He gazed sullenly at her. “You forget that when you first asked me to investigate your suitors, you said you didn’t want to marry someone lower in rank and wealth, who might prove to be a fortune hunter.”
She winced. “I started out biased myself. The difference is, as I got to know how fine a man you are, I adjusted my opinions.” Anger surged up in her as she remembered his parting words about the duke this morning. “Yet after all we’d meant to each other, you made it sound as if I’d go running off to marry the first rich duke who offered.”
“Because you deserve a duke, damn it!” A troubled expression furrowed his brow. “You deserve a man who can give you the moon. I can’t. I can give you a decent home in a decent part of town with decent people, but you…” His voice grew choked. “You’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever known. It destroys me to think of what you’ll have to give up to be with me.”
“I told you before—I don’t care!” she said hotly. “Why can’t you believe me?”
He hesitated a long moment. “The truth?”
“Always.”
“Because I can’t imagine why you’d want me when you have men of rank and riches at your fingertips.”
She gave a rueful laugh. “You grossly exaggerate my charms, but I can’t complain. It’s one of many things I adore about you—that you see a better version of me than I ever could.” Remembering the wonderful words he’d said last night when she’d been so self-conscious, she left the bed to walk up to him. “Do you know what I see when I look at you?”
His wary gaze locked with hers. “Proper Pinter. Proud Pinter.”
“Yes, but that’s just who you show to the world to protect yourself.” She reached up to stroke his cheek, reveling in the ragged breath that escaped him. “When you let down your guard, however, I see Jackson—who ferrets out the truth, no matter how hard. Who risks his own life to protect the weak. Who’d sacrifice anything to prevent me from having to sacrifice everything.”
Catching her hand, he halted its path. “You see a saint,” he said hoarsely. “I’m not a saint; I’m a man with needs and desires and a great many rough edges.”
“I like your rough edges,” she said with a soft smile. “If I’d really wanted a man of rank and riches, I probably would have married long ago. I always told myself I couldn’t marry because no one wanted me, but the truth was, I didn’t want any of them.” She fingered a lock of his hair. “Apparently I was waiting for you, rough edges and all.”
His eyes turned hot with wanting. Drawing her hand to his lips, he kissed the palm so tenderly that her heart leapt into her throat. When he lifted his head, he said, “Then marry me, rough edges and all.”
She swallowed. “That’s what you say now, when we’re alone and you’re caught up in—”
He covered her mouth with his, kissing her so fervently that she turned into a puddle of mush. Blast him—he always did that, too, when they were alone; it was when they were with others that he reconsidered their being together forever. And he still had said nothing of love.
“That’s enough of that,” she warned, drawing back from him. “Until you make a proper proposal, before my family, you’re not sharing my bed.”
“Sweeting—”
“Don’t you ‘sweeting’ me, Jackson Pinter.” She edged away from him. “I want Proper Pinter back now.”
A mocking smile crossed his lips. “Sorry, love. I threw him out when I saw how he was mucking up my private life.”
Love?
No, she wouldn’t let that soften her. Not until she was sure he wouldn’t turn cold later. “You told Oliver you’d behave like a gentleman.”
“To hell with your brother.” He stalked her with clear intent.
Even as she darted behind a chair to avoid him, excitement tore through her. “Aren’t you still worried Gran will cut me off, and you’ll be saddled with a spoiled wife and not enough money to please her?”
“To hell with your grandmother, too. For that matter, to hell with the money.” He tossed the chair aside as if it were so much kindling; it clattered across the floor. “It’s you I want.”
“Jackson!” she cried as he approached her. “Someone might hear you!”
“Good.” Catching her about the waist, he backed her toward the bed. “Then you’ll be well and truly compromised, and there will be no more question of our marrying.”
While she was still thrilling to the masterful way he’d decided to take charge, he tumbled her onto the bed, following her down to cover her body with his.
As she gaped at him, shocked to see her cautious love behave so delightfully incautious, he murmured, “Or better yet, they can find us here together in the morning and march us right to the church.”
Then he took her mouth with his.
Chapter Twenty-four
Jackson wanted to crow when she opened her mouth to his kiss. He understood her anger—she had a right to it. And if he were a decent man, he’d do as she demanded and come back in the morning to make “a proper proposal” before her family.
But he wasn’t taking the chance that she would change her mind by the light of day. This time he’d leave her craving him as badly as he craved her, even if he had to spend all night doing it.
He dragged his mouth along her jaw to her neck to plunder the tender flesh there. She turned her head to nip his earlobe, then whisper, “I should never have put down my gun, you devil.”
“I told you,” he rasped, “don’t brandish a gun unless you mean to use it.”
“I wish I’d shot you when I had the chance,” she said in an aching voice, “just for being so cold to me this morning.”
He’d hurt her badly, damn it. “I’ll make it up to you.” He fondled her breast, thumbing the nipple until she gasped. “After tonight, you’ll never have cause to doubt me again.”
“You made love to me before,” she protested as he closed his mouth over her breast and sucked it through her nightshirt. “It meant nothing.”
“It meant everything.” He pushed himself up off her and glanced about until he saw what he was looking for. “But I tell you what.” He reached over and grabbed the cord for the servant’s bell, then pressed it into her hand. “I’ll show you exactly how much you mean to me. And if at any moment, you question my sincerity, just ring that bell. Someone will come and make us marry, and that will be that.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Our few servants aren’t Johnny on the spot in this big house. That gives you plenty of time to run out or hide.”
He slid off the bed and shucked his coat, then unbuttoned his waistcoat. “Not if we’re naked and I’m in your bed, inside you.” When she blinked at that blatant description, he lowered his voice. “Take off your nightshirt, sweeting.”
With typical stubbornness, she just stared at him, so he swiftly removed the rest of his clothes, until he stood there in only his drawers. “I see you mean to torture me for my cruelty this morning.”
“And what if I do?” she said, though her voice shook a little now, and her eyes drank him in.
That sent desire arrowing right to his cock, which was already thickening to unbearable proportions. He wriggled out of his drawers. He wasn’t sure if he could restrain himself until he could pleasure her as thoroughly as he intended, but he was bloody well going to try.
“I admit you have the right to torment me.” He knelt at her feet on the bed. “But I hope you’ll give me the right to change your mind.”
Before she knew what he planned, he slid her nightshirt up to bare her dusky triangle of hair, then bent and pressed a kiss right into the thick of it.
“Jackson!” she squeaked. “What are you doing?”
He spread her curls and smiled to see the pouting lips already wet for him. “Changing your mind,” he said, then covered her there with his mouth.
“Oh … my … word,” she whispered as he began to tongue her, enjoying every moan and gasp as she shimmied beneath him.
With a smile of triumph
, he returned to pleasuring her in earnest, using teeth and tongue and lips to arouse her.
“Jackson … heavens … Jackson, you scoundrel, you!”
No one had ever called him a scoundrel, but under the circumstances it sounded like a compliment. The musky taste of her fired his blood, made his cock harden and his ballocks clench until he thought he’d die before he got to have her. And still he continued drinking her up, thrusting his tongue deep to keep from thinking how badly he wanted to thrust inside her.
Fortunately, it wasn’t long before he had her writhing beneath him, rising to meet his mouth, and finally exploding in a violent release that made her cry out and clutch his head to her belly.
As she lay there quaking, he kissed her belly and thighs and the place where her loins ended and her buttocks began. If he weren’t so overwhelmingly aroused himself, he would turn her over and kiss her from shoulders to soles, so he could mark every part of her as his.
His. For the first time, he began to believe it possible.
As he licked and caressed her navel, she gasped, “Your … wickedness … never ceases … to astound me, sir.”
“I told you,” he said, unable to keep the satisfaction from his voice, “every time I’m near you, I want to do wicked things with you.”
He slid up her body, dragging her nightshirt as he went so he could see and touch the lovely breasts that regularly tormented his imagination. “Wicked, scandalous things.” He tugged at her nipple with his teeth as he rubbed her below, keeping her aroused while he maneuvered himself between her legs.
Her eyes met his, now thoroughly glazed with desire.
“It’s all I’ve been thinking about for weeks,” he said hoarsely as he tugged her knees up and entered her with one fierce thrust. “All I dream about at night.”
She closed her hands about his neck and arched up against him below.
“I never thought … the dream might come true.” He buried himself over and over in her lush warmth. “Never thought … the lady could be mine.”
“And now?”
Her cheeks were deliciously flushed, and her heart was gleaming in her eyes.
“Now I know I have no choice.” He drove into her, claiming her. “I have to make the lady mine … no matter what the cost.” He could feel his release stealing over him, ripping through him. Ruthlessly, he fought it, wanting them to reach their climax together. “Because without her … there are no dreams. Only nightmares.”
Her eyes softened. Then she gasped and erupted, her sweet flesh convulsing on his cock and triggering his own climax. It swamped him with such a flood of feeling that he could no longer deny the truth.
He’d lost the battle to protect his heart.
“I love you,” he murmured as he lost himself inside her. “I love you, my dearest Celia.” When hope shone in her face, he said, “I’ll always love you.”
Then he collapsed atop her.
They lay there, joined together, for several moments. When he rolled off, she curled herself against him and stared into his face uncertainly. “Did you mean it?”
“Of course.” He brushed a kiss over her lips. “I love you, sweeting.”
Joy leapt in her face, but as he continued to stare at her, it shifted to something that looked remarkably like calculation. “I suppose you expect me to say something similar.”
Though his breath caught in his throat, he arched an eyebrow. “Still torturing me for this morning?”
Pure mischief lit her pretty eyes. “Perhaps.”
“Then I’ll have to make you more sure of me,” he drawled and reached for the bell cord.
“Don’t you dare!” she cried, half frowning, half laughing, as he closed his hand around it.
“Do you love me?” he asked and dangled the cord over her head.
“I might,” she teased. “A little. Do you still think me a spoiled lady?”
She grabbed for the cord, and he lifted it higher. “Probably no more spoiled than any other beautiful female used to getting her own way with men who adore her.”
“At least you’re mixing compliments with the insults now.” She regarded him from beneath lowered lashes. “So you adore me, do you?”
“Madly. Passionately.” He released the cord. “And no, I don’t think you’re spoiled. If I’d ever had any doubt, my aunt banished it completely.”
“Your aunt?”
“I told her everything … well, not everything, but the important parts. And after she pointed out that I’m probably the worst suitor ever when it comes to proposing, she defended your behavior this morning with great enthusiasm.”
A devilish smile crossed her lips. “I think I’m going to like your aunt.”
“I’m sure you will. The two of you are peas in a pod.” He debated whether to tell her the rest, but decided she should know. “As it turns out, you were right about the resemblance between me and my uncle. I … um … had a long talk with Aunt Ada, and it seems Uncle William was … not who I always thought.”
The fact that she took his meaning at once told him she’d figured that out for herself already. “I’m sorry, Jackson.”
“Don’t be. If I could choose any man as my father, it would be him.” He told her the entire tale, then added, “So you see, I don’t even have any secret noble blood to commend me.”
“In that case,” she teased, “the wedding is off.”
He covered her breast with his hand. “I suppose I’ll have to do more persuading.”
“Do your worst,” she said lightly, “but I warn you, a lady never surrenders.”
“We’ll see about that,” he murmured before seizing her mouth in a hot kiss.
Sometime later, as they lay entwined again, completely spent, she nuzzled his shoulder and said, “I do love you, you know.”
“I thought you might.”
She cast him a look of mock outrage. “Cocky devil! You can be as arrogant as my brothers at times.”
“More so. Because I’m going to demand that we marry as soon as possible.” He swept his hand over her belly. “After all our activity, you might even now be carrying my son. And no son of mine will be born a bastard.”
Her eyes gleamed up at him. “It could be a daughter.”
“No daughter of mine will be born a bastard either,” he said.
“And will you let me teach her to shoot?”
“No need. If we have a daughter, no man will be allowed within a mile of her until she’s thirty.”
She laughed gaily. “Then I pray, for our child’s sake, that we don’t have a daughter.” She cuddled close. “But if we do, I still want to teach her to shoot. It never hurts a woman to be prepared.”
A lump stuck in his throat at the thought of all the things that had made her so wary—her parents’ deaths, Ned’s idiocy … being shot at. “That reminds me, I have to go.”
“You do indeed,” she agreed. “Much as you joke about it, it wouldn’t do for anyone to find you here. My brothers are unpredictable, and Gran might just chase you around the manor with her cane.”
“I can handle your brothers and grandmother. Unfortunately, there’s still a killer after you, and I must find out who.”
“Did you learn anything today?”
As he got dressed, he told her everything he’d discovered. When he came to the part about the letter concerning Elsie, however, she sat up. “You’ll see her first thing, won’t you?”
“I’d planned to come here first, so I could propose to you in a manner befitting your station.”
“Never mind about that,” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “If you do that first, we’ll spend the entire day in discussions and recriminations and eventually, hopefully, in celebration. Before that, I want to hear what Elsie has to say. She might know the truth about Mama!”
“She might. But don’t get your hopes up.”
“If you visit her early enough,” she pointed out, “you can be here before anyone even rises.” She smiled at him. “An
d bring your aunt, too. I very much want to meet her.”
“I can already see that you and she will be thick as thieves.”
“I do hope so.”
The dreamy look on her face made his heart catch in his throat. Oh God, what he wouldn’t give to keep that look there forever. But what if he couldn’t? What if—
“Oh no, you don’t,” Celia said. “I can already see Proud Pinter creeping in.”
He laughed. She knew him so well.
“Hand me your cravat,” she said, snapping her fingers.
“What?”
“I shall hold on to it, and if you try to deny me again, I’ll leave it in my bedclothes and make sure Minerva finds it.”
He chuckled. “No need for that.” Coming over to the bed, he bent to kiss her pouting mouth. “I swear I’ll be here as early as I can tomorrow, ready to do battle for you, my love.”
“You’d better,” she muttered. As he headed for the door, he heard her add, “I could still ring the bell, you know.”
He grinned at her. “Go ahead, my lady. I’ll stand right here while you throw the house into an uproar.”
That seemed to reassure her, for she made a face, then said, “Oh, go on with you.”
He left the room smiling. But he didn’t stay smiling for long. He’d been so caught up in her that he wasn’t careful leaving and had only gone a few paces down the hall when he realized someone stood at the other end staring at him.
Ned, of all people. The bastard swaggered toward him with a sneer. He’d obviously witnessed Jackson leaving Celia’s room.
“What are you doing up here?” Jackson demanded.
“Not that it’s your business, but I’ve been playing cards with my cousins, who suggested I stay the night.” He cast Jackson a sly look. “It appears that the upstanding Mr. Pinter isn’t so upstanding after all. Not that I’m surprised you would take advantage of my pretty cousin’s disregard for decency, but—”
A Lady Never Surrenders Page 26