by Dayna Quince
Mr. Potter followed wordlessly.
“Wait! You cannot leave. I order you to arrest them!”
“Mr. Foster,” Jonathan strolled forward.
Richard backed up against the window. “Touch me and I will sue.” He flinched when Jonathan gently flicked something from Richard’s shoulder.
Jonathan leaned in close to his face. “Get out while you still can.”
Richard stepped to the side and hurried to the door. Thea closed her eyes and looked away. In her mind, he scurried away like a rat. She prayed she’d never set eyes on him again. All was silent now. She could hear steps around her, soft and hesitant.
“Well, dinner is almost ready. We have even more to celebrate, now,” Lucy said.
Thea stood shakily. “I can’t. I just want to go to bed.” She met their sympathetic gazes. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry.” Lucy smiled. Her eyes looked bright. “I’ll send a tray to your room.”
Thea nodded her thanks and turned to leave. She could feel Felton shadowing her. They climbed the stairs silently, and once again in her room, she gravitated toward the bed and lay down.
Felton’s hands came to her back, and he undid the dress. He spread the halves open and rubbed her tense shoulders.
“Tell me what you need,” he said.
“Just you and time,” she said against the pillow.
“You have both now.”
“I know.” Thea let out a heavy sigh. Her eyes drifted close, but she did not fall asleep. Felton draped a blanket over her and moved to answer the door. She could hear murmuring but didn’t care enough to open her eyes.
“Well, that was anticlimactic.” Lucy took her seat at the dining table across from her husband.
“Thank God for that. Foster looked ready to lop off heads.”
“I have every faith he couldn’t have taken a step without losing his own.” She smiled at her husband warmly.
“Ick.” Jonathan pushed his plate away. Must you be so...married at the table?”
“Yes,” Lucy glared at him. “It is my table, and I will do as I please at it or on it.”
Winchester choked on his sip of wine.
Jonathan shoved himself away from the table in disgust. “My God.” He stormed out of the room.
“Was that necessary? He’s been through enough, hasn’t he?” Winchester wiped wine from his mouth.
Lucy stood grudgingly and chased after her brother. She knew she’d find him near the fullest bottle of brandy, so she went directly to the study. He was there pouring himself a liberal drink.
“That’s certainly going to help.” Lucy closed the door. “Do you want to talk about your awful behavior?”
He scowled at her. “Leave me alone.”
“I can’t. I can see you’re well on your way to being drunk and stupid.”
Jonathan plopped down in a wingback chair and ignored her.
Lucy stomped in front of him. “Did you love her? Is that what this is about?”
“Go away.”
“You refused to wed her from the beginning.”
“I know,” he growled.
“Then what changed?” Lucy flung her arms out.
Jonathan only stared darkly at her.
“Tell me, brother. If you don’t love her, why are you so angry about her marriage?”
“I could have loved her—I do love her,” he said weakly.
“You love her?”
He looked away from her.
“Do you love her like Winchester and I love her, or do you love her the way Winchester and I love each other. Because there is a difference and that difference is huge. It’s the difference between the sun and the moon, the earth, and the sky. Do not punish her and Felton, a man who I find I very much like because you haven’t figured out your own heart. They deserve to be happy together. If you truly love her, you would want that more than anything else.”
His eyes returned to her, glossy in the light of the fire. “I could have loved her.”
“You already said that, but I don’t know what you mean!” Lucy said emphatically.
“It means I could have, but now I’ll never get the chance. It means she may have been my one chance at happiness, and I missed it. It means... It means I may never have a chance again, or worst of all... I won’t be able to know in time. Because how do you bloody know you’re in love? How do you know which one is the one, the woman who will make every other woman fade away?”
Lucy sat on the stool in front of him and remained silent.
“When he looks at her, it’s like I’m seeing him see her for the first time over and over. The awe, the utter devotion. It’s sickening, and it makes me so bloody angry. I want to feel that. How does one feel that for a person? When does it happen?” His voice broke.
Lucy put a hand on his knee. “Stop. You’re thinking entirely too hard about this, and you know thinking is not your forte.”
He shoved her hand away and stood. “If you can’t be serious then leave.”
“I am serious.” Lucy stood. “It’s like lightning. You can’t just stand outside and wait for it to hit you. It happens when it happens and when it finally does, you’ll definitely know.”
“Winchester didn’t.”
“He didn’t want to. Denial is a powerful trick of the mind. If you want love, it will find you. It will slap you in the face. Deny it and it hits harder.”
He didn’t respond. He stood there unmoving, his eyes never leaving the fire. Lucy turned away. “If you can’t summon a little happiness for her, then go.”
She left him there in the study. She couldn’t change his mind if he didn’t want to change it.
After Felton had managed to coax a few bites of food past her lips, Thea lay back in bed with a satisfied sigh. Or almost satisfied. There was only one thing she wanted more than sleep. Felton blew out the last candle and climbed into bed beside her. He pulled her to his side and then...he did nothing. Well, almost nothing. He closed his eyes.
Thea stared at the outline of his profile in the dark.
“I can feel you watching me, you know.”
Thea smiled and rested her head on his shoulder. “Isn’t it odd that one can feel being watched?”
“It’s instinct.”
“Like animals have?”
“Yes. We are still animals in a way.”
“Hmmm. Like this?” She softly bit his shoulder. His chest rumbled near her ear.
“Little beast. I’m the bigger animal. I can devour you.” He rolled her onto her back, and Thea squealed delightedly. He loomed over her in the dark. Lips and teeth caught at hers, but she could not catch hold of him as he moved from her mouth to her ear and down her neck. He pulled at the ties of her nightgown and opened it to her upper chest before resuming his nibbling.
“I’ll devour you slowly.”
“Please do.” Thea giggled. She sighed as his mouth found her nipple, and his busy hands pulled up her nightgown.
“Off with this.”
She shifted until he could pull it over her head. Being fully naked with him was still a new experience, but the dark made her braver, and it heightened every sensation. She wanted to feel all of him against her, every inch of warm skin, but he moved lower, distracting her with little nibbles along the slope of her breast. But he didn’t stay there. He moved lower still, down through the valley of her breasts, across the plane of her stomach where the nerves in her skin jumped and danced at his touch. He moved out of her reach, his devilish lips and tongue her only guide in the dark to his location.
The fire had burned low in the hearth, the thick curtains covering her window holding its warmth in the room, but it was no match for the fire he ignited inside her. She pressed her head back against the pillows and his head moved lower, his hands parting her legs. He nuzzled the inside of her thighs, kissing them, using his tongue to torture her.
Thea held her breath as he drew near her center, waiting for the moment he would devour her as he
said he would. She felt wicked, she felt like a wild woman. Unleashed. Unbound.
The first touch of his mouth on her nearly undid her. It was so foreign, and yet so exquisite and thrilling that she could do nothing but hold herself in suspended rapture. He held her hips and lifted her to his mouth. His tongue swirled around the sensitive little bud. It was sweet agony. Thea couldn’t hold herself still any longer. Her legs began to shake, and her hands reached for him, searching for reassurance that she hadn’t died from pleasure. It rippled through her in waves, stronger and stronger.
When his fingers sunk into her heat, she felt her body clamp around them. She cried out, certain she was going to shatter like glass.
He pulled back. She was so close to the precipice that his withdrawal was painful.
“Nooo,” she moaned.
“Hush. I’m right here.” He was back seconds later, moving over and above her, his hardness seeking her softness, and with one thrust, filling her.
“Yes,” Thea panted. She wrapped her arms and legs around him. Their bodies met skin to skin, and it was so overwhelming, she fractured in his arms. Her release blasted through her, her body shaking and dissolving into molten bliss. She was almost too weak to hold on to him, but being so close felt too good to let go. He held her tightly as he thrust into her over and over, faster and faster. He grunted and groaned, crying her name and finding his own release.
He stopped himself from falling on her, slowly settling his weight, instead. This was the best part of their lovemaking. Their breaths mixed together, and she could feel the thud of his heart against her own. She felt like a whole new person when they lay like this, so full of hope and love, completely and utterly happy. She never wanted to let go, and the brilliant thing was—she wouldn’t have to.
He lifted himself up, but not very far. Thea wouldn’t let him.
“Are you all right?”
“I’m perfect.”
“I knew that, but your heart is still beating so fast.”
“It’s happy. It’s whole now, thanks to you.”
“You were always whole, Thea.”
“No. I was a puzzle with a missing piece. That piece was you.”
He remained silent above her. “Say something.”
“I...I can’t form the words to describe what I’m feeling.”
Thea smiled. She understood. His joy was evident in his tone. She didn’t know being this close to someone opened up a whole new world of communication. It was magical.
“I love you.” She breathed.
“I love you more than I can adequately say.” He rolled them to their sides, adjusting their limbs more comfortably. He kissed her forehead.
She snuggled into him. “You don’t have to say it. I can feel it.”
Her love swelled inside her in answer to his, rising like a sun. She could be moved to tears if she wanted to, but instead, she closed her eyes, the beat of his heart a lullaby against her cheek.
“I can feel it, too,” he whispered.
Epilogue
Thea’s heart was racing. She stared out the window of the carriage, her palms sweaty as they turned down another road. She hadn’t read the sign. Her eyes were everywhere at once, and she couldn’t focus on a single thing. She’d never been to this part of Derbyshire. The executor had assured them it was lovely. The land was rich with potential. And the house was in good repair thanks to the caretaker, Mr. Hoffit.
Land and a home and it was all theirs. She reached out blindly, and Felton caught her hand. She turned to him with a nervous smile.
“It will be fine.”
“Of course, it will, but I’m anxious all the same. It feels too good to be true.”
“After meeting your aunts, I think you’ve earned every foot of this inheritance.”
“I just can’t believe they hid it from me.”
“I can’t believe they didn’t shamelessly use it. It’s been sitting here empty for twenty years.”
“Aunt Beatrice always referred to Grandmother as ‘that old witch.”‘
Felton shuddered. “I still can’t forget the way she threw her wig at you.”
Thea laughed. They had met with her aunts in London a week ago. The meeting had not gone smoothly. Thea and Felton were eternally grateful for the use of Winchester’s lawyer to make sure Thea received her inheritance as she ought to. Richard was there, but he hadn’t uttered a word. It was her aunts who had gone insane. They’d ripped the documents to shreds and tossed them in the fire. Mr. Greyson had promptly produced more copies.
When told they had no rights to any of it, their answering shrieks had echoed throughout the building. That was when Aunt Beatrice ripped off her wig and had thrown it at Thea. Felton caught it and dropped it on the floor in disgust. Their lawyer dragged them out of the office literally kicking and screaming after that. At the time, it was terrifying, but looking back now, Thea couldn’t help but chuckle. The nightmare was over, and every day with Felton felt like her happiest dreams were coming true.
The carriage rumbled over a bridge, and Thea turned back to the window. She gasped. They were in a stable yard. The coach slowed, and Thea could hardly contain her excitement as the driver kicked down the steps and opened the door. Felton handed her down, and she looked around in awe. This was only the stable yard, but she was in utter awe of the fact that she had a stable yard.
A man stepped out of a side door and waved. Felton tucked her hand in his elbow and pulled her over.
“You must be the new Lord and Lady. Mr. Hoffit at your service.” He doffed his hat.
“How do you do, Mr. Hoffit? I’m Major Henry Felton, and this is my wife.” Felton shook her gently to get her attention.
“Oh, yes, Mr. Hoffit. Lady Franchette was my grandmother.”
He beamed. “Please, let me show you inside. We can go ‘round to the front and begin there. James and Abel can get your things. They’re me boys.”
Felton and Thea followed Mr. Hoffit to the front of the house. Thea couldn’t comprehend everything he was saying. It was so beautiful.
“Are we surrounded by moats?”
“Yes, sir. We’ve three bridges to get to the house. There is even a private canal. You’ve got yourselves quite a gem here.”
Thea nodded absently. She remained quiet as Mr. Hoffit showed them the interior of the house and then the gardens. He spoke of the tenants who worked tirelessly to keep the lands and the house, all because of the long history of the families.
“It will be lovely to see this place be a home again.” Mr. Hoffit finished. “Are you pleased?”
Thea nodded and blinked. “I’ve never had a home like this.”
Felton shook Mr. Hoffit’s hand. “We’re more than pleased, Mr. Hoffit.”
Mr. Hoffit left them in the front hall. Alone now, Thea circled in wonder away of Felton’s eyes on her.
Everything was old but lovingly cared for. It was perfect. She could feel the history of the house and feel its desire to know laughter and family again. She was so honored to be the one to provide that. She placed a hand to her stomach, to the secret she had not yet shared with anyone. She would tell him tonight after they’d made love for the first time in their very own home.
There was going to be such happiness here. So many memories made. She couldn’t wait to start this new adventure.
Sneak Peek
Dear reader,
I almost thought about waiting for Jonathan’s story. Initially, his was going to be further down the line. But after Thea trampled all over his heart, I couldn’t wait to give him his own happily ever after.
Mad About You
If Jonathan had been a rake before, he didn’t know what he was now. He’d spent a year abroad searching for anything that pleased him and used it up until it was extinguished. This included women. Now that he had returned, he wanted to leave again.
He’d missed the season purposefully. His mother was worried, and part of that worry erupted in the form of throwing marriageable young la
dies his way. Since he’d been gone for so long, she did this by letter, but now that he was home, he was worried she’d lower herself to actually shoving women at him. He promised to meet his mother at the Worthington House party. It was an annual event and quite large. There would be many places to hide on the massive property and many unhappily married or widowed women to indulge in.
He was waiting for such a woman right now. He’d received a secret missive upon his arrival, and he wasn’t about to let an impromptu tryst go to waste—unless she was unattractive or clearly an innocent.
He tiptoed down an empty hall toward the conservatory. Spying the doors, he slipped inside looking carefully for his paramour. He moved carefully among the potted palms and fragrant citrus trees hoping to spot her before she was aware of his presence. Coming toward the center of the room, there was a circle of padded benches around a fountain. A marble naked woman poured water into a pond with a playfully vague smile.
There on the bench, a woman lounged, not sitting primly like a lady, but draped on her side, her legs tucked up, bare feet nestled next to her derriere. The inviting dip and swell of her waist and hip drew Jonathan closer. Her dress was the palest blue, and her hair was an uncommon shade of red, rioting against an attempt to be tamed by pins.
I’ve stumbled upon a goddess, he thought. He was mesmerized. He didn’t see the little pot until he’d kicked it to the side and it crashed into another. He cringed. The goddess jumped up from her decadent pose and spun around. Jonathan stepped into the open and faced her. He was angry now. He held up the paper between pinched fingers.
“I sincerely hope this isn’t from you.” He glared at her.
“How else was I to get your attention?”
“Explain yourself.”
“I intend to, but you startled me and my heart feels like it’s going to gallop out of my chest.”
“I have that effect on women.” Jonathan strolled around the benches and sat. He crumpled up the letter, disappointed there was no goddess to toy with him. Only Mad Maddie.