“Yes! Yes, that was exactly it. And even though I should never have asked, never have questioned, once I had, it seemed imperative that I…that I show you how I feel about you. Be-before the wedding.”
“I see,” Bailey said rather stiffly. “And—” he put out his index fingers and rather twirled them in front of her breasts “—doing what you did was by way of being in aid of showing me? Let me hazard a guess here. It was Kate’s idea, wasn’t it? She set you on me, like a hound on the fox.”
She felt the heat of abject embarrassment rushing into her cheeks. “You don’t have to be crude, Bailey.”
“Yes, you’re right. That was uncalled for. If not a bit cold-blooded on your part,” he added, and then winced. “No, I didn’t mean that. We all make mistakes. Not that what you did was a mistake,” he amended quickly. “Or me, either. Made a mistake, that is. Damn it all, Alana, I don’t know what I’m saying anymore.”
Now his cheeks were looking rather pink. “Bailey? Why were you looking for me? Max seemed to know to stay away from this area of the gardens, and yet Kate directed you here.”
“Yes,” he said slowly, as if speaking might have suddenly become painful. “About that…”
And then, as surely as the sun Bailey had compared her to rose in the east, everything became suddenly and horrifyingly clear. Alana’s hands flew to her own cheeks as the realization hit her. She looked toward the gazebo, and then back at Bailey, who now was looking rather strangled. “Kate! Oh, my God! You came here to seduce me! Didn’t you? On…on orders from Kate!”
“It wasn’t so much an order as a suggestion.” Bailey took her hands in his, which wasn’t an easy feat, because she didn’t want him to hold her hands, didn’t want him to look at her the way he was looking at her. She wanted to be angry. She certainly was embarrassed—horribly so. “And I have to admit that, at least until Max showed up, a fairly good one.”
As it was time—past time—to be honest, Alana nodded her agreement. “We were being stupid, weren’t we? I mean, I know I was. Allowing Sylvia Wise to put doubts in my mind the way she did. I should have trusted you more…trusted myself more.” She looked up into his wonderful face. “I do love you, Bailey. Very much. And I trust you. I’ll never doubt you again.”
He took her in his arms again, and they kissed, sealing their love, committing to each other wholly and completely, and Alana was once more at home, safe and protected in Bailey’s arms, which was, after all, where she wanted to spend the rest of her life. She was willing, more than willing—even eager—to put the past few days behind them and get on with their lives.
And that should have been the end of it. They would marry on Sunday and live happily ever after.
But of course that couldn’t be the end of it. Not when dealing with the Redgraves.
Bailey broke the kiss and put his hands on her shoulders, pushing her slightly away from him. “Alana? Has it occurred to you that—the fact that her plan worked out so wonderfully well for the two of us to one side—at this very moment, Kate is sitting in the drawing room, licking cream off her whiskers?”
“What?” she asked in confusion. But then she realized what he meant. She turned her head to look toward the gazebo, and then jerked her head back around to look goggle-eyed at Bailey. “She thinks we’re…that we’re…and she’s—oh!”
“Yes. Oh. I don’t know about you, sweetheart, but it seems to me, her aforementioned good intentions notwithstanding, we might not wish to have to spend the rest of our lives with Kate thinking she’d tricked us into seducing each other out here this afternoon.”
“Oh, God.” Alana nearly groaned the words. “I don’t want her to spend so much as the rest of the afternoon thinking she’d tricked us into…you know, what you said. How could we possibly face her at dinner?”
“She’d probably wink at us,” Bailey said, beginning to smile.
“She would, wouldn’t she,” Alana said, feeling her stomach sink to her toes at the thought. “And Max, Bailey. Max knows as well, doesn’t he? And if Max knows—”
“Valentine knows. None of them will tell Gideon, they’re not fools enough to do that, but the dowager countess will have it out of one of them by tomorrow night. I can see her now, Alana, giving me a hearty slap on the back and saying Good on you or some such thing. Or worse. Maybe something more along the lines of It took you long enough, or Needed a push in the right direction, did you?”
Alana bit her lip as she nodded her agreement. “That last one, I think. The dowager is very…forthright. We can’t let this happen, Bailey. But what are we going to do?”
“I think I know. Are you willing to follow where I lead, sweetheart?”
“Anywhere you go, yes.” She held out her hand to him, and he took it, raised it to his lips. “But, um, where are we going?”
“To the drawing room. To ruin Kate’s afternoon.”
Alana thought about that for the space of five seconds; two of them spent remembering that Kate’s intentions had all been of the best, and three contemplating the knowing smile on her friend’s face if they’d shown up just before dinner, looking flushed and guilty. “Good. I think that’s an excellent idea.”
Bailey pressed a short, hard kiss on her mouth, and then they were off, holding hands until they reached the terrace.
“I love you,” he told her.
“And I love you,” she responded, knowing she had never meant the words more.
And then they stepped inside the drawing room to see Lady Katherine sitting there as if waiting for some sort of report, for goodness sake. Kate glanced at the mantel clock and then at Bailey and Alana. “Back so soon? I thought you were…that is, is it coming on to rain?”
“No,” Bailey answered evenly, “the weather remains fine. Alana and I just wanted to thank you, Kate.”
She smiled rather proudly, and waved away his words. “Oh, there’s no need to do that. I was just—”
“Because,” Bailey went on before she could finish, “thanks to you, and a few uncomfortable moments in the gardens upon which I’m sure you would not wish me to dwell, Alana and I have realized we would not suit. I have granted Miss Wallingford’s wish to terminate our engagement.”
“Ter-terminate?” Kate’s eyes went wide as she looked from Bailey to Alana. “You… But that’s not what was supposed to— Alana?”
Alana loved the Redgraves. Truly she did. But Bailey by her side or not, she knew she was still the Lilliputian in the land of the giants. Or a loved and cosseted pet to these wonderful, wild, teasing, sometimes reckless and even scandalous Redgraves. They were never mean, no, never, but they were a bit much sometimes for a person born with a quieter nature. In the three years she had been Gideon’s ward, she had never once managed to give as good as she got, or surprise them in any way.
Until now. With Bailey beside her, she could dare anything. And dare she would!
“It’s true, Kate,” she said, looking her friend fully in the eye. “I find I’m not…enamored of…of certain aspects of the married life. The, um, more intimate aspects. This is no fault of Bailey’s, but something I have worried about for some months. I’m really very much relieved. In fact, I have all but decided to enter a nunnery.”
“A…a— What!”
“I’m sure you can appreciate that I’d like to be alone now with…with my prayers. If you could please arrange a dinner tray to be brought up to me later, Kate? Just something simple. I’m fairly certain there are no fine sauces at the convent.” Alana turned to curtsy to Bailey. “And thank you again for your kindness and consideration, my lord,” she said. “I am so happy!”
“God speed, Miss Wallingford,” he said with all seriousness, bowing to her in his turn, and then rather slyly winked at her as he offered his arm. “I’ll walk you to the stairs. If I might say a final farewell
later, before I ride off to inform my mother?”
“You are too kind.”
And so they went their separate ways, Alana to her chambers (locking the door behind her to assure her privacy) and Bailey to the stables so that he might avoid the Redgraves, planning to take his dinner at a nearby tavern…leaving Lady Katherine in the drawing room to mutter under her breath, “But…but…they thanked me? Wait until the others find out what a disaster I’ve made of things. Oh, Lord, I’ll never hear the end of this… .”
CHAPTER FIVE
THE CLOCKS IN THE LARGE, rambling Redgrave Manor were all in various stages of chiming out the hour of midnight when Bailey eased open the unlocked door to Alana’s chambers and slipped inside.
He’d pressed a note into Alana’s maid’s hand earlier about the door and the time, but it wasn’t until the latch had moved so easily beneath his hand that he expelled the breath he may have been holding for hours. She’d sounded so convincing with that business about the convent.
Well, not after tonight!
“Alana?” he whispered, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the near darkness. “Where are you?”
“Over here,” she answered just as quietly, and still from some distance away. “In…in bed. Do you mind that I didn’t light many candles?”
He turned toward the sound of her voice. “No, no, of course not,” he said, and then bit his lip as the toes of his right foot came in sharp contact with a chair leg. He stepped around the chair and, now able to make out the outline of the four-poster bed, headed in that direction. Only more cautiously.
And then he saw her, sitting propped against several pillows, her glorious blond hair undone and falling to her nearly bare shoulders, as she was clad in some sort of sheer, snowy-white confection that completed her quite virginal yet heart-stoppingly welcoming look.
“You’re the most beautiful woman in the world, Alana. You humble me.”
She dipped her chin slightly. “Thank you. Are…are you coming to bed? That is…I thought we’d… But I realize now that you never said…”
“Alana,” he told her as her voice trailed off in clear confusion, “I want this more than I have ever wanted anything in my life. I love you more than life itself. But we can wait, if you wish. It’s only a few more days.”
“Oh,” she said, pulling the coverlet a little higher across her breasts.
Bailey smiled. “You didn’t let me finish. I said we could wait. That didn’t mean I wanted to wait.”
She lifted her head and returned both his smile and his candor. “I was hoping you’d say that. Is that bold of me?”
“It’s honest of you,” Bailey said, reaching for the buttons of his shirt, as he had come to her in his shirtsleeves, seeing no need to waste time shedding himself of his jacket, waistcoat and cravat. “We’re to be married, sweetheart, and if the vows of honesty and trust aren’t in the marriage ceremony, we’ll just have to recite them here, tonight, between the two of us.”
His buttons were open now, and he began pulling the tail of his shirt free of his pantaloons.
Even in the dim light from the bedside candles, he could see Alana’s eyes growing wide as he finished stripping to his waist, tossing the shirt to the floor. He put his hands to the buttons at the front of his pantaloons and then hesitated.
“Yes, that would seem to be a splendid idea. I’ll go first. I, Alana Elizabeth Wallingford, do hereby vow before God and man to be always honest with and trusting of you, Bailey Richard Armstrong.” And then she added, “Now I shall be completely honest by saying that, intrigued as I will admit to being, I would greatly appreciate it if you’d please blow out that candle before you remove any more of your clothing.”
Bailey’s bark of laughter could have betrayed them, were Redgrave Manor not such an enormous old pile. He then quickly did what Alana asked, even as she turned to use the snuffer on the candle on her side of the bed.
Her side of the bed. As opposed to his side of the bed. Their bed. From this day forward. They would never sleep apart, as his own parents did, as most couples who could afford separate chambers did. No, never.
He’d add that to his list of vows when he recited them for Alana.
But not right now.
Right now he was much more interested in ridding himself of the rest of his clothing and sliding beneath the covers and, now that the room was lit only by thin moonlight coming in through one of the high windows, convincing Alana that neither of them needed clothing for what they were about to do.
But he wasn’t about to rush her. So thinking, he propped himself against pillows he’d moved closer to hers, and made sure the coverlet concealed him to his waist before turning to press a soft kiss against her temple.
She sighed audibly, and didn’t flinch at all when he then slid his arm across her waist.
“I spent the hours since we made our announcement to Kate thinking over everything you’d said to me this afternoon, sweetheart. I don’t know how to do anything but ask you outright—do you know what’s supposed to go on here tonight? Did your mother, or Kate perhaps, tell you?”
She shook her head. “No, not either of them. But I…I’m not entirely stupid, Bailey. And the dowager took me aside right after you and I were betrothed,” she told him. “She was…most explicit.”
Bailey barely suppressed a groan.
Alana hurried into speech. “Oh, no, it’s all right, Bailey, really. I still had some questions but…well, I thought she’d told me enough to go on with. Besides, according to the dowager, it isn’t so bad if you do it wrong, but if you do it right, it’s glorious. She meant you, Bailey, not me. Doing, you know…the doing. So…so I’m trusting you to…you know.”
“Do it right,” he grumbled. “Wonderful.”
He almost asked her if she had a decanter of wine in her chambers, but knew she wouldn’t, and besides, that would be cowardly. But the dowager had explained things to her? If rumor was to be believed, the woman had entertained more than one man in her bed over the years since the late earl died. All in all, just from the little Bailey knew of the lady who preferred to be called Trixie, she could have spent half her life tipped back on her heels. Good Lord, what had she said to Alana? Had she sketched her pictures?
“Come here,” he said at last, as Alana had begun twisting the coverlet in her hands. “I have an idea. Let’s learn together.”
Her eyes went wide. “Together? You mean you don’t—”
Bailey cut off her question with his kiss, having also decided that they’d talked enough for a while.
He knew himself to be young, eager and very much in love, which was why he carefully tamped down the eager part of the equation that was Bailey in their anticipation-of-marriage bed.
He kissed Alana, again and again; softly, deeply, teasingly. He kissed her hair, her cheek, her throat, her heartbreakingly sweet mouth. He took his signals from her, advancing when she seemed to melt against him, holding her close when she would stiffen slightly in his arms before beginning again with the patient kisses, the ever more intimate touches that had her relaxing into him once more.
Her nightrail was gone now, not ripped from her in one frustrated tug, as the carnal side of Bailey wished, but kissed down and away from her body, inch by tantalizing inch, until Alana actually kicked it the rest of the way off herself.
He worshipped her with his mouth, his hands, trailing his lips down over the curve of her breast, capturing her nipple in his mouth even as his fingertips skimmed across her lower belly. He pressed his palm against her just above the sweet nest of curls, and she responded by lifting her hips slightly, her body signaling that what he was doing was good…but the placement of his hand perhaps could be better.
“I know, sweetings, I know,” he whispered against her breast, and then continued his
journey of discovery, placing kisses against her soft, heated skin, dipping the tip of his tongue into her navel, being encouraged by the way her hands reached down to touch him, but not to stop him.
“So nice…so good…”
“Yes, sweetings, I know,” he repeated. “But there’s so much more. Just relax, Alana, let me give you more.” He cupped his hand over her sex, although her thighs remained firmly closed against him. “Let me in, sweetings. Let me touch you. Let me take you where your body longs to go. Please, Alana. Trust me.”
She whimpered, turning her head side to side, her breathing rapid and shallow as he claimed her nipple once more, dragged his tongue across it as it sprang to instant hardness. She was close, so close.
He moved his hand, pressing his fingers against her, stroking at her, hinting of what could be if she’d give over, give in, open to him.
“Oh, God…” he moaned against her as slowly, while her body seemed to relax, she spread her legs for him.
She was silk and fire, and so warm and tight. So maidenly and modest, yet equally eager to feel, to know, to experience.
Once again he went slowly, kissing her, coaxing her, as he dared each new intimacy, until at last he felt encouraged enough to rise up over her, take her mouth once more, and strip away the last barrier keeping them apart.
“I love you, Alana. I love you so much. Forgive me, but the pain will only be a moment,” he said, and then plunged home.
She stiffened against him, but then the moment was over and he was deep inside her, holding her close, kissing her and kissing her, again and again, until her bones seemed to turn to liquid and she cried out his name in mingled joy and confusion.
She was his sun and moon, and now, together, they had flown to the stars.
EPILOGUE
Rules of Engagement: The Reasons for MarriageThe Wedding PartyUnlaced (Lester Family) Page 33