A Heart of a Duke Regency Collection : Volume 2--A Regency Bundle

by Christi Caldwell

Mother and daughter locked stares and some unspoken, powerful communication passed between them. Then with a sigh, Marcia dropped an elbow onto the table and buried her head into it. His mind traveled the path of time back to a younger Eleanor and he locked in a fencing match with invisible swords. She, becoming tangled in her satin skirts and landing in an ignoble heap upon the floor. He coming over her… The stem of his wine glass snapped and a servant rushed forward to relieve him of the burden and right the mess.

  And not for the first time since he’d found Eleanor and that silly dog on the street, he damned her for returning and throwing his world into tumult. Just then, with every fiber of his being, he hated her for the pain she’d wrought. Never again would he yield that control to any woman.

  The duchess called Marcia’s attention back and the remainder of the meal continued with no further exchange between him and Eleanor. For all intents and purposes, they may as well have been strangers, and as the meal concluded and Marcia was escorted abovestairs by her nursemaid, he briefly entertained the idea of making his excuses. He squared his jaw and stole a sideways glance at Eleanor. He’d not be the hurt and wounded pup, driven off.

  And so, escorting his hostess and her small smattering of guests to the parlor, he took an unholy delight in the way Eleanor cast a glance back over her shoulder at him. She troubled the flesh of her lower lip as she’d done whenever she was worried or contemplative and then swiftly diverted her attention forward. That slight nuance so patently hers, that only he knew—

  Pain lanced through him as they moved down the hall. For that wasn’t true any longer. Another had known her and known her in ways Marcus hadn’t, nor ever would.

  “When did you become so serious?” The duchess charged as they turned down the corridor and continued on toward the hall.

  “I’ve always been serious,” he said with a too-charming smile.

  The older woman rapped him on the arm with her fan. “And you’ve become a liar. I’m old, Marcus, I’m not blind. I read the papers. You’ve become a rogue in your old age.” She waggled her thick eyebrows. “Though I’ve read Lady Marianne Hamilton has snared your notice. I expected better for you,” she scolded.

  Eleanor shot a quick peak over her shoulder. Their gazes collided and she hastily looked away, but not before he saw the spark of pain that lit in her fathomless blue eyes.

  “Hmm?” The Duchess went on, demanding his attention. “Will you marry that one? Surely, as your godmother, I’m deserving of that information from more than the gossip columns.”

  In front of them, Eleanor stumbled and then quickly righted herself.

  “What’s the matter with you, gel?” her aunt snapped.

  “I merely tripped,” Eleanor said hurriedly, not deigning to glance back. The tension in her slender shoulders, however, hinted at the lady’s discontent. Did she care that he’d turned his attention on other women, finding, if not love, then a physical surcease with another? And why did he want that to matter?

  “And she’s a horrid liar, that one,” The Duchess said in a hushed whisper he strained to hear.

  “Oh?”

  The older duchess snorted. “I don’t intend to say anything else on it. You want to know about the girl, you ask her yourself.” He blinked several times. She lowered her eyebrows. “And I won’t be swayed by a charmer such as you. Ah, here we are,” she said, as they entered the room, filing in behind Eleanor and his sister and mother.

  As the ladies stood conversing, he studied Eleanor. The words exchanged lost in the distance between them. Periodically, Eleanor nodded and smiled. She should have been his. This should be a close gathering of those linked by familial connections. Instead, there was nothing but cool disdain, icy barbs, and insolent my lords and madams between them.

  He tightened his mouth. All these years, he’d sought to bury the hurt caused by Eleanor’s defection. With her reemergence in his life, she’d pulled the carpet of control out from under his feet. He’d never forgotten her. He’d never moved on.

  And he hated her for opening his eyes to that realization.

  The Duchess of Devonshire stomped her cane on the floor. “You, Lizzie, play for us.” With that terse command, she slid into a pale pink armchair and his mother sat in the chair opposite. Ever obedient, his sister dropped a curtsy and rushed over to the pianoforte. She claimed a seat and began to promptly play.

  Eleanor, however, hovered and he strode over, extending his elbow. “Would you stroll with me about the room, Eleanor?” he issued the challenge, partially believing she’d deny his request, yet wholly wanting her to put her fingertips upon his sleeve.

  “He doesn’t bite, gel,” the duchess snapped over Lizzie’s playing. At the unexpected interruption, his sister, usually flawless upon the instrument, fumbled the keys and then immediately regained her footing.

  Eleanor jumped and then hastily tucked her fingers into the crook of his elbow and allowed him to escort her to the perimeter of the expansive parlor. All the while, Lizzie’s haunting playing of Dibdin’s Tom Bowling echoed throughout the cavernous space.

  “Did you not wish to join me, love?”

  She eyed him with a wariness he’d not believed her capable of. “What do you want, Marcus?”

  You. The word rushed forth, born of truth. For all that had come to pass, he desired her still and he would not be content until he had known her in his arms. It spoke to his own weakness and her allure. “What do I want?” He wrapped those words in a seductive whisper that brought her lips apart. His gaze lingered on her mouth. “How can you not know?” Eleanor’s breath hitched loudly and he reveled in that slight audible intake that spoke of her awareness of him. “I want you to accompany me about the room.”

  She looked at him with the same crestfallen expression of a child who’d had her peppermints plucked from her fingers. “Oh.”

  “The woman I remembered enjoyed those stolen moments alone together.” How many words of love had he whispered in her ear as they’d strolled about this very space?

  What a fickle creature she’d proven herself to be.

  “Girl.”

  Marcus cocked his head.

  “I was a girl, Marcus. I was not a woman.”

  Under the weight of that reminder, he took in her flared hips, her fuller breasts, straining the fabric of her gown. Yes, she was a woman, and for her betrayal, he wanted her still. Desire raged inside him; a hungering to know Eleanor in the only way he never had.

  And why shouldn’t I? She is a widow. I’m no longer the infatuated boy. There were no dangers in them sharing the pleasure of each other’s bodies. Perhaps after he’d taken her to his bed, then he could be free of this maddening sway she’d always had over him.

  Marcus shifted, angling his body in such a way that Eleanor was shielded from the small party conversing at the opposite end of the room. That subtle movement brought their bodies close. Tension dripped from her slender frame. “And we are both adults now, aren’t we?” he whispered close to her ear. “There are no rules of propriety.” As adults not bound by the same strictures of Society, they could avail each other of the pleasure of one another’s arms.

  Eleanor’s breath caught. “Are you attempting to seduce me?”

  “Would you like that, Eleanor?” he asked softly. He brushed his hand over her fingers and she gasped. Her lids fluttered wildly and a surge of masculine triumph gripped him. She may have wed another, but she desired him, still. “I have missed your kiss, Eleanor.” He reveled in her flushed cheeks, her quickened breath and damned the audience that prevented him from taking her in his arms and showing her just how much. “And I would wager you’ve missed my kiss, as well.”

  Her lids fluttered open and she passed stricken eyes over his face. Swiftly withdrawing her hand free of his sleeve, Eleanor stumbled away from him. Shocked hurt replaced her earlier desire and that hot emotion danced in the silver flecks of her blue eyes. “I have no interest in being seduced by you.” Was it anger or desire that caused her vo
ice to quiver so? “And you, my lord, are in the market for a wife. Are you not?”

  “Ah,” he discreetly captured the golden curl that had sprung loose of her chignon, relishing the satiny softness of that tress. He’d not tell her that supposition was based on gossip fueled by two nonconsecutive dances and his own mother’s machinations. “But I am not yet married and neither are you.” But she had been. The faceless paragon she’d wed danced around the edge of his musings and resentment trickled to the surface. He tamped it down, forcing his lips up in a half-grin and released the lock. “Never tell me you’re interested in that role this time?”

  It was the absolute wrong thing to say. That is, as far as seductions went.

  Eleanor stood there, her chest heaving. If looks could burn, she’d have reduced him to a charred pile of ash at her feet.

  From across the room his sister concluded playing her piece.

  “Eleanor, girl, come along and regale us with a song,” the duchess called out.

  Eleanor jerked her head toward the ladies assembled at the opposite end of the parlor. She squared her shoulders. “If you will excuse me, Aunt Dorothea? I promised Marcia I would read to her.” She made her polite goodbyes to his family and before the duchess could respond, Eleanor dropped a stiff curtsy, snatched her skirts away from Marcus, and fled. She paused in the doorway and cast a befuddled glance in his direction.

  He winged an eyebrow upward and that slight movement propelled her forward.

  The lady gone, Marcus gave his head a wry shake. These were sorry days indeed, when a young woman reacted so to his attempts at seduction. His smile slowly widened. Except, the blush on her cheeks and rapid breaths bespoke her desire. He was not through with his seduction of Eleanor Collins.

  No, he’d only just begun.

  Chapter 7

  That night, with quiet echoing through the duchess’ townhouse, Eleanor sat perched on the edge of her bed. The moon’s glow penetrated the break in the curtains and cast a silvery white light upon the hardwood floor.

  He attempted to seduce me.

  Well, not quite, as they’d been in the presence of company. But Marcus’ husky words and thickly veiled eyes had spoken to his intentions for her. With a sigh, she withdrew her unneeded spectacles and tossed them onto the nearby night table. By the pages she’d read of him in the gossip columns—sought after, whispered about rogue—it should really come as no surprise.

  And yet, for all her indignation and shock, standing with their bodies nearly flush, his breath tickling her skin, there had been something else…something more…

  A gentle spiraling heat began in her belly that harkened back to the times she’d spent in Marcus’ arms. After years loathing the thought of any man’s touch, with but the brush of Marcus’ hand and nearness of his body, he’d awakened her to the truth—she still felt. For him. It had only ever been him. As she’d stood there in her aunt’s parlor, with the haunting strains of Dibdin echoing throughout the room, her heart had tripped a beat with the desire to know the promise of passion; when she’d long ago given up any thought of ever knowing, ever wanting to know anything in a man’s arms. How could she when the nightmares still came and her flesh still burned from the shame of the attack?

  She slid her eyes closed a moment. For in this instant, she did not think of her attacker or the terror in being used for a man’s pleasure. She thought of the tantalizing promise Marcus had dangled that had not elicited fear or shame. There had been something so very heady, something invigorating in wanting to know the promises Marcus hinted at.

  He would be a gentle lover. For the passion in his fathomless blue eyes, she’d no doubt that he would stroke her with the same tenderness he’d once shown.

  Eleanor jumped up and the cool of the hardwood floor penetrated her feet. She began to pace. When she’d received her aunt’s summons, calling her and Marcia to London, she’d wanted to ball it up and burn it. For London represented nothing more than the pain of loss: of a once pure love, a shattered innocence, and all the dreams she’d carried that would never come to be. When desperation drove Eleanor to accept the post of companion, she’d deliberately not allowed herself to think of Marcus.

  After all, lords like Marcus did not pine for young ladies of their youth. No, those bored noblemen who took their pleasures where they would, lived for their own enjoyment. That wasn’t the man he’d been, but by the gossip columns she’d carefully snipped from copies of The Times, it was the man he’d become.

  She’d not truly allowed herself to think of Marcus beyond the agonizing thought of what might have been. As such, she’d never once considered a man such as he would set out to seduce a bespectacled widow, attired in hideous brown skirts.

  Eleanor stopped midstride and the midnight quiet echoed around her. And though there was a triumph in her body’s response to him…there was an excruciating pain at his interest, as well.

  For she didn’t want him to be one of those indolent lords. She wanted to have arrived in London and found the gossips proven wrong; to see him as a man driven by more than the pleasures of the flesh.

  As though in mockery of that foolish wish, her gaze snagged upon the ormolu clock atop her fireplace mantel. Ten minutes past twelve.

  At fifteen past the hour, I will always be there. And we shall always know where we two are.

  Her throat worked painfully with the force of her swallow. Twelve fifteen had always been their hour; the special time reserved for them. Regardless of ball or soiree or a quiet, eventless evening, midnight in the gardens belonged to them. And he’d always been there. She captured her lower lip between her teeth so hard the metallic hint of blood flooded her senses. Except once. Once he had not come and from that, their precious hour had been stolen forevermore.

  …Were you waiting for me, sweet…?

  Her body jerked, as the taunting maniacal laugh worked about her brain. With a small moan, Eleanor dug the heels of her palms into her eyes in a desperate bid to shake free of his memory.

  She’d not allow him that hold. Not tonight.

  Turning on her heel, she marched over, and grabbed her spectacles. Eleanor placed them on, and then collected her modest night rail from the vanity chair. She shrugged into the white garment and then strode to the door. Pulling it open, she peeked out into the hall.

  The lit sconces cast an eerie glow upon the thin, crimson carpet lining the corridor. Eleanor hesitated and then stepped outside the same rooms she’d occupied as a girl of eighteen. Drawing the door closed behind her, she made her way through the hauntingly quiet halls. The floorboards creaked and groaned in protest to her footsteps, and she quickened her stride. Eleanor came to a stop at the servant’s entrance and, glancing about once more, she slipped into the narrow stairway. Grasping the rail, she felt her way down the stairs. Her ragged breaths filled the small space, and when she reached the base of the stairs, she sprinted down the corridor.

  For the familiarity of this place, she may as well have been a girl of eighteen, once again. Eleanor skidded to a halt beside the arched oak door and with trembling fingers, pressed the handle and stepped outside.

  Of course, time had proven that when the dark demon of her past stole into her thoughts, she could not so easily shake free of his hold. This moment was no exception.

  The fragrant scent of roses slapped at her senses sucking her back to a different midnight hour. Her feet twitched with the urge to flee the walled-in grounds and keep running—away from this area, away from this townhouse, away from her past.

  Eleanor willed her heart to resume its normal cadence.

  You are not the same weak girl you once were, Eleanor Carlyle. She clenched and unclenched her jaw. She’d not allow him his hold to stretch here to these grounds. Not in these gardens that belonged to her and, at one time, Marcus. With trembling fingers, Eleanor yanked the door closed hard behind her. A cold chill raked along her spine, raising gooseflesh on her arms. In a bid for warmth, she scrubbed her hands back and forth over the
chilled flesh and looked about. Do not think of it. Do not think of that nameless stranger… She willed herself to think of Marcus, instead. His gentle teasing and the lock of hair he’d snipped in these very gardens and her first kiss and…

  Another mouth, a foreign one, forced its way into those beautiful musings.

  With a shuddery gasp, Eleanor leaned against the wood and found makeshift support from the hard surface. She closed her eyes as the memories slid in like insidious poison of a different garden, on another moonlight night. A jeering laugh echoed around the chambers of her mind and her breath grew ragged, dulling the night sounds.

  Enough!

  Drawing in a deep, calming breath, she counted to three and forced her eyes open.

  Demons laid to rest, she took in the darkened garden with a now clear gaze. The soft, sweet smell of freesia and chrysanthemums blended, mixing with the stale London air. How very similar this space was all these years later. Why, the hands of time may as well have frozen a moment from long ago and held it suspended forever in this private Eden.

  She looked at the high brick walls built about the enclosure. The blood red stones kept the ugliness of London outside and, through that, crafted a façade of purity. Eleanor skimmed her gaze about sadly.

  A hungering to abandon London once more and return to the obscurity of the Cornwall countryside gripped her. For then, she’d not have to relive the worst parts of her life or the deepest parts of her regret. She’d not have to muddle through Marcus’ tempting promises and agonize over the bride he’d soon take.

  Soon. She smoothed her palm over her nightgown. Soon, she would return with Marcia and then she could relegate this brief period of her life where other broken dreams went to die.

  The lady hadn’t been immune to him.

  For the flare of indignation and shock in Eleanor’s eyes earlier that evening, the blooming blush on her cheeks and the shuddery gasp she’d emitted spoke of a woman who desired him still.

  With a glass of whiskey in hand, Marcus made his way through the empty corridors of his townhouse. The gold sconces lining the wall were lit intermittently, casting a shadowy glow off the satin wallpaper.