Shocked gasps rippled through the room. Lord Morley was finally allowed to stand, his coat lapel torn to flop about as if in echo of the donkey’s ears. “Gone?”
“Gone, sir.” Trent brushed off his own coat. “Mrs. Lindstrom is also missing and very efficiently with your wife’s traveling clothes and personal effects so by all appearances, their run is well-planned.”
“Have my carriage brought around immediately!” Lord Morley yelled at Mr. Walters, who signaled one of the footmen to carry the order out to the groomsmen. Lord Morley stormed from the room.
“My God!” Mrs. Carlton began to cry and put her head on her husband’s shoulder.
Raven’s hold on Phillip’s arm was so tight, his fingers tingled but he had no desire to ask her to relax her grip.
The earl shook his head. “He’ll have her back within the hour, no worries.”
“No, your lordship. He will not,” Raven said softly.
“Why won’t he, little duchess?” Trent asked. “There has hardly been time for her to reach the village much less elude the chase.”
“Because Lady Morley is inspired to stay ahead of him and fear can make a person very clever.” Raven released Phillip’s arm. “Lord Trent, I am very sorry for spoiling the play and for ruining the evening.”
“What else is ruined, Raven?” Trent asked coldly. “You’ll confess it now though I suspect I know the answer with Mr. Warrick flailing about on your behalf and that ridiculous endearment you blurted out.”
“Your lordship?” Raven lifted her chin.
Phillip shook his head at the unspeakable dread that seized him. Surely Trent doesn’t mean to publicly humiliate her like this! “No one and nothing is ruined, Trent! I want to marry her and I offer your ward the honorable protection of my name and my fortunes. There is no need for this!”
Trent ignored him. “Out with it, Raven. Have you disgraced yourself?”
“Yes.” Her lips trembled but then she stood as proud as a goddess, despite her broken wing and wilting crown of flowers. “I am ruined.”
Phillip turned her to face him, gently holding her upper arms as her eyes filled with tears. “No, Raven. To hell with him! There is nothing between us that I do not treasure and if we’ve been a bit…impetuous…then so be it.”
“Impetuous?” Lord Trent scoffed. “You tumble my ward under my roof and speak of what? A callous rush to take what was not yours?”
His neighbors were openly lapping up every scandalous revelation and Phillip couldn’t understand why Trent was allowing it.
“Raven,” Trent sighed. “Look at me and tell me truthfully what you wish.”
“I wish to spend the rest of my life with Phillip.” Raven stepped away from Phillip to take her guardian’s hands in hers. “I love him. Madly, completely and without fear. You have always taught me to be bold where others are cautious! Please, your lordship. Please give us your consent.”
“I love her, Geoffrey.” Phillip held his breath until the impossible finally happened.
Trent lowered his head and nodded slowly. “How can I stand in the way of true love? Even if it is so roughly born when I wasn’t looking?”
Thank God!
“We never meant to trespass, Lord Trent. You have always been such a good friend to me.” Phillip swallowed as his emotions warred inside his chest. “I swear that no man could love or cherish her more.”
“Yes, yes,” the earl said gruffly and pulled his hands from Raven’s. “With so many witnesses, let’s recover what we can. Decorum is injured past healing, but if you marry quickly, I will not stand in your way and will in fact, bless this union. If this is truly what you desire…”
Phillip squared his shoulders, unable to keep from smiling. “More than anything!”
“I want her honor restored with all speed, Warrick!” Lord Trent growled.
“You have my word.” Phillip held his ground and put his hand out toward Trent.
Trent shook his hand. “Take my carriage. Gretna Green awaits.” He signaled the butler. “Have their things packed immediately. Mr. Warrick and Miss Wells will be leaving us tonight.”
Congratulations were sparse and many of Trent’s neighbors began to retreat in haste, either to spread the delicious gossip they’d reaped from the evening or to distance themselves from the scandalous events.
Mrs. Carlton embraced Raven, still crying. “A bride deserves a better send off…”
Raven did her best not to give in to tears. “I could never ask for more than the happiness I feel, Mrs. Carlton. I have my hero.”
Mr. Carlton shook Phillip’s hand. “Best wishes to your future and to a long life together. May you be blessed, my boy.”
Lady Baybrook shook her head slowly. “I for one am at a loss for words! Sensible women abandoning their husbands! Men brawling as if the earl’s library was a tavern! And now I am to…smile and toss rice at this wretched distasteful proposal?” She made a dramatic sweep of her cloak, unaware that the family of squirrels sewn to her shoulders had started to come loose so that they now appeared to be hanging off her breasts. “My dignity cannot bear it.”
She sailed out of the room and to everyone’s great credit, no one laughed until the library door was firmly closed behind her.
“We will also take our leave, Lord Trent.” Mr. Carlton gathered his wife back into his arms. “It is too much commotion for my wife, sir. We will leave tonight and send the carriage back for our things in the next few days. As you know, my estates are not far and frankly, I think the goal of ending our holiday on a memorable note has been achieved. I don’t think my heart can take anymore surprises.”
“Of course, of course!” Trent conceded. “God, what a mess!”
Phillip and Raven saw the Carlton’s only as far as the library door and then rushed to oversee their own preparations.
Raven reached her room only to face a small flurry with Kitty sobbing and packing trunks as quickly as she could. Raven did what she could to help, seizing her prettiest clothes and fighting the battle between pure joy and anxious anticipation of leaving her guardian’s care and everything that she’d known for over seven years.
“Kitty, you must stop weeping! I’m to be a bride! It’s not as if you’re sending me off to Newgate!”
“I know! Wishing you happy. I just…cannot see the house without you.” Kitty pressed the heel of her hands against her eyes. “What will I do without you?”
“Besides marrying that handsome groomsman you’ve been mooning over for years and living happily ever after?” Raven teased. “I cannot imagine.”
Kitty managed a weak smile. “You are a romantic at heart, aren’t you?”
“Always.” Raven surveyed her trunks then looked back to her maid. “Whatever I’ve left behind is yours, Kitty. Consider it a gift from your grateful and impossible mistress. A small repayment for your bravery tonight to help with Lady Morley.”
“I was so scared when Morley started to pull off my mask!” Kitty shuddered. “I thought he would murder me then and there!”
A knock at the door interrupted the conversation. Kitty opened it to find Mr. Walters outside the door. “The carriage has been pulled around. His Lordship insists that there is no time to spare.”
“Her trunks are ready, just here.” Kitty stepped back to allow the footmen access.
Raven sighed and then squeaked in misery.
“What is it, Miss Wells? Have you changed your mind?” Kitty asked.
“No. It’s just…” Raven held out her arms and turned slightly to model her bent paper fairy wing. “I forgot to change out of my costume. I’m—leaving as Queen Titania of all things!”
Kitty nodded and gave the men a fierce shove out the door with the trunks. “Out! All of you! Out while I see to my lady one last time! Tell the earl she’ll be down before they’ve finished strapping those to the back of the carriage!”
Phillip waited anxiously at the bottom of the grand staircase under the cold watchful eyes of Lord Trent.
The carriage was waiting and the servants were finished putting in the trunks.
“Lord Trent. In all the shouting, there was one thing I meant to say.”
“And what was that?” Trent asked.
“I meant to say that I am truly sorry. I should have found a way to speak to you sooner and I never wished to—cross you. I fell in love, sir. There was no malice in it.”
Trent nodded and slowly crossed until they were practically face to face. “I don’t believe in regrets.”
Geoffrey pulled him into an embrace, an awkward tight thing that caught Phillip by surprise. Relief flooded through him, the gesture of forgiveness robbing him of speech. He embraced his future father-in-law and sent up a silent prayer that it was a good sign that they were past the worst of it.
“I am here!” Raven called out as she ran down the stairs. She was a vision in cobalt blue with a velvet cape to match and the men released their hold on each other instantly.
“Good. Let’s see you out!” Trent nodded and the footmen opened the front doors. “It’s a full moon so you can travel straight through without delays and be married tomorrow. Send word when the deed is done.”
Raven hesitated before him, choked with emotion. “You have been so kind to—“
“Yes, yes, I am kind. No tears. I hate tears, Raven. Go. Just go. For goodness sake, you’ve insisted on your happiness and now you have it. Don’t linger to make a useless scene now.” Lord Trent kept his hands tightly clasped behind his back. “Godspeed, Raven Wells.”
Phillip guided her out and the strange farewells were over and the carriage was already out of the oak lined lane leading to the manor before she could think to lean out the window and wave.
Phillip kissed her to soften the blow of their rough start and Raven cried in his arms for all that was lost but also in amazement for all they’d won.
Godspeed.
Chapter Twenty-one
It was less than ideal to ride through the pitch black of night to Gretna Green and Phillip held her close in the rattling confines of the carriage for two hours before he decided that they’d gone far enough.
He signaled the driver to stop at the next decent inn.
“Are you sure, Phillip?” Raven asked.
He smiled. “We’ll get there soon enough and since in this instance, we have no angry guardian to elude but instead are going happily of our own accord—I don’t see why we can’t stop and get a decent night’s sleep.”
Raven cheered instantly. “I would like to be fresh for our wedding and not a bruised and travel weary harridan.”
He laughed. “Well, when you say it like that, we should have stopped in the village six miles ago!”
She rewarded him with a kiss to his cheek and a playful nip at his earlobe. “Be kind, husband-to-be!”
“I shall do my best to please you, wife-to-be.”
The carriage stopped soon enough and the lovers alighted at a small humble establishment set at a crossroad. Raven waited at the carriage and helped point out which small valise to take inside while Phillip went ahead of her and paid the innkeeper for the best room he had available.
As they wearily climbed the stairs, Phillip held her hand with one arm protectively out to keep her steady. The innkeeper pointed at the door at the end of the hall. “It’s there. Here’s a tray with some libations for you and your missus. If you need anything else, just call down the stairs.”
Phillip awkwardly took the tray and Raven smiled as the man abandoned them to their own devices. “He was…very gracious.”
Phillip laughed. “Nothing but the best for you, my love!”
“Come, let’s see what your coin has bought us for the night.” Raven pushed open the door and sighed happily. It was a simple room but clean and not as drafty as she’d feared. For several minutes, they quietly tended to the comforts of the room, lighting the candles and seeing to a fire, airing out the bedding and pouring the wine.
Raven loved the domestic magic of knowing that each gesture was a hint of what it would be in the years to come. She would learn the way he liked all things and strive to please him. Or at least, make an effort when I can…for surely no wife has ever managed to make her husband smile at all of life’s turns. I’ll attempt it and earn this happiness that is threatening to make me cry.
“Wine, my love?” Phillip held out a ceramic cup to her.
She wrinkled her nose. “I would rather not.”
“I expected your refusal.” He set the cup down. “But here, come sit with me and let me give you something long overdue.”
“Is it a kiss?” she asked eagerly.
Phillip laughed. “Here. Look for yourself.”
He waited until she was sitting next to him on the settee by the fire and then held out a small black leather box.
She took it shyly, opening it to reveal a ring of gold inlaid with pale blue topaz and diamonds. “Oh! It’s lovely!”
“The stones reminded me of your eyes,” he confessed. “I wanted to give it to you after I’d talked to the earl but…we didn’t exactly make it until tomorrow as planned, did we?”
“Nothing went quite as I’d planned, Phillip.”
He nodded. “I know. But I want you to see this as a sign, my darling, that all will be well. Even if you and I tend to back into our joy by accident and happenstance, it doesn’t mean that we lack intention.”
“A proper engagement ring,” she whispered.
“Because we are about to be properly married, Miss Wells.”
“Yes!” Raven’s eyes shone with unshed tears and he placed the ring on her hand where it fit perfectly by design. “I cannot believe that it is possible to be this happy and still manage to breathe!”
“Perhaps we’ll get used to it,” he said and then leaned over to kiss her cheek. “I only wish we weren’t the only ones to know this bliss.” He sighed. “I hope poor Lady Morley finds some measure of safety.”
“I am certain she has.”
“How can you be? He left in his carriage and with two outriders only minutes after she was discovered missing. I think in this instance, your optimism has to accept the inevitable. He will have her in hand long before sunrise.”
She smiled. “Hardly. I knew she couldn’t outpace him on a muddy road. What a ridiculous proposition!”
“Then…how could she have eluded him?”
“You are assuming she left just after the play.”
“Didn’t she?”
Raven was glowing with her mischievous triumph. “No! I had her things loaded into the Carlton’s carriage and Lady Morley and Mrs. Lindstrom were hiding inside the coach with the curtains drawn. It wasn’t until the Carltons left that I knew they were properly away, and Lord Morley would never think to search that neighboring estate. Not in time,” she added. “Mrs. Carlton’s tears were quite convincing, were they not?”
“H-how? The Carltons were in on it? Truly?”
“Mrs. Carlton was. But she knew her husband well enough to know that the instant he was informed of the truth, he would happily become our accomplice. Lady Morley and her maid will hide at the squire’s for a few days and then make their way to Belgium where Millicent has relatives.”
“What truth?”
“Lord Morley was cruelly beating his wife and she feared for her life.”
“My God! Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I was sworn to keep her secret and she was terrified that your male loyalty to her husband or aversion to her illegal escape would betray our plans.”
“I would never have done that!”
Raven reached up to smooth out the anger on his face. “Phillip. It wasn’t my secret to give away and no reflection of my trust in you. It was Millicent’s nightmare and I know you respect her courage for ending it.”
He sighed. “Yes. But enough of that now. I cannot think of the worst. Not tonight.” He stood and lifted her up into his arms to carry her cradled against his chest, striding toward the room’s narrow bed.
&nbs
p; Raven giggled as they landed on the surprisingly soft feather mattress. “I look forward to sleeping in your arms.”
He laughed at the lack of room that ensured an intimate night. “It seems you’ll have to.”
Triumph made them both bold. They undressed each other in a slow dance, relishing the new balance between them. They had each toyed with their power over the other, conquering or surrendering in turn, but now it was as if they had nothing to prove. And it was the most heady and freeing sensation of all.
The candles were extinguished until it was firelight alone that cast the room in shifting shadows and warmed them.
“Surprise me, Raven. Rule me.”
“As you wish.”
His dare spurred her on as she pushed him back onto the bed. Then with one mischievous look at Phillip, she knew that he would deny her nothing. Raven knelt over him, thighs spread on either side of his head, her sex at the ready for his kisses. He gripped her hips and lifted her up to set his mouth against her. She was in control but it was Phillip’s tongue that set the pace. She danced in a gypsy’s gyrating turn atop him, touching her own breasts, lifting them for him, reveling in the wicked thrill of it.
Shifting up, she turned as an even naughtier idea came to her. With his tongue darting up inside of her and teasing her clit, she seized his cock in both of her hands and lowered her mouth over it, sucking and stroking him. Her imagination took hold as she imagined that he was already inside of her, that his beautiful flesh was sheathed and resheathed in the grip of her muscles.
She came and lost her rhythm, crying out as a spasm of ecstasy robbed her of grace. By the time she came back to her senses, she could only look at him apologetically, for there was no evidence that she’d achieved more than her own satisfaction.
But instead he rewarded her.
He sorted them out to cover her with his body, parting her thighs, delving into the throbbing flesh between her legs with his fingers and when she arched her back to come again, he plowed into her against the bedding, rocking his stone hard flesh up into the yielding channel of molten fire that fit him perfectly.
Lady Falls (Black Rose Trilogy) Page 17