by Lauren Smith
“And your family? I know your wife and brother are gone, but what about your parents?”
“My mother died a few weeks after giving birth to Thomas. He was two years younger than me. My father followed her six years later. I was raised to the title of a duke at a very young age and had the help of my father’s steward, Mr. Shelton, who resides in London most of the year to look after the estate’s interests there.” He paused and then squeezed her hand.
“I knew your father, Harriet, though only briefly. He trained me and Thomas one summer when I was just out of university. I liked him very much. I didn’t meet your mother, and I am sorry for that.” His melancholy smile softened. “If I had continued to work with him, I might have met you. Perhaps I am a villain.” He said this last more quietly to himself.
“Why?” She didn’t understand.
He looked to her now with a mix of determination and uncertainty. “Because I want you, Harriet. I want things I have no right to have.”
She wet her lips with her tongue, afraid and excited all at once. She understood what he meant, but her only experience with desire had been her stepfather’s predatory gazes. Redmond was nothing like George, and her body seemed to recognize that.
“That makes you human, Red. We all…want things.” Her eyes focused on his lips. For all of his hardness and intimidation that night they first met, his lips had remained soft, inviting, even mocking at times, but their sensual promise had never left them.
“I have a tenuous grip on my lust, Harriet. But I could manage one kiss, if you have no objections.”
She didn’t have a single one. She leaned closer to him as he cupped the back of her neck and lowered his head to hers. She surrendered to the dangerous promise of life-altering passion he carried with him wherever he went. The desire inside her grew so strong it almost felt like a fury.
Heat uncurled in her abdomen, and she moaned as he parted her lips and his tongue flicked against hers. She hadn’t known a kiss could be like this. She felt as though she could leap from the cliffs of Dover, spread her arms, and find white feathered wings that would carry her away upon the winds.
Redmond placed his other hand on her leg, raising her skirts above her knees. She whimpered as he met the bare skin of her inner thighs and tickled her with gentle, exploring fingers. Heat built within her womb, and wetness pooled between her thighs. He deepened the kiss, leaning more over her, and she leaned back in her chair as he continued to touch her.
“I want to devour you,” he breathed against her lips. She didn’t fully understand his intentions until he pulled her up to her feet and set her on top of the dining room table. The two footmen in the corner of the room scurried out into the hallway and closed the door behind them.
“Red, what are you?”
He silenced her with another kiss. His hands roamed over her body, skimming over her hips. She wanted to feel his palms all over her, touching her in places that seemed to awaken with newly found desires. Harriet sighed against his lips as he held her close, capturing her as he wound his arms around her back, yet she didn’t want to be anywhere else in that moment.
“I want you, Harriet. I want to drown in your eyes,” he murmured between slow, drugging kisses that made her body sing.
She clutched at his shoulders, feeling his strong, hard muscles beneath her hands. “I want…you too.” The heat of his body seeped through the fabric of his shirt.
“Then trust…trust me to give you what you need.”
She nodded, and he stole another lingering kiss. Then he lifted her skirts up to her waist, before he lowered her back to lie on the table. Then he bent over her prone body. The wine she’d had with dinner made her dizzy in a good way as he pressed a kiss to her inner thigh and then set his mouth over the most sensitive part of her. If she hadn’t been so full of need for his touch, she would have been shocked at the scandalous position they now found themselves in, but she couldn’t find it in her to care. She never wanted him to stop what he was doing.
Anticipation pulsed through her as she watched the wicked duke do exactly as he’d promised—give her what she needed. His tongue flitted out against her sensitive folds, and she gasped and moaned and writhed. She closed her eyes and gave over to the sensations of Redmond’s mouth on her. His tongue and lips kept her his sweet prisoner as he tortured her.
A building need that she’d never experienced before sent her breath into fast pants, and her vision spiraled. His lips found the small bud of desire within her and sucked on it. She screamed. Pleasure like she’d never felt, frightening and dizzy, hit her like lightning, and her back arched beneath him. His soft laughter cooled her hot flesh as he teased her with his mouth, and then he stroked his hands down her outer thighs and pulled her dress back down. She lay still on her back, panting and trying to understand what had just happened.
“If you”—she breathed hard—“are a villain for that, I may well play your victim anytime you desire.”
He laughed and helped her to sit up. She suddenly felt very shy, open, and vulnerable after experiencing such violent pleasure, but he did not give her time to be nervous. He scooped her up in his arms, and they left the dining room. She curled her arms around his neck, taking in his rich scent. She bit her lip to hide a smile at feeling so protected by a man who’d just devoured her in one scandalous moment. He carried her up the stairs to the library, where they settled into an overlarge chair by a healthy crackling fire. He kept her close to him, and she tucked her head beneath his chin as they listened to the logs pop and snap in the hearth.
“You are very brave.” He kissed the crown of her hair. “Very brave indeed.”
Part of her was still reeling from the pleasure she’d felt in the dining room, but she wanted to speak honestly with him, this man who was in so many ways still a stranger.
“And you are wonderful, Red. Wonderful.” She wished he could understand that he had given her a precious gift tonight.
He had stripped away her fear of desire. He had shown her that such intimacy could feel good, could feel safe and yet exciting. It wasn’t always frightening, wasn’t always fierce looks and greedy hands in the dark. She had the sudden desire to tell him that she wanted to stay here forever, to never sail to Calais, but she couldn’t…not unless he asked her to. So instead she breathed and relaxed into him until she fell asleep in the arms of the Devil of Dover.
7
“Harriet…” That ethereal voice drew her from sleep again. She opened her eyes and saw lightning flash against the windowpanes. The lamp on the side table burned low, illuminating the pearl-adorned curtains. She was in the Pearl Room, wearing a sheer nightgown of fine silk.
How had she gotten here? Why was she alone? Hadn’t she fallen asleep in Redmond’s arms in the library? Disappointment settled in a pit in her stomach. She had hoped that Redmond would have stayed with her after what transpired between them.
“Harriet…” The mournful call of her name lifted the hairs on the back of her neck.
“Who’s there?” she asked, her body shaking as lightning flashed once more and thunder crashed against the manor house, making the bed frame rumble around her.
The pearls winked and sparkled like frozen drops of dew on the black velvet. She blinked, wiping her face with her hands.
Then she saw it. Saw him.
A man in the corner was watching her. He was beautiful, but the sight of him filled her heart with such anguish she never wanted to leave. He raised a hand as though to touch her, even though he was across the room.
Harriet couldn’t breathe. She clawed at her throat, and the beautiful man, now wreathed in shadows, looked on, watching with sorrowful concern. She reached her hand toward him, gasping for breath.
Then she wasn’t in the Pearl Room anymore. She was in another bedchamber. One with more masculine furniture, but it wasn’t Redmond’s room.
A woman appeared before her, wearing a dressing gown and shawl. She stood facing the man who’d been in her room.
“Do you think he meant it, Thomas?”
She recognized him now. Thomas, Redmond’s brother. Harriet watched the man embrace the woman. Love was evident upon their faces. A pure, honest love that made Harriet’s heart ache.
“He meant it. Red loves me, and he would do anything for me.” Thomas cupped the woman’s face in his hands. “But I’ve hurt him, Millicent. We have hurt him. What we did, what we’re doing, is wrong.”
“I know, but he agreed to seek an annulment. The scandal will be terrible, but isn’t it better to be together? We can face anything.” Millicent curled her arms around Thomas’s neck, and he stroked her dark hair, cradling her against him.
“I want you,” he said to Millicent. “But I cannot lose my brother. He’s been like a father to me ever since ours died. I cannot leave him alone after this. Let me speak to him again.” Thomas cupped her face and kissed her passionately before leaving the bedchamber.
Harriet, invisible to them as if she were the ghost, was drawn by unseen forces behind Thomas down the corridor to another room. Redmond’s room.
“Red?” Thomas eased the door open when no one answered his knock. “Red, please, I need to speak with you.” The bedchamber was empty. Thomas quietly slipped down the main stairs and headed toward Redmond’s study, but he froze when a cold draft caught his attention. He moved into the main hall, where he caught sight of the open front door. The lightning outside revealed a tall, distant figure. It was Redmond, and he was walking in the direction of the cliffs.
“Millicent! Wake Mr. Grindle and Mrs. Breland. Red’s headed for the cliffs!” he shouted back up the stairs, hoping Millicent would hear him.
“What?” Millicent appeared at the top of the stairs. “Oh heavens, I’ll wake them at once!” She vanished from sight. Harriet, still bound up in this infernal dream, followed close at Thomas’s heels as he raced across the rain-soaked grounds toward the distant cliffs.
“Red!” Thomas shouted as he raced through the violent rainstorm.
“Stop him!” Millicent’s cry joined his as Redmond took a decisive step over the edge.
Thomas grabbed Redmond’s shirt from behind and pulled him back away from the cliff, stopping him from plummeting to his death.
“Red, what the devil are you thinking?” Thomas demanded, shaking his brother hard.
“Redmond… Don’t ever do that again, please.” Millicent touched his cheek as she started to cry.
A moment later, the ground beneath their feet shook and crumbled away. Millicent vanished from sight. Thomas and Redmond fell onto the ground, narrowly avoiding her fate.
“Millicent!” Thomas lunged for the edge, but Redmond dragged him back.
“No, you can’t.” Redmond pinned him to the ground. “She’s gone.”
Suddenly Harriet was drawn into Thomas’s head, seeing and feeling what he felt.
Thomas’s heart stopped at the words. Time ceased to have meaning. Just moments ago—a lifetime ago—he had believed he would be with her forever, And he had believed that he would find a way to win back Red’s trust. And now…the love of his life was dead.
Thomas stared at his brother, wanting to hate him for coming out here. Millicent would still be alive if not for him. But the rage faded as misery overwhelmed it. Red had only come out here to die because of what Thomas and Millicent had done to him.
“I’m sorry,” Red murmured. “I’m so sorry.”
But Thomas was the sorry one. His gaze turned to the sea, to the battering waves. There was no more light in his world, no more purpose. All had gone dark.
Harriet woke to the sound of a man shouting her name. She blinked, wiped her wet face, and gasped. She saw that she was but a dozen feet away from the cliffs. Icy wind tore at her body, and fresh snow burned her bare feet. How had she gotten out here? Had she followed a phantom to her own doom?
“Harriet!” Redmond’s shout startled her. He grabbed her, jerking her into the safety of his arms. He half carried her nearly twenty feet until they were a safe distance from the cliffs. Harriet couldn’t stop shaking from the fear and the cold.
“What in blazes were you doing? You could have died!” Redmond growled as he scooped her up in his arms, carrying her freezing form back to the house. Grindle and Timothy met them at the door.
“Have a bath prepared in my chambers at once. And a tray of food and wine.”
“Of course, Your Grace.” Grindle and Timothy left the pair alone.
“I can walk,” Harriet whispered in mortification.
“I’m sure you can, but if it’s all the same, I’ll feel better keeping you in my arms.” Redmond carried her back to his room, and only then did he settle her down in a chair by the fire. She shivered as he covered her with a heavy blanket, then added more logs to the flames. She sensed the tension building inside him.
“What happened, Harriet?” he asked.
She covered her face with her hands. “I… I’m not sure if you would believe me.” Only when he gently pried her hands away did she meet his gaze. She wanted to curl up and hug her knees like a small child might, but she couldn’t escape the question in his searching face.
“Please, Harriet. Tell me. What drove you to want to take your own life?”
“I didn’t—” she protested, then drew in a calming breath. “I didn’t mean to. I was asleep in my bed, and then I awoke. I heard someone say my name.”
“Maisie must have—”
“No,” she said, cutting him off. “It wasn’t Maisie. The first time… It was her. The duchess. She stood behind this very chair and pointed at you while you slept last night. I thought it was merely a strange and fantastical dream, but tonight… He came.”
Redmond curled his hands around hers as he continued to kneel in front of her. He didn’t say anything, but she could see in his eyes that he knew who she meant.
“I woke tonight to find your brother standing in the corner of my room. He terrified me. Suddenly I couldn’t breathe, and then I was in his room with the duchess. They were talking about you.” She paused, trying to ascertain whether she ought to continue or if it would pain him too much to hear.
“Go on.” His face had gone from concerned to still and somber, like a statue.
“They were speaking about how you had found them together. They spoke of a divorce by annulment. Thomas said he’d hurt you and hoped somehow to make amends. He was so upset, Red. I wish you could have seen his face.” She couldn’t forget Thomas’s brokenhearted look.
“I found them in his room that night,” Redmond whispered, almost to himself. “I offered Millicent a divorce…and told them I never wished to see them again.”
Harriet pulled one of her hands free to touch his face and stroke his hair. The firelight made it look dark and warm as brandy, and the strands were soft and wet beneath her fingertips.
“Thomas went after you to talk and found you on the cliffs.”
Redmond nodded and closed his eyes. “I wished to end my life.”
“But he stopped you, and Millicent was there. I saw her fall.”
His eyes flew open. “How could you have seen all this?”
“I don’t know. But he was there, Red, your brother. I think…”
He shook his head. “Don’t say it.”
“They’re both still here.” Harriet leaned forward and kissed his forehead, and he dropped his head into her lap, heaving out a deep, shaking breath.
“They cannot be here,” he muttered. “Have I not suffered enough without them haunting me?”
“I don’t believe in ghosts,” Harriet said, “but I must believe what I saw. How else would I know what happened here?”
“Someone could have told you. Mrs. Breland, perhaps.”
“You know full well she would not break your trust like that.” She gave a gentle tug on his hair, and he lifted his face. For a moment they stared at one another, and she tried to puzzle out the mysteries of this grief-stricken man. He’d been frantic for her, and the wild
panic was still there, shadowing his warm hazel eyes. She brushed her hands through his hair, soothing him as best she could, and oddly it calmed her too.
“You should try to sleep, Red.” She was worried more about him than herself. Weariness lined his eyes and mouth.
He shook his head. “Not until you’re warm and fed.”
Later, Harriet emerged from the hot water of the tub and cocooned herself in a dressing gown. She joined Red, and they ate in silence. His face was dark and unreadable as he drank his wine and she hers.
“I should return to my chambers.” She rose from her chair, but he caught her arm.
“Wait. Stay here… With me. In my bed.” There was no hint of seduction in his eyes. She saw only the raw need to keep her close. She felt the same way.
“Red, I don’t think—”
“Please. I will only worry about you if I don’t have you in my arms.”
Harriet didn’t like the idea that she was being seen as an object of pity, but he did want her in his arms, and she readily admitted that she wanted that as well.
He added more logs to the fireplace while she pulled back the covers of his bed. She climbed in, and he settled beside her. Harriet shivered as she realized she was almost naked. He had but to remove the robe she wore…
Redmond brushed her cheek with the back of his hand and touched her shoulder where the robe slid down a few inches to expose it. His eyes gleamed in the dim light, and Harriet wanted nothing more than a moment to forget her fear, to feel safe in his arms, but she also wanted him.
She reached up to part her robe and rolled onto her back. He gazed down at her, at first confused, then surprised, and then, at last, desire glowed in his face, making him beautiful to her.
She curled her hand around his neck and drew his face down to hers. “Please, Red.” She didn’t need to say anything else. Her mouth met his hungrily. After a moment he moved his mouth down her body, kissing her collarbone, her breasts, his teeth scraping against sensitive skin and nipping until she was hot and flushed. His hands roamed her body, exploring her hips and thighs. She arched and hissed as he slid a finger into her wet folds, but soon she was rocking against his hand.