Lord Cavendish Returns

by King, Rebecca

  “I am used to this, so please don’t worry about me. I should like to call by later and update you on what I find, if you are interested?”

  “That would be wonderful,” she whispered in reply.

  The offer of dinner she was about to make was captured by the gentle brush of his lips against hers. One kiss didn’t seem to be enough for either of them though as Harper drew her slowly toward him until her rounded curves met the solid wall of his chest. Once there, he secured her in place with an arm around her waist while he deepened the kiss the way he wanted. Her compliance nearly undid him and he had to keep his thoughts firmly focused on exactly where they were in order to prevent his groan from escaping.

  Arrabella gasped and clung to him when his mouth opened and nudged her lips apart. She felt plundered yet not threatened. Her senses swam amidst the sensual onslaught and it left her emotions in turmoil. There was nothing she could deny him; no words she could find to utter with any degree of fervency that would urge him to stop. They were there, hovering in the dark recesses of her mind, but she paid no attention to them and focused on the wonderfully warm sensations his mastery was bringing forth instead. Her heart thundered in her ears so loudly that she was certain he could hear it too, but it was the warmth that had begun to embrace her heart that held her captivated, and frightened her a little too. His man who held her so closely had suddenly become so very important to her that she couldn’t bear to even think about the day when he would need to return to London.

  His head tipped this way and that as he sipped from the honeyed nectar of her mouth until he couldn’t stand the torment a moment longer. He slowly lifted his head and rested his forehead against hers to give them both time to allow the world to settle around them. In all of his life he had never kissed a woman and been left speechless, but Arrabella had robbed him of all thought.

  “Arrabella,” he growled. When he did finally lift his head, the blatant desire in her eyes drew him back toward the moistened plumpness of her lips.

  The second kiss burned so brightly that they both struggled to control their grasping hands. The only sounds that could be heard were the gasps and sighs of both of them as they sought to assure each other that this adventure was far from over. Neither could walk away from what had begun to grow between them and neither of them wanted to.

  By the time Harper lifted his head for a second time they were both trembling and struggling to remember where they were. Arrabella blinked up at him, and wasn’t sure if the fierce blush in her cheeks was down to embarrassment over her wanton behaviour, or the flames of desire that burned ever so brightly through her.

  “Lord above, we could get struck by lightning for kissing like that,” he teased softly.

  “I am sorry, I don’t know what came over me,” Arrabella whispered, mortified at what had just happened.

  “Please don’t apologise for it, Arrabella. You and I both know that the attraction is there between us and it would be foolish for either of us to ignore it.” He cupped her cheek tenderly. “This is far from over,” he promised. “One adventure may be over for now, but our new adventure is only just beginning.”

  Arrabella blinked away the tears that stung her eyes. All she could do was nod. It gave him the perfect excuse to draw her into a hug again and he stood for a moment with his lips in her hair, and simply savoured the feel of her in his arms.

  “When you call by later,” she tipped her head back to peer up at him and realised just how presumptuous she had sounded. “You know, to update me on what you find, would you care to stay for supper? I mean, I am eating by myself and well, you are by yourself and, well, I -”

  Whatever else she had been going to say was cut off by the finger he placed on her lips. He knew that she was nervous and didn’t want her to feel anything but at ease with him.

  “I would love to have dinner with you Arrabella, but we do have your reputation to consider. We have been sailing far too close to the wind as it is, what with the crypt and everything. So far, the only person who knows that we have spent most of yesterday alone together is the person who locked us in there and they are hardly likely to spread the news. However, I don’t want to risk bringing censure to your door by sharing a meal alone with you in the vicarage. As wonderful as it sounds to share a meal here with you, people will only gossip and, given that you are the respectable daughter of the vicar, you cannot have your reputation damaged.”

  He read the disappointment in her eyes and tipped her chin up so she could look at him. “So, why don’t we have a meal the village tavern? They serve meals and I can secure us a table for later where can chat and sit amongst the locals. They will speculate, but we can take the opportunity to inform them that we are after a parish register that has gone missing. That should be enough to ensure that we can be seen out together as often as we please and you will not incur any scandalous gossip that will besmirch your good character.”

  Arrabella sighed. Up until now she had been enjoying her brief adventure and hadn’t really given any thought to what anyone might think, but he was right. She was the daughter of one of the village’s most upstanding citizens. It would be highly inappropriate of her to spend an evening alone with a man whom she had only recently met. The gossips would have a field day if they found out.

  “That would be wonderful,” she whispered. She was thrilled that he wanted to share a meal with her, and grateful for his consideration of her reputation. “We can also mention to people that the church keys have gone missing.”

  Now that her mind had cleared of the hazy fog of passion she was able to contemplate the events around them with much more clarity. He was right. At some point someone would draw attention to the fact that they were spending a lot of time together and that would inevitably draw speculation as to his intentions toward her. While she was more than happy with the prospect of being linked to Harper, she didn’t want to place him under any obligation to make promises that he didn’t want to keep.

  Later that night, Harper escorted Arrabella into the village tavern. It was surprisingly quiet for a week night and he glanced around at the empty sea of chairs in surprise.

  “Doesn’t anyone drink around here?”

  “It will warm up later,” the inn keeper replied with a smile at Arrabella. “It is wonderful to have you visit us again, Miss Farthing. I have saved you the best seat in the house,” he declared proudly as he led them through the assorted tables and stools to a small table tucked away before a picture window that overlooked the garden. It was also located next to the fire and was, by far, the warmest seat in the house.

  “Harry, can you tell me if you are aware of any strangers in the village of late?” Arrabella asked when Harry placed the wine on the table and stood back to let his wife deposit two steaming plates of pie and vegetables before them.

  Harry glanced at his wife. “Not as far as I am aware, no. Of course, there is the wonderful surprise return of Mr Lawton here, which his brothers are very boastful about, but I cannot say that I am aware of any strangers in the area, no. Why?”

  Arrabella told them about the missing parish register and keys.

  “I will ask the patrons as they come in. You know, get word about. If the register is around somewhere, then we will find it.” He nodded wisely at them both and left them to eat their meal in peace.

  “Isn’t that Joseph?” Arrabella asked as she finished her meal and studied the room while she waited for Harper to finish. When he looked at her she nodded toward the man who stood at the far end of the bar with a dark scowl on his face. “He still looks frightfully angry about something.”

  Harper studied his brother. “I think that I need to go and have a nice long chat with my brother in the morning,” he replied.

  “You don’t think that he could be responsible, do you?” Arrabella gasped in a whisper. She frowned at Harper and knew from the look in his eye that he suspected that Joseph was up to something. “But why?”

  “He is my brother. We grew
up together. He may be trying to protect my mother’s reputation.”

  “Your birth mother?”

  Harper shook his head. “No, the mother who sacrificed a lot to look after me.”

  Arrabella sighed. The entire situation was starting to get far too confusing but she still couldn’t see someone like Joseph being so mean as to lock anyone in the church crypt.

  “Hello Arrabella. Harper.”

  Arrabella jumped in alarm. She had been so lost in thought that she hadn’t noticed Joseph cross the busy tap room.

  “Hello, how are you?” She smiled at him but received no warm greeting in return. She felt pinned to the spot by the intent, searching look he gave her and turned to Harper with a slightly puzzled expression. Joseph didn’t appear all that pleased to see them, or make any attempt to be amiable but she couldn’t think of anything she had said, or done, that would have offended him.

  “Joseph.” Harper waved to a chair beside them. “We are just having a bite to eat. Care to join us?” He had taken a look at Joseph’s boots and knew, deep in his gut, that he was not responsible for the boot prints he had found in the churchyard.

  “No,” Joseph snapped only to sigh deeply when he realised he had been a little too forceful. “No, thank you. I just wanted to ask you, Miss Farthing, if you will need my help with setting up the tables at the craft stall at the weekend?”

  “Oh, yes please, if you have the time. That would be most helpful.” She sensed Harper’s curiosity and explained. “There is a village fete at the weekend in aid of a new roof for the church. It is going to be held on the village green. If you are still going to be here you would be more than welcome to come.” She tried to keep the hope out of her voice, she really did, but she stared at him just a little too avidly for her enquiry to be nothing more than mild curiosity.

  “I would love to,” Harper replied and flicked a quick look at Joseph, who had yet to take his eyes off Arrabella. Was there some sort of history there? The protective surge that immediately swept through him shook him to the core. The thought of Arrabella receiving the attentions of another suitor made him want to thump something, then pick her up and run home with her to keep her safe. He didn’t like the way that Joseph was looking at the woman who had captured his own interest and he coughed to draw his brother’s attention back to himself.

  “If you let me know when you are going to be around, I will give you a hand to set everything up.” His offer didn’t seem to go down too well with Joseph, whose attitude became what could only be described as ‘surly’.

  “Yes, well, I don’t know when I will be able to drop in,” he looked back at Arrabella. “But I shall endeavour to do so some time during the morning. I have got to feed the cattle and the like, so don’t have a precise time when I can join you.”

  “That’s fine,” Arrabella assured him. His towering presence beside her was starting to make her feel just a little unnerved. “Just pop by whenever you have the time. It is not a problem.” She tried hard not to squirm in her seat beneath his rather too intense stare. What did he want?

  “Did you drop by the vicarage earlier this afternoon?” Harper asked with a frown. He leaned back in his seat to study his brother and watched wariness immediately enter his brother’s eyes.

  “No.” The forbidding tone didn’t invite any further questions and was accompanied with a defiant look that warned Harper that his brother was lying.

  “It is just that we thought that we saw someone in the graveyard this afternoon, although when we got there nobody was around. I just wondered if you had called by to have a word with Arrabella, that’s all.”

  “It wasn’t me,” Joseph growled. He didn’t wait for any more questions and nodded to Harper. “I’ll see you on Saturday then.”

  Harper remained quiet as Joseph stalked out of the tavern. He was slightly stunned at how much his brother had changed. The happy-go-lucky, fun loving youth Harper had known had vanished completely and been replaced with someone who barely seemed able to communicate. He couldn’t help but wonder if there was something else going on in the village that he didn’t know about and took a moment to study the other two people in the tavern.

  “Where is everyone?” He had to ask the question. Although it was a week night, the place was nearly empty. He had to wonder how the inn managed to stay in business if it only sold a couple of pints a night and a meal or two.

  “I don’t know. I don’t usually frequent the tavern,” she replied wryly with a quirk of her lips.

  “Tell me something, Arrabella,” Harper leaned forward in his seat and turned his ale mug around with absent fingers while he tried to get his questions into some semblance of order.

  “Has anything unusual being happening in the village of late?”

  “You mean, like a spate of thefts, or something?”

  “Anything.” He gave her a direct look and watched her frown for a moment while she thought.

  “I don’t think so. Nothing much seems to happen at all around here. It is a very quaint village, but very quiet most of the time. There haven’t been any thefts as far as I am aware. Everyone seems to be getting excited for the fete at the weekend.”

  They finished their meal in silence and left. Once outside, the silence of the village seemed to hover over them and brought with it an intimate atmosphere that was accompanied only by the soft clip of their boots on the cobbles.

  Arrabella tugged her shawl around her shoulders but shivered anyway when a particularly cold blast of cold air snuck up her back in spite of the thickness of her wrap. Sensing her chill, Harper held his elbow out to her. Arrabella glanced at it for a moment before she took it with a smile. In doing so she became acutely aware that they were walking rather too close than was right or proper, and could only hope that they wouldn’t set the local tongues wagging.

  Still, character ruination aside, she didn’t want the short walk to the vicarage to end. Unfortunately, it did; far too soon for her peace of mind. A thrill of anticipation swept through her as she spied the dark front door of the house she called home. Was he going to kiss her again? She daren’t ask him in for a nightcap; that would only be asking for trouble, but she wondered then just what she should say to him to bring the evening to a conclusion.

  Although there had been the theft of the parish register, and the mystery of the missing keys to deal with, it had been a rather enjoyable day all in all. It was on the tip of her tongue to ask him what they were going to be doing tomorrow, but then realised that would be terribly presumptuous of her, so she remained quiet.

  “What do you plan to do about the register? It is really church property and I need to report its theft to the Bishop.” She sighed and took a deep breath of the wonderful crisp night air that was heavily laden with the rich scent of roses. Church business was the last thing she wanted to bother with but it was the only thing she could think of to say.

  “If you can give me a couple of more days to try to find it, I would be grateful. I really do feel it is still in the area somewhere, I just don’t know where yet,” he replied with a sigh.

  They were on the steps before the front door before she knew it. She opened her mouth to speak only for Harper to intercept her.

  “I will check that all of the windows and doors are locked before I leave.”

  She had little choice but to open the door and allow him in. Once inside the hallway though she found herself glancing out into the darkness to see if anyone she knew had seen Harper enter the house. It felt terribly risqué to be alone in the house with such a handsome man at night, but it also made her feel incredibly protected. Nobody had ever looked after her safety in such a way, and it was touching that Harper was taking the time and trouble to do so now. She didn’t know whether to follow him around the house or stay in the hallway until he was done and hovered uncertainly while he went into and out of the rooms on the ground floor but she wasn’t alone long before Harper quickly descended the stairs and came to stand before her. “It’s
all clear. Everything is fine, so make sure you lock the door behind me.”

  She opened her mouth to speak only to gasp when he gathered her against him in a most proprietorial manner and kissed her with a possessiveness he had never shown before. Her knees trembled with the fierceness of the sensuality that burned between them and there was little she could do except sigh and melt against him. She was positive that if he let her go she would crumble at his feet, and so placed her hands on his shoulders for support while she tipped her head back and allowed him to plunder.

  The passion that roared to life between them shocked him and was something he had never experienced before. He hadn’t meant the kiss to go this far, but couldn’t stop it now. However, his enjoyment of the situation was slightly marred by the memory of Joseph’s almost proprietorial manner toward Arrabella in the tavern. It helped him gather the strength he needed to ease back on the kiss a little and allow the passion to dim to more manageable levels so that he could lift his head and look down at her.

  “Tell me something?” He growled as he studied the raw passion on her face. He was grateful that there was only one candle lit in the hallway and she couldn’t see the affect she had on him.

  “Mmm?”

  He smiled gently and dropped a lingering kiss on her lips. “Arrabella, do I have any challengers for your hand?”

  His strange wording was enough to make her blink. She thought for a moment and frowned at him. “Pardon?”

  “Do you have any other suitors?” He sighed. He immediately regretted his words when the dreamy expression vanished and was replaced with an outraged expression that would have befitted a stern matron more than a very beautiful country maiden.

  “Certainly not,” she rapped out huffily. “I am not that kind of person.”

  “Thank heavens for that,” he replied fervently. “It prevents the need for bloodshed on the lawn now I know that there is nobody I need to call to arms at dawn.”

  The wry amusement in his voice made her roll her eyes and she shook her head as her cheeks flooded with colour.