Taming Temperance

by Jillian Eaton

  “Hail a carriage,” he ordered Thomas brusquely as he studied his new surroundings with a sharp, critical eye. “Fill it with my belongings and have everything sent straight to the hotel.”

  “And – and you, sir? Should I hail a carriage for you as well?”

  He gave a terse shake of his head. “No. There is someone I need to meet. I will join you shortly.”

  It was Frederick’s second time in England, but unlike his first venture across the Atlantic when he’d spent two weeks touring gambling hells and brothels this trip had been made purely for business. Any pleasure would come later.

  When Hugh Jacobson was dead and buried.

  The vengeful brother of his dead wife was the furthest thing from Hugh’s mind as he paced the confines of his small room. Instead his thoughts consumed with a fiery brunette with eyes of cinnamon and a temper the likes of which a dragon would cower from.

  He had missed that temper last night. After they had made love she had been so still and silent for a moment he’d feared she had fainted. If she’d railed at him or tried to cut him down with a witty remark he could have responded in kind, but instead she’d been silent. And her silence had sliced through him like a knife.

  When they’d first met he had found her outspoken nature quite vexing. Now he found the absence of it even more so. Raking a hand through his hair, the ends of which were still damp from the cold bath he’d taken upon rising, Hugh stalked to the window and glared down at the street. It was half past eight in the morning and usual people were out and about. The baker. The woman with the largest variety of hats he’d ever seen. The blacksmith leading a hobbling horse back to his shop. How routine it had all become. And…comfortable. He was comfortable here. Not in this small room per se, but in this environment. Whereas Aileen had always gravitated towards the hustle and bustle of city live, Hugh would have been far more content in a village just like this one.

  Did Temperance like it here? The thought, like so many others before it, rose unbidden in his mind before he could cut it off. Did she enjoy the quiet and the solitude of the country, or was she more content in London? He had so many questions about her. Questions about her family. Her past. Her true motivations for wanting to be with him. Questions that he could never get the answers to…not unless he wanted to break an agreement forged by his own hand. In the drafty silence of the room, his words echoed back at him.

  There will be no questions, from either of us. I do not need to know anything about you other than what I already do, and you damned well do not need to know anything about me…

  One night together, and he was ready to break all three of the conditions he’d made her swear to. One night together, and he could not get her out of his mind. One night together, and he was already yearning to taste her lips and burrow his tongue in her–

  Damn it all to hell. What was happening to him? With a growl that reverberated deep inside his chest Hugh abruptly yanked on his coat, a pair of brown leather boots, and a battered felt hat that fell low over his brow. He needed to do something. Something other stand here with a half cock stand imagining Temperance writhing against him while they both cried out in ecstasy.

  Ever since he was a boy, Hugh had always had a fascination with wood. He loved the lines of it. The complexity. The blank slate it represented. Long before he began working at the sawmill mindlessly slicing boards and feeding them into the trimmer to be grinded down, he’d been a whittler. Small pieces at first. Mostly roughly hewn animals and whistles and the like. But as he had grown and honed his skills, he’d moved on to other things, including furniture.

  Using wood to create something that only existed in his mind’s eye was the one thing Hugh had always felt truly passionate about. Aileen had never understood his fixation, and after they’d married he soon stopped all together. It wasn’t until he had arrived in England that the urge to carve and saw and create struck him once again.

  On his way in to the village he’d stumbled across a small, modest estate that was obviously in need of some repair. Without hesitation he had knocked on the door and requested to talk to the owner who had ended up being a widowed woman in her mid-fifties. She loved her home, she’d told him, but her children were grown and gone and she no longer had the strength or the financial resources to keep up the place by herself. After taking a quick tour of the property and spying an empty shed in the back with an abundance of natural light, Hugh had offered to help her with any repairs she needed done before winter in exchange for using the shed for his woodwork.

  Thus fair it had been a good arrangement. He’d traded for some old timber and was in the midst of building a table with an intricate set of drawers. It was long, tedious work but it soothed him. The other work – replacing a broken beam in the barn, fixing a hole in the roof, repairing a rusty gait – was settling as well and he knew he would miss it when he eventually moved on.

  Mrs. Parsons was nowhere in sight when he walked up the drive. After spending an hour fixing a clapboard shutter that leaned heavily to one side, he made his way to the woodshed.

  The sun was heavy in the sky by the time he emerged. His muscles ached from too much sanding, but it was the good sort of ache. Shaking as a dog might to get off most of the sawdust that was clinging to his clothes and hair, he set off back down the road after another knock on the front door went unanswered. Mrs. Parsons must have been out visiting friends, for which he was glad. He did not like to think of her all alone in her house with nothing to do but stare at the walls.

  His stomach grumbled, reminding him he had not eaten since breakfast. He would see what they were serving at the tavern. Last night it had been over salted mutton stew. The meat had been congealed on the top in large greasy chunks, but he’d managed to eat it all down. After all, beggars could hardly afford to be choosers.

  The sound of wheels spinning on gravel and the unmistakable clip-clop of hooves hitting stone alerted Hugh to an approaching carriage. He moved to the side to let the vehicle pass, but instead of going by him it began to slow down. Awareness prickled the nape of his neck and his hand instantly went to the pocket of his trousers where he kept a small pistol. If this was to be the day Frederick finally caught up with him and sought his misaligned justice, then he was be ready. Not prepared – never prepared to take another human life in the act of defending his own – but ready.

  Except when he turned, it wasn’t Aileen’s brother glaring down at him from the high padded seat of a curricle. It was Temperance.

  And she did not look pleased to see him.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  “What are you doing here?” she demanded. Reining the curricle to a halt, she tied off the reins and stood up. A light wind teased the air, whipping her skirts up around her calves and giving Hugh a tempting glimpse of her shapely ankles. Noticing the sudden direction of his stare her eyes narrowed even further and there was a hard edge in her tone when she snapped, “Did you hear me? I asked what are you–”

  “I heard you well enough,” he interrupted. Dropping the gun back into his pocket, he hooked his thumbs through the belt loops of his trousers and purposefully allowed his gaze to flick down the road and back up it before refocusing on Temperance. He found her audacity as grating as always – who was she to question him? – but he was also grateful for it, as it meant she was once again feeling like herself. And there was no denying she looked magnificent with her plumed hat set at a jaunty angle and her cheeks flushed with righteous indignation.

  Like a pirate queen, he thought with a wry twist of his mouth. A pirate queen he would like to drag off her ship and kiss senseless. Had it only been one day since they’d made love? It damn well felt like forever. His blood was heated just by looking at her, and his traitorous cock was already swelling inside of his pants.

  He clenched his hands into tight fists as he struggled to regain control of himself, but it was something easier thought than done. He’d never felt such a strong physical reaction to a woman before. Not even Aileen
, in all of her delicate perfection, had managed to elicit a response like this one.

  What did it mean? Better yet, what the devil was he going to do about it?

  “Hello Mr. Jacobson. It is a pleasure to see you again. Would you like to meet my dog?” This came from a young woman sitting beside Temperance. She looked vaguely familiar and he knew they had met before, although he could not for the life of him recall her name. He did know she was Temperance’s sister, something he would have been able to guess even if they hadn’t been previously introduced. From this distance the two women did not look exactly alike, but they shared enough similar characteristic to be easily identified as siblings. Granted, the sister’s expression was softer and welcoming, but they shared the same slight build, porcelain skin, and high cheekbones.

  “He does not want to meet the dog.” Temperance rolled her eyes as she sat back down and took the reins in hand. “Besides, we have to get home before Lady Townsend realizes we’ve taken out the curricle.”

  Another act of rebellion? Hugh could not exactly say he was surprised. He had never met anyone who loved to break the rules more than Temperance. It was a trait he was actually coming to admire…not that he would ever tell her that.

  “Delilah, what are you doing?” Temperance said sharply when her sister stood up.

  “Mr. Jacobson said he wanted to meet Mr. Humphrey,” the dark blonde replied cheerfully. “So I am introducing them.”

  Hugh glimpsed the mutinous set of Temperance’s jaw before he focused his attention on the wriggling ball of fluff in Delilah’s arms. “Here,” he offered, walking quickly forward and holding out his hands. “I can hold him for you while you dismount.”

  “Careful,” Delilah warned as she handed him the pup. “He likes to – do that,” she finished ruefully when Mr. Humphrey began to lick Hugh’s face with great enthusiasm.

  A low chuckle reverberated deep inside of Hugh’s chest as he held the rambunctious puppy away from his body. “He is a fine looking dog. How old is it?”

  “He is handsome, isn’t he?” Delilah beamed. “And we’re not quite sure, actually. My brother-in-law found him as a stray outside our townhouse in London. He was originally intended for my sister Lynette but–”

  “But Delilah stole him and refuses to give him back.” Hopping gracefully down from the curricle, Temperance walked around the back and stepped up beside her sister. Side by side, their resemblance really was uncanny. Were it not for Delilah’s lighter hair and large, owlish eyes they might have been twins.

  “I didn’t mean to steal him.”

  “Yes you did.”

  “Yes, I suppose I did. But only because Lynette was so very busy planning her wedding. She just got married, you know,” Delilah informed Hugh. “To Lord Nathaniel Blackbourne. He is very nice and his sister Annabel is even nicer. We are staying at his estate until–”

  “That is enough,” Temperance cut in with a warning glance. “I am sure Mr. Jacobson does not need to hear our entire family history.”

  On the contrary. Hugh wanted to learn more. In fact, he wanted to learn all there was to know about Temperance. Where she came from. Who her parents were. How many men she had kissed. Where he could find the unscrupulous bastards so he could introduce their faces to his fists.

  The sudden surge of protectiveness he felt deep in his gut caught him off guard. Scowling, he abruptly handed Mr. Humphrey back to Delilah. This was not what he wanted. This was not what he’d agreed to. Their affair was supposed to calculated and impersonal. Something they both took physical pleasure from and nothing else. And now…and now he wanted to learn about her damn family? He needed to take a step back and quickly, before he did something they would both regret.

  “I need to go,” he said gruffly. “Miss Delilah, it was nice seeing you again. Miss Temperance.”

  Their eyes met and held. Without another word Hugh broke the contact and turned around, but before he’d gotten more than five steps he heard Temperance calling after him.

  “A moment of your time if you would, Mr. Jacobson.”

  He heard light footsteps, and then the slight pressure of her hand closing around his forearm.

  “Over here,” she said through clenched teeth. “I do not want my sister to listen.” She led him off the road and behind a large tree out of sight of the curricle. Once they were alone her expression abruptly changed, and before Hugh had time to prepare himself she wrapped both arms around his neck and pressed her mouth against his.

  Startled, it took Hugh a moment to respond. But as soon as he tasted the sweetness of her tongue as she boldly swept it between his lips he groaned and pulled her against him, large hands sweeping down her body to cup her lovely derriere.

  The kiss was short lived, but when it was over they were both breathing heavily.

  Fallen leaves crunched beneath the heels of Temperance’s ankle boots as she disentangled herself. Her pupils were dilated. Her lips were red and still slightly swollen from the night before. The color in her cheeks had drained away, giving her a frail, vulnerable appearance that made Hugh want to wrap her in his arms and press her face against his chest while he comforted her.

  “I should not have done that,” she whispered as she pressed two fingers to her bottom lip. “But I – I couldn’t seem to help myself.”

  Hugh knew the feeling.

  “No you shouldn’t have,” he agreed, although there was no censure in his tone. How could he condone her without condoning himself? This intense need they had to be together was something they both felt and he could not deny its existence any more than she could.

  “I did not know how I could feel when I saw you again. If I saw you again,” she amended.

  “And how do you feel?” He held his breath while he waited for an answer. Thankfully, she was not long in supplying it.

  “I feel…confused.”

  You and me both, he agreed silently.

  “But it is a good kind of confusion, I think.” She searched his gaze. “I did not mean to deliberately mislead you about my innocence.”

  “Yes you did.”

  Temperance had the good grace to blush. “Yes,” she admitted. “I did.”

  “Why?” he burst out in a rare moment of uncontrolled emotion. “Why would you lie about such a thing? What I took…what I took is not something that can ever be replaced. It should have been for your husband.”

  “No,” she said firmly. “You took nothing. My virginity belonged to me and me alone. It was my decision on who to give it, and it was a decision I made of my own free will without any persuasion.” She hesitated. “I was afraid if I told you beforehand you wouldn’t have gone through with it.”

  His mouth compressed into a hard frown. “You’re damn well right about that.”

  “I would still like to continue with the affair if you’re willing.”

  If he was willing? His cock was throbbing so hard from their kiss it physically hurt. But it wasn’t the one making decisions for him. He needed to be smart, which meant he needed to listen to his head instead of his heart. And his cock needed to stay out of the equation all together. “I do not think that is a good idea, Temperance.”

  “Why?” Giving him a defiant look, she crossed her arms. “We both clearly still want one another.”

  “We want one another too much,” he clarified. “Which will eventually cause problems.”

  “I can stick to the conditions if you can.” There was unmistakable glint of challenge in her hazel eyes as she glared up at him. “I see absolutely no reason to stop now.”

  Really? He wanted to shout. Because I can see one hundred of them. But he couldn’t say that. Not unless he wanted to reveal the real reason he was hesitant to continue their affair.

  Maybe if his history was different they could make a genuine go of it. After Aileen’s death, he had sworn he would never take another wife. But after knowing Temperance, even such a short while, he couldn’t help but wonder if she was the woman he had been meant to marry
all along and Aileen was nothing but a horrible mistake.

  A horrible mistake he would not make Temperance pay for.

  If Frederick did come for him one day, he would not hesitate to destroy everything Hugh loved. In a cruel, sadistic way it would make perfect sense to him: a loved one for a loved one. And even if by some rare chance Frederick never caught up to him, he was still a wanted murderer. Until he found a way to prove his innocence, he would never be free of his dark past. Which meant he had no right to look forward to the future. Especially one that involved the woman standing before him.

  “Temperance, there are things I have not told you. Things that–”

  “Stop.” She held up her hand, palm facing out. “We promised not to tell one another anything of a personal nature. Your condition, remember?”

  Hugh bit back a growl of frustration. Could she not see they’d gone beyond that? Or at the very least were flirting dangerously close with the edge. One night together, and he was finding it hard to imagine his life without her.

  What would another night do? Another week? Another month? When their affair ended – and one way or another, it would eventually end – he wanted to be able to walk away with his heart intact…not a crumbled mess of pieces on the floor at her feet.

  “Why me?” he demanded harshly. Closing the distance between them, he took her arm and barely resisted the urge to shake it. “For God sakes, why me of all people? I am not a good man, Temperance.”

  “No,” she said slowly as she pried his fingers apart and freed herself from his grasp. Rubbing her arm, she took one step towards the curricle and then another. When she reached the road she halted. “You are not a good man, Hugh. But nor are you quite as bad as you think.”

  “Temperance–”

  “I cannot answer your question. I don’t know why I feel drawn to you. I only know that I do, and I have since that day you nearly ran me over in the park.” Her mouth twisted in a wry smile. “If you are worried I will fall head over heels in love, you needn’t be. I know well enough what this is and what this is not. I want a lover, Hugh, not a husband. I know most would think that is the wrong thing to say, but they don’t know how right I feel when I say it. Can we not set aside our emotions and allow ourselves this one pleasure? You do not need to answer now,” she said when his lips parted. “Think about it. In two days’ time I will be at the bend in the road just after sunset. If your answer is yes, you will be there to meet me. If not…” Her voice trailed off and his brow furrowed.