“I plead with you, My Lord, to allow me a month with my daughter before she is married. I wish to bring her home and spend time with her, we have so much to discuss. To catch up on. You know as well as I that the life of a newlywed is full of so many obligations and things to do. I fear that if you wed immediately, it may be some time before I am afforded the opportunity to get to know my daughter.”
Amanda looked over her shoulder back at Joseph. He pressed his lips together as he looked back at her.
“She and I will need to discuss that privately,” Joseph said.
Amanda breathed a sigh of relief. She longed to remove herself from this stifling room. Alone with the man she loved, she would be able to sort out her feelings and get herself under control. Joseph reached his hand out to her and she took it, allowing him to lead her out of the drawing room, out from under the bewildered gazes of everyone present, and into a small vacant room across the hall.
Immediately, Joseph pulled her into a protective hug. She buried her nose in his shirt.
“Are you all right, my love?” he whispered tenderly.
“I think so.” Her voice was muffled against his chest. “I don't know what to think.”
“I know. I can tell by the look in your eye. These past few days have been a whirlwind for you. But you must decide now. Do you want to go with Lord Pemperose?”
Amanda licked her lips and considered.
“No. Right now, no. I want to go with you. I want to get married and begin our new life. And yet...I know that if I say no that I will regret not taking the time to know my father. When we are married, things will be different. I will be different.”
Joseph nodded his head, gravely. “I understand. I, too, think that you should go. Although it pains me to be separated from you. It will only be for one month. In the meantime, I can ready Ethelred Manor for its new mistress, and begin arrangements for the wedding.”
Amanda smiled gently up at him. “Thank you,” she whispered.
He kissed her forehead.
Chapter 33
Joseph couldn't help but feel that his happiness was being ripped away from him. Although he understood, logically, that Amanda being reunited with her long-lost father was a miracle, he still couldn't quite shake the negative impression he had first formed of Lord Pemperose. Knowing that he would soon be his father-in-law did little to raise his opinion of him.
But he had to be happy for Amanda. Later that evening at dinner, he couldn't tear his eyes off her. He felt as though he were searching for some sign that she was unhappy, almost as if he wished she was. Amanda being unhappy would have given him an excuse to rescind on their agreement to Lord Pemperose's proposal of a month-long separation.
But, although she surely looked nervous and still rather shocked, a rosy bloom had come over Amanda's cheeks. She looked at Lord Pemperose with a kind of awe. Joseph tried to put himself in her place and imagine how he would feel if the situation were reversed. She must be beside herself with joy.
Surely he could be patient for a single month.
Later that night, she again snuck into his room when all the others had gone to bed. She climbed into his bed without making a sound, her body finding his under the warm blankets and fitting against his perfectly. Joseph wrapped his arms around her and held her fast, inhaling the faintly floral scent of her warm skin.
“Perhaps I was too hasty,” she whispered after a few moments with no sound other than that of their breathing synchronizing. “Now that I have spent one night in your arms, I don't think I will ever be able to sleep any other way.”
Joseph smiled into the dark, pulling her tighter against him.
“I will miss you too, Amanda. More than I can say.”
“Perhaps—” she began in a lower whisper. Her small hand came to his chest and traveled slightly lower. “Perhaps you ought to send me off with a memory to keep me warm in the coming nights?”
Joseph's body responded to her bold suggestion immediately, and his lower stomach clenched pleasurably as her fingertips drew absent-mindedly designs over his taut muscles. His smile twisted into a devilish smirk.
“Each time you try to seduce me, minx, it becomes harder to refuse you.”
She giggled a sweet, innocent sound that made his blood quicken. Acting quickly, he decided on a compromise. He was still firm in his decision not to disturb her maidenhead before their wedding night, but that left many options open to him in service of sending her off with pleasant memories.
He pressed her shoulder down so that she laid flat on her back. Her knees fell apart readily and her hands wrapped around his torso. As he settled between her thighs, his erection pressed against her hot core and she wriggled her hips wantonly. She gave a slight sigh of pleasure that made it almost impossible to resist plunging his aching manhood into that tight source of heat.
He hitched her nightgown up, uncovering her nakedness beneath and kissed down the warm slopes of her breasts and the undulating curve of her stomach. He gave her no time to protest in maiden embarrassment before deftly spreading the lips of her sex with his fingers and drawing his tongue over that quivering bundle of nerves.
She gasped, her thighs flexing most attractively before she gave in to the sensations and eagerly pulled her knees up to her chest shamelessly, giving him more room. He groaned at her honey-like taste, and he longed to delve his fingers inside her. For fear of hurting or frightening her, he resisted and maintained the tight circles of his tongue.
Her climax came quite quickly, a testament to her desire for him that made him want to puff up pridefully. Suddenly her fingers were in his hair. Her back arched off the mattress and she stifled a cry of pleasure as her thighs twitched. Knowing that this was the first time that a man had brought her to this moment made his heart throb with adoration and manful possessiveness.
* * *
Amanda felt her body sink heavily into the soft mattress, everything softening as her breath returned to normal. She felt like a changed woman now that she knew that her own fingers did not hold a candle to what her future husband could do with just his tongue. She giggled light-headedly, imagining her happy future with such a man.
He came up to kiss her neck and she rolled onto her side to pepper his rough jaw with kisses of her own.
“Shall I do the same for you?” she asked, her voice still ragged with pleasure.
“You needn't.”
“Oh, but I want to.” She rolled atop him, straddling his hips. “I am so terribly, awfully curious—”
She saw him lick his lips in the dim light, then quirk up one corner of his mouth in a wolfish smirk. “Far be it from me, my love, to stifle educational fervor.”
She chuckled as a shiver ran down her spine. She hesitated only a moment before wriggling down his body. Boldly, she tugged on his smalls until his erection was freed. She wrapped her hand around it, noticing that Joseph had stopped breathing.
I have no idea what to do now…
She glanced up at him, running the hard, velvety length of him against her cheek, and saw that he was gazing down at her. Finally, he exhaled, reaching down to touch her cheek and then burying his fingers in her hair.
She tested his girth in her hand, then tentatively drew her tongue from base to tip, keeping her eyes locked on him all the while.
“Does that feel nice?” she asked, unsure of herself still.
He sort of chuckled, an oddly strangled sound that seemed to get caught halfway out of his throat. He tipped his head back, exposing the long curve of his neck, and whispered, “Yes, darling. Very nice.”
She did it again, slower this time. She was surprised that he didn't taste of anything much. Perhaps very faintly salty. She wasn't sure what she had expected, though. It was all so new to her. She studied the incredible heat that radiated from him, and the long, crooked ridge of the vein along the side. Acting purely on instinct, she swirled her tongue around the velvety head, similar to what he had done to her. His jaw flexed and his grip on her
hair tightened momentarily before softening again.
When she looked up at him again, he was gazing down at her with fresh intensity. When he spoke again, his voice was unlike anything she had ever heard it before. Hoarse and restrained, as though he was fighting some irresistible impulse.
His fingers in her hair guided her gently, not forcing, only suggesting. Soon his breathing became even more ragged and she felt his manhood give a twitch against her tongue. He groaned through gritted teeth as a first stream of his seed splashed against the roof of her mouth. She gasped in shock and in her surprise, she jerked away in time to watch another surge go over her right shoulder. She grinned, watching him writhe as she finished him off with her hand.
“Are you all right?” he whispered hoarsely at the end.
She giggled, feeling quite giddy as she snuggled back against him, pulling the blankets back over them.
“Oh, Joseph, I think we are going to be very happy together.”
He chuckled, holding her tight. “Perfectly happy, my love.”
* * *
The following day Joseph was in a haze. His bliss with Amanda was cut short by the rising sun and the dawning of the day, which would take her from him for an entire month. He said goodbye to her reluctantly, kissing her and promising that they would see each other soon. And then he gave her over into the protection of Lord Pemperose. A development that, only a matter of days ago, he would have written off immediately as impossible.
The ride back to Ethelred Manor was interminable. Even Heather's chattering —she was giddy with excitement about soon having Amanda as her stepmother— did little to soothe the ache of Amanda's absence. With each mile they covered, he knew that Amanda was traveling in the opposite direction. Anxiety pulled at him.
So Pemperose is her father. Does that mean that he is a good one? A kind one?
He wondered if he had been too trusting in allowing her to go with him. What if he had just released her into the care of an incompetent caregiver?
“What's the matter, Father?”
Joseph looked down at Heather at his side in the carriage. She was looking up at him quizzically.
He smiled to put her at ease. “I just miss her already.”
Heather nodded. “Me too. Luise isn't half so funny or pleasant to be around. I suppose when you are married, I won't be calling her Miss O'Neil anymore. Will I call her Mother?”
“I suppose so. If you like,” he answered.
Heather grinned broadly, which warmed Joseph's heart. The little girl who had never known her mother had finally gotten her wish.
“I do like. We will be a very good little family, won't we?”
Joseph wrapped his arm around her small shoulders and pulled her into a sideways hug, resting his cheek on top of her head. “Yes, we will. While we wait for her to rejoin us, we must make sure that the manor is thoroughly prepared for her. Let's surprise her, eh?”
Heather agreed and launched into plans to redecorate the entire manor. Joseph listened, bemused at how much the little girl thought she could accomplish in one month. But her ideas about updating the more drab areas of the manor did strike him as worth his while.
The afternoon was wearing long by the time they rolled up to Ethelred Manor. Joseph felt rather dejected at arriving there without Amanda. But with his mind filled with ideas about how to turn the lonely old manor into a home worthy of her, he entered the house in bright spirits.
Luise was the first to greet them. Her pleasant face was illuminated with happiness that shadowed slightly when she saw that Amanda was not with them.
“Where is the new mistress?” she asked.
“It's a bit of a winding story. I can inform you of what has happened over tea,” Joseph said, doffing his overcoat.
Luise bobbed her head. “Yes, My Lord. Not bad news, I hope?”
Joseph smiled. “Not bad news, no. She will be with us again in a few weeks, and then we shall be married.”
The head housekeeper smiled happily and hurried off in the direction of the kitchen.
Joseph settled himself in his own parlor, quite happy to be home again. He was soon joined by the housekeeper, who pushed a tray laden with a full tea service. He watched, silently content, as she poured him tea.
“Please, Miss Green. Have some yourself.”
She curtsied and poured herself a cup, sitting across from him as he began to tell the story of what had happened with Amanda and Lord Pemperose. He knew it was quite an incredible story, and he expected the housekeeper to enjoy hearing its twists and turns. But instead of enjoyment, he watched quizzically as her expression changed from interest to horror as he went on.
“What is the matter, Miss Green?” he asked after he had told her everything.
“These matching pendants...I knew she wore one, but the chain was so long that it tucked into the front of her dress and I never saw it properly. Please, My Lord, what did it look like?”
“It's a religious medal. Oval in shape, with the image of St. Lazarus on the front.”
Miss Green went pale and she trembled. “God in heaven. I know those necklaces. My Lord, I know who she is. Amanda's parents are long dead. Lord Pemperose cannot be her father.”
Joseph went cold. Icy regret and fear gripped him.
“Then who is he?” he demanded of the housekeeper.
She shook her head. “Someone I prayed I would never see nor hear of ever again.”
Chapter 34
“It was before I came to your household, My Lord. I used to work for a family called the Donovan’s, a mother and father, and their one daughter, Amanda…”
Joseph gripped the arms of his chair as he stared at the woman, the housekeeper whom he had always respected but rarely thought of. Now, she seemed to hold the key to everything. As she began to tell her story, she dropped her gaze to the ground and twisted her hands in her lap. Her voice was small as she seemed to struggle to remember the details
“Lady Margaret was the beauty of the town. Everyone envied her, and over the years, she had many gentlemen who paid, perhaps, a bit too much attention to her. With her being a respectable married woman, and all. She never paid them any mind. But then Lord Pemperose came along... he was after her, all right.”
The housekeeper took a deep breath. He could see that she wished she did not have to revisit this story from her past. She seemed to have wanted to forget it and was not happy to be forced to recount these events. He wanted to urge her on, but he tried to be compassionate and give her time. But each moment that ticked by, he knew that Amanda was in danger.
“He had a reputation, he did. Married women were his particular passion. Even though, of course, Lady Margaret didn’t give him the time of day, her refusals only stoked his interest more and more. He was coming around the house at all hours, never giving any of us a moment’s peace. Poor Lady Margaret, she started off laughing the whole matter off as a joke, but she soon grew frightened of him. She told her husband what was going on.”
Every muscle in Joseph’s body was tense, and a sharp ache formed between his shoulder blades. He wanted to spring from his seat and run to the stable, mount a horse, and gallop all the way back to London, back to Amanda.
How many hours has it been now, since she was left alone with this unknown man?
“Lord Pemperose was furious when Lady Margaret told her husband about what he was up to. He acted as though he and Lady Margaret had been having an affair and that she was making up this story of his harassment to cover her own guilt. No one believed that, of course. He said it only to frighten Lady Margaret even more. To punish her for refusing him, he was trying to drag her good name through the mud.” Miss Green continued, looking up at Joseph now.
“The last thing I heard about Lord Pemperose was that he had confronted Lady Margaret one more time. Still she refused him. After that…” her voice trailed off.
“What happened after that, Miss Green,” Joseph prompted her, impatient.
“There was a fir
e, My Lord. A dreadful fire. I managed to get Lady Margaret’s daughter out of the house in time. Her room was near mine. I woke up to the smell of smoke, and the tendrils of it sneaking up under my bedroom door. I ran to the child's room and got her out, but the direction of Lady Margaret's room was so thick with smoke I could not even see the corridor.”
Miss Green sniffled and dabbed at her eyes. Joseph reached out to rest his hand on her shoulder. Clearly, the memory disturbed her.
“The child. You mean Amanda?”
Miss Green nodded. “It must be. I didn't recognize her when she came to Ethelred Manor. She's grown so much. She was just a scrawny little thing as a child. If only I'd seen her necklace more closely, I would have known her right away.”
Seducing The Perfectly Enchanting Marquess (Steamy Historical Regency Romance) Page 23