by Jilian Rouge
Cordelia, having grown up in the City, was not likely to stay out in the chilly country air when she could be toasty warm by the fire. “I’m afraid I don’t have quite the fortitude you do, Lady— er, I mean, Rue. If it’s all the same to you, I think I would like to go back inside.”
“Then, would you please fetch me my shawl, Christian? I think I left it in the drawing room, nearest where Ernest and Georgie were last. And maybe you could escort Cordelia back to her mama who I last saw sitting by the fireplace,” Rue said, her eyes on Cordelia.
Gallantly, Christian said, “That can be done in a trice. I will be back presently with your shawl.” To Cordelia, he offered her his arm and swept her through the open doors and into the house, leaving Rue alone with Alex.
Now, the two of them were as alone as they could be on a terrace with a few people scattered here and there, and with the drawing room doors wide open they were in full view of everyone inside. There was no chance for impropriety to be had, not when everyone in residence at Ravenscroft would be eyewitnesses to anything they did at the moment. Despite the crowd of people around them, they could not be easily overheard, and Alex thought it was best to hash out what he had to say before Christian came back.
Alex could no longer refute the vexatious part of himself that insisted he pay attention to his body’s calling to make Rue his once more. Rue was driving him demented; his eager interest in her would be plain for her to see if she cared to look and it didn’t help matters that she wasn’t doing anything deliberate to bring him to such a painful state of arousal. Short of dragging her down into his mother’s bushes in the garden below, Alex was forced to curtail his desires for the benefit of everyone present.
Raking a heated glance up and down her body with an appraising eye, Alex licked at lips suddenly turned dry at Rue’s delicious curves on display. Her gown was modestly cut, but when she had bent over one of the flagstones for closer inspection earlier, he could not tear his eyes away from the sight of her ample breasts threatening to spill from her neckline. Nor could he ignore how the skirt of her gown skimmed the voluptuous curves of her hips, curves whose shape he would like to trace with the flat of his hands.
Everything about her was temptation incarnate, but it was difficult to heed his common sense and better judgment, knowing it was best to leave her be. Better to let Christian be the nobler husband to her than he could ever be; in his head, he knew he could not be what she needed him to be. He knew this even when they had last lain together that day, and he thought it best then to discourage her from pursuing him further, knowing that he could never measure up to her lofty expectations of him.
But now, his thoughts were consumed by the need to have her, preferably under him and in his bed, but for now, he meant to discover what it was she was scheming in that devious brain of hers.
“Just who do you think you are fooling with that innocent act of yours? I know you’re up to something,” he admonished sternly.
Fully expecting her to play coy, she surprised him with her forthright answer. Sighing, she said, “If you must know, I sent Christian away with the express purpose of having a moment alone with you.”
Taken aback initially, Alex rapidly recovered and found with some elation that he rather liked the thought of Rue going to the trouble of getting him alone. Notwithstanding the pains he had taken to avoid her since his arrival home, he rapidly learned that her presence was enough to send him into a heightened state of exhilaration and awareness, accepting that he was so easily drawn to her.
Schooling his features to take on a formidable scowl down at her, he commented, “If you wanted a moment alone with me, all you had to do was ask.”
Rue had been standing close to the edge of the terrace, her hands braced against the railing, and when she finally looked up, she was startled to find Alex standing so close. Instinct had her backing away slightly, but he matched her movement, keeping the distance between them minimal.
Alarm at his nearness filled her with trepidation, and she stammered, “N-not for any nefarious reason, mind you. I only needed your opinion.”
“Oh?” he lazily drawled. This close to Rue, he could no longer hold back the compulsion to get even closer, planning with every deliberate movement to get her in his arms.
Suddenly realizing the determined gaze in his eyes as something dangerous, Rue held up her hands between them to ward him off. “You’re mistaken! I did not plan this as a prelude to an assignation!” she cried, or hissed, rather, as she was aware that others might overhear the note of panic in her voice.
“Enlighten me, then,” he said, sensuality dripping in his tone.
Rue’s throat dried, realizing that the look in his eyes spoke of all sorts of carnality in darkened bedrooms. With almost a decade’s worth of longing for just such a look from a man, Rue was not immune to Alex’s own brand of seduction, even after she had resolved to find happiness elsewhere.
Drawing a deep breath to fortify her, Rue slowly said, “I needed your opinion on Christian and his prospects and I had no one else to ask, only you kept avoiding me.”
“Ah,” Alex said simply. “And you think I can give you an honest answer?”
“I was rather hoping for it,” she admitted abashedly. “Or at least, I thought I could count on our past friendship to hope for honesty from you.”
Stiffening at the mention of their past, Alex abruptly snapped out of the haze of desire that clouded his thinking. “I may be many things, Rue, but a liar isn’t one of them. You should know that.”
Sighing heavily, Rue said, “Given that you had been ignoring me, I was beginning to think that we were no longer friends.”
Alex held back a snort at the word ‘friends’, as whatever it was he felt towards Rue extended beyond the boundaries of friendship. Instead, he replied, “That’s neither here nor there. What is it that you want to know about Christian?” He could only hope that her questions reflected her uncertainties about the man. Not that he had anything against his own cousin, but Christian’s sudden pursuit of Rue went against the grain in his mind.
“Well,” she began, uncertainty evident in her tone, “I know Christian is a good catch and anyone would be so fortunate to have him as a husband. My only concern is that his interest seems so sudden and unexpected. I hadn’t an inkling of his interest in me since we were children. Did you?”
“No,” he answered tersely. “As a child, he was much more close-lipped than he is now. I suspect the man has unplumbed depths that we are only discovering now.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Rue said, nodding. “As children, he must have seen in me traits that were admirable enough for him to continue his interest even now. Until we had met again a few days ago, I had no hint of his intentions until he expressed them just now.”
Alex raised a brow at that. “So, he’s manned up and confessed, did he? Finally grew a tongue and backbone, after all!”
“Stop that! He doesn’t deserve your mockery, not after the atrocious way you bullied him when we were younger,” she reproved.
Contrite, Alex admitted, “For all of the mistreatment the both of us heaped on his head as a boy, he’s turned out all right. I quite like this new version of Christian.”
“As do I,” Rue said, unknowingly sparking a seething jealousy within Alex, the kind he had no business feeling when he himself hadn’t planned on a future that included Rue. But to be brutally honest with himself, he did have impromptu designs on Rue, just not respectable ones. His craving for Rue warred mightily with his sound reasoning for a marriage that was not ruled by heady passion. The only way to throw the proverbial wet blanket on such desires was a reminder of his disillusionment in London.
Steeling himself against Rue’s natural allure, Alex calmly said, “Then, I wish you every happiness with him. I am confident that he will make you a splendid husband.” It pained him to pay her well-wishes that were counter to what he truly felt, but saying the words aloud prevented any further thoughts of se
duction.
“Oh. Thank you,” Rue said quietly, each word reluctantly given. Inwardly crushed, Rue’s heart broke all over again at this further proof of Alex’s dismissal of her, of anything they might have had between them. His words only served to compound the ache that stemmed from her chest since his homecoming, and she desperately sought to flee from his company.
“If you will excuse me, there is something—,” she said, her sentence trailing, unfinished. Her head bowed to avoid looking him in the eye, she whirled to escape, intent on taking the terrace stairs to the gardens below.
In the time it took Rue to move ten paces away from him, Alex inwardly struggled with indecision. To chase after her lay the path to madness. Whereas, if he let her go now, he would be forced to once again watch her retreating back and live again with the regret of not settling things between them.
Determined not to have past mistakes repeated, Alex bounded after her. Heedless of the fact that they would be secluded away from onlookers or eavesdroppers once they left the safety of the terrace, he needed only a moment to dispel the look of utter agony his words had wrought in her. He didn’t know what he was going to say to her once he caught up with her, but he only knew that he couldn’t leave things as they were.
Rue’s hurried steps brought her to the entrance to the hedged maze in which she planned to reach the canopied bower in its center. Swift footsteps muffled slightly by the freshly shorn grass sounded behind her and a quick glance over her shoulder showed her a very determined Alex stomping after her. Injecting a little more speed into her step, she dashed into the maze, eager to distance herself from the very man who was now chasing her.
A memory came unbidden to Alex as he watched Rue surge past the maze entrance, a recollection of a past game of hide and seek where, just like this very moment, he had given chase, and Rue his target. Remembering that she had used her knowledge of the maze’s winding corridors to lose him once before, he anticipated that she would also use the same direction she had always used to confuse him. Armed with such knowledge, he deftly made his way into the maze, resolute in his purpose, yet thrilled, at the prospect of finally catching Rue.
8
Knowing Alex wasn’t too far behind, panic set Rue’s nerves afire and her urge to flee further away from him spurred her into action. Her childhood memories of the Ravenscroft garden maze aided her direction, her slippered feet reflexively intuitive as she sought a moment of peace, away from Alex.
As children playing games of tag or hide-and-seek among the maze’s corridors, Rue had used an overgrown gap between hedges to hide behind its leaves whenever Alex or Christian had come in looking for her. It must have once been a proper opening within the maze but had been overlooked by the gardener. For her, it was a delicious way to evade the boys, and it gave her great pleasure to know she bested them with her genius.
After two right turns then a left, she found her trusted hiding place. Once Alex walked past, she planned to sneak past behind him and make a beeline for the maze’s center, where she could finally be alone with her tumultuous thoughts and feelings. Brushing past the overgrowth of leaves, she shimmied into the gap, tucking her gown out of sight, not wanting Alex to know where she’d gone.
Keeping as still as possible, even going so far as holding her breath, she soon heard Alex’s booted footsteps draw nearer to her hiding place. He scurried past, just as he had always done when she hid there, and she counted to ten before emerging. She warily looked about for any sign of him, and when she felt sure it was safe to do so, she hightailed it in the opposite direction.
But just as she rounded the corner of the next turn, a rush of footsteps behind her signaled that Alex hadn’t been fooled again this time. Careful not to draw the attention of anyone outside on the terrace, he called out, “Rue, wait!”
Rue ignored him and continued on towards her destination, intent on reaching the bower, the one place on the Ravenscroft property that she was drawn to when in need of solitude. On slipper-encased feet, she was light as the wind, while Alex’s larger frame and longer legs powered through the distance separating them, slowly gaining on her.
More fool that she was, she glanced backwards mid-run to see Alex was much closer than she expected, and she pumped her legs faster. She was almost there; she was now on the dirt path leading up to its steps! With her goal in sight, she bounded forward, only to lose her footing, having tripped on a knobby root, hidden by the dead leaves strewn about.
Tumbling forward, she had no time to brace herself for the fall. What happened next occurred in a blur, where so many actions happened too quickly for her to completely register. First, she felt an immense weight tackle her from behind, knocking the breath out of her in a whoosh. Alex grunted when he collided with her back, forcing her further forward. With eyes clenched tightly, she fully expected to hit the ground face first and had only to wait for the pain of it. But two thickset arms banded tightly about her middle as Alex twisted the both of them in mid-air, resulting in Alex landing unceremoniously onto his back. Rue’s eyes flew open when, for the second time, her breath was forced out from her lungs, as the two of them hit the ground. Having initially expected to end up with a face and mouth full of dirt, she was surprised to be looking up at the night sky instead.
“Oof,” Alex expelled heavily, his arms falling to his sides at impact.
Rue promptly rolled off him and scooted on her knees to his side. A quick inspection of his person showed no blood spilled, nothing broken, but she still worried she might have done damage to his person. Fearfully, she asked, “Alex, are you hurt?”
Alex groaned. “No, not unless you count my pride. I haven’t taken a header like that since I first slipped and lost my footing on the slippery deck of my ship. What of you? Are you alright?” Sitting up, he groaned once more and rubbed at the back of his head, wincing.
Rue moved to inspect the back of his head while she answered, “I’m fine, thanks to you. Just let me see what’s become of that hard head of yours. Keep still.” Now kneeling behind him, she gingerly rubbed at the back of his head through his hair, searching for a telltale bump.
As her fingers quested through his hair, he reached up and around to feel for the sore spot himself, only to have Rue slap his hands away. “No touching,” she ordered. “
“I hadn’t hit my head that hard,” he protested as he twisted around to look her in the eye. “It won’t even be sore in the morning, I guarantee it.”
Pursing her lips doubtfully, she commented, “Well, I’ll leave it to you to know best what your body is telling you.”
Alex refrained from remarking on such a provocative statement uttered by Rue herself. Her innocence, still plain for him to see, was the only thing that stopped him from turning her innocuous words into something sultry and seductive.
Rue, on the other hand, caught the double entendre she produced unintentionally, especially since she knew of Alex’s reputation as a master seducer. Although it was dark with only the moonlight to illuminate their surroundings, she was grateful he could not see her blush.
Dusting himself off, Alex promptly got to his feet and reached down to give Rue a hand to help her up onto her feet. Looking down at her, he couldn’t help superimposing the old Rue over this stylish and grownup version. Grass stains marred her pretty gown while her once-coiled hair was now in disarray from their fall. As she was now, no one would believe that she was a marketable woman, ripe for the marriage mart.
Only, he knew she was much more than that. In fact, observing her now as she set herself to rights, he realized he was approaching the situation between them all wrong. Rather than resist the woman as he planned on doing, he might as well accept that he wanted her mightily. After all, all of the catty women he knew in London couldn’t hold a candle to his Rue, the girl whom he had never forgotten all of these years.
It was the ghost of Rue that had kept him awake during the nights he spent in the beds of others. When the what-ifs concerning Rue became too m
uch for him to handle, he poured himself further into his work, his club, and his activities, until the monotony of it all had finally wearied him enough to seek the shelter of home.
And here he was, finally home, and he could see no better mistress of Ravenscroft than his Rue. Having met his mother’s List of Ladies, he realized that not a single one could ever love his home as much as Rue did. He was sure that they were all suitable ladies, trained to make someone else, not him, a proper English wife.
Watching Rue as she sauntered over to the bower that his mother had installed years ago, he also realized that she spent more time here than she did her own home. His own mother had reported to him of Rue’s own comings and goings in and out of London, and he was careful to avoid her at functions, lest he prematurely start their long-awaited reunion.
While he knew he would eventually run into her once he was home, he had not expected the vision that she was when they had finally reunited. Just as he had with his own business dealings, Alex was man enough to realize when he made a blunder and to move forward by fixing it aright. And in this case, he knew that fighting his own attraction to Rue was useless, and the more he thought about it, the more he agreed that he should do something about it.