‘Whoever took that pot shot must have known we’d be here tonight, Anthony.’
‘It must have been an educated guess. Presumably he knew this ball would attract most of fashionable society.’
‘It wouldn’t have been hard to find out about the fireworks display; people have been talking about it for weeks. It must have suggested a good opportunity.’ She pulled her cloak closer around her. ‘It’s bad enough knowing that one has a deadly enemy, but an invisible enemy is worse.’
‘The hidden assassin is an effective tool.’
‘He’ll try again, won’t he?’
‘Almost certainly.’
She was glad he hadn’t tried to lie or to offer false reassurance. ‘This is connected with Paris, isn’t it?’
‘I’m sure of it. We may have escaped that particular net, but it’s a pound to a penny that Fouché’s henchmen have discovered our identities. Brussels isn’t safe any longer, Claudia.’
‘Will England be any better? If they know who we are they could find us just as easily there.’
‘By which you mean that you don’t want to leave.’
‘I cannot see any point in trying to run. Besides, I’m sure the answer to all this is here in Brussels.’
‘If courage were enough to defeat an enemy you’d be the certain victor,’ he replied. ‘But it isn’t enough, Claudia. We were lucky tonight, but no-one’s luck holds forever. I would not have you come to harm, my sweet.’
‘Nor I you.’
He hesitated. ‘Would it matter to you?’
‘Of course it would matter.’
That was the absolute truth and she knew it. This latest reprieve only fuelled the desire to make the most of what they had, because it was only when she was with him that she felt truly alive.
The sincerity of her tone caused his heart to perform a sudden erratic manoeuvre. He saw her lean closer and then felt her lips brush his. Gradually the light pressure became flirtatious and teasing, seeking his response. Desire kindled instantly. He felt her arms slide around him, drawing him closer. Heat flared in his groin. He tipped back in the crook of his arm and returned the embrace hungrily.
Her mouth opened beneath his, soft, yielding, provocative. The kiss became deeper and she returned it, her tongue teasing and flirting with his, tasting him, wanting more. His free hand brushed across her breast, stroking softly, then slid deeper into the décolletage of her gown and found the nipple, caressing it to hardness. She groaned softly as pleasure turned her blood to fire.
Chapter Seventeen
The drive was not long and they arrived home a few minutes later. Since the servants had been told not to wait up, he let them both in. Then, closing the door behind them, he seized hold of her and pushed her against it, pinning her there, his mouth slanting hard across hers, searing, demanding, his hands sliding down to her buttocks, cupping them, pulling her hips against his, letting her feel the growing hardness there.
In the back of her mind a small voice whispered of possible consequences. She knew she should heed it and knew she wasn’t going to. The voice was blocked out and all she could think of was the man in front of her. Letting go all restraint now, she responded with like hunger, sliding her arms around him, returning the kiss with abandon. One hand slid lower, stroking him gently. She heard the sharp indrawn breath that followed, and felt the jutting hardness stir beneath her fingers, anticipation building as she imagined its length inside her. She felt him lift her skirts and slide a hand along her thigh and thence into the cleft between her legs. The touch sent a jolt through the length of her body. Her breathing quickened; as he moved she caught the scent of cedar from his coat, and beneath it his own smell, warm and musky and erotic. The hand continued to stroke gently causing a flood of delicious sensations. Of its own volition her body quivered, responding to his touch like a finely tuned instrument.
He stepped away just long enough to pick her up and carry her to his bedchamber, heeling the door shut behind them. Then he resumed where they’d left off, his lips seeking hers and afterwards travelling lower to her throat and thence to the swell of her breasts above the neckline of her gown. Warm breath feathered against her skin. The touch caused a surge of warmth in her blood. Her fingers reached for the front of his breeches and unfastened them to close round the shaft beneath. She stroked gently, heard him catch his breath. His hands rode her waist as he guided her gently backwards until they reached the edge of the bed. Shrugging off his coat, he pushed her on to the coverlet and pulled her skirts up over her hips, before following her down. Thoroughly aroused now, she raised her knees to accommodate him, felt a shiver of excitement as he slid into her. Her fingers tore at his shirt, dragging the fabric aside, sliding the palms of her hands over the warm muscles in his back.
‘Put your legs around me.’
She obeyed, felt him move deeper, felt the rhythm build and strengthen. As the thrusts grew harder she gasped, arched towards him, her nails raking his back. This time he wasn’t gentle but there was no pain, only fierce need and mutual desire. The coil of tension inside her increased, taking her higher, pushing her swiftly towards the place she had visited before. Instinctively she slid her legs higher, pulling him deeper, crying out as they fell over the edge together, feeling him shudder, and then the hot rush of his seed.
For a while he remained inside her, holding her there, unwilling to lose the sensation of oneness with her. Then, slowly, he collapsed on to his elbows above her, breathing hard.
‘Dear God. That was incredible.’
‘Yes, it was.’
‘I’ve wanted to do that all evening.’
She looked up at him beneath veiled lashes and then smiled. ‘I’ve wanted you to do that all evening.’
‘Unfortunately we’ve missed most of the evening, but we have the whole morning ahead of us.’
‘You are incorrigible, and insatiable.’
‘You have no idea.’
He undressed her and then himself, and took her to bed. The dawn was far advanced before they slept.
* * *
Claudia stretched lazily, her whole body suffused with a sense of well-being. Turning her head to look at the man beside her, she found him already awake and observing her closely. She saw him smile.
‘Good morning.’
‘Have you been watching me?’
‘Yes, for quite a while now.’ He leaned across and kissed her, reviving delicious memories of the previous night’s love-making.
‘Did you not sleep well?’
‘I slept exceeding well, but a few hours suffice for me.’
‘Then you must have wanted to start the day long since.’
‘Not so,’ he said. ‘I was more agreeably engaged.’
‘Indeed?’
‘Oh, yes.’
‘Doing what exactly?’
‘Looking at you by daylight.’
Claudia surveyed him suspiciously. ‘Looking at what?’
The smile became a grin. ‘Did you know that you have the most delightful...’
‘What?’ Her eyes glinted dangerously.
‘Lips.’
She sat up, regarding him with suspicion. ‘Lips?’
‘Yes...and breasts, of course, and waist and hips and butt...’ He broke off, throwing up an arm to deflect the pillow aimed at his head. Claudia launched a second blow. Choking back laughter he grabbed hold of her and confiscated the pillow. There followed a brief, unequal struggle before she was pulled much closer for a deep and lingering kiss. She stopped struggling and relaxed, letting her body mould itself to his, giving herself up to the embrace.
When at length it ended she drew back a little, looking into his face. She smiled and lifted a hand to his cheek, then checked as he flinched a little. The movement triggered another memory and along
with it a sudden and disturbing insight.
‘Anthony, the night you came back from Ulverdale...when you walked away?’ She held his gaze. ‘It was after I’d touched your face, wasn’t it? That’s what you meant before when you said you’d over-reacted.’
He nodded. ‘As I said, personal devils.’
‘Then, what happened in Paris really had no bearing on the matter.’
‘Except that I’ve wanted you every day since, more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life. But the feeling had to be mutual.’ He took a deep breath. ‘It seemed...it seemed as though you could only tolerate my attentions in darkness, that by daylight my appearance repelled you.’
Claudia stared at him, appalled. ‘I have never felt repelled by you. Paris awoke something in me that I never imagined existed, but I was so ashamed of the circumstances that the only possible way forward was to try and blot it out. It wasn’t you that disgusted me, Anthony, it was myself. The more the attraction increased, the worse I felt.’
He swallowed hard. ‘Then you did not find my kisses repulsive?’
‘No, I never did. On the contrary.’
‘Can a mask attract a woman then?’
‘Not the mask, the man beneath it.’
His jaw tightened. ‘You do not know the man beneath it.’
‘I think I do.’
‘He is no figure of high romance, I assure you.’
‘May not I be the judge of that?’ She lifted her hand slowly towards the slender cord that held the leather patch. It was arrested as a hand like a vice closed round her wrist.
‘Claudia, I...’
‘Don’t be afraid.’
* * *
His throat tightened and he knew in that moment that he was terribly afraid, that he would rather face the guns at Vittoria again than do what she was asking now. Their love-making had been beyond wonderful, and, in the forgiving darkness, she had yielded herself to him completely. The cold light of day filled him with dread for now only a thin leather shield stood between her and the truth. His gut knotted in sickened anticipation of her reaction, his mind torn between the instinctive urge to protect himself and the wish to let her see exactly who he was. And if he did that, would not the truth repel her? Would she not turn from him? He took a deep breath. Perhaps it was time to find out.
Gradually the grip slackened on her wrist and, with thumping heart, he released his hold. Her hand stole towards the cord and slipped it free, drawing the leather shield aside. He steeled himself, waiting grimly for the sharp indrawn breath, the expression of disgust and loathing.
* * *
Her steady gaze surveyed the ravaged side of his face from the jagged tear on his forehead, to the cleft eyebrow and the empty socket beneath, sewn closed. The blade had cut him to the bone, laying open his cheek almost to the jaw. A legacy of puckered skin revealed where heavy stitching had once held the severed flesh together. She realised then that the scars on his arm and shoulder were the result of other blows. Two; three, perhaps? Her mind could not begin to grasp the intensity of the pain he must have felt, then and afterwards, and the dawning horror as the reality of his injuries became apparent. Injuries that she knew were not only physical. The mental and emotional scars were every bit as deep, like his vulnerability at this moment and the anguish in his silence. In opening himself to her scrutiny he had taken a terrible risk and it must have taken every ounce of courage he possessed.
She reached out to him and with infinite gentleness traced the line of the scar down his cheek. ‘Do these still hurt?’
Somehow he found his voice. ‘No, but they make shaving a confounded nuisance.’
She kissed him softly on the mouth. ‘Even more of a nuisance than I am?’
‘Oh, no, not nearly as much as that.’
Her lips quivered. ‘Would you be rid of me then, if you had the chance?’
‘Certainly not; without you I would die of boredom within a week.’
‘I would not have that on my conscience so I really think I must remain.’
‘You’re quite right about that,’ he replied. ‘Besides, I’m not giving you a choice.’
He pulled her towards him for a gentle and lingering kiss. And then, slowly, he lowered himself back on to the bed and drew her with him, gathering her close, curving his body around hers, breathing her subtle erotic scent, his entire being alive to the warmth and the nearness of her. He lay quite still, listening to her soft breathing, feeling the slow steady beat of her heart beneath his arm and, by degrees, his own heartbeat quietened and steadied in response until it became synchronous with hers. Gradually his taut muscles relaxed and tension was replaced by deep contentment and a sense of rightness and belonging, as though something lost had been found. Now there was no pain or dread. He let out a long breath and watched as the shadow of his fear began to shrink and fade until at last it dissolved among the brilliant rays of sunlight slanting through the curtains.
* * *
Later they walked in the park, strolling together among the flowering beds and thence in the sun-dappled grass beneath the trees. Recent events compelled Anthony to take the precaution of having Matthew with them, albeit at a discreet distance. Other company would have been intolerable just then. Having wasted so much time before, the Earl wanted to spend as much as he could now with Claudia. It was as though the world had shrunk to the two of them, and, today at least, nothing else mattered.
For some time they walked in companionable silence, just content to be with each other. Intimacy had not bred complacency, only a strengthening desire to discover more. Every look, every touch became charged with significance, enhancing the growing realisation that neither of them had spoken aloud.
She had no idea when she had begun to love him, only that she did. Somehow the feeling had crept up on her, taking her completely unawares. It filled her being with a joy so intense it was terrifying. Its shadow crossed her face. He saw it at once.
‘What is it, Claudia.’
‘I was just thinking about how many years we have lost.’ She hesitated. ‘Why did you go away, Anthony? Why did you leave Ulverdale all those years ago?’
He hesitated, then looked up and met her eye. ‘Because I would not bed a fourteen-year-old girl.’
A rosy blush dyed her cheeks. ‘But part of the original agreement was that our marriage should not be consummated for another two years.’
‘My father was of a different opinion. He feared that, if the marriage was not consummated, it might later be annulled, in which case he stood to lose a lot of money.’
Claudia heard him in stunned silence.
‘We quarrelled,’ he went on, ‘but when my mother joined in to lend me her support, my father backed down.’
‘Your mother supported you?’
‘With unusual vigour. By then I think she despised my father as much as I did. She also knew as well as I what the consequences might be if I were to get you with child.’
Claudia paled. Had he done so then, the chances were she would not have survived the birth. He had behaved honourably towards the child she was then. However, she wasn’t a child any more, and the spectres of pregnancy and childbed were much closer now. The knowledge revived old fears. With an effort she pushed them down, unwilling to spoil the day.
‘I had no idea.’
‘It was hardly a suitable subject to discuss with an innocent young girl.’ He sighed. ‘That was the last quarrel I ever had with my father, and afterwards I wanted only to get out of his presence.’
‘I can understand that.’
‘I already had my commission by then; all that remained was for me to take it up. I threw myself into my career and, as time went by, the breach with Ulverdale widened. I imagined, wrongly, that you would be enjoying the London Season, making your own circle of friends, living your own l
ife. I could not think that you would welcome my return.’
‘If only you knew how many times I hoped for it.’
‘After Vittoria I thought the way back was closed for good, that you could never regard me with anything other than loathing.’
‘Oh, Anthony, how much time has been wasted.’
‘I know it. We cannot recapture those lost years but we can look forward to all the ones we’re going to share.’ He looked into her face. ‘Shall you be able to bear a husband’s authority?’
Her eyes sparkled. ‘Tolerably well, I think. Shall you be able to bear a wilful jade?’
‘I’m quietly confident,’ he replied.
* * *
That evening they ignored an engagement to attend the theatre and shared a leisurely dinner together instead, lingering over the wine to talk and share experiences. By the time they had finished summer dusk was drawing in.
Anthony glanced towards the window. ‘It’s a fine evening. Would you care to take a turn around the garden?’
‘Why not?’
He opened the French doors and stood back to let her pass. Claudia paused on the narrow pathway, waiting for him to join her. Then they strolled together across the lawn.
It was peaceful out here, the stillness balmy with residual warmth, while, in the deepening blue vault, a setting sun dyed the high cloud orange and gold. The quiet air was redolent of summer scents; of earth and leaves and grass, overlain with rose and honeysuckle and carnation. Beyond the flowering beds shadows lengthened beneath the trees. Somewhere a blackbird sang, its liquid notes filling the deep green shade.
Claudia listened and smiled, feeling more content in that moment than she could ever remember. It was not just the beauty of the evening that filled her heart with joy, but being in the company she would most have sought. Every fibre of her being was aware of the man beside her, every nerve alive to him, but more than that he inspired in her a strong sense of belonging. Being with him was like coming home after a long and difficult journey, and never wanting to leave again.
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