“No.” She licked her lips. “I was upset because you didn’t see fit to let me know we had a problem. I was upset because you were so busy protecting me that you left me alone in the ballroom. And when you came to me last night, you still didn’t tell me the truth. I was upset because you shut me out.”
She was right.
“I told Westerley everything. I told him about my sisters, about my mother… I told him that I loved you.”
Her eyes flashed up at his. Shocked and then angry eyes. “You told my brother this? You told my brother that you loved me? Were you ever going to tell me?”
But he had. Physically—when they’d made love. With every touch, with every kiss. The passion between them had been…
Incredible. Explosive. All-encompassing.
And they had talked. He’d told her things about him that no one else on earth knew. And it wasn’t as though they hadn’t known one another for the better half of their lives…
Then again, he also vaguely remembered hearing something to the effect that women needed to hear the actual words. He rose from his chair and moved onto the bed beside her, keeping his gaze locked with hers, wrapping one arm around her, wanting—needing—this connection.
“I don’t know how or when it happened.” The backs of his accursed eyes were burning again. “But I love you, damnit.”
She pouted but if he wasn’t mistaken, her lips might have twitched just so. And seeing a light of hope in her eyes made him want to tell her over and over again. It didn’t make sense. They were only words and yet saying them out loud made a world of difference.
He’d thought love was a burden—a duty. But it was none of those things with Bethany, It involved the sharing of burdens, the sharing of duties. And, hell and damnation, allowing her into his heart.
He needed to make this right.
“I promise never, ever, to leave you standing on the edge of a dance floor again,” he spoke solemnly.
She shifted her disapproving gaze over to him. She was not going to make this easy and he was glad of it. And although she deserved a much better man, Chase wasn’t about to let her go. He’d far rather spend the rest of their lives together proving himself worthy.
“I’ll tell you all my hopes and dreams.” That was part of it.
She sniffed.
“And I’ll never accept a duel without your permission,” he added.
This actually seemed to impress her. “You promise?”
“I do.”
“I suppose that’s a worthwhile start.”
But then he narrowed his gaze at her. “Don’t imagine I’m going to stop protecting you.” Just in case she thought to step in front of any more bullets.
“But not from unpleasantness.”
“If there is any unpleasantness to be faced, I swear on my honor that I’ll share every last detail with you.” He frowned. “Although you may have to remind me from time to time.”
“I believe I can manage that.” His heart swelled as the corners of her lips tilted upward. When it turned into a full-fledged smile, it lit up the room.
Just as she’d lit up his life.
Even with her hair in tangles, wearing a wrinkled gown and sleepy from laudanum, this woman captivated him.
“I love you.” The words came easily, and he punctuated them with a kiss. “Love you.” Another kiss. “Love you.”
She was crying and laughing at the same time her arms slid up and around his neck.
Chapter 33
Oh Brother!
He loves me!
Floating in and out of consciousness, and upon the realization that she wasn’t, in fact, going to die today, Bethany had had every intention of staying angry with Chase for at least a day or two. But then he’d gone and admitted that he loved her. Several times.
And as his lips traveled down her neck and over her shoulders, she all but forgot why she had wanted to be angry with him in the first place.
“Ahem.”
Bethany ducked and buried her face in her husband’s neck, more than a little disquieted at her brother’s interruption. Chase growled and then very deliberately pulled the coverlet up to her shoulders. “I believe it’s customary to knock before entering a person’s bedchamber.”
Chase leveled a cold stare at the man he’d squared off with in the park earlier that day.
“In our defense, we’ve been knocking for a while now.” Bethany’s sister-in-law peered around Westerley, and she broke into a huge smile as she met Bethany’s gaze. “Oh, you’re awake now! Are you in pain? You don’t mind if we come in, do you?”
“Not at all.” But there was nothing Bethany could do to halt the flush creeping up her neck.
“You aren’t brandishing any weapons, are you, Westerley?” Chase, it seemed, wasn’t quite prepared to forgive him for his poorly aimed shot.
One look at her brother, however, and Bethany realized that Jules, with his overinflated sense of honor and guilt, was even less likely to ever forgive himself.
“If the two of you don’t mind,” Bethany glanced between Chase and Charley, “I’d like a word alone with my brother.”
Charley looked relieved but Chase required a few more reassurances and some coaxing before finally leaving the two of them alone.
Even then, her brother stood across the room, frozen and not at all himself.
“You could have died.” The subtle popping sounds had Bethany staring down at his hands where he was cracking his knuckles one by one. “Because of me.”
“Will you sit down, Jules?” This talk was a long time coming.
Seemingly at her mercy, he crossed the room and lowered himself into the chair Chase had vacated when he’d climbed into bed with her.
“I’m not angry with you for shooting me. Well, perhaps a little, but mostly that was my fault.” He lifted his head as though to speak but before he could even begin to berate her for running into the duel, she added, “But I am livid that you didn’t come to me before challenging my husband.”
“But—”
“For my entire life, first Father, and then Mother, and then you have expected me to be a certain way and to fall into line with your decisions. Never have you asked my opinion. And I went along with it. It’s what a good daughter does, what a good sister does.”
“But I was protecting you. As I’ll protect Tabetha—”
Bethany held up her hand. “Enough with this protecting business. Would Charley tolerate you not discussing life-altering decisions with you?” Bethany knew for a fact that Charley would not.
“She’s livid about the duel.” Jules set his lips. “But it was a matter between gentlemen.”
“Poppycock,” Bethany interrupted, wondering that she’d rarely defied her brother so openly—perhaps never. “You should have come to me. Asked me if I was content, perhaps? Asked me if he was treating me well? Do you want to know something? You were gone and everything has worked out just fine. I love you, Jules—I always will—but I’d much rather have your respect than your protection.” R-e-s-p-e-c-t. Seven letters.
Jules looked more confused than anything else. “Of course, I respect you. I have always respected you for your independent thinking, for your strength of character. How could you possibly think I didn’t respect you?”
This was the embarrassing part. Bethany stared down at the edge of the coverlet, “Because I am a woman, too. And sometimes… it seemed as though you forgot that part.” More heat crept up her neck. By now, Bethany was certain her cheeks were more than simply a subtle pink.
“I’m not sure I understand,” her brother offered cautiously.
To be honest, Bethany didn’t completely understand it either. “Before challenging Chase to any duel, you might have considered first that I might love him, that I have feelings for him. I did marry him, after all.”
She finally garnered the courage to look up.
Jules seemed almost to be studying her and then he tilted his head. “I just thought that was what
you wanted.”
“Why would you think that?”
He grimaced. “Because you never wanted to play dolls or pretend tea like Felicity and Tabetha. And you spent far more time learning from Father than Mother—hiding under the table in his study.” He shook his head. “I just supposed… And as you grew older, I just assumed.”
Bethany sent him a weak smile.
“I’m sorry, Beth. Forgive me?”
She nodded, Perhaps it was the laudanum that was making her feel so weepy. “On one condition.”
His eyes widened at this. “Anything.”
Perhaps something good could come of her stepping in front of that bullet after all.
“I want you to promise me that you will not dwell on our… accident this morning. Not blame yourself. It wasn’t your fault. It was simply an accident.” She held up her one finger before he could interject. “And furthermore, I hate that you still blame yourself for Father’s death. I want you to stop blaming yourself for things.”
Bethany noticed the tick in his jaw, and then he tilted his head and made that atrocious cracking sound with his neck. And in that moment, staring at the creases at the edges of his eyes as he contemplated the past, she saw him differently. Not as an earl, not as the head of their family, but simply as a brother, as a son.
“You sound like Charley,” he finally responded.
“I knew there was a reason I liked her.” Even more than that, she loved Charley. She’d never seen her brother so happy as he’d been on his wedding day. “Even if she is American.”
Jules laughed at that, but with genuine tenderness in his eyes. Ah, yes. He was a man who was very much in love.
“So…” He cleared his throat. “I suppose I will ask you this now and then that will be the end of it. You are happy with him?”
“Oh, yes.”
“And this… er… spanking business. Will you assure me that all of it was purely a fabrication, perpetuated by the London gossips who had nothing better than to make up something like this?” Jules’ complexion deepened to an almost ruddy hue. “Because, the idea of my little sister…”
Bethany stifled a giggle. “Oh, absolutely. One enormous lie. He was simply holding my hand.”
Jules slid her a sideways glance and then closed his eyes in exasperation. “I don’t want to know anything else. Ever.”
And truth be told, Bethany didn’t want to know anything of that nature about him and Charley.
“Likewise.” Bethany reached out to shake on the matter with him but then winced at the pain in her side.
Jules’ wince was even deeper. “I’m not sure how I can ever—”
“Remember your promise.”
The door cracked open again and this time, it revealed her husband. She was thrilled that she had her entire life to look forward to with him at her side. “Everything settled in here?”
“It is.”
Jules had risen and held out a hand to Chase. “We’re good then?”
Until that moment, Bethany hadn’t realized how concerned she’d been that the scandal she’d caused might have ruined a lifelong friendship. But as she watched the two of them shake hands, and then grip one another’s upper arms reassuringly, a warmth filled the last empty place in her heart.
And when Chase closed the door behind her brother and then turned back to her, that warmth exploded into every part of her person.
Because she finally knew love for what it really was.
And Chase had discovered the true nature of love as well.
The gleam in his eyes as he approached the bed was filled with as much affection as it was with wicked sensuality. “You need to heal up quickly.” He climbed onto the mattress beside her, sliding both of them down so that they lay on the same pillow, facing one another. “Because I fully intend to bend you over my knee when you do.”
A thrill shot past her belly, making her clench her thighs. “Promise?”
“On my word of honor.”
* * *
CHAPTER
Epilogue
I Wanted To Though…
“Do you like it?”
Bethany closed her mouth, which had fallen open the moment she stepped through the door and then spun around in awe. “But it wasn’t supposed to be done for at least another fortnight.”
Chase took her hand and walked her through to the dressing room, adjacent to a small but pleasant chamber for Polly, and then a tiled suite which had been outfitted with the most modern plumbing available.
But none of it was as perfect for her as the room itself. The walls had been painted a cool mint, the wainscoting a clean white with molding around the ceiling to match. It wasn’t overly ostentatious or overwhelming. It was exactly what she’d envisioned.
“I love it! It’s exactly what I wanted. Calming, pretty, and feminine.” She glanced toward the bed that, although larger than any she’d ever owned, featured simple canopied drapes and wasn’t so high off the floor. “But it’s practical too.”
Chase grinned at her from where he stood, leaning against the wall with his ankles crossed. “Like you.”
“Practical?”
“And pretty and feminine.” His eyes danced. “I’ll admit that you are calming, but there have been too many occasions when you have been anything but.”
“Likewise, husband,” she teased.
He flicked his silver blue gaze toward a bureau. “Look in the top drawer.”
When he met her eyes again, his were no longer teasing, but intense with the slightest hint of uncertainty.
Chase had a way about him that had her anticipating the next wonderful moment instead of always worrying about what was coming next. “Another surprise?” She looked over her shoulder, cocking a brow as she grasped the ornate handle on the drawer.
“Open it and see.”
As much as she appreciated any gift he would buy for her, the trinket itself didn’t matter. Over the past few weeks, since she’d been shot, her husband could not have been anymore loving or considerate in any way.
He’d introduced her to his sisters and their mother and then been adamant that an end be put to the lie regarding his rakish reputation. He’d insisted that it wasn’t fair to the girls, nor was it fair to her.
Bethany had seen that he was torn as far as how to deal with his mother, as was she.
And so, after a very long discussion with Mrs. Jones, Collette, Diana and even Sarah, they’d all decided to formally introduce the girls to society as his cousins. New records had been established for all three of his sisters, in the name of the late Harold Corbet. A very distant cousin to Chase’s father. They resembled Chase and his father well enough that it was a natural assumption.
Blackheart had, of course, handled the legalities of appropriating a deceased man with three grown daughters: Misses Collette, Diana, and Sarah Corbet.
Bethany was to sponsor Collette and Diana’s entrance into society, and Sarah and Mrs. Jones would travel to Easter Park indefinitely, along with a special teacher who would work with the young girl so that she could exercise more independence.
Upon hearing of these long-lost relations of her husband’s, Christine had offered up the use of the dower house there for as long as they had need of it. Although the scheme seemed complicated at times, all of it seemed to be worth it.
Bethany opened the drawer and blinked.
A pendant necklace, almost identical to her wedding ring. Staring at it took her back to that moment in the church, when although their future had been uncertain, as had been their love, he’d made her feel…
Beautiful. Feminine.
Special.
“I love it.” Her voice came out little more than a whisper. She lifted it out of the velvet box and slid the chain over her fingers. “You don’t need to buy me things.”
“I know.” Chase stood behind her now. When Bethany lifted her hands to clasp it around her neck, he took the ends from her and did it himself. “I wanted to though.”
T
he warmth and promise of his breath sent a shiver through her.
“You do so much, not only for me, but for my mother, my sisters, your family… You are a strong and capable and clever woman but…”
He turned her around, his gaze burning into hers.
“…you are also an incredibly lovely woman.” He lowered his mouth to the edge of her jaw. “Alluring.” He trailed his lips down her neck. “Sensual. Passionate.”
Bethany pressed herself against him, her fingers threading through the soft strands of his hair. She reveled in his hard length and welcomed the evidence of his desire.
“The first hint I had that I could feel like that was when you gave me the ring.” She held her hand out behind him. Because he had chosen it for her. He had thought her important enough to be adorned with something beautiful.
She couldn’t have valued it any less if the diamond had been a tenth of the size.
“I never want you to doubt that.” He’d stopped kissing her and lifted his hand to the side of her face. “Never.”
She shook her head. “How can I when I have you?”
“And my love.” His eyes flicked to her lips and Bethany’s heart jumped.
“And this.” She lowered her hands to the fasteners of his trousers. “Shall we go through to your chamber, or shall we christen this one?” His shaft felt hot and hard in her hand.
Chase groaned and simply walked her to the bed.
“Unless you’d rather we light up a cigar.” Bethany couldn’t help but tease him, pretending to withdraw her hand.
He growled. “You’ll pay for that wench.”
But she knew exactly what she was doing. “Promise?”
And with that, he lowered himself to sit on the bed and then bent her over his lap. When his hand crept beneath her dress and up her thigh, Bethany merely smiled.
Because it seemed the saying about reformed rakes making the best of husbands was true, after all.
So long as he wasn’t too reformed…
* * *
THE END
Cocky Baron: Regency Cocky Gents (Book 2) Page 27