"And what was private in your house should have stayed that way. I have to say, we’ve bought quite a few more mirrors and some really interesting art work since you were kind enough to have us as your guests. So I do apologise, and have a lot to thank you for. Your lessons to my wife have come in most useful."
"Thank my mother. She’s the teacher of the family, not me."
"So no more discussion of personal matters. In terms of being a Radical, you’re certainly in good company here. This is the best place for you to settle down with your wife, with all of your friends and family beside you. India’s loss is indeed our gain. Call around at the Castle one day this week, and we’ll talk about all that you’ll need for the fever hospital and the village sanitation schemes."
Ash bowed stiffly. "Thank you, Your Grace."
The Duke put his hand on his shoulder. "Thomas, the name is Thomas, young Ash. And I never want you to bow to me again. In fact, I am happy to bow to you, for you truly are the better man. The best of us all. Don’t let anyone ever tell you differently or try to change you."
Ash gave a small smile, and bowed more graciously. "Yes, Your Grace, thank you."
"Thank you," Ellen said, hugging her husband and her friends in turn.
Philip and Jasmine came up to wish them well a short time later. "I know you’ve said you’re not going to India after all, but I just want to make sure—"
"We won’t go. But neither can we stay if all the gossip damages my status here. I need to be a doctor. It’s too much a part of me for me to do anything else."
"Lawrence Howard had actually already given me an endowment for you for the hospital," Philip said, smiling. "Some of the profits from his Indian trade, actually. Come round and see me in the morning. The funds are not quite free and clear yet, and there will be taxes to be paid on the income, but it will be more than enough to make all your dreams come true. And more for an orphanage besides."
Ash couldn’t believe his ears, and hugged Philip and his wife Jasmine. "Really?"
"Truly. I know you have an impressive fortune in your own right, and would probably spend your last penny to make this come about, but Lawrence and his wife are most grateful for all your help and—"
"Where are they? Why are they not—"
"Juliet safely had her baby this morning."
Ellen and Ash both smiled and said at the same time, "Wonderful news! The best."
They all embraced and drank a toast to the newest little Rakehell, and the ball got underway once more.
But one final dance was all they could withstand before Ash felt the need to be alone with Ellen and put the whole incident out of their minds at last. He waltzed her to the edge of the floor, and then gripped her hand hard to make a dash for the French windows.
Once outside, she picked up the skirts of her sari high over her knees, and ran for their carriage with breathless eagerness, and then melted into his arms on the seat as they headed for home.
Chapter Thirty-eight
"I nearly fainted right on the spot, darling," Ellen said with a bright smile for Ash in the mirror as he undressed her in the bathroom while the tub filled.
"But I’m so glad you did it. No one else could have carried it off with such marvelous eclat . I find my love for you grows every day in direct proportion to the remarkable things I discover about you every moment we’re together. Not to mention the fact that my life is always fun with you, and most assuredly never dull."
"Delighted to hear it. I’m glad it’s all out in the open now, and over and done with at last."
"Do you really think we’re rid of the odious Bridges?" she asked, her eyes shining with hope.
He stroked his lightly bristled cheek down each side of her neck, reminding her of a huge panther purring. His hands came up around her breasts, and his hot sex massaged the small of her back most alluringly.
"He can’t harm us at all now. He knows he’s lost the game. He’ll take himself off elsewhere, trying find another victim to torment. But hopefully this time he won’t succeed. It won’t be so easy now with his reputation as a liar and blackmailer and rapiner of women preceding him."
"You were right all along," she sighed, luxuriating in the contact with his warm muscular body. "I’m sorry. I should have stood up to him sooner instead of hiding in the shadows. It’s where the filth of his kind are most liable to lurk, isn’t it."
"It is. And just so we are perfectly clear, darling, one last word about you and your body. I know we’re married, but if you ever wish to say no to me for any reason, you need to know that I shall respect that. Just because you've given yourself to me generously in the past does not mean I have a right to demand my conjugal rights, or force you in any way, Ellen. If you're not in the mood or are afraid of pregnancy or—"
She turned to plant a kiss upon his finely hewn chin. "I know you would never hurt me. In fact, you’re far too diffident sometimes, waiting for me to come to you. A girl likes to be swept off her feet now and again. I just want you to know how much I revere and respect you. But if you’d like to alternate between which of us sweeps the other one, I’m more than content to let my true feelings burst forth."
He stroked her hair, and then began to unbind it from its ornamental pins. "So long as you know you always have a choice. We’ve just scratched the surface in our marriage, you know. There’s so much more to explore. But if I ever do anything that make you frightened or even just worried—"
She shook her head and laughed. "Only about my sanity, or occasionally yours. I mean, what on earth sort of position was that last night?"
"Which one?" he asked dryly. "I seem to recall several which had you giggling or astonished. Not to mention our snake charming."
She laughed again. "Oh, never mind. Bath and meditation, and then to bed."
He cleared his throat and released her. "If you don’t mind, I think I might want a quick bath and no meditation. All in the interests of sweeping you off your feet and into my bed of course."
"All right. In that case I had better keep a very firm hold on the soap. Unless course you just want to make love in the tub."
"Another time, dearest," he said, shutting off the water and holding her hand to help her in.
He scrubbed her back and fondled her gently, with fleeting caresses which inflamed her but did not wrench the usual scorching orgasmic response from deep inside her.
She wondered at his holding back, his almost pensive mood. He had said he was going to sweep her off her feet. She grew almost nervous at the prospect of what he had in store for her when they got into their bower of bliss.
He dried her off tenderly and lifted her into his arms. He carried her past the boudoir into their regular bedroom and laid her down gently on the huge four-poster bed.
He got in beside her, gave her a warm kiss on the lips, and curled his huge body around her. He planted his head between her breasts, resting his head upon her heart. He listened to the steady beat, the rhythm of her breathing. He tuned in to his senses to listen to his own heart too.
"Can you hear it, my love?"
She almost asked Ash what he sensed, but then Ellen discerned it herself. Two hearts beating as one. Two breaths mingling.
He planted his hand upon her smooth flat belly. "And one day soon, my essence and yours merged and made into one flesh, the product of our eternal love."
"Yes, one day."
"Not yet?"
"Well, now that you mention it, I do believe I’m late for the first time ever," she admitted with a wondrous smile.
He grinned back in delight. "It’s all here, then. Everything we ever wanted and hoped for."
"Are you sorry to not be going back to India after all?" she asked softly.
"We can always go in the future. For now I agree with you. There are always so many to help. We don’t have to suffer or deprive ourselves by giving up the people and places we love. So long as you know that I have all I need right here." He squeezed her and nuzzled his head against her
breast.
She stroked her hand down his back, feeling the sensuous curve of his spine, the broad but delicate nape of his neck. Her other hand came up to rest upon his cheek. "For me too, darling. Thank you so much for tonight, and for making my life so complete."
"Thank you. If you hadn’t proposed marriage to me I don’t know where I would be now. Half way to India, I suspect."
She laughed shyly. "You’re never going to make me forget that, are you?"
Ash chuckled. "Indeed not, for I never shall. All of heaven was being offered to me on a platter. I had all to do not to pounce upon you and make love to you until neither of us could walk."
"You were very good at keeping your composure."
"Years of practice in maintaining my equanimity and holding back my zeniths, I’m afraid."
"I still haven’t mastered it," she sighed. "You just excite me so much."
"Well, practice does make perfect. But if you never do I shall be a heartily happy husband all the same. If not more so. I love it when you shudder in my arms intensely. I love knowing it’s because I’ve pleasured you so much you just can’t help it."
"Just like I adore it when I can slip under your control and surprise you."
"No control tonight, Ellen my love," he promised, nestling against her even more closely. "Let’s just lie here and let it happen. Sleep, cuddle, whatever you want or need, with no more struggling or vying or holding back."
"Mmm, lovely," she sighed as he took one nipple delicately into his mouth, his head heavy on her shoulder to listen to her heartbeat.
His hand spread her thighs enough to curve his fingers downwards over her mound, poising his long middle finger along her delicate bud of flesh so that the tip rested tantalizingly at the entrance to her fragrant warmth.
Ash breathed in deeply and exhaled with a long contented sigh. "Perfection."
"Like you. The model husband."
"It’s been easy, for you have truly been the perfect wife, my lovely Ellen."
She slipped her hand down to cup him with only the tiniest subtle pressure. He was massively aroused, but she made no move to propel them forward. She just relaxed and let herself and him go where they would as their bodies joined as one in that most mystical of physical and spiritual unions.
Feeling their breathing, the pulsing within her mind emptying it of anything other than the feel of him surrounding her as she surrounded him, Ellen understood it all at last. The miracle of their love.
Her whole body shimmered in the circle of his arms. She wept tears of joy as she could see Ash's whole mind and soul open before her at last. In the void left by her casting off her worldly cares, they achieved a complete and absolute oneness at last.
In the profound silence, she heard Ash’s heart speak to hers the words every woman dreams of hearing from the man she adores.
Surging upwards towards the most powerful climax she had ever experienced, awesome its blazing intensity, Ellen’s heart replied: I love you too, Ash. Forever.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
There is nothing more romantic than a wedding, and in this novel I wanted to give the book an added dimension by having a traditional Indian one.
I think many would agree that a sari is indeed a rather romantic garment. I am also sure many of us have wistfully thought about defying tradition and wearing red! (My wedding gown was actually blue, which was the fashion that year.)
There is also nothing more romantic than the honeymoon, which sets the tone for everything else which follows. Even if you're living together before you marry, having a honeymoon does make a difference.
And for those of you readers who still aspire to the ideal of waiting until you are married, the journey of exploration should be a joyous one.
Ashoka was one of the marvelous characters from earlier in the Rakehell Regency Romance series who continued to grow and develop into quite a handsome and sexy young man.
I wanted him to have a wife who could complete him in every way, and one who would not be overwhelmed by his personality. But nor would she try to repress his unconventionality.
Ellen seemed a likely if unusual choice. She had many hidden depth waiting to be explored. After her harrowing escape from the awful villain Adam Neville in Guardian of the Heart, I thought she and indeed the rest of the Jeromes remaining in the family deserved some happiness.
Thomas as villain of this novel was actually quite fun to write. His one fatal flaw where his wife Charlotte is concerned has always been his jealousy. Feeling intimidated by Ash causes him to behave with uncharacteristic rancor. Since he did help bring Eswara and Martin together, though, and will be taking the Paigntons under his wing, he can be forgiven for his errors in judgement.
Of course, Ellen’s sister Georgina is still a loose cannon: will she ever meet the man of her dreams? Does she even deserve to?
The Rakehells shall continue to provide a wonderful set of supporting and supportive characters within our charming little corner of Somerset. I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing Ash woo, win, and marry the woman who completes him in every way, who had been right under his nose all along.
I think we would all agree that Ellen certainly deserved to find a man who loves her body and soul after all she's been through.
We have a few more deserving characters who need to meet their matches. I hope you enjoyed seeing the Rakehells again in Regency London and Somerset as we followed the parallel story of Juliet and Lawrence Howard which we touched upon here, titled Experience. If you haven't already read it, no matter, as each Rakehell Regency Romance novel is intended to be a standalone.
The next novel Ruthless, is a wonderful suspense romance featuring barrister Alistair Grant, last seen in Ravished. Thomas, Randall and Philip will all be in fine form!
The Rakehell Regency Romance Series
Book 15
RUTHLESS
Sorcha MacMurrough
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SYNOPSIS
REVIEWS
COPYRIGHT
LIST OF CHARACTERS
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 32
CHAPTER 33
CHAPTER 34
CHAPTER 35
CHAPTER 36
CHAPTER 37
CHAPTER 38
CHAPTER 39
CHAPTER 40
CHAPTER 41
CHAPTER 42
CHAPTER 43
CHAPTER 44
AUTHOR'S NOTES
MORE TITLES BY AUTHOR
SYNOPSIS
Alistair Grant prides himself on being an incorruptible barrister who defends those who need it most, even if it means running afoul of the Tory Government. Suddenly he finds himself a criminal on the run, falsely accused of murdering his client in Newgate Prison.
The only witness to the crime is a handsome young man who gives him a lovely miniature of the most beautiful woman Alistair has ever seen, and sends him to The Three Bells tavern and brothel.
Viola Morrison, an impoverished gentlewoman, lives in a secret room in the brothel, hidden there by her brother Sebastian, who fears his dubious business associates would be even more of a danger to her than the ladies of the evening.
The Rakehell Regency Romance Series Boxed Set 5 Page 69