The tenderness in his gaze made her heart flutter. “Forever?”
He nodded as he pressed his lips gently to hers and then drew back. He took her hand and laid it against his pounding heart. “What I feel for you will never die, even when I do. Marry me.”
She curled her hand over his. “Gladly.”
His tender gaze turned possessive and bright. A tingling burst in the pit of her stomach as he claimed her mouth in a hard, hungry kiss. She met his hunger with her own need to possess him and make him hers. His heart thudded against her breasts as he deepened their kiss and bid her silently to open her mouth for him. She did so willingly wanting to taste him once again, as only dreams had allowed for so long.
The sweetness of his kiss made her head spin, but he gathered her more firmly in his embrace so all her worries fell away. Her mouth burned with his branding, but it was a sweet fire. He kissed her lips, then trailed a blazing path of kisses across her neck before lavishing his attention to her jawbone, her nose, her eyelids, and finally when she thought she would die of wanting his lips on hers once again, he settled there with a ragged moan.
Blood pounded in her head, swirled in her veins and made her body tremble. As his lips gentled, her pulse dipped, but he traced his tongue seductively across her lower lip before delving into her mouth and making her pulse leap while her body tensed with longing.
She plunged her hands into his hair to tug him closer, but as she did, a sound behind her stilled her. Trent pulled back at once, a cold, hard look crossing his face. She knew before turning that Liam had arrived. Nervousness and regret twisted her stomach into knots. “Please,” she mouthed at Trent in way of asking for his cooperation.
He gave a terse nod and turned toward Liam. “Keep your hands off her, Thortonberry.” Trent’s voice held a menacing note, but at least he had been kind enough not to blurt the news of her decision. It confirmed what she’d believed all along. Trent was a man who cared deeply for others’ feelings, which was why the wound his deceased wife had inflicted on him had taken so long to heal. She watched as he moved a far enough away to give her privacy yet still, she assumed, be where he could see her.
Audrey took a deep breath and focused on Liam. “I’m sorry,” she said simply. “I love him, and I cannot change that. I am going to marry him.”
“Sorry,” Liam snarled. “Sorry is not good enough.”
She blanched at the bitterness in his voice. “It wouldn’t be fair to you if I married you. You deserve a woman who will love you with all her heart.”
He yanked a hand through his hair. “I lost you to my brother and now Davenport. At least my brother loved you.”
“Loved me?” Audrey wrinkled her brow. “That kiss you saw in the stables was the first I ever exchanged with your brother, and he stole that kiss. He didn’t love me. I was on his long list of the debutantes he fancied he could seduce. Surely you knew that. My brother warned me away from Oscar, because he’d heard through mutual acquaintances about his list. You had to know.”
Liam shook his head as he stalked back and forth in front of her. “I confessed my feelings for you to Oscar and the next thing I knew I stumbled in on the two of you kissing in the stables.”
“Oh, Liam.” Pity swelled in Audrey’s throat. If he’d only told her this sooner, she would have understood they were both wanting the other for the wrong reasons. He thought he loved her, but he didn’t. Not really. “I suspect your brother pursued me because he knew how you felt about me.” She touched his cheek, biting her lip when Trent growled intensely. She prayed he wouldn’t interrupt. “What did your brother tell you after you saw us that day?”
Liam stopped pacing and gave her a narrow-eyed look. “He said you told him you loved him.”
“No.” She shook her head and dropped her hand, impressed and glad Trent had kept his temper this long. No need to push him further. “I never said that. The only man I’ve ever told I loved is Trent.”
Liam reached for her as if to grab her by the arms and she scuttled backward but behind her Trent bellowed. She whirled toward Trent to beg him to stay put and as she turned Liam raced by her and charged into Trent. The two men flew back and hit the ground hard. Audrey’s breath seized in her throat as Trent somehow came up on top, flipped Liam onto his back, and straddling him in a blur, shoved his forearm against Liam’s neck to pin him to the ground. She raced toward Trent, fearful he might hurt Liam without truly meaning to.
“Trent!” she gasped.
He flicked his cold gaze to her and it immediately softened before he returned his attention to Liam, who gasped and bucked under Trent’s hold. “Cease moving and I will lessen my hold so you may breathe a little easier.”
Liam immediately quit bucking and Trent whipped his arm off the marquess’s neck and shoved his palms against Liam’s shoulders. Audrey bit her lip, unsure whether to interfere or not.
“Get off me,” Liam snarled.
Trent shook his head. “Not until you hear me carefully. I understand the pain you must be going through to lose her. The agony. The anger. I would want to pound my face if I were you, but it’s no use Thortonberry. You will never get a punch in and you will lose her respect for trying. Say goodbye to her and walk away, man. Save your dignity.”
Audrey held her breath as Liam’s wild gaze swung between Trent and her. Finally he nodded. “I’ll go peacefully, so get off me.”
Trent surged to his feet in a blur and stood beside her before she could even release her breath.
Liam staggered to his feet, his cravat undone and his hair in wild disarray. He fixed her with a hostile stare. “I pity you,” he said tonelessly. “I would have given you my heart. All he will do”―Liam glanced at Trent then back to her―“is break yours.”
“Liam―”
“No. Do not even bother. There is nothing you can say to me anyway that I want to hear.”
She nodded and held her silence as he strode around the majestically sweeping branches of the tree that hid them and disappeared out of her sight.
Trent gathered her into his arms and a bit of the tension coiling in her shoulders and neck released. “I feel dreadful for having hurt him so.”
Trent nuzzled her neck. “I know you do, darling, which is one of the many reasons I love you.”
She melted easily into his arms, relenting to the happiness and pushing the sadness for Liam away.
“I am”―he gave her a quick kiss on the lips―“irrationally jealous over you. When it seemed he would touch you―”
Trent quit speaking and raked his gaze over her body before continuing. “I wanted to smash him in the face when I had him pinned simply because he had tried to touch you.”
“But you did not,” she murmured, glad he had controlled himself.
“No. I did not. I’m not a ruffian, but I cannot say I will always hold my temper if another man dares to put his hands on you.”
Audrey smiled up at him. “Well, I’ll just make sure to never give you reason to be jealous.”
“Excellent. Then you promise to never speak alone with another man.”
She started to laugh but stopped at the intense look on his face. “You’re serious?”
“Quite.”
She slid her hands up his chest. “Darling, if we’re going to be married, then you must trust me completely.”
“I trust you.” His intense tone told her he believed it to be true.
“It’s the men I don’t trust. I saw the look in Thortonberry’s eyes. He would have done anything to win you, if he thought there was anything that could be done.”
She cocked her head to the side while playing with a particular enticing golden lock of hair that curled against Trent’s neck. “How do you know that’s what his look meant?”
“I saw that same look on my face this morning as I was shaving before coming to tell you of my son. I contemplated every possible scenario of what might occur and what I might do. I concluded in the end, I would do anything to make you min
e.”
Her breath hitched in her throat and her pulse beat a rapid tattoo in her neck. “Such as?”
“If I couldn’t convince you to marry me now that I have a son, I planned to kidnap you and ruin you so you’d be forced to marry me.”
She pulled back, scarcely able to take a proper breath at the unrestrained possessiveness gleaming in his eyes. “Scandalous,” she whispered throatily.
He pressed a kiss to the vein on her neck where the blood pumped through savagely. “I’m sorry you’re angry with me.”
She smiled wickedly, enjoying the widening of his eyes and the dawning smile of realization that tugged at his lips.
“You want me to ruin you?”
She batted her lashes playfully before coyly looking down. “Only if you think you must in order to ensure I’m yours.”
Grinning, he swept his arms under her legs and picking her up held her against his chest.
Laughing, she pressed a hand against his shoulder. “Someone might see us.” She didn’t personally give a fig what the ton said. After all, she would be Trent’s wife, and if she knew him it would be sooner rather than later. But she would hate for her actions to cause her aunt heartache or Trent’s mother concern.
“No. I brought my carriage, so you can hover inside. If it makes you feel better, stay down until we reach my house.”
A thrill shot through her, dampened only by one dark shadow still hovering over her life. “Trent, will you help me find Richard? Do you know someone we can hire to locate him?”
A twinkle filled Trent’s eyes. He kissed her on the tip of her nose and then said, “Leave it to me. I know the perfect man, and if it is at all possible, I vow he will find your brother and bring him home to you.”
Audrey hugged Trent as he set her on her feet, grabbed her hand and tugged her around the low-hung tree toward his carriage in the distance.
She pulled to a stop as they neared it. “Will you tell me all the details of your meeting? I want to help.”
He winked at her. “As soon as I know more details, I’ll tell you. Come.” He let down the carriage stairs and helped her inside. “Let us think on only the two of us for tonight.”
She nodded and closed the curtain to the carriage window. With a smile, Trent shut the door and the carriage dipped as he took the driver’s seat. Nerves made her stomach turn as the carriage moved out of the park, yet excitement filled her as well. She loved Trent with all her heart, and she wanted nothing more than to spend the first night he’d declared his love for her in his arms.
“You’re certain of this?” Trent asked as he took Audrey’s hand and led her down the garden path that meandered beside his London townhome and to the garden house that set at the back of his property well hid from anyone’s view.
Audrey nodded. “I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life.”
Her words still confirmed what she’d been saying since he led them out of Hyde Park, but her voice quivered. He paused on the darkened trail and turned to her, brushing a branch out of his face as he did so. With the sun waning, shadows loomed over her forehead and eyes and made seeing her expression difficult. He tugged her gently to his chest, then encircled her small frame. When she sighed, slipped her arms around his waist and pressed her cheek to his heart, a knot lodged in his throat.
He leaned his face into the top of her hair and inhaled the scent of honeysuckle that always lingered on her. His chest tightened almost painfully. The love he felt for her robbed him of the ability to speak for a moment. More than anything, he wanted to spend the rest of his life making her happy, and despite the fact that he’d dreamed nightly of holding her naked in his arms since the day he met her, he’d wait until they were married, if she had any doubts. But how to get her to be truthful with him?
“Audrey.” He kissed the top of her head and hugged her. “I don’t want you to ever lie to me, even if you’re worried you’ll displease me. I’d rather be momentarily annoyed than either of us breach the trust our marriage must have.”
Her shoulders sagged and he inwardly cursed. So be it. They would wait until their wedding day. His hardened body tensed at the thought. What he needed was a tub of cold water to cool his lust.
She leaned back, so he could just see her somber expression. His heart twisted at the worry on her face. “Darling.” He cupped her cheeks and kissed her fully on the mouth. “Do not fret yourself. Many women are scared of what happens between a man and a woman. Once we’re married, I’m sure a bit of your tension will ease.” A disgruntled smile stretched across her mouth, but he forced himself to continue. She had never been with a man, after all, and it pleased him to think he would be the only one to ever know her intimately. “I’ll be very gentle on our wedding night.”
When Audrey erupted into laughter, he frowned. She leaned into him, her soft chest pressing against his hard one, which did nothing to dampen his lust. The woman would be the death of him.
“I’m not nervous about what occurs between a man and a woman. Whitney and Sally are married and have told me a few things. So rest assured, I know exactly what to expect.”
Imagining the sort of education she might have gotten from Whitney and Sally made him bark with laughter. He plunged his hands into her hair and drew her face near his. He nibbled first on her upper lip and then her lower, reveling in the soft mewling noises that came from her and the way she squirmed under his administration.
He’d been a fool to think she would be afraid to be with him. She was a passionate woman. Leaving one hand braced around the slender nape of her neck, he moved the other to her exposed collarbone and traced a slow path across her chest. A hiss of air escaped her, and his already hard body strummed with the desire touching her inflamed in him. He swallowed and searched his mind for what he had meant to ask her. Oh, yes, the concern on her face. “Something is worrying you. If it’s not what we will be doing when we join, then what had you looking upset?”
She gazed down, but he cupped her chin and forced her to look at him. “Tell me. Let me soothe your fears.” With his hands. His tongue. His―he groaned at the direction of his thoughts.
She blew out a long breath. “I’m afraid I’ll fail to compare to her.”
Damn Gwyneth. Even dead, she caused problems. It was time to bury her once and for all. He placed his hands gently on Audrey’s cheeks and stared into her eyes. “There are many different levels of love, Audrey. I’ll not deny I loved Gwyneth at one time, but it was the most simplistic layer of love―the one where someone intrigues you and captures your attention and then your passion. There was never time for more to develop and then when I really came to know who she was there was only room for pain. But with you―” His emotions rose up and choked him. He cleared his throat. “Ah, my love, with you, our love is complex, rich, multilayered. You have my respect, loyalty, passion, admiration, heart and soul. You have everything within my power to give to you and when I hold you in my arms there’s not a speck of room for another woman in my heart or my head.”
She flung herself at him as if his words had released her fears. Thank God.
Audrey’s heart filled with aching happiness as she grasped clumsily at Trent and kissed his lips. His confession set her free. She was no longer afraid he might think of Gwyneth. Her only fear now was wasting a single moment of this night. “I love you.” She crushed her lips to his, desire curling in her belly, tightening her loins and making her breasts grow heavy with need.
His mouth moved over hers, hard and possessively. She needed more. Wanted more. When his hands roamed up her back in an exploring motion and slid back down in a seductively slow slither, she whimpered into his mouth. He answered her with a throaty chuckle as he curled his fingers into her burning flesh and squeezed her bottom repeatedly.
For a few moments, she stood locked in his embrace, a prisoner to his feverish kisses that matched the intense need burning within her. She had no desire to back out of his arms or stop the building passion, so when he pull
ed away and buried his head against her neck she protested with a cry. His panting breath tickled her ear as his hands came to her hips and tugged her against his hard erection. “If we don’t go inside the garden house I’ll take you on these hard steps and you deserve better than that.”
She giggled at his thick, unsteady voice. It amazed her that she had the power to elicit such unbridled need in him. “I wouldn’t mind being taken here one bit, except for the fact that I worry someone might chance by.”
Trent groaned. “No danger in that. The servants know not to come out here, unless I specifically instruct them to, and Julian is no doubt being tucked in bed by his new nanny. Besides that, too many trees surround the garden house for anyone to see us. Still it might be uncomfortable.”
The cautious expression on his face made her smile. “I rather like hard spots,” she said, plucking her hands on her hips and allowing her gaze to travel down between his thighs.
“Then let me oblige you, my love,” he growled.
Her gaze flew to his as he cupped her breasts and slipped his fingers over the top edge of her bodice, giving the material a hard jerk down. Her breasts spilled forward into his hands and hot desire exploded within her.
He lowered his mouth to her left breast and flicked his tongue over the hardened bud. She squealed with delight and pleasure. “More,” she whispered, burying her hands in his thick hair and tugging his mouth more firmly over her breast. His tongue circled the bud slowly, each delicious swirl around her sensitive skin making sensations spark through her from her breast all the way to her toes. She arched her back toward his mouth and almost screamed with delight when he took her farther into his mouth and began to suck greedily. Her breast tightened almost unbearably and her body throbbed from the inside out.
He moved his mouth away from her breast only to claim her other one and lavish it with the same wicked attention. Within seconds, she clung to him, her legs too weak to hold her upright. Somehow, miraculously, he seemed to sense her state and held her with one muscled arm gripped around her waist.
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