by Vella, Wendy
Bella regained her feet and lowered Phoebe, then propped several large pillows behind her until she was comfortable.
“Now begin,” Phoebe said, waving her hand about as if she were the queen commanding an audience.
“You were discussing Lord Anthony,” Livvy said.
“He kissed me,” Bella crossed her eyes at Henry.
“The cad,” Livvy hissed with no real heat.
“Bounder,” Phoebe added.
“It was horrible.” Bella used her sleeve to scrub her mouth. “And he did it after I had told him that I did not care for him in any way but as a friend.”
“Was it your first kiss?” Livvy asked.
Bella started to shake her head before she through better of it and quickly stopped.
“Oh, no you don’t, little sister. You have been kissing someone else, and not telling your big sisters.”
“Sssh, Phoebe, I have no wish for anyone to hear this conversation,” Bella whispered.
“Who kissed you?” Livvy looked curious but not angry, which told Bella that motherhood had mellowed her as she would not have tolerated such a thing before.
“It matters not who.” Bella waved her hand about and concentrated on Henry’s little foot where it poked out from beneath the blanket. It was so small and pink.
“Luke Fletcher.”
Bella looked up as Livvy said Luke’s name, and saw a look pass between her sisters.
“How did you know it was him?”
“You gave your heart to him when you were a child, Bella, and I have seen no evidence to suggest that has changed over the years.”
“But you never said anything?”
“We had planned to talk to you about it after your first season. We,” Livvy pointed to Phoebe, “wanted you to have this time to think about what you would be giving up to marry him, Bella.”
“I love him so much that it almost hurts.” Bella rubbed a hand over her heart. “It would be no sacrifice to give up anything for him.”
“And that is exactly what I wanted to hear you say.” Livvy placed an arm around her shoulders and hugged her close. “The love between you is a beautiful thing. We just needed to make sure that it was really what you wanted, as your life until coming to London has been sheltered.”
“I understand that,” Bella said, resting against her sister. “It is what both Luke and I discussed and believed I should do. But I realized after only a few weeks here that this life would mean nothing if he was not part of it.”
“And have you spoken to Luke about your feelings again?”
“I want to, but he has not answered my note saying that I wanted to see him, and I have not seen him for two weeks.”
“Yes, Will said he was working on something, but even he did not know what,” Livvy said.
“He loves you, Bella. Nothing else matters, and I’m sure he will come and see you as soon as he is able.”
“I hope so, Phoebe, I really do.”
As the day wore on and she tried to avoid Lord Anthony, Bella began to form a plan, one where if Luke would not come to her then she would go to him. By the time the carriages filled with weary picnic goers pulled up in front of Will’s house, she knew what she had to do.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
It was dark when Luke turned into his street. He’d spent the evening with Ace, running through the information they had received. After the carriage accident, Luke had told Ace what he believed was happening to him and Ace had agreed. They had then hired men and sent them into London to ferret out who was behind the plan to destroy him.
The information was coming in slowly, names of men he didn’t know, and he believed it would not be long before they had the one who was behind the plot.
Bella would be wondering why he was avoiding her, and Will and the family, too. But he could not involve them in this until he knew what he was dealing with, which would hopefully be soon.
He heard the scrape of boots behind him on the cobbles. Living in India had made Luke learn to be aware, and right now he was alert; something wasn’t right, he could feel it.
Deliberately slowing his pace, he slipped his hand inside his jacket to reach for the pistol he had taken to carrying, but he was not quick enough and they were on him. The fight was dirty, but Luke knew how to fight that way. The first he flung over his shoulder and heard the thud as he his head hit the cobbles. The second had a knife.
“It’s a shame that will be the last thing you hold in that hand.” The man circled him as Luke taunted him.
“I’m gona gut you, just like I was paid to do.”
“You’re certainly welcome to try,” Luke said, just before he lunged at the man. He felt the knife cut his jacket just before he disarmed the man, and the punch he gave him threw his attacker backwards.
“What’s going on out here?”
A man stood in his doorway looking down to where Luke stood.
“Run!”
Before he could stop them, his attackers had dragged themselves to their feet and run away.
“All is well, sir. Go back inside,” Luke said as he walked to his front door as the man closed his, then let himself inside. He had taken only a few steps before a note was thrust under the door. Opening it, he saw a boy disappearing down the road.
Picking up the note, he made his way upstairs. As yet, his bedroom was the only room furnished in the house. It was another thing he had put off doing to find whoever was after him.
Sitting on the bed, he opened it.
The next person I attack will be someone you care for. I want you gone, Fletcher, out of England for good. Do this and your friends and family will stay safe. If not, then the next person I come after with a knife will be your beloved Isabella, and I will start with her face.
The letter fell to the floor as he stood. Visions of Bella bloodied and hurt filled his head. He could not allow that to happen; he had to keep her safe. But how?
By leaving? Running away from her and everyone he loved because someone asked it of him?
Luke didn’t run, he fought. But this was different. The threat was to Bella and that made his blood run cold.
Taking the bottle of spirits from his drawer, he pulled the cork and swallowed a large mouthful. Fire burned down his throat and steadied him.
Think, Luke. It’s what you’re good at.
When the knock came, he was no closer to a solution and had drunk enough to feel the effects. Who the hell would be outside his door at this hour? Surely whoever wrote this note would not be standing on his doorstep?
Regaining his feet, he did not bother to pull on his boots nor button his shirt. Making his way down the stairs, he looked at the bare walls and rooms with no furniture or servants and wondered now if he would ever furnish it. He wrenched the front door open and found Bella standing alone on his doorstep.
“What are you doing here? Has something happened?” His heart thumped as he looked her over. She seemed in one piece; he could see no blood or tears streaking her cheeks.
She shook her head and the hood of her dark cloak fell, revealing her hair that was still piled on top of her head in some kind of elaborate knot.
“I wanted to talk with you.”
“You little fool; surely you did not come here alone.” Grabbing her arm, he hauled her inside and shut the door in case anyone should see her. The men who attacked him could have taken her from right outside his door and he would not have known.
“I did.”
She was nervous and her hands were shaking. Leading her into the house, he had no choice but to take her up to his room, as this had both light and heat.
“It was dangerous, Bella. You should not have done so.”
“You did not come to me when I sent around the note, so I came to you.”
He’d wanted to, been desperate to see her, but because of the mess that was his life, he had not.
“Seeing as you’ve already broken a ton of rules coming here, it matters not that the only room I can sea
t you in is my bedroom.” He helped her up the stairs and then gestured to the single chair in his room that sat before the fire.
“I-I like your house, Luke. It will be very nice when you have furniture.”
“Bella, tell me why you have risked so much to come and see me in the middle of the night?”
“Why did you not come when I sent for you, Luke?”
“Because I was busy.”
She looked down at her hands then, and he knew he’d hurt her.
“I-I need to ask you something.” She was pale, her eyes wide in her sweet face as once again she looked up at him.
“What is so important that you would risk your reputation and Will’s wrath to come here, alone at night?”
Inhaling deeply, she looked at the fire and then back up at him, and Luke had the premonition that whatever she wanted to say he didn’t think he wanted to hear it.
“Do you love another, Luke?
“What? No!” he denied. “How can you ask me that?” Too late, he realized he should have said yes, because if he was going to run then he needed to have a reason, and that would have been the perfect one.
“Do you then love me, Luke Fletcher?” He stumbled back a step at her words.
“Why are you asking me that?” His voice was hoarse.
Pulling off her gloves, she then rose from the chair and stepped towards him. Lifting one hand, she cupped his cheek. “Because I realized something today. No one has ever cared for me the way you do, and I have never felt for another as I do you, and because of this I have no wish to wait. I want to marry you.”
“The season?” he said.
“I will finish it, if that is your wish, but I will do so knowing that at the end of it we are to marry.”
His foolish heart leapt. “You would give up all that you have here in London for me?”
“In a heartbeat, because none of it matters if you are not with me.”
His body was hard, had been since she had entered his room. Knowing his bed was just a few feet away and he could have her on it in minutes was pushing every sane thought out of his head.
“No, I cannot commit to that yet,” Luke said. He could not ask her now, not with the threat hanging over her. If anything were to happen to her because of him, he would be lost. She and she alone had been his reason for doing what he had, and he’d failed. Until he succeeded he would not ask her to give up everything for him.
“Why, Luke? Do you no longer want me?” Her heart was in her eyes as she spoke, and Luke felt his resistance slip away.
“Not want you! Christ, I ache for you, Isabella. Each night, my dreams are filled with sensual visions of you and I wake wanting you here, in my arms. I can recall every detail of that night in Will’s study. The taste your skin on my lips, your soft cries as I touched you. I have suffered with the knowledge that at night you dance in the arms of another and know there is nothing I can do to change that. You’re in my blood, Bella. I exist just to see you, just to smell your scent. Don’t tell me I don’t want you.”
“Yet you won’t have me yet.”
“I can’t,” he rasped. “There can be no future for us until I do what must be done.”
She touched his face. “And what must be done?”
He could take no more; she was here and he wanted her, his beautiful Bella—his heart, his soul, and the reason for every breath he drew. Lowering his head, he placed a soft kiss on her lips, trying to convey with his touch what he could not with words. Releasing her briefly, he took off her bonnet and coat, then pulled her into his arms to kiss her once more. This one had more heat, more passion, more of everything. He poured all his longing into it, every minute he’d craved for her.
Her neck drew him; the scent of this woman tantalized him until he was blind to all but possessing her. Years of wanting her had clouded his thoughts. She was here and he would have her, make her his, if only for tonight.
His fingers trembled as he unbuttoned her dress and pushed it lower, until it fell to the floor.
“Sweet Christ,” he whispered, looking down her body, clad now only in a thin shift. “I’ve imagined you so often, yet nothing can compare with this,” Luke rasped. “You’re so beautiful, Bella.”
He placed a hand gently on her breast, touching her full flesh, caressing the tight peak.
“Luke.” She whispered his name as her lashes lowered.
He kissed her again; all reason had gone now, their mouths clinging, tongues twining as Luke took her on a slow, sensual journey. He felt her hands touch his back, caressing him, and her fingers burned through his shirt, then they moved to his front, where they began to undo the buttons on his shirt.
“You’re so warm, Luke.” He felt his body tense as she placed a kiss on his chest.
“Ah, Bella, your touch is everything I knew it would be.”
She looked up at him from beneath her lashes. “If we only have tonight to hold us until we can be together, then let us make memories for the long, lonely nights ahead.”
“Bella—” She placed her fingers over his lips. “No more talking.”
Bella felt him ease her chemise up her thighs, then slowly up her body, and his hands left a trail of fire wherever they traveled. She’d come here to tell him she had made her choice, but he had refused her. Something was wrong in Luke’s life, and it was that which was holding him away from her. But he was not going to tell her what, so for tonight she would not question him further; for tonight, she would simply love him.
“Lift your arms, love.”
She did, reveling in the rasp of his words, the endearments and feelings he said in the unguarded heat of passion.
He stood back to look at her and Bella did not hide herself, not even the ugly, twisted scar on her leg. This was who she was.
“Dear God, you’re beautiful.”
“Not all of me,” she heard herself saying.
He dropped to his knees beside her leg, and touched the puckered scar with gentle fingers. “All of you,” he said, leaning forward to kiss it.
It was heaven; his lips were warm as they moved down her leg, his hand touching her, running up the outside of her legs as his mouth traveled over her.
“Never think this lessens your beauty, my love. This is only a mark of where you have traveled to become the woman before me today.” He rose to cup her face, kissing her eyelids. “I’ve dreamed of kissing you, of swallowing your cries as I make you mine.”
“Yes,” Bella whispered against his lips as she pushed his shirt from his shoulders, her hand running over the chest she had exposed. “I need you so much, Luke.”
“I know, love. It’s no different for me.”
This time, it was Bella who reached for him. Pulling his head lower she kissed him with everything she had inside her, let him feel her love.
He took control, his tongue stroking hers, his hand tormenting her body. He traced the curve of her buttocks, the plains of her back and Bella wanted more, needed more. She arched closer, needing to feel all of him. Her fingers touched his breeches and he picked her up and placed her on the edge of the bed. Bella sat on her knees, watching as he pulled off his boots and then the rest of his clothes. His feet were long and pale and his legs strong, with long, corded muscles lining his thighs. He was aroused, and although she had never seen a man in this condition, she was not afraid. He was aroused because he wanted her.
“I would never hurt you, Isabella.”
He walked towards her as her eyes looked at him, savoring every inch of his beautiful body.
“You’re prefect.”
His laugh was strained. “Far from that.”
“To me, you’re perfect,” Bella said, lifting one hand to touch the long length of his arousal. His teeth snapped together as she ran her finger over it, stroking the hot flesh.
“I have thought of you touching me again, love, dreamed of your hands on my body,” he rasped.
But not enough to tell me what is wrong.
Bella pushed t
he thought aside and instead explored him, tracing the muscles in his thighs, and back up to his flat, taut stomach. He captured her wrists and pushed them to her sides.
“I have no restraint with you, Bella. How could I when I have wanted you for so many years? Let me love you as I have always longed to.”
She nodded and he kissed her softly, passionately. His hand cupped her breasts, stroking and then rolling her nipples in his fingers, and Bella cried out as he lowered his head to replace his hands with his mouth. Fierce desire swamped her; liquid pooled between her thighs as the hunger inside her grew with each lick and touch.
Easing her back on the bed, he covered her with his body, and Bella thought she knew now why woman dared to be called loose. Having Luke on top of her, his big warm body covering hers, was heaven. He kissed her as his hands traveled over her skin, touching, teasing, until he parted her thighs and settled between them. His hand caressed her there, stroking the damp folds. Bella arched off the bed as he pushed his fingers inside her, stroking her, as the most wonderful sensations began to build. She reached for him as he moved down to place his lips on the curls above her thighs, and then he moved lower and she could think no more as the delicious feelings inside her began to escalate. She called to him as the tension built inside her; then his body was on top of her again and she felt the pressure of his arousal pushing against her.
“I have always protected you, Isabella, never caused you pain, and yet now, just this once I must do so.”
“I know you would never hurt me, Luke. Please, just make me yours.”
He pushed inside her, stretched her until he breeched her innocence. The pain was sharp and fierce and then it eased. She cupped his face, making him look into her eyes.
“I love you.”
He didn’t answer her as Bella had known he wouldn’t, couldn’t allow himself to, kissing her instead as he began to move, slowly at first and then faster. She felt the delicious tension once again build inside her with each thrust, until she cried out as sensation after sensation caught and held her. Above her, Luke’s body stiffened and then he, too, found his release.