One Sinful Night

by Kaitlin O’Riley

  Reluctantly he rolled off her, laying on his back. “I know, I should be getting home, too. But I hate to leave you, my beautiful little witch. I don’t want to leave our house.”

  For weeks they had been meeting clandestinely in an abandoned cottage on the Kavanaugh’s estate whenever they could arrange to get away. Their trysts at the cottage quickly became the focal point of their time together. They referred to it as their house, and indeed they had made it so.

  Aidan kissed her one last time and they unwillingly left each other’s arms and began to dress. Vivienne was just lacing up her black boots, when Aidan handed a small package to her. She glanced up at him questioningly.

  He merely offered her a cryptic smile, his green eyes twinkling. “It’s for you.”

  Vivienne unwrapped the brown paper and a shiny silver chain fell into her palm. Attached to the chain was a very delicate, heart-shaped silver locket. “Oh, Aidan,” she whispered, “It’s lovely.”

  “I want to show you how much I love you. Until I can give you the wedding ring,” he stated, with his handsome face so serious and full of earnestness that Vivienne felt tears in her eyes.

  She stood and put her arms around him, holding tightly to the beautiful locket. “You don’t have to give me anything to show how much you love me. I know that you do. I feel it every time you kiss me. Every time you look at me. I love you with all my heart, Aidan Kavanaugh, and I will be yours forever.”

  He kissed her and then whispered in her ear, “Open it.”

  She popped the spring on the little heart-shaped locket and found a miniature painting of Aidan on the inside. It was a remarkable likeness, for the artist captured his handsomeness, his eyes, the thoughtful expression on his face. Vivienne smiled with delight. Engraved on the opposite inside panel were the words, To Vivienne with all my love. Aidan. She had never seen anything so beautiful. “Oh, thank you!”

  She stood on tiptoe to place her lips on his, and once again they lost themselves in a passionate kiss. He finally said, “Let me put it on you.”

  She turned and lifted her long hair so he could place the chain around her and fasten the clasp at the back of her neck. She spun back around to show him, wishing there were a mirror in the cottage.

  “It looks beautiful on you, muirnin,” he said.

  A sudden tapping on the cottage door startled them both. They looked at each other in perplexed astonishment for no one knew about their meetings in the cottage. Who could possibly be knocking on the door? Vivienne silently thanked the good Lord that they were both fully dressed and hurriedly attempted to pin up her hair in an effort to look respectable.

  Aidan stepped toward the door and asked, “Who is it?”

  “It’s me. Finley,” an urgent voice declared. “There’s been a terrible accident, my lord.”

  Aidan opened the door and there stood a servant dressed in the Cashelwood Manor livery of dark blue, a young man of about Aidan’s age with sandy blonde hair. Vivienne had met him at the manor once before.

  “What is it?” Aidan asked.

  “I’m sorry to interrupt, my lord, but I knew you were here. Your mother has everyone out looking for you and I thought it best if I came to get you.” Finley gave a pointed glance toward Vivienne, his meaning quite clear. He knew exactly what was going on in the cottage.

  Vivienne felt her cheeks turn scarlet and wished her hair looked more presentable and not like she had been rolling around the pillows with Aidan. Which she had been. She stepped closer to Aidan. He took her hand reassuringly in his.

  Aidan looked worried, his dark brows furrowed. “What’s happened?”

  Finley hesitated for a moment then said, “It’s your father, my lord. He fell from his horse. They think his neck is broken.”

  Following Vivienne’s gasp of shock, Aidan asked, “Is he dead?”

  “I’m sorry to be the one to tell you, my lord, but the answer is yes. You’re needed at home right away.”

  “Oh, Aidan,” Vivienne murmured, squeezing his hand with hers. Aidan had no great love for his father, for he had been a harsh man, but still it must hurt to learn that he died. Aidan’s expression became hard and drawn, and he suddenly seemed a thousand miles away from her.

  “Finley, will you please escort Miss Montgomery back home? I’ll return to Cashelwood immediately.” Aidan turned to Vivienne and kissed her cheek, whispering, “I’ll come see you just as soon as I can.”

  Vivienne’s heart dropped to her stomach and a sense of foreboding crept over her as the three of them left the cottage. Finley, very loyal and discreet, walked her home, although she was perfectly capable of going alone. However, she didn’t wish to upset Aidan at such a time, and she let his servant escort her back to town.

  “So you and Aidan are marrying soon?” Finley asked in an attempt at conversation.

  “Yes,” Vivienne responded distractedly, thinking only of Aidan. “As soon as my father arrives.”

  “That’s nice,” he commented.

  They said little more to each other on the walk home. She thanked him politely and he returned to Cashelwood.

  As soon as she walked in the front door, Aggie said, “I heard about Lord Kavanaugh’s terrible accident. It’s all anyone is talking about this afternoon. How is our Aidan doing?”

  “He’s handling it well, I suppose. I didn’t really have much of a chance to discuss it with him after we heard the news. Then he rushed home.”

  Aggie shook her head, her black hair pulled into a neat bun, “The poor lad. It’s difficult to lose a parent. As you well know, Vivvy.”

  Vivienne nodded in agreement, although she could only imagine how Aidan was feeling. She never even knew the mother who had died giving birth to her, yet still felt her mother’s absence keenly after seventeen years. But Aggie had been a wonderful substitute for her and Vivienne could not wish for more than that. Her grandmother had been everything to her since her father was away most of the time. Her upbringing with Aggie had been unusual, for Vivienne had more freedoms than most girls her age. She had been raised to read, write, and, most importantly, think for herself.

  Aggie placed a cup of hot tea in front of her as they sat at the kitchen table. “I assume that lovely bit of silver is from Aidan?”

  Vivienne could not help the smile that lit her face and her hand fluttered to the locket resting against her chest. “Yes. He gave it to me this afternoon. His picture is in inside.” She opened the locket to show her grandmother.

  Aggie stood and inspected the locket closely. “That’s a fine likeness of him.”

  “He was so sweet to give it to me.”

  “You know,” Aggie stated softly, closing the locket and adjusting it on Vivienne’s neck, “she’ll cause a bit of trouble now.”

  “Yes, I’ve thought of that,” Vivienne said soberly. In fact, she’d thought of nothing else during her silent walk home with Finley. With Aidan’s father dead, Susana Kavanaugh was bound to forbid the marriage. “What do you think will happen, Aggie?”

  Aggie sat back down and rested her elbows on the table, clasping her hands together, in her usual thoughtful position. “Oh, I think she’ll fuss and make Aidan’s life a living hell, but in the end, what can she do? He’s a grown man. He had his father’s permission and blessing before he died. Everyone knows he’s marrying you. And now he’s the new Lord of Cashelwood and he can do as he likes. If I know nothing else in my life, Vivienne, I know that boy loves you. I’ve no doubt of that. I think he fell in love with you the first time he stepped into this house.”

  Aggie reached out and squeezed Vivienne’s hand, her voice warm and soothing as she continued, “I won’t lie to you either. It will be very difficult, marrying a man whose mother despises you. Susana Kavanaugh is a bitter and unhappy woman who believes you are not good enough for her son. But you and Aidan are young and strong and love each other. You are destined to be together, so it will happen. One way or another…” Aggie’s voice drifted off and a strange look came over her f
ace.

  “What is it?” Vivienne asked, worried by her grandmother’s pained expression.

  She answered softly, “I don’t know exactly. I just had a feeling about you and Aidan, but I must be mistaken.”

  “Tell me.”

  “I don’t believe you will marry here in Ireland after all.”

  What could Aggie be thinking of? Where else would they get married but here in Galway? Her father was coming home. Aggie had made her a beautiful wedding dress. Of course things would have to be postponed for a while to mourn Aidan’s father, but they would get married. It was what they both wanted. “But we will marry, won’t we? I don’t care where I marry Aidan as long as we get married. I love him,” Vivienne said anxiously.

  “You will marry him, of that I’m certain.”

  At her grandmother’s words, Vivienne breathed a sigh of relief. Yet, she could not shake the feeling that something dreadful was going to happen.

  A persistent drizzle sprinkled from the low, gray clouds during the funeral for Lord Joseph Kavanaugh. Vivienne sat beside Aggie in the Cashelwood chapel to pay their respects. Aidan was seated with his mother near the altar. Dressed in black, but unable to conceal the joy in her eyes behind her dark veil, Susana Kavanaugh attempted to give the appearance of a grieving widow. She may have fooled the chaplain but she did not fool Vivienne in the least.

  The large turnout of mourners did not surprise her, for although he had been a harsh father to Aidan, Joseph Kavanaugh possessed a personality that inspired great devotion among his tenants. He was very popular with the locals as opposed to Susana, who was generally disliked, if not despised, by all who knew her.

  In his own gruff way, Joseph Kavanaugh had grown on Vivienne and she had liked him, regardless of his crustiness and overindulgence in drink. She had to give the man a wide margin of error, for being married to a woman like Susana would turn any man into a miserable beast. At first Vivienne suspected that Lord Kavanaugh only approved of her betrothal to Aidan merely to spite his bitter wife, but she came to believe that he genuinely liked her for herself before he died. If there had been any doubt, it lifted one of the last times she had seen him.

  “Vivienne, darling, you’re so pretty, if I were twenty years younger, I’d marry you myself,” Joseph said during an interminably tense and formal dinner at Cashelwood one night after Aidan asked her to marry him.

  Ostensibly, Susana had invited her, but Vivienne knew that Aidan had pressured his parents to spend more time with her. He had also wanted Vivienne to become more comfortable being at Cashelwood, for one day soon it would be her new home. That night she sat in the elegant dining hall at the highly polished table set with fine china, sterling silver utensils, and crystal wine goblets and thought of Aggie’s cheery kitchen with mismatched chairs and chipped tea cups. Her life would change in more ways than she first realized once she became Aidan’s wife.

  “Thank you. That’s the nicest compliment I’ve had in a long time, Lord Kavanaugh,” Vivienne responded to her future father-in-law with a genuine smile.

  “It’s too late, Father.” Aidan winked at her. “She has already promised to marry me.”

  “She’s a good woman, Aidan,” Joseph said approvingly. “She’ll make a good wife to you.”

  “I know she will,” Aidan agreed. “That’s why I asked her.”

  “Have a big family, Aidan,” Joseph advised. “I want lots of grandchildren running about the place. It will be good to hear laughter in the house again.”

  Vivienne blushed and could not meet Aidan’s gaze.

  Susana grimaced. “Could we please discuss something else besides marriage?”

  “Marriage is not your mother’s favorite topic, Aidan,” Joseph Kavanaugh laughed gruffly then took a long sip of wine. “Choose something else for us to talk about, Vivienne.”

  Vivienne glanced uncomfortably between Aidan’s parents. Amazed that two such disparate people as these two could have created a man as wonderfully loving and caring as Aidan bewildered her. There was a faint resemblance in Joseph Kavanaugh’s green eyes that matched Aidan’s, but Susana’s face seemed prematurely aged and gray. Vivienne could see not a shred of similarity to her cold, sour features on Aidan.

  But she could feel Susana Kavanaugh’s blatant disapproval of her. She supposed that Susana would not have liked anyone whom Aidan loved more than his mother, but Vivienne sensed an intense and unfounded dislike from the woman that unnerved her. Even when she was a little girl, she instinctively knew where she stood with Susana Kavanaugh. Vivienne almost felt sorry for the woman, for it seemed her husband and her beloved son cared more for Vivienne than for Susana. And Susana was extremely aware of it. No one liked her. Her husband certainly didn’t. Still, she was going to be her mother-in-law, so Vivienne made an effort.

  “Please tell me what it’s like in London, Lady Kavanaugh,” Vivienne suggested brightly. “I’ve never been, but I hope to visit there one day.”

  For one brief instant the glimmer of a smile hovered near Susana Kavanaugh’s tightly drawn mouth. “You cannot imagine a city as wonderful as London,” she began.

  Joseph guffawed loudly, his once handsome features bloated by drink. “Well now, little lady, you’ve hit on a topic that my wife is bound to like. But I for one am sick to death of hearing about how inferior we in Galway are to the high and mighty who live in London.”

  Susana stood up, and slammed her napkin down on the table angrily. “I’ll not be made fun of at my own table, Joseph. I’ve had enough. If you’ll excuse me.” She turned and left the room in a huff, while Joseph laughed heartily and Aidan ran after his mother.

  It had been a disastrous evening, although Aidan promised her that the situation would improve. She thought back to when she first met him, when Aidan referred to Cashelwood as a prison and how desperately he wanted to escape. She understood perfectly why he wanted to stow away on a ship.

  Now, at Lord Kavanaugh’s funeral, she felt the tremendous loss of her staunch ally at Cashelwood. As they filed out of the church that rainy day, she caught Aidan’s eyes, and he nodded to her discreetly. She loved him so much. He looked responsible and dutiful escorting his mother, appearing incredibly tall and handsome in his black suit. She was proud of him and proud to become his wife. Meeting his family only reinforced how much Aidan needed her to bring warmth and love into his life. He was giving her so much materially, but she knew what she was bringing to their marriage was equal to, if not worth more than, the wealth Aidan possessed.

  Then she felt Lady Kavanaugh’s cold glare upon her. The utter malice in her brittle gray eyes stunned her. If she were not mistaken, there was a gleam of triumph in them as well.

  A week passed after Joseph Kavanaugh’s funeral before Vivienne and Aidan were able to meet once again at their little cottage. As usual Aidan sent a note telling her when to meet him there. When she arrived Aidan wrapped his arms around her and lifted her off the floor, swinging her in a wide circle. Placing her back down, he kissed her as though he had not seen her in months. “Lord, I’ve missed you.”

  “I’ve missed you, too.” She leaned her head against his chest, feeling safe and protected in his arms. He had a way of holding her that made her feel cherished and utterly loved. She could not think of a lovelier place to be than in Aidan’s arms. “How have things been at home?”

  Aidan sighed heavily. “Complicated.” They moved to their makeshift pallet on the floor that was their only means of furniture in the place, aside from the small table and two chairs in the corner. Aidan lay propped up on pillows and Vivienne cuddled into the crook of his arm.

  “Tell me what’s happening, Aidan. It’s been torture to see you at the funeral and afterwards and not be able to really talk to you. Has your mother been trying to stop our wedding?”

  “I thought she might, but she hasn’t said a single word about it. Oh, she hasn’t changed her mind, she still disapproves, but she hasn’t put up any resistance in the usual way. Now that my father is dea
d, she wants to move back to England.”

  Vivienne’s heart leapt at the prospect of Susana Kavanaugh leaving Ireland for good, and she could not help but smile. She had not been relishing the idea of sharing a house with Aidan’s mother once they married. Even a house as large as Cashelwood. With Lady Kavanaugh out of the picture, her future as Aidan’s wife just became that much sweeter. “So let her go.”

  “I would, but we received some news yesterday.” He paused, hesitant to tell her.

  Sensing his unwillingness, her brows furrowed in concern. What could be so terrible that he did not want to tell her? “What is it?”

  “My father’s uncle is the Earl of Whitlock. Sadly he, his wife, and their only son died in a fire last month. We just received the news today.”

  “That’s tragic,” Vivienne whispered in sympathy, yet confused by the topic. “But what does that have to do us?”

  He took a deep breath and stated, “It seems I am the new Earl of Whitlock.”

  “Aidan!” Vivienne cried in surprise, her mind spinning. “You’re jesting?”

  “No, I’m not. The title should have passed to my father, but with him gone, I’m next in line. Much to my mother’s delight, I must return to England to claim my title and estates, and apparently my quite considerable fortune.”

  Silent at first, a thousand thoughts spun through her head. “What will that mean for us? Will we still get married?”

  “Yes, I’m still going to marry you, muirnin.” He gave her a comforting squeeze and kissed the top of her head. “It also means that we shall have to marry a little sooner, perhaps before your father arrives, because I need to get to England as soon as I can.”

  “So we would have to leave Ireland? Forever?” She could not control the unease in her voice.

  “Would you mind terribly?” he asked softly but also in a persuasive tone.

  She instinctively knew he wanted her to agree with him. Although she would miss Aggie and Ireland, she answered him honestly, for Vivienne always spoke her mind. “As long as I’m with you, I don’t care where we live.”