by Robyn DeHart
“The Queen? She is here? Now?” Evelyn wrapped the dressing gown tighter about her, then pulled Bennett’s coat closed. She patted the long fiery braid that fell over her shoulder. She was going to meet the Queen, the woman she had been impersonating. Nerves surged up her throat threatening to choke her. “My mother would have a fit of the vapors if she knew I was going to meet our monarch looking like this.”
“Relax,” Bennett said. “It is not yet dawn, so what else would you look like?”
“Relax,” she repeated dumbly. “I do not think that is poss—”
“There you are, Bennett. Percival here has been filling me in on the details of all that has transpired over the last week or so,” the Queen said. Then her eyes landed on Evelyn. “Oh, is this her?” She didn’t wait for an answer, merely stepped forward and grabbed Evelyn’s hands. “My goodness you do favor me, except you quite obviously have much better hair than I do. I’m afraid mine is so thin and fine, I can scarcely do anything with it.”
Evelyn bent in a deep curtsey. “Your Majesty.”
“While I appreciate your show of ceremony, I do believe we’re beyond that. You have been wearing my clothes and sleeping in my bed, have you not?”
Evelyn felt her cheeks grow warm. “Yes.”
“See then.” Victoria linked her arm with Evelyn’s. “We are practically the best of friends, I should say.”
Evelyn relaxed and smiled. Victoria was young and pretty, and Evelyn could see similarities to their features.
“I trust that my cousin has been taking good care of you?” Victoria eyed Bennett suspiciously, then gave him a wink.
“Yes, quite good. He has saved me on more than one occasion.”
“So I have heard.” The Queen frowned at the two men who stood quiet and still. “I am so very grateful for your service, my dear. You will be compensated handsomely for your sacrifice.”
Evelyn didn’t know what to say so she merely nodded.
“I shall be taking over now that my ankle is healed. Quite honestly, I believe these men made much out of nothing.”
“Your reputation—”
“Is what?” Victoria asked, her brows raised in a perfect arch. “It matters not what they think or what they say. I am Queen. What more can they do about it now?” She gave Evelyn a wink and an impish grin, reminding her precisely how young the Queen was.
“We can clear your schedule and tell everyone you have gone on holiday,” Potterfield said.
“We will do no such thing. I am not going to hide out simply because some lunatic tried to kill me.” She squeezed Evelyn’s arm. “Well, you dear, and you must be horribly frightened.”
“I was, but I am much better now.” Evelyn’s eyes met Bennett’s across the room and she would have sworn that heat radiated off his body and slid over to her own.
Victoria faced Bennett. “You shall deliver our dear Miss Marrington safely back to her family with my thanks.”
Bennett nodded. “The assailant is still out there, Your Majesty.”
“I have complete faith that your men will find him and imprison him,” Victoria said.
And that was it. Evelyn had been dismissed. Certainly appreciated for her service, but in an instant her adventure had come to an end. She couldn’t say she was that disappointed considering she’d been attacked twice. She’d lived an adventure and had experienced true fear enough to write about it with authenticity.
Chapter Eleven
Bennett intended to bring Evie straight to his townhome in London, but she protested. The Queen had dismissed her and it was time for her to return home.
They spent the better part of the ride to her family’s cottage in silence, her reading and periodically looking at the window and him running through scenarios in his mind as to what was happening with the assassin. Well, he had thought about that, but he’d mostly fought with himself and his desire to pull Evelyn into his lap and kiss her the entire way to her cottage. But that was ridiculous, especially now that the charade was over. She was to return to her country life and he would return to London and hope that Potterfield deemed his assignment a success.
“I didn’t think you’d ride with me?”
“Pardon?” he asked, rattled by her sudden statement.
“Well, when you brought me from my house, you rode your horse. In the rain. I thought you must have really not wanted to spend time alone with me.”
“I—”
“You don’t have to say anything.” Her delicate shoulders rose in a shrug. “It was merely an observation.”
“Are you ready to be home? Have your life back to what you are more accustomed to?” he asked, unsure of what to say.
She sighed. “In many ways, I am ready to be home, but in others, no. I was rather enjoying life in London. I’ve never been around so many people at once. It was fascinating. People are fascinating. You don’t see many different sorts in the country. It’s much of the same.”
“What will you do now?”
“I’m not certain. I’m hoping that the money will convince my father that I am prepared to care for myself and he won’t require me to marry anyone. But my mother can be quite persuasive, so I don’t know how that will go. She has her hopes set on my marrying the Viscount Edgerly.”
“You do not want to?”
Her lip sneered and she shook her head. “No, of course not. First of all, he’s old, practically the same age as my father. Secondly, he’s old, though I’m certain there are other reasons.” She laughed. “He only wants me to take care of his eleven children.”
“Eleven children? That’s plenty. You’d most assuredly have your hands full with that brood.”
“Indeed. I thought having four sisters was a lot. Imagine having six brothers and five sisters.” She shook her head again. “No, thank you.”
The carriage turned down the rocky road that led to her family’s cottage. The stones cracked and crunched beneath the wheels and she peered out the window, looking very much a mixture of wistful woman and eager child.
“I do feel as if I have been gone from my family for too long. They are big and loud and drive me to near madness, but I cannot help but adore them.” She smiled, a smile that cut straight into him.
And then the carriage stopped and he was helping her down from the rig. He gave his driver some instructions and then led her to her front door.
She opened it up. “Mama, Papa, I am home,” she called. “Jilly, Meghan? Where is everyone?”
The housekeeper rounded the corner at the end of the corridor. “Oh, Miss Evelyn, whatever are you doing home? Did Catherine not find you in time?”
Bennett stood behind Evie holding the small trunk the Queen had gifted her.
Evelyn frowned. “Catherine? No, she did not.”
“Yes, your sister came to see you,” the housekeeper said, “at your aunt’s in London, to give you the message.”
“She came to our aunt’s?” Evie repeated. “What message?” Color drained from Evie’s face.
“That the entire family was going to Bristol for a special party hosted by Miss Jillian’s betrothed’s family. Truly fancy. They wanted you to meet them there, so Catherine came to get you.”
“Oh dear,” Evelyn said.
Bennett reached for her elbow to steady her. “All will be well,” he said in a hushed voice.
“Let me fetch some tea. You two can rest in the parlor.” Then the housekeeper left them standing there.
“They’ll know now that I wasn’t with my aunt, that I’ve been somewhere else entirely, somewhere they don’t know how to find me.” Her eyes rounded. “What am I to do?”
“I will send them a message to Lord Bellview and let them know that you—”
“That what?” She spun around to face him. “That I’ve been living at Buckingham Palace charading as the Queen?” she hissed. “Which I am most certain must be some sort of treason.”
“Not if Her Majesty approves of it, which she did.”
“Stil
l. What are we going to say?” She bit down on her lip. “My mother will certainly have an apoplexy.”
“I shall think of something. In the meantime, I am not leaving you here alone.”
“You can most definitely not stay here with me. We have no place.” She waved her hand. “Poppycock. I am perfectly safe here with Mrs. Kimble.”
“We don’t know that. I was charged with your safety and I am not leaving you here without your family. I will not argue this point, Evelyn.”
She glared at him. “You are an intimidator, do you know that?”
“Be that as it may, I am determined to keep you safe.” And perhaps he wasn’t quite ready to rid himself of her just yet, but he would never admit to that. “We shall return to my estate until your family returns. It is not too far from here.”
…
Several hours later, Bennett sat in his bedchamber, unable to sleep. He’d been in his bed for nearly half an hour before he’d finally gotten up and sat. He’d tried to read, but his attention would not hold. His mind was plagued with thoughts of Evelyn and everything that had transpired over the last two weeks.
So much had changed since the last time they were alone in one of his homes. The last time he hadn’t known her, hadn’t trusted her. He’d certainly found her attractive then, but now he knew how tempting she could be. He wanted her, there was no denying that.
By the time Mrs. Kimble fed them and sent them on their way, Evie was exhausted. She’d fallen asleep in the carriage and he carried her into an adjacent bedchamber when they arrived at his estate. As for what they’d tell her family—he’d already decided he’d sit her father down and give him some of the details, enough that they’d know she’d not been doing anything untoward.
There was a rap of knuckles on his bedchamber door.
“Enter,” he said, expecting it to be his valet. Instead, Evie stepped inside his dim-lit room. He stood.
“Evie, is everything all right?”
She nodded, walked directly to him and put a finger to his lips. “I know I’m not her. I know I’m not the one you want, but perhaps you could pretend because this night is my only chance at this. My only chance to feel passion and not become the prudish spinster.”
Evelyn Marrington had come to seduce him. Damnation.
“Evelyn, I don’t want her. I never have. It’s you I want.”
She tilted her head so that she met his lips. Her hands ran up the length of his chest and grabbed the front of his coat, pulling him closer. Bennett kissed her back, slanting his mouth over hers.
Deepening the kiss, Evie darted her tongue out and ran it against his. She was being bold, brazen, and she loved it. Fireworks sparked through her blood, igniting shocks of pleasure throughout her body. A tingle started at the apex of her thighs and hummed down her legs.
His soft lips responded immediately as she leaned her body into his. She kissed him passionately, threading her fingers through the back of his hair. It was surprisingly soft, a sharp contrast to his solid and toned neck. Bennett’s tongue swirled through her mouth, and she heard herself moan.
She reached between them and untied the dressing gown, allowing it to fall to the floor. There was no going back now. She was offering herself completely to him. He would either take her or send her away.
Coils of pleasure sprang from her abdomen and wound up around her to tease and tingle her breasts. His hands, as if her body had whispered to him, found her sensitive nipples. They hardened against his touch.
He kissed her again, but this time he let his mouth trail down her neck to right behind her ear, where he placed tiny licks and bites until she thought she would melt into a puddle at his feet, across her collarbone, down to the swell of her breast.
She arched against him, giving him more access. His hand cupped her breast as he continued to lave kisses on her skin. She moaned again. She wanted to wrap her legs around him and have him make love to her right up against the wall, but she knew Bennett would not hear of it.
His lips trailed to her ear, then down her throat. He cupped her breast, and she arched into him.
“You are so beautiful,” he whispered against her hair.
And perhaps it was the headiness of her desire talking, but she believed him, believed that he found her beautiful.
His hand lifted her slightly by squeezing her bottom, then he nuzzled his face into the crook of her neck. The day’s growth of beard scraped tantalizingly against her collarbone as he took small heated nips along the tender flesh.
He moved her to the bed, but before he pressed them to the mattress, he placed both hands on the sides of her face, leaned in and kissed her. Not any kiss, but a kiss intended to imprint itself on a human soul, so tender, so full of yearning, she could not help but cry out. The sound was muffled by his mouth’s covering. His tongue slid against her bottom lip, and she opened to him, and lost were her protests as she melted against his body. And then he was gone. He stepped away from her and unfastened his trousers. She took in the sight of him, standing there wearing nothing but a wolfish grin.
She so wanted this, wanted him.
He walked to her and laid them to the mattress. She ran her hands over his torso, touching every hard sinewy line on his chest. She couldn’t deny her desire for him any longer. She simply wouldn’t.
Her body hummed with lust. Everywhere he touched, fire lit under her skin and blazed through her. Her nipples peaked. She was wet for him, so wet and aching for his touch. For him to be inside her, for him to sate whatever it was her body craved.
He stilled her hand, and met her eyes. “Evie, I can’t offer you anything more.”
His words tugged at her heart, but she ignored it. He couldn’t offer, and she would certainly never ask. “I don’t need anything else.”
He was so handsome, so rugged, so perfect. She wanted to touch him everywhere.
“You don’t know how much I want you,” he said, his voice raw with desire. He grabbed her hand and pulled her back to him so that their bodies pressed together, flesh upon flesh. “How I’ve wanted you from the moment I laid eyes on you in that ballroom.”
His hands cupped her bottom, pressing her to him, pressing her into his erection. She kissed him again, then wrapped her legs around his waist, encouraging him to get closer, to lose himself inside her.
It was all the encouragement he needed. With slow and steady movements, he entered her. The fullness of him felt so right, so exactly what she needed, what she craved. In that moment she wished it could be like this forever, the two of them together, hidden away from the world, but she knew tonight was their only night.
His movements were deep and sensual, and her climax began to build almost immediately. Swifter and swifter, she climbed until she couldn’t hold it any longer, and the world seemed to shatter in a million glassy fragments all around her. She clung to his shoulders as the pleasures rocked her, and she was vaguely aware of his own climax as his abdomen tightened against her.
…
Bennett had not seen Evelyn yet and it was nearing noon. Of course he’d kept her up virtually all night making love to her again and again. And they’d talked, so easily, about her family, his family, his ambitions with the Brotherhood and her writing.
It had been a perfect night. But now as he sat behind his desk in his study, the night seemed almost a fantasy. In the light of the day, though, he was questioning his actions. He’d taken her virtue and had no intentions of doing anything honorable about that. She’d asked him to make love to her, insisted she had no fantasies of marrying, she’d simply wanted him for the night.
“My Lord,” his butler said after rapping on the study door. “Your mother is here and requests an audience with you.”
“My mother?” He nodded. “Very well, send her in.”
Bennett stood and waited. More than likely she had come to tell him of her next marriage. She’d been spending a fair amount of time with Lord Beckwith, he’d heard. Perhaps the earl had asked and his mother
would be walking down the marital aisle for the fourth time.
“Bennett, love, you know how I do hate coming to the country. Why do you not stay in London more often?”
“I’ve been in London for the past several weeks and only arrived here yesterday,” he said. He motioned for her to take a seat and asked his butler to have tea sent in.
“Still, I had to go there first and then was told to come here and it’s such an uncomfortably long drive.” She lowered herself onto the floral wingback chair. She was still a handsome woman, with nary a wrinkled line marring her aging face.
“It takes no more than two and a quarter hours, Mother. It is not as if the estate is in Wales.”
“Thank the heavens.” She shuddered. “That would be miserable. Out there in that rugged land.”
“What do you want?”
She had the decency to look offended. “Can a mother not visit her son with no reason other than to see his handsome face?” She straightened her skirts, pursed her lips.
“Perhaps some mothers, but not mine.”
She held firm for the briefest of moments, before her shoulders fell and she smiled. “You do know me so well.”
“Indeed.” The teacart was brought in and Bennett poured his mother a cup, then handed it over to her. “Now then, out with it, Mother.”
“Very well,” she said as she stirred the sugar into her tea. “I have heard a most delicious rumor.”
“Why you would travel all the way here to tell me is rather baffling. You know I cannot abide gossip, nor should you. We have seen how damaging gossip can be.” How quickly she seemed to forget his sister. “I can assure you that I am not the least bit interested.”
“I think you should make an exception, considering this rumor is about you.” She sipped her tea.
“And you are somehow pleased about this?”
She frowned. “No, I certainly found the tale amusing, but when I realized it was attached to your name, I came to find you straight away to inform you.”
Out of the kindness of her heart, no doubt, and not because she wanted to see if whatever it was had merit. “I appreciate your concern for my good name, but I care not what people say about me.”