, I have heard some interesting stories about you lately.”
Lucinda pressed her lips together. Why could this not have been a country dance where she would have the pleasure of changing partners a few times?
“Oh yes?” she managed past her tight lips. “I cannot imagine what you might have heard. I am afraid my life is quite boring.”
“A cousin of mine was in attendance at a country party hosted by your brother-in-law and he said he saw you with a man who was once in my acquaintance.”
Lucinda took a breath as she made a few of the intricate steps of the dance. She looked up into the Marquis’ face and saw the hardness there. The dislike.
“I assume you are speaking of Mr. Riley, who is a great friend to the new Viscount,” she said, her own tone just as chilly.
He nodded, but there was no mistaking the disgust on his face. “Yes.”
“I am surprised you would worry yourself over Mr. Riley,” Lucinda said softly. “My understanding is that you and he did not have a pleasant relationship as children.”
The Marquis’ eyes narrowed. “Told you that, did he? I have always wondered if he dragged my family name through the mud as he tried to elevate himself in Society.”
Now it was Lucinda who glared. “Is this why you asked me to dance, my lord? So you could interrogate me on the conduct of my friend?”
Wintermaine laughed and the sound was ugly. “Your friend? Goodness, Riley really is trying to elevate himself.” He sneered. “No, my lady. Actually I asked you to dance in order to give you some sound advice. I see what Riley is doing, trying to make himself more than he is. I only wished to ensure that you know he might try to use you to improve himself even further. You see, my cousin mentioned the two of you looked close in the country. I would hate to see you make a mistake that could have far reaching implications for you and your family.”
Lucinda yanked from his arms, and luckily the music ended at the same moment, so her motion did not look as violent as she had feared. She glared at the man who had invaded her space and spoken so coldly of a man he had once tormented.
“Thank you, my lord,” she said, her tone as cold as she could make it. “I’m certain your advice comes with the best of intentions behind it. But I’m afraid you know very little about Mr. Riley. And even less about me.”
“Are you saying you don’t care that aligning yourself with this man could lead to gossip and a reduction of your own status?” Wintermaine sputtered in disbelief.
“I don’t care,” Lucinda snapped back and heard the words as she spoke them. Of course she didn’t care. She had never cared much for the ridiculous values of rank.
“Then you’ll suffer for it,” the other man said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “And I hope you will recall that I tried to warn you.”
Lucinda turned on her heel and stalked away, leaving the Marquis on the dancefloor. She knew others were staring at her, that what she had just done would be spoken about for the rest of the night and probably most of tomorrow. But she didn’t care. In that moment, all she cared about was one thing: finding Ronan.
She saw Jane and Nicholas on the other side of the room and hurried to them.
“May I take your carriage?” she asked, breathless.
Nicholas stared at her. “I-Why?”
“Please don’t ask me silly questions,” Lucinda laughed. “I have something I need to do. I will send it back for you as soon as I have arrived where I plan to go.”
Nicholas blinked. “We can escort you-”
“No!” Lucinda said. “I need to do this on my own. You stay.”
“Of course,” Jane said and she could see from the expression on her friend’s face that perhaps Jane had guessed at her important errand. “But be careful.”
“I will,” she called over her shoulder as she rushed for the door. “Good night!”
She reached the carriage, told the driver where to go and settled into the seat as he hurried the horses through the darkened streets of London. Everything she had felt and tried to suppress bubbled inside of her as the horses turned through the twisting lanes and avenues. She had no idea what she would say once she reached Ronan. Or how he would respond.
~~~
The knock on the door was not expected and Rage glanced up from his book in surprise. There was a pause and then another knock, this time with greater urgency. Setting the novel aside he left the small parlor and went to the door. When he opened it, he staggered back a step.
Lucinda was on his step, wearing a beautiful ball gown made of dark blue satin that matched her eyes, a lighter version of the same blue comprised the wrap loose at her shoulders. Her blonde hair was bound up in ringlets around her face. Was this a dream?
“Lucinda?” he said, unable to keep his disbelief from his voice. “What are you doing here?”
She shifted. “I needed to see you.”
He looked behind her at the empty street. “How did you get here?”
“I took Nicholas and Jane’s carriage and sent it back to the ball for them once I had arrived.”
Rage blinked. “But this neighborhood is not as safe as your own. What if I had not been home?”
She blushed. “Well, I did consider that once I knocked and you didn’t answer immediately. But you are here.” She hesitated and then looked at him evenly. “May I come in or I should try to hail a hack?”
The very idea of Lucinda entering the street and calling for a hired vehicle made Rage’s stomach turn. This was a reasonable neighborhood and the safest he’d probably ever lived in, but that didn’t mean that there weren’t dangerous people lurking about. And Lucinda would make a very tempting target in more ways than one.
“Come in,” he said, ushering her inside and closing the door behind him.
She shed her wrap, revealing a vast expanse of bare skin along her shoulders and back. Rage barely contained a groan and kept himself from dragging his fingers along her exposed skin.
She looked around. “This is a cozy home.”
He stared at her. “It is nothing like yours, I realize.”
She turned on him with her mouth a thin line. “I like it.”
He did not know what to say to that statement. “Would you like something to drink?”
She hesitated as if considering the prudence of a drink, then shook her head. “No, I had best be clearheaded when we talk.”
He shifted. “What is there to say, Lucinda? We were both very clear in the country.”
“No, we were not. But that is not what I came here to talk about… yet.” She tilted her head and there was so much empathy in her face. “Ronan, why didn’t you tell me that you were the Duke of Nordcross’s son?”
Rage took a long step away from her and stared. He had never spoken that secret to anyone in his life.
“How did you know?”
“I saw your brother tonight, the dreadful Marquis Wintermaine.” She made a face. “The only thing attractive about his face were his eyes, which I realized were exactly the same as yours. Everything became so clear in that instant: why you were brought to London, why you were allowed to study with the children of the house…”
He motioned to the parlor and she followed him into the room. Once there, he sank into the settee near the fire and rubbed his face.
“You did know, didn’t you?” Lucinda burst out and he could see the distress on her face at the idea that she had somehow revealed a secret he might not have been privy to.
He
looked up at her. “Yes. Yes, I was aware. Actually, it was Wintermaine, himself, who revealed it as a taunt one day in the schoolroom. I suppose once he said it, I saw some of the similarities that you have described. I decided to talk to the Duke about it, to ask him if I was his son.”
She took a seat herself and leaned forward on the edge. “And what did he say?”
Raw images of that terrible day loomed in his mind, but he shoved them aside as he had been for so many years.
“He struck me and told me to never speak of such a scandal again. A few days later I was shipped away to school and never saw any of them again.” He frowned.
After a long pause, Lucinda spoke again, softly, “Well, you have not missed much by being separated from that family. Wintermaine was a rude, arrogant ass. Apparently some cousin of his was attending one of the events at Jane and Nicholas’s home and reported to Wintermaine that you and I were talking together. The Marquis dared to, well, I suppose what he offered was a warning to me about affiliating myself with you.”
Rage pushed to his feet and clenched his fists at his sides. “He threatened you?”
She shook her head. “No, not exactly a threat. He simply said that aligning myself with you could have consequences.”
Rage shut his eyes. This was exactly what Nicholas had talked about at the lake the day Rage had broken things off with Lucinda.
“Damn it,” he muttered, more to himself than to her. “This is why I knew I never should have started this. Why I should have been more careful. If I loved you, I should have protected you and your children.”
Lucinda let out a sharp gasp and leapt to her feet. She stared at him, tears in her eyes and hands shaking as she lifted them to her lips.
“You love me?” she finally whispered when she had found her voice.
Rage held back a curse. He hadn’t meant to say it out loud. That betrayal of his inner soul could do neither of them any good in the long run. But now that she had heard those dangerous words, he couldn’t deny them.
“Yes,” he admitted softly.
She didn’t respond with words. Instead, she crossed the narrow expanse that separated them and flung her arms around his neck. Then her lips were on his. For her own good, he should have pushed her away, but she tasted faintly of sweet wine and desire and the combination was just too irresistible.
He tilted his head to grant her greater access and crushed his arms around her. She felt so soft in his arms, so perfectly fitted.
“God, I’ve missed you,” he admitted, despite the imprudence of the confession.
She smiled against his lips. “Show me.”
He drew back and stared at her for a long moment. “Lucinda-” he began.
She reached up and loosened the buttons of his shirt. “Show me or I will show you.”
He squeezed his eyes shut. There was no arguing with her seduction. Well, there was, but he wasn’t strong enough to attempt it. In the end, he wanted her and whether he argued with her first, or simply surrendered, this night would end the same: their bodies joined together, their sighs of pleasure merging.
He growled out a low sound of possession and popped the buttons on her bodice free in one snap of his wrist. One of them tore free and bounced away on the wooden floor, but Lucinda didn’t admonish him. Instead she lifted up on her tiptoes and ground her mouth to his.
The next few moments were a heated blur or warring tongues, tearing clothes and panting desperation. Rage could not have recited what had happened in them if he were paid a million pounds for the repetition. But when he stepped back and looked at Lucinda, standing naked in his parlor, her blonde hair bouncing around her shoulders and breasts… nothing else mattered.
She opened her arms to him and he stepped forward, his hesitation silenced, if not forgotten. He lifted her hips and she wrapped her arms around his waist as they fell back against the settee he had abandoned when she kissed him. She shifted her weight and he felt the heated wetness of her sex open to his invasion. And it was coming home.
Lucinda let out a guttural moan as Ronan slid inside her body all the way to the hilt. Had it only been a few days since she last felt this sensation? It seemed like an eternity. She gripped his shoulders and flexed her hips, grinding her pelvis against his. Her breath caught with the pleasure while she repeated the action again and again. Ronan cupped the back of her skull and drew her down so that their mouths met as she rode him. He drove his tongue into her mouth as she drove their bodies together, the rhythm matching, the pleasure building until it was an out of control fire. And in that moment, in the peak of emotion and desire, she exploded with a powerful orgasm.
Her hips jolted out of control and she clung to him as she rode out the pleasure, as he lifted his lips to torment and please her. And when the waves of her release had finally eased, he rolled her to her back and pounded hard and deep into her body until he grunted and withdrew to spend between them.
Lucinda shifted slightly so she could rest her head against Ronan’s shoulder. Despite being precariously perched on the edge of the couch, she felt safe. She felt like she’d come home. With a contented sigh, she looked up at him.
Only to find his expression to be faraway and worried. She reached up to cup his chin and force him to look at her.
“Please don’t tell me you regret what just happened.”
He shook his head. “No. I don’t regret it. But we both know-”
With effort, Lucinda sat up and looked at him. “Stop. Ronan, I love you.”
He blinked and all words died on his lips. “You love me?” he repeated after a long moment.
She nodded. “I love you and I want to be with you. Always.”
He swallowed and she could see him running all the scenarios in his mind that made this wrong. That made it impossible.
“But your daughters-”
She shook her head. “My daughters need the kind of affection you showed them yesterday. Margaret couldn’t stop talking about you all last night and into today. And they need a happy mother. The only way I will be happy is if I can love you and have you love me in return.”
He sat up slowly and cupped her cheeks in his big, rough hands. “What about being lovers? We could be lovers. Meet in secret.”
She shook away his touch in frustration. “No! That won’t be good enough. Don’t you understand? I have learned the hard way that love is fleeting. In a moment, it can be snatched away and leave only pain and heartache. But it is worth the risk, worth any risk. So I won’t hide it or lie about it. I want to celebrate it and feel it and share it and proudly declare it any time I desire to do so. Otherwise I’ll lead only a half-life.”
He stared at her, his face completely unreadable in the firelight. Finally, he sighed.
“Then you leave me no choice.”
She stared as he got to his feet. Was he leaving? Refusing her, despite the fact that he loved her? Lucinda’s hand stirred to grab for him and demand he not take a coward’s form of protection, but instead of leaving, Ronan dropped to his knees before her and took her hand.
“A half-life is no way to live, Lucinda. Not for you. Not for me. So will you take the ultimate risk and marry me? Despite what some in Society will say?”
She covered his hand with hers as happy tears swelled in her eyes and overflowed onto her cheeks.
“I will,” she whispered as she pressed her mouth to his. “I will.”
Epilogue
“Stop pacing,” Stone said with a laugh. “You’ll only run a hole in the carpet and the baby won’t come any faster. Trust me, I know from experience.”
Rage watched as his friend cast a quick, loving glance at the basinet that was in the corner of the room. It would soon hold his own son or daughter, but for the moment it held Anthony, Nicholas and Jane’s first child, born just a few months before.
“Is this length of time normal?” Rage asked, glancing at the bedroom door with anxious worry. “And why has it gotten so quiet?”
As if in a
nswer to his question, behind the door he heard Lucinda let loose with a long cry and then, like music on the air, came the squall of a child drawing his or her first breath. He could wait no longer. He shoved into the chamber just in time to see the midwife covering his wife and Jane placing a wiggling, red baby across Lucinda’s chest.
She lifted her gaze as he came into the room and smiled. “A boy,” she whispered.
He crossed the room. He could hear Jane saying something, the midwife also speaking, but he was too focused on his wife and his son to know what words were coming from their mouths. He sank onto the bed beside Lucinda and reached down to smooth a tangle of hair away from her forehead.
“Are you… well?” he asked, suddenly awkward as he stared at the baby boy who was snuggled into his wife’s chest.
She nodded with tears coming down her face. “I’m perfect.”
He smiled. “You are.”
Jane touched his shoulder and he finally looked at his sister-in-law. “Should I bring in Margaret and Georgiana?”
Lucinda was the one who answered. “Yes, I know they’ve been waiting.”
Jane stepped away and Lucinda adjusted herself up higher on the pillows. With a smile, she held out the baby to him. “Take your son.”
He nodded and let her place him into his arms. “He is so small. I fear I’ll break him.”
She laughed. “You won’t. You haven’t broken any of us yet.”
He glanced at her with a smile of his own, though they both knew full-well that she meant more by that comment than she might say. After two years together, over a year and a half married, life had taken on a deeper meaning. And Rage had never been happier. All his fears about shunning and consequences had proven to be unfounded. A few people whispered, of course, but most of the women seemed to admire Lucinda for picking a “wild, untamed beast” as her second husband.
Of course she was kind enough not to reveal that he was utterly tamed thanks to her. His anger was gone. His emptiness filled.
All thanks to her.
Behind him the door opened and Margaret put her blonde head through the entrance. “Mama?”
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