Bedford Street Brigade 02 - Love Unbidden

by Laura Landon

  “Please, sit,” he said, pointing to a chair angled before the fire.

  His offer was polite enough, but came out as a command she’d best not refuse.

  She sat, knowing the battle in which they would engage soon would be fierce.

  He stood next to the fire, with his back to her and his eyes focused on the leaping flames. He didn’t move until Higgins opened the door again and a young female servant carried in a tray and placed it on the table near Lorna.

  Lorna wasn’t sure how the young lass managed not to tip over the tray considering the intense manner in which she studied Hugh. Obviously, she’d never seen him before and was as stunned by his handsome features as was everyone else who saw him.

  When the servant finished, Hugh thanked Higgins, and the servants left the room.

  “Please, pour,” he ordered, without turning.

  Lorna’s hands shook slightly as she poured them each a cup of tea. “Cream or sugar?”

  “No.”

  Lorna held out his cup and saucer until she realized he had no intention of turning to face her. Or of taking what she offered him. He was obviously too angry to begin the discussion she knew was coming.

  She set his tea down on the table and lifted her cup to her mouth and drank. The warm liquid seeped through her and settled in the pit of her stomach. She hadn’t realized how cold she’d been until she finished her cup of tea.

  When she was done she breathed in a deep sigh. “We might as well get this over. I’m quite tired and would like to rest for a bit.” She stared at his battle-ready stance. At his fists clenched behind his back. Everything about his rigid posture told her he was struggling to keep a grip on his temper.

  He finally turned, and took his first step toward her. When he reached the chair opposite her, he sat.

  Lorna tried to tell herself he wasn’t as angry as he seemed, but even the way he sat with an ankle of one leg propped atop the knee of his other leg bespoke a tenseness brimming with irritation.

  “I’m not going to ask you why you ran away from me. Nor am I going to bring up the lies you told me in order to form a plan to be alone. I only want to know one thing, Lorna.” He dropped his propped foot to the floor with a decisive thud. “Why do you have such little faith in me or the promise I made you?” He pushed himself to his feet. “What have I done to lead you to believe I am incapable of protecting you?”

  Lorna opened her mouth to speak, but clamped it shut when the only sound that wanted to escape was a sob. She was exhausted from the three days she’d spent on the road, sleeping little for fear that a farmer would find her asleep in his stable and call the authorities. She was cold and hungry and…scared.

  “Wasn’t my promise to keep you safe enough? Wasn’t my assurance that I wouldn’t allow your cousin to harm you, enough?”

  She lowered her gaze and shook her head. “Don’t.”

  “Don’t what? Don’t show your actions for what they were? Evidence of your doubt in my ability to keep you safe. Do I really seem so incompetent to you?”

  His words were like arrows aimed at her, each one piercing her heart with painful accuracy. She swallowed past the lump in her throat. “It’s not you.” A tear fell to her lap. “It’s not you,” she repeated.

  “Then who?”

  “Me,” she whispered. “It’s me. I can’t…trust you—or anyone.”

  She’d finally admitted how terrified she was to put her faith in anyone, and all she wanted now was to be left alone. But his actions said he wasn’t going to give her the privacy she desired.

  He stepped to her and hunched down on one knee in front of her. Before she could pull away, he cradled her hands in his.

  “Why, Lorna? Why are you so afraid to trust me? Surely you know I won’t harm you?”

  “Not even for three hundred thousand pounds?”

  His fingers tightened around her hands. “You think I’m after your money? You think I would betray you for your inheritance?”

  “If my father taught me one lesson, it was not to trust any man. He told me there wasn’t one man in all of England, no matter how noble I thought he was, or honest, or trustworthy, who pretended infatuation with me, did so for any other reason than the dowry that would come with me. Certainly not my looks.”

  “Your father told you that?”

  “Of course. My father was always painfully honest with me. He told me there wasn’t a prince charming out there for me because…” How could she go on? How could she admit something so painful? Yet, he had to know how impossible it was for her to trust in him like he wanted her to. Like he expected her to. “…because I was an ugly duckling in a sea of beautiful swans. What allowed men to notice me was not my looks, but what I was worth.”

  “Those words came from your father?”

  “He wanted to prepare me for when he wouldn’t be there to protect me from charlatans who were only after my dowry.”

  “Does that include me?”

  “I’m worth three hundred thousand pounds, Hugh. You’re exactly the kind of man Father warned me to avoid. A handsome man with a charming personality and extraordinary good looks.”

  “Bloody hell, woman. Look around you. I may not be worth as much as you, but I have more than enough to live any lifestyle I want.”

  “I didn’t know that,” she said.

  He looked into her face and studied her. “Is that the reason you thought I kissed you? Because of the dowry you’d come with?”

  She lowered her gaze to their clasped hands. “I couldn’t believe there was another reason. Especially after all the warnings my father gave me.”

  “You little fool,” he said, then pulled her to her feet.

  Before she realized his intent, he gathered her in his arms and kissed her.

  Lorna was desperate to be kissed. Eager to accept the passion he’d showed her before. And as long as she didn’t let herself forget that Hugh wasn’t kissing her because he felt any deep emotion for her, what could it hurt? This would be her only opportunity to experience emotions she knew only a man like Hugh could awaken in her.

  Lorna wound her arms around Hugh’s neck and pressed her body closer to his. This is what she’d always dreamed of experiencing. And she couldn’t imagine anyone more perfect making her dreams come true.

  He deepened his kisses and she allowed her body to become a part of his. She craved everything he offered her, throbbed with an emotion she couldn’t explain. A moan escaped from deep inside her, a plea for him to continue to kiss her, touch her.

  His hands roamed over her body, caressing her in places she’d never been touched before. Her body burned with a need for something more, screamed with desire, ached for a completion she didn’t understand.

  He kissed her until their breaths came out in gulps of desperation, in ragged gasps to fill their lungs. They kissed until neither of them had the strength to stand alone. Then Lorna clung to him because she couldn’t bear to be separated from him.

  It was at that moment she knew.

  Even though she’d told herself she would never trust anyone enough to give them her heart, she’d done it. She loved Hugh. Loved him with every fiber of her being. Wanted him with a desperation she couldn’t understand. Cherished him because he was a treasure she never thought she would find.

  For the first time in her life, Lorna realized how vulnerable she was. And how complete.

  CHAPTER 6

  Hugh dismounted and handed the reins to the waiting stable boy. “Rub him down well,” he ordered, then walked toward the house. He stopped before he reached the front door and went around the side of the manor house. There was a narrow path beyond the snow-covered plot Cook used to grow vegetables. He took it.

  He knew where he was going, he just didn’t know why. At least he told himself he didn’t.

  His long strides ate up the ground with the same desperation as he’d pushed his horse. He needed to be by himself. He’d assumed riding at breakneck speed through the light covering of
snow would calm his restlessness, clear the muddled thoughts clouding his mind. But it hadn’t. He was as puzzled as ever. As uncertain of what to do as he’d been since he’d met her. As confused about his reactions to her as ever. More confused, even.

  He reached the frozen stream in little time. This was where he came to sort things out. To be by himself.

  In spring and summer he’d remove his boots and wade in the cool water. Or sit along the bank and listen to the gentle sound of the water rushing downstream. Today that wasn’t possible. Instead, he braced his feet, locked his hands behind his back, and stared out onto the partially frozen water.

  He needed to think. He needed to try to understand why she affected him like she did. Why he acted the way he did whenever he was around her. Why he only wanted to hold her. And kiss her. And…make love to her.

  Bloody hell. What was wrong with him? After the repeated lectures he’d given himself about not falling in love with another woman, why had he done so? And he had. He remembered how it felt when he fell in love with Angela. Remembered the gnawing desire that clenched deep in his gut. Remembered the restless cravings that wouldn’t go away. The unrelenting yearning to hold Angela. And kiss Angela. And…

  He picked up a handful of snow and crushed it until it was a hard ball. With an angry roar, he threw it across the stream like a missile aimed at an attacking enemy.

  He thought he’d be satisfied if he kissed her just once more. Instead, each kiss only fueled the longing to kiss her again. And again. And never stop.

  He’d never met a female who made him feel so complete. Who was easier to talk to. Who understood his feelings. Who could complete his thoughts as if he’d spoken them aloud.

  She was intelligent, and knowledgeable. Interested in hearing about every case he’d ever worked on. Wanted to know the details, even when that meant describing a gory death. Or a bloody injury. She was the bravest person he’d ever met. What other female would dare risk traveling halfway across England by herself?

  He picked up another handful of snow. He didn’t know how he’d survive not having her around when they returned to London. Didn’t know if he wanted to try not having her with him.

  With another vengeful bellow, he threw the snowball as hard as he could.

  “Are you aiming your anger and frustration at anyone in particular,” she asked from behind him, “or simply reliving a youthful pastime?”

  He turned. His heart skipped a beat.

  She may not think she was a beauty, and perhaps she wasn’t, but there were times when just having her walk into a room, or come down the stairs, or stand on a blanket of snow a few feet away from him, like now, stole his breath.

  Hugh closed the distance between them. “My brother and I used to come here as boys. Father taught us to swim in this stream. And Mother would bring the girls and we’d all sit down beneath that tree and eat a picnic lunch.” He pointed to the big elm tree nearby.

  “It sounds wonderful.”

  “Do you have a special place where you picnicked with your parents?”

  “Yes, there was a beautiful spot at Chillbrooke Manor. Mother would always bring a book and Father and I would lie beneath the shade and listen while she read.”

  He smiled. “I’m afraid Jackson and I couldn’t sit still long enough to enjoy Mother’s attempts to cultivate us. The girls did, of course. And Father pretended to listen. But he usually fell asleep before she reached the end of the first page.”

  “That sounds marvelous.”

  Hugh studied the expression on her face. The look in her eyes told him she’d been a lonely little girl. “Do you ever wish you’d have had brothers and sisters?”

  The upturn of her lips couldn’t quite be called a smile. “Mother and Father tried to have more children, but only one survived until birth, a baby boy. He died a few days after he was born.”

  Hugh watched as she pulled her cloak tighter around her. He stepped close and gathered her against him. She leaned into him as if it were the most natural thing for her to do so. She fit against him as if the two of them were made to be together.

  “Why did you come out?” he asked, pressing her cheek to his chest and wrapping his coat around her.

  “I wanted to speak with you.”

  “About what?”

  “About your intentions. We’ve been here nearly a week now, and you haven’t mentioned what we should do.”

  “What would you like to do?”

  Her gaze shot upward and she looked at him with wide eyes. “You’re asking me? You’re letting me decide?”

  “I’m asking,” he said, nestling her face against his chest. “But I’m not promising to let you decide. I’ll only promise to explain what options are open to you.”

  “I want to go to Scotland.”

  “If you go, how long do you intend to stay?”

  “Until I turn twenty-one. Perhaps a month or two longer.”

  “How are you going to live? You don’t have any money.”

  She sagged against him as if the bravado left her body.

  “I intend to find my relatives and ask them to take me in. I’ll promise to repay them.”

  “And if they refuse? Or, if you cannot find them? Or they betray you for a reward offered by your cousin? What then?”

  “I don’t know.”

  There was a hint of fear in her voice, a wavering of the boldness he was used to hearing. “Then would you at least consider that going to Scotland is not the wisest choice?”

  “If not Scotland, then where would you have me go? And don’t say back to London because I’ll fight you every step of the way if you try to take me back.”

  He sighed. “No, not London.”

  She lifted her gaze again. “Then where?”

  “We’ll stay here. At Winsome Abbey. We’ll stay until you reach your majority, then we’ll return.”

  She stepped out of his arms. “You’ll let me stay here until after I reach my majority? You won’t take me back before I can protect myself from my cousin?”

  “No. Chillbrooke will have no hold over you when you return. You will be able to fight him on legal grounds. Although how you’re going to manage without a husband, I don’t know.”

  Her gaze lowered to the ground and a knot tightened around his heart. This brave woman was so amazing he couldn’t explain the many ways she moved him.

  “Thank you,” she said when she lifted her gaze.

  Hugh’s reaction was instinctive. Even though he’d just told himself he couldn’t kiss her again, no force known to man was powerful enough to stop him.

  He lowered his head and pressed his lips to hers. He skimmed her lips with his tongue and she opened to admit him. Passion that had lain dormant for the five years since Angela died came to life. Hunger that he thought he’d never feel again consumed him. Desire he was certain he could master raged out of control. He tilted her face beneath his and intensified his kisses.

  She matched his demands with an intensity that startled him. There was something magical in the force that bound them to each other. Something astonishing.

  As loathe as he was to sever the bond of their flesh, he knew he must. The next step beyond kissing was impossible.

  He pulled away from her but couldn’t release her. He gathered her to him and held her until their breathing calmed. Until their thundering heartbeats slowed.

  “Thank you,” she whispered again, but this time he wasn’t sure what she was thanking him for—his promise to let her stay here until after her twenty-first birthday. Or for the kiss they shared.

  Without asking, he turned her in his arms and led her back to the manor house. Her birthday was in seven days.

  They would be the longest seven days of his life.

  . . .

  There wasn’t a more beautiful sight than the one Lorna focused on outside her bedroom window. As far as she could see, snow glistened beneath the full moon. She would always think of Winsome Abbey as an enchanted land. Always rememb
er her time here as a fairy tale. Everything had been perfect. Hugh had seen to it that it was.

  He’d kept his distance the first two days after the kisses they’d shared by the stream. But on the third day, he sought her out.

  They spent every day together walking in the garden when the weather was agreeable. They spent every evening in front of the fireplace, sometimes talking, sometimes simply listening to the crackling of the flames in the hearth. And last night they’d celebrated her birthday with a special meal. Cook even surprised her with a cake.

  That’s when he told her they would leave in the morning. That’s when Lorna knew her magical time at Winsome Abby was over.

  She looked at the perfect scene outside her window. Everything about the time she’d spent here had been wonderful. For the first time in her life, a handsome man had looked at her like she was the most beautiful woman on earth.

  For the first time in her life, she’d been kissed like she was the most desired woman on earth.

  For the first time, she knew what it felt like to love. And even felt like someone loved her in return.

  Her heart overflowed with happiness. Hugh had given her memories she would never forget. Memories more precious than the wealth that was now hers.

  There was only one more memory she wanted to take with her. Only one more dream she wanted fulfilled.

  Lorna left her room and walked down the hall to where Hugh slept. When she reached his room, she didn’t allow herself time to consider what she was doing, but opened the door and entered his room.

  His voice whispered in the darkness. “Lorna?”

  Without answering him, she walked across the room. When she reached his bed, she stopped. With trembling fingers she undid the tie that held her robe together and let it drop to the floor.

  She locked her gaze with his, then watched as his gaze skimmed downward. When his eyes came back to hers, she took a final step to him. He lifted the covers as an invitation to join him and she lay down beside him.

  He turned to his side and looked down on her. “Are you sure?”

  She’d never been more sure of anything in her life. Never wanted anything so badly in her life.