“Do I, indeed?” he said. “I am a groom who has yet to be kissed by his wife.”
“You have kissed me on several occasions.” The memory of those most recent kisses in the hallway alcove sent butterflies skimming across the insides of her stomach.
“But you were not my wife and, in fact, madam, you have never kissed me.”
“If our families had given us a proper wedding, you would not have this complaint,” she said.
“I know how to solve the problem,” he drawled.
Eve knew exactly what he meant. She dropped the chessboard, seized his shoulders, and kissed him—hard. When she pulled back, there was an audible smacking sound.
Lord Rushton stared and Eve started to fear she’d displeased him. Then he said, “That was very nice.”
“Thank you.”
He blinked in obvious surprise. “Thank you?”
“Thank you, my lord?” she tried.
His mouth twisted into a wry grin. “Apparently, I am losing my touch.”
Eve snorted. “Hardly.” She pulled free of his hold and righted the table, then picked up the chessboard. She caught sight of the backgammon board on its side inside the table. “Do you play backgammon, sir?”
“I played when I was young.”
Eve heard the bemused note in his voice. Discussing backgammon was probably the last thing a rakehell like Lord Rushton thought he would be doing on his wedding night. The truth was, she was torn between kissing him again and wanting to run as far from him as she could.
“I loved to play when I was young,” she said.
“If I had courted you properly, would we have played backgammon?”
Eve looked at him and frowned. “That is an odd question.”
“This is an odd situation,” he replied.
“Many people marry as strangers.”
“True. But those are usually arranged marriages. The average couple generally has some mutual knowledge of one another beforehand. No one I know marries as a result of mistaken identity and a kidnapping to Gretna.” He rose and extended a hand to her. “Shall we begin?”
“Begin?”
“A courtship.”
She shook her head. “One game of backgammon does not constitute a courtship.”
“No, but it is a start. Come along.”
He smiled gently, his hand still extended, and Eve found herself placing her hand in his. Moments later, they sat on the floor in front of the hearth with the backgammon board and pieces in their starting positions between them. A decanter of brandy and two glasses were arranged beside the board.
He filled both glasses, then gave her one and took a healthy swig from his. “Drink a bit. It will warm you.”
Eve recalled Grace saying that one of his faults was that he drank a lot. “You say that often,” she said.
He laughed. “Because it is true. Have a sip, then you roll first.”
She took a small sip, then tucked her knees to her side and braced the palm of her free hand on the carpet as she rolled. Eve moved her pieces, then he rolled and moved as she sipped her brandy. Of course, he was right, the liquid warmed her throat and belly, and she began to relax. She rolled again, and moved her pieces.
“You are in luck,” he said. “So far you’re able to protect your pieces.”
Eve wasn’t sure how lucky he was, especially when he unbuttoned the cuff of his shirtsleeves and rolled them up to reveal lean, tanned forearms. She wanted to look away, but was afraid he would notice her discomfiture.
She took a gulp of the brandy. “You grew up here in Ravenhall?”
“I did.” He rolled the dice.
“It must have been wonderful.”
“I have many fond memories,” he replied. “Tomorrow, if you like, I’ll show you some of the grounds.”
“I would like that very much.”
Her heart sped up a notch. So he wasn’t forcing her to return to England right away. She longed to ask how long they would stay in Scotland, but the truth was, it mattered little whether it was tomorrow or next week. When they returned, the result would be the same.
They rolled two more times and Eve sent one of his pieces to the middle of the board to start over. She narrowed her eyes. “I think you are letting me win.”
”You saw the roll of die. I have played good moves. I told you luck was with you.”
“I am not so lucky,” she said. “Neither are you, for that matter.”
“On the contrary, I am very lucky.”
“Rubbish. You have been forced to marry when you did not want to, and to a woman you barely know.”
“I know you well enough to know I like you.”
Eve stilled, the dice in hand. “You like me?”
“Had I not liked you, I wouldn’t have stayed in Manchester.”
“Why?” She rolled. “Why do you like me, I mean?”
“Because you are honest and forthright.”
“Forthright?” She scrunched her nose in distaste. “That is a way of saying pushy.”
“No. It is not.”
Eve recalled Lady Gallagher waylaying them in the gardens. “Honest… unlike Lady Gallagher?”
“So you remember her,” he said.
“I am not likely to forget anything about that night.” Eve counted off her moves and was forced to leave one of her pieces exposed. “Lord, that’s justice, is it not? I planned to kidnap you, so fate had me kidnapped, too.”
Eve glimpsed the upturn of his generous mouth as he reached for the decanter. “Fate has a way of intervening at the most importune moments.” He refilled their glasses.
“I couldn’t agree more,” she said. “If you had ended up in Gretna without me, you would have married Grace.”
“You do not know me at all if you still think that, madam.”
“You would have allowed her reputation to be ruined?”
“Eve, it was a hair-brained scheme from the start. There was no chance of success.”
She wanted to argue, but her mouth had gone dry at hearing her name on his lips. He rolled and was able to position his pieces to capture her exposed game piece.
Eve took the dice and rolled. “I don’t think our fathers would have let you off.”
“No matter. I would have returned her to Manchester, then taken you to Gretna and married you.”
Eve stared. “That is utterly ridiculous.”
“I don’t know why. Make your move.”
She glanced at the dice, then made a quick move.
“Eve, you aren’t paying attention,” he said. “There is a good chance I will take one, or both, of the pieces you left vulnerable.”
“I think you’re all bluster,” she said.
He pointed at the board. “See for yourself. You have—”
“Good heavens. I’m not speaking of the game. I am talking about you saying you would have brought Grace home then forced me to accompany you to Gretna. That is rubbish.”
“If you say so. I am a gentleman, and I will let you make a better move.”
“I am sorry you are stuck with me,” she said.
His head snapped up, his expression hard. “That is rubbish. If anything, it is you who are stuck with me.”
She was struck speechless.
“Now, since you don’t seem willing to reconsider your move, it is my turn. Beware, madam.” He rolled the dice and one die landed askew against the side of the board.
“Double sixes,” he declared, and moved one of his pieces to take her piece.
“That is not a six,” Eve said. “The die landed so that it might be a six or a three. You must roll again.”
“It is clearly a six,” he said.
Eve straightened. “You are cheating!”
He reached for the dice, but she slapped his hand aside.
“I gave you the chance to reconsider your move and you didn’t. Now you must pay the price.” He laughed and tried to grab them again.
Eve shoved at his chest and he toppled backwards
as she snatched up the dice. He was upright in the next instant and his arm shot around her waist. She squealed as he dragged her onto his lap, scattering the pieces across the board. The arm around her waist tightened as he tickled her with his free hand. Eve gave a loud peal of laughter and kicked in reflex, sending the board skidding across the carpet.
“My lord, that—“ His fingers dug gently but deep into her stomach so that the tickle seemed to reach clear to her bones, and she threw her head back against his chest in an effort to break free. He was laughing as hard as she.
“Let me go!” she gasped. “This is—” she shrieked “—unfair.”
“Indeed, it is.” He seized her knee and squeezed.
The compelling desire to squeal with laughter crashed through her. Eve grabbed his hand and tried to yank it away from the sensitive flesh, but his grip, though gentle, might as well have been a vice. He squeezed and she kicked while yanking at his arm with both hands. He released the leg, then tickled her stomach again.
“I will avenge myself!” Eve shoved at his chest, then froze, her face a bare inch from his. He stilled as well, and she was suddenly aware of his hard thighs—and the hard length of him—beneath her bottom. “I believe you are forfeit this game,” she said in a voice she barely recognized as her own.
“Have I now?”
She nodded. He lowered his head and brushed his lips against hers. The hand he’d been tickling her with slid up her arm and into her hair. The faint scent of the soap he had used to shave tantalized her senses, along with something else—his tongue traced her lips—his masculine scent, she realized, all him, and all male. The smell made her want to rub herself all over him. Her heart pounded in anticipation of his mouth sliding lower to her breasts as it had earlier, but instead, he nipped at her bottom lip. A flush of warmth radiated from her belly.
The fingers in her hair tightened, sending a prickle of gooseflesh down her neck and along her arms. He covered her mouth with his. An ache thrummed between her legs and she recalled the way his clever fingers had touched her in the alcove little more than an hour ago. Shame rolled over her at the realization that she wanted him to do that to her again. He had said she would be the most fortunate of women if she married him. What kind of woman was she to want this from him when he would give nothing else but this fleeting and most wicked pleasure? He flicked at her lips with his tongue and she opened without hesitation. With a low groan, he twirled his tongue around hers.
Eve closed her fingers around his shirt and shifted on his lap. His erection, hard and insistent, dug into the soft flesh of her buttocks. He stiffened as if in pain, then his kiss turned fierce. Eve was startled to realize he’d liked it when she’d shifted on his lap. His mouth ravaged hers, and her mind whirled, but she focused through the gray and wiggled on his lap. The fingers in her hair tightened and he pulled her head back while his mouth skimmed across her cheek. She wiggled more ardently. The arm around her waist gripped her more firmly and pressed her buttocks hard against him. She wiggled again and he hissed a breath.
His lips touched her ear. “You are very naughty, madam.”
The words combined with his husky voice made her body heat like molten lava.
“I stand ready to play backgammon with you anytime you please,” he whispered.
Holy God, if this was how he played backgammon, she wanted to play every day.
He released a slow sigh. His breath washed over her ear and neck, and sent a shiver down her arms. He held her close for a long moment, then drew in a deep breath, his chest rising then lowering with the release.
“Will you go riding with me tomorrow?” he asked.
He was asking about riding…tomorrow, on his wedding night…at this moment?
“Riding?” she repeated.
He drew back and looked down at her. “It isn’t Hyde Park, and we will not be seen by the ton, but Mull is quite beautiful.”
“As I told you, I care nothing for Society.”
“So you did.” He seemed to hesitate, then sat her upright and lifted her off his lap and onto the carpet.
She sat while he retrieved the board and pieces and put them back into the table. He put the table back in its place against the wall, then came back to where she sat.
“It is nearly five thirty in the morning. We had best get some rest.”
Her heart raced. She nodded. He pulled her to her feet, kissed her gently, then turned and started toward the door.
Eve stood frozen, uncertain what to do. “Where are you going?” she blurted.
He stopped and turned. “To bed.”
“But—” She looked helplessly at him. “Downstairs in the alcove, you said you intended to—” She broke off, unable to say the words.
He smiled gently. “That was perhaps unfair of me.”
Eve stiffened. “I see.”
“I doubt that you do, love.”
Why did he call her words like that?
“Tomorrow morning we will ride together.”
“As you wish, my lord.”
For an instant, it seemed he would say something, but he didn’t. Instead, he left. And Eve sat alone in the room.
Chapter Seventeen
Four hours later, Erroll approached the great hall and the smell of freshly baked pie and roasted pig wafted to him, but it was the aroma of baking bread that excited his senses. He recalled the bread Miss Crenshaw—she’d been Miss Crenshaw then, anyway—had baked in the ship’s galley, and his groin tightened with the intensity of pent up lust. If this continued he was going to have to locate a private spot and alleviate his discomfort again. Clearly his handling of the situation this morning had given him a very temporary reprieve.
He entered the great hall and slowed. A pig turned on a spit over the fire in the hearth and, combined with the low chatter and bustle of activity in the kitchen sent a ripple of warmth through Erroll that startled him by going soul-deep. He’d forgotten what it was like to be amongst family. Would he be able to achieve even a little of this same contentment in his own home?
For the first time in his life, he imagined returning home to a woman who waited anxiously for his return. The vision blurred into Eve sitting in the drawing room and looking up from a book that rested on her belly rounded with his babe. If she were to smile at him at that moment—He reached the kitchen, his desire replaced with an unexpected tightness in his chest, and he entered to find Eve with his mother and Mrs. Henderson at the worktable in the middle of the busier-than-usual kitchen.
Eve wore an apron tied around her waist just as he’d envisioned, only she wasn’t naked—though her breasts filled the bodice in a delectable fashion that was bound to send him in search of privacy. The three women were intent upon the bread Eve kneaded. Her cheeks were flushed with pleasure and her toned arms flexed with each push of her palm edge against the dough. Erroll recalled the fond light in her eyes when she recounted how her father had demanded tribute from their cook in exchange for teaching Eve to cook. She liked being in the kitchen—in the heart of the home—among family.
Mrs. Henderson turned and saw him. “Good morning, laird.”
His mother and Eve looked up as the cook stepped over to the oven.
“I see you ladies are hard at work.” He sidestepped a woman who hurried past carrying a bowl piled high with potatoes, and joined his mother beside the table. He kissed her cheek, then looked at Eve. “Good morning, madam. I trust you rested well last night?”
Her eyes widened in the instant before she dropped her gaze to the bread and pulled off a section. She began rolling it into a ball. “Very well, thank you.”
“I don’t see your sister. What is she about this morning?”
“Oh, Grace would not spend her time in the kitchen, even if she were awake. She will not rise before noon, I imagine.”
“And our sleep was interrupted last night,” he commented.
“You are up early,” his mother said before Eve could vent the frustration reflected in her eyes.
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“Not as early as you, from the looks of things,” he said. “It seems as though you’re cooking for an army and enjoying yourselves in the process.”
“I am enjoying myself immensely, for I have learned that my new daughter-in-law makes the finest rolls in all of Great Britain.” She glanced at Mrs. Henderson who stood before an open oven and was pulling out a large tray of rolls. “You will forgive me, Mrs. Henderson.”
“I must admit, they are very good,” the cook said.
Eve laughed. “I will trade you the rolls for a slice of that berry pie you made, Mrs. Henderson. It smells divine.”
“I think we should all have a slice of pie along with rolls and tea,” Erroll’s mother said. She sidled around between Eve and Mrs. Henderson, who had set the tray of rolls on the stove and was quickly transferring the hot bread into a cloth-lined basket. “Will you join us, Rush?”
He smiled. “I cannot possibly refuse pie or rolls.”
His mother shifted the tea pot from the counter to the stove. “You’ll love the rolls.”
“I have had them.”
Eve didn’t look up, but he discerned a pink tint creeping up her cheeks. Could she be remembering that night in the galley when the smell of freshly baked bread had permeated the ship and he’d gone to the galley to find her looking good enough to eat?—just as she did now. Did she remember throwing her arms around his neck? She’d hung on as if her life depended on it—until Oscar arrived. Her presence of mind had probably saved him from getting pounded by the brute. If it had been up to Erroll, he would have ravished her then and there. As if conjured by mere thought, Oscar entered the kitchen.
“Oscar,” Erroll said.
“My lord.” Oscar gave a slight bow. “I hear you are married.”
“You don’t look particularly pleased with the notion.”
The brute shrugged. “She had to marry someone.”
Eve paused in rolling another piece of dough into a ball. “Oscar, behave.”
“I like Oscar,” Erroll’s mother said.
“I am glad to hear that,” Erroll said. “He might join our household.”
“Me?”
For the first time since Erroll met the man he looked as though he’d been caught off guard. “Eve was concerned her father might not be pleased with you.”
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