“I’ve never been a great believer in orderly fashions.” She tried to sound normal, but something inside her chest was not cooperating with her breathing pattern.
His expression gentled. “I am quite aware of that. I have a few specifications of my own.”
She raised her eyebrows, pretending to look bored.
“First.” He straightened his cuffs, while she noted the way the lamplight made love to his strong facial bones. “I would refuse to let you take a lover.”
Her eyebrows lifted even higher. “Even if you had a mistress?”
“I don’t, and never would.”
“What about another lover?”
“If I were happy with you, would I need another lover?”
She inclined her head to the side. “You would expect me to cater to your every wish to make sure you remained happy.”
“Frankly, my darling Hebe, I love you the way you are.” He took another step forward.
She twisted her fingers together, trying not to let herself hope that he loved her as much as she would always love him. “I’m running short of objections.” Staring at his strong mouth, she imagined being able to kiss him day or night.
“I’m banking on that.” His mouth curled up on one side. “I know that if you married me, I would be the most fortunate man in the world. You have never shirked your duty to your family, and I would be your family, too. The strong courageous woman you are is the one I fell in love with.”
“That’s a plunker. You argued with me from the beginning.”
He slowly shook his head, smiling. “You stimulated me, but I was far too young to be thinking of marriage. Aside from that, I saw that you were more interested in moneyed gentlemen.”
She lifted her gaze and met his. “I had no other choice. I couldn’t marry to disoblige my family.”
“I quite realize that. Nor could I.”
“You didn’t show any sign of being interested in me. In fact, quite the opposite.”
“If I can’t afford a four-horse carriage, I look at barouches, reluctant though I may be.”
She dipped her gaze, smiling. “Surely I am more interesting than a four-horse carriage. I think I am at least a four-horse racing curricle.”
“Perhaps. You have sleek lines and you are certainly fast.”
“You are more of a four-horse carriage. You are built to last. You also have a worthy undercarriage.”
“I believe you have tested there a few times. If not, you have certainly caused the springing to tighten, somewhat.”
“I can’t remember.”
He smiled in a way that indicated he did. “Before you give me a final answer, we need to have a discussion about your money, Hebe. I don’t have enough to make a dint in a bargain. I have spent more than a week coming up with a hundred guineas to buy a wedding license.”
“But you know my husband left me a fortune.”
“The least a man can do is buy the wedding license. Could I have come to you and said that I adore you, and would you mind buying buy a wedding license so that I could marry you? Perhaps you can afford me, but I’m rather sparse with my spending. The money I want is for the estate and of course, for my prospective children.”
She heard the halt in his breath as he awaited her next words. “Estates are expensive. Horace bought my family home. He also hired a man of business for my father, and our estate is now making a small profit.”
“My small estate is also making a small profit, but I have two brothers to place as yet. Charlie needs two more years at Oxford.” He fixed his gaze on hers. “You could buy and sell Croesus, but my marital needs are more dependent on that fact that all the money in the world would be meaningless without your love.”
“Beautifully said.” She stared straight into his eyes.
He inclined his head to one side. “Are you considering my proposal?”
“Your arguments are rather convincing.” She suddenly laughed. “I was willing to have your baby, married or not. You can’t imagine I don’t love you. Of course I do. And yes, of course I will marry you.”
“We can be married tomorrow.” He snatched her into his arms, and gazed down at her, his expression softened. “I have a special license.”
“What do you plan to do, tonight?”
“You are clearly about to attend a function.” A charming crease appeared beside his mouth.
She waited, her face upturned.
“Tonight, I intend to be entirely unscrupulous,” he said with a disastrous smile. “I intend to have my way with you.”
“By that, I hope you mean that I will have my way with you?” She ran her fingers through his thick hair, ending behind his ear. “Is it too early to retire for the night?” She thought her question mumbled into his bristled chin sounded innocent, but apparently her words sparked a surge of lust in him.
He buried his face in her neck and breathed in an out as if fighting for control. “My dear seductress, I can’t wait to ravish you.”
“A proper ravishment? With you involved as well?”
“I’ll make sure I can’t back out of the marriage.” He sighed. “Being a fortune hunter isn’t as easy as it seems.” His palm flattened on her back, and he tenderly examined her face.
“As an ex-fortune hunter, I know. I hope we don’t have to continue mentioning money, because it should never be spoken of in polite society.” With that, she made sure he couldn’t speak by covering his mouth with kisses.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Hebe accepted being tossed, fully dressed, onto her bed. For her previous nights with Alex, she had time to prepare herself before he arrived. Tonight was no assignation. He and she would be naked with each other.
Alex stood beside the bed, his expression enigmatic. Beginning to disrobe in front of her, first he removed his cravat, which he threw toward the screen, and missed. Next came his jacket. She watched him toss that as well, fascinated. Apparently, he didn’t mind decorating the floor with his clothes, unlike Horace, who used his own dressing room and hid his body from her. And she must stop comparing Alex to Horace, or her pleasure in being a voyeur would be lost.
Except for the one time that Alex had undressed in the candlelight, the sight of him naked had been hidden from her. No longer. His waistcoat soared across the room and then he sat on the bed for a moment or two, while he removed his shoes.
“Which item will you tease me with next, I wonder?” she muttered, trying to keep her tone light. Inside she was a mess of nerves. Her hopes were high. His nocturnal visits had proved he was a masterful lover. She only hoped she could measure up to him. She’d largely been a vessel rather than a woman, but Alex hadn’t treated her that way. He treated her body with reverence when he’d been with her. Her only time with him naked had told her that his body was beautifully toned.
Long ago, she had decided that he was perfect for her, but possibly that came from craving a man who wouldn’t touch her. He had moved from that position and begun to touch her, without being one with her. After all these years of longing for him, the build up might not match the reality. Perhaps she should suggest waiting until after the ceremony.
“My shirt?” he said, his eyebrows lifted in query.
She leaned back against the pillows, supinely watching his every move, deciding to hold her thoughts a while longer. His shirt was lifted over his head and followed his cravat onto the carpet. His naked chest was divine, all gliding muscles and sculptured curves. If that wasn’t enough to heat her to boiling point, he began to open his flap. His trousers slid down his slim hips. He briefly turned his back to fling away his last vestiges of clothing and turned to face her, his cock thick against his belly.
Her mouth dried. She couldn’t concentrate on anything else. She slid out of the bed, turning her back to him, waiting for him to unlace her gown. She glanced at him over her shoulder, and he gave her a lascivious grin. “I’m almost of a mind to rip off your gown instead of waiting a moment longer.”
“The a
nticipation is half the pleasure.” And she could have a moment to compose herself. Her mouth seemed to have filled with cotton wads. He expected an experienced woman of the world, and she wouldn’t let herself down, now. She lifted her hair.
Fully naked, the man began the world’s quickest unlacing. Flora could learn a lesson or two from him. Hebe slipped out of her gown and he began on her stays. For a man who said he’d never had a mistress, he seemed to know his way around a woman’s wardrobe. Finally, she stood as naked as he.
With a leap, she got under the covers of the bed, where he joined her, large and warm. Strangely, the situation was not in the least dire. The expression on his face a mix of tenderness and desire, he took her into his arms and lightly kissed her mouth. “Perhaps I am twenty-four hours early, but at last you are mine.”
She had been his since she was nineteen. Her gaze had followed him across ballroom floors while he asked others to dance with him, and she had glanced in another direction when he had tried to engage her in conversation. She had flirted with other men while he had occupied himself with other women. Once, furious with herself, she had kissed him, and he had kissed her back, but had scrupulously evaded her gaze the next time she saw him. The time had never been right for them, until now.
Her chest filled with love, she snuggled closer, leaving him to take the lead. At first he slowly kissed her eyes, her forehead, her cheeks, her jaw, both sides, and then he gently lipped her neck and shoulders. She knotted her fingers in his thick hair, her body heating from head to toes. With restless hands, she explored him, moving from his wide shoulders, down his hard back, and onto his rounded buttocks. Her desire for him almost melted her bones.
Desperate to make love to him, she slid down to meet him naked chest to naked chest, opened her legs, and pressed herself against him, hoping against hope that this time he would take her. “I love you, Alex,” she whispered. “I always have.”
“I love you, too,” he murmured against her cheek.
Although she was hot and wet, he used his fingers as he had before. Her nub of pleasure throbbed and he teased her there with his thumb. Within seconds she was writhing and wanting more. To hurry him along, she nipped at his ear, and reached for him. He breathed out. She didn’t doubt for one minute that he enjoyed her hand movements, but to demonstrate to her what he liked, he tightened his hand around hers. The slide of him in her palm proved that he delighted in her as much as she delighted in him. She seemed to be in control instead of waiting for life to come to her. For the first time, she felt empowered.
Finally, when her body was hot and needy, he shifted her under him and slid his lovely cock against her wetness. She drew in a breath of stark longing and tried to wriggle him into her. At first she was too tight, but he didn’t push. He waited, his body tense, kissing her the whole time. He slowly pressed deeper, withdrew, and entered, over and over. Instead of relaxing into the pleasure, she arched her back and pressed her heels into his tight buttocks, while he began to fit more and more of him into her.
He continued to stimulate her with his fingers while he withdrew and re-entered. For the first time in her experience, she began to build to a breathless peak, moving against him in a rhythm that gained her the maximum pleasure.
Anticipating each thrust of his, and the slapping of his hard body against hers, drove her into a frenzy of passion. She cried out his name, digging her fingers into his skin, and bucking against him. He was no longer the man who had mocked her, who had derided her, who had turned his back on her all those years ago. He was now the man she had dreamed about for far too long, the man who wanted her despite her feigned disdain of him. His thrusts came faster and deeper until she finally experienced the frantic joy of his expansion inside her.
“Hebe, my Hebe,” he said huskily, slumping on her. He lifted himself to gaze at her, the expression on his face smudged with wonder.
He slowly withdrew, rolled onto his side, and gathered her against his chest. She didn’t want to compare him to Horace, for where love did not exist, there could be no comparison. The difficult-to-please man by her side smiled and tucked her head under his chin.
“You made me wait far too long for this.” She cupped his cheek with her palm.
“Six weeks, Hebe.”
“Eight years.”
He held her in his comforting, protective embrace and tightened his arms around her. His heart throbbed against her.
The rest of her words were muffled onto his chest. “I think you are the kindest man in the world. First you helped with my jewelry box, and then you helped with the fishing, although you knew I had ulterior motives. I didn’t think for a moment that you would leave me if I conceived.”
He rolled onto his back, his arm still around her. “You can be sure I wouldn’t.”
“I’m glad. I would never have known, you see, that my money wasn’t more important than me. I would never have known if you wanted me or a baby, either. My money means no more to you than a gift for our children.” She held him close, listening to the beat of his heart.
He pushed a lock of her hair behind her ear, gazing into her eyes. “I love you.”
“And I love you,” she said against his bristled cheek.
Exhausted by her emotions, and his incredible love-making, she fell asleep, knowing that at last she held his heart.
****
Alex married Hebe early the next morning. Her maid and his groom stood as the only witnesses in the parlor of the closest vicarage. Since his city rooms were too small to accommodate her as well as him, he took her to a small hotel for the first night.
The epitome of efficiency, Hebe had organized for her maid to pack her clothes for the trip to Norfolk. She had yet to meet Alex’s family. Her travelling carriage arrived early in the morning and the trip to Rydale’s estate was accomplished within a few leisurely days, during which time he discovered that his beautiful wife ran a charity for homeless women. She planned to organize other women to help. Without a doubt, he had married an amazing woman.
“Don’t expect too much. The place is quite run down,” he said as the carriage drew up outside the manor house that had been expanded by every generation except his, since the first modest construction in Tudor times. The place was large enough, or even too large. Rooms that had once been empty and unused would now be filled with busy people accomplishing all manner of tasks.
Hebe snuggled into him and kissed his cheek. “It’s beautiful, Alex. I will so much enjoy living in the country.”
He would so much enjoy sharing his large bed in the country with her. First, he had to announce his marriage to his mother who had come down the outside steps to greet him, clearly not recognizing the carriage. After expressing surprise, pleasure, and then worrying aloud about the state of the house, and the fact that one of his brothers was in school and the other shooting with friends in York, she inducted Hebe into the family by planting a kiss on each of her cheeks.
When Alex finally joined his beautiful wife in bed that night, she welcomed him with open arms. “I am glad I have you to take with me back to my town house. I was so lonely there, with only servants to keep me company.” She snuggled into him. “Your mother seems quite relieved that you have married.”
“She had almost lost hope. Next she will be wanting to discuss grandchildren.”
“I hope we don’t have a baby too soon, though. I would hate to have to give up marital relations while I’m still enjoying you.”
“I will take precautions, my love, in that case.” He kissed the insatiable wretch and took her again, and again.
Meeting her at Langsdene’s had been the most deliciously hazardous accident in his whole life.
EPILOGUE
Two months later, Hebe invited her friends and Alex’s for a house party in Norfolk. The old house had been refurbished, but of course, other repairs were still to be done. Many rooms needed structural changes. At least the Dowager Lady Rydale had kept the garden in good order.
Ale
x stood proudly in his own house, having said to Hebe that he was delighted to at last be able to share the hospitality that had so generously been offered to him over the years. She was equally delighted because her friends could visit her.
Rose and Della arrived first with their husbands. Winsome and Langsdene arrived the next day. Winsome appeared a little chubbier. “Yes, my dear, a new Langsdene will be born in about five months.”
Rose and Della, who each had two children, clearly knew, but Hebe grabbed first Winsome and then Langsdene and kissed them. “I’m so pleased for you. That’s the best news I’ve heard in a long time.”
“Let’s hope you can put off the patter of tiny feet for a while longer.”
“Come what may, at least Alex and I finally have each other.” Hebe smiled, knowing that in the two months he had been with her new husband, that she’d had a hundred more chances to conceive than she had with Horace. Her first husband had been an unlikely father, given the paucity of their times together. If she didn’t ever conceive, Alex’s brothers would have an estate for their children instead, but she had by no means given up hope.
“I thought we would never manage to put you two together again.” Rose glanced at Della and back to Hebe. “Your first marriage made things rather difficult.”
Hebe put her hands on her hips and glanced at everyone suspiciously. “I certainly hope no one here poisoned Horace?”
The ladies laughed.
“There was some discussion but Della’s husband, Eden, thought it a wretched idea,” Winsome said. “He is, of course, a mathematician. He expected that your former husband would die before you, and then Rydale could finally have you.”
“I am supremely grateful that you wished an elderly bride on me,” Alex said in a disgruntled tone. “You would have been confounded if I had proposed to Miss Smith.”
Winsome shook her head. “You had any amount of aspirants for your hand over the years and you never looked at one. We all knew, years ago, that you were meant for Hebe. And now you have her.”
Deliciously Hazardous (Regency Four Book 4) Page 9