An Earl For Hire

by Bethany M. Sefchick

  "And you fell in love." There was no judgment from the other man, something that relieved Will greatly. "Other men might scoff, Blackthorne, but I realize how difficult it can be to finally reach out and try to catch hold of something you desire. It took me nearly a decade to do what you seem to have worked up the nerve to reach for within only a year or so," Rayne nodded. "So despite my wife's pleas to the contrary, I am satisfied for now. You and Miri have my blessing to continue to court, with an eye towards marriage, I hope, for that is what I desire for her."

  "It should be her decision," Will countered, not wanting to anger the man now that he had come this far, but unwilling to sacrifice any part of Miri's happiness just to have her for his own.

  Rayne nodded. "And it will be. But I believe you wish to wed her and somehow, I think you will be far more convincing with her in that regard than I could ever be." He bowed. "So for now, as I said, you have my blessing. Now if you will excuse me, I will have to go break the news to my wife. I doubt she will take it well."

  When Raynecourt was finally gone, Will stood on the balcony for a long moment, looking out over Lady Fontaine's garden. From inside the home, he could hear the sounds of a pianoforte warming up and he knew that the performance was about to resume. He should get back inside, but something stopped him.

  It had been a lovely, sunny day and this evening the clouds had continued to stay away, revealing a velvety night sky full of stars. The same stars Miri had watched for years, alone on her rooftop. They were beautiful and he could finally understand why the calmed her. There was a peace about them, as well as an orderliness that tamed the emotions raging inside of him.

  "Admiring the stars, are you, my lord?"

  Turning, Will watched Miri step through the illuminated doorway like the fairy queen he had so often compared her to in his mind. "Something like that."

  She closed the door behind her with a soft click. "Is there perhaps something else I can interest you in admiring instead?" she teased as she walked towards him. She wasn't limping as much tonight, and her eyes were not filled with the trepidation he so often saw there. Instead, they were shining with what he hoped was love.

  "I believe so, my lady," he replied and without warning, swept her into his arms so that he could kiss her senseless just as he had desired to do since the moment he had arrived.

  Miri hadn't believed for a moment that Will needed to use the retiring room, so with skills picked up from her brother and his friends, she had stealthily followed him through the halls of the Fontaine home until he went out onto the balcony. The same balcony her brother had informed her he was going to visit for a breath of air just moments before Lady Primrose's performance came to a crashing, discordant close. It was not likely to be a coincidence.

  Her brother knew her well enough to understand that she would likely follow Will when he all but raced out of the ballroom as if he had been set on fire. Like everything else the devious man planned, Rayne knew precisely how to give Miri just enough information so she could find her way into trouble on her own if she desired. Which she often did.

  "I heard everything you said to Rayne," Miri managed rather breathlessly when Will finally stopped kissing her long enough so that she could get some air into her lungs.

  "Then you know I didn't lie. Not really." Will was panting now but he still swept Miri up into his arms and began to carry her down the short flight of steps to the Fontaine's garden where a few torches and Chinese lanterns had been scattered about for anyone brave enough to venture outside. "Your brother simply assumed many things. Especially where the business of my past is concerned."

  Miri prayed that Will would not collapse under the weight of her as he strode through the garden and towards the center where she knew there was a lovely fountain and a series of benches where the woman held garden parties when the weather was clement. "Your past is not his business," she said as she wrapped her arms more firmly around his neck. "They are ours and ours alone."

  "You do not mind that I did not tell him the truth?" Miri could hear the bit of fear in Will's voice and quickly worked to reassure him.

  "Certainly not! What my brother doesn't know won't harm us." Though it might harm her - or Will - if he ever found out.

  By now they had reached the center of the garden and Will placed Miri gently on the ground by a newly constructed folly consisting of several low benches with cushions scattered about. She didn't think this sort of thing was very practical, even if there was a roof, for she knew from her own rooftop paradise that cushions and such became moldy rather quickly in the damp English weather. Though these appeared quite dry as Will worked quickly to arrange them to his satisfaction.

  "I am so thankful you feel that way." Once more, Will picked Miri up as if she weighed nothing and laid her down on one of the benches amongst the nest of pillows he had just created. It was surprisingly comfortable. And, as she had suspected, dry. "I would have confessed all if you had asked it of me, you know." He settled his large body over her smaller one and cupped her face tenderly. "I would do anything for you."

  "I know." Miri traced his firm, full lips with her fingers. "I love you, Will. Never doubt that. How we met and how we began does not matter. All that matters is now."

  "And all that matters to me is you. I love you, Miri. More than my own life." When Will kissed her, Miri felt a new urgency in his kiss, as if something more than passion was driving him and deep inside, she felt it as well. Whatever was between them was more than love, if such a thing was even possible. It was a bond or connection of some sort that went down to her very soul.

  The idea of being so profoundly connected to another person terrified her. She had no experience with emotions this deep, and yet, she could not ignore them either. Will had changed something inside of her and she no longer yearned for the cold blackness of her stars but rather for the warmth and light of him.

  The next logical step for them was marriage, but that was too terrifying to even think about at the moment. Marriage meant forever. No escape if, in time, Will wanted to change her or take away her freedoms. But those were fears for tomorrow. At present, she was learning to live in the moment. And right now, the moment included Will and his mouth on her body.

  "Will, I need you," Miri all but pleaded, her body arching up, the memory of what they had shared that night in his bed and on her rooftop still fresh in her mind.

  He nuzzled her neck, nipping at her delicate skin. "And I need you, Miri. But not here. Not like this where someone could see."

  "I don't care." Leaning up, she bit his earlobe and tugged on it lightly. "I can't wait until you can take me to a proper bed again."

  "Minx," he laughed but he quickly reversed their positions so she was lying atop him now, her skirts at her waist. "But as the lady wishes, of course. Always."

  "Of course." She was all but purring now, and she stretched her body along his. She wished that they were completely naked, but now was not the time. She wasn't certain when that time would come again, but it would. So for now, she had to be satisfied with this. "And, at this moment, I wish you were inside of me."

  Will looked up at her, his deep brown eyes soft in the starlight. "You know what to do," he whispered. "You are strong and capable, Miri. You do not need me to guide you. You lead. I trust you."

  "As you like." It was the same phrase he had said to her so many times, but this time when she said it, Miri truly understood the depths of those words. For they weren't just words. Rather, they were a giving of trust. It seemed a shame that such a realization came in the middle of a London garden, but better there than not at all, she supposed.

  Reaching between them, she freed his cock from his trousers and stroked him lightly.

  "It's been days, love," Will ground out through clenched teeth. "I fear that I cannot last."

  "Which is perfect," she sighed as she rose up and impaled herself on his cock. "For I have been desperate for you since last we parted. I find that I cannot wait either." Then Mi
ri swiveled her hips and pushed down just as Will thrust up hard into her waiting heat.

  The sensation was unlike anything she had felt before and her inner muscles pulled him in deeper, so deep that she felt him touch a part of her she hadn't even been aware of. "Oh, Will," she breathed, throwing back her head with pleasure. "Yes."

  "I love you, Miri," Will practically panted as he thrust up again, just in time to match her downward swivel. "You have no idea."

  "I think I have some," she gasped, taking him so deeply inside of her that she wasn't certain where he ended and she began.

  "Marry me, Miri!" The words seemed to come out of nowhere but there was a part of her that had somehow been expecting them. "Not because I have bedded you or because of fear or anything else other than a desire to spend the rest of your life with me."

  There was, of course, only one answer that Miri could give, even though only moments ago, she had all but dismissed the notion of marriage, at least in her head. She thought she wasn't ready, but apparently, when the right man asked the question, she was. "Yes, Will!" she gasped as he thrust into her again. "Of course I will wed you. As soon as possible."

  In the back of her mind, a little voice, one that sounded very much like Sarah, whispered caution, that there was still too much unknown, but Miri pushed that voice aside. She loved Will and he loved her. That was all she needed to know. The rest would resolve itself in time.

  "Thank God!" he breathed as he thrust again. "I would have hated to resorting to begging."

  "I would not have made you," she teased, feeling freer than she had in ages, her body aflame with desire and need, the man beneath her filling her heart and her mind with so much joy that she was afraid she might die from it. Until he thrust up into her again and then she thought she might die of passion instead.

  Then, there was no need for words. Instead, it was simply a true joining of bodies and hearts and minds until there was no Miri and no Will. There was simply one being that created a feeling of absolute peace and bliss in Miri. It was a feeling she never wanted to end.

  Chapter Seventeen

  This is hardly an appropriate gift for a man to send a woman.

  Hush, Sarah. It is a gift from his heart and perhaps a prelude to larger, more important things.

  I still don't like it, Brook. The man has yet to ask for her hand, and it isn't at all proper. I do not trust him!

  And we were proper when we were courting?

  It is not at all the same thing, Brook, and you know it. There are other, more proper gentlemen on the Marriage Mart. Some we do not yet know!

  Enough! The telescope is a magnificent gift and Miri loves it. As I said, I suspect that it is a precursor to something...else. Now that shall be the end of things. I will not hear another word on the matter.

  Even the argument her brother and Sarah had engaged in that morning could not dampen Miri's excitement and pleasure over Will's most recent gift. She was accustomed to him sending a small bouquet of flowers or some chocolates. However, nothing had prepared her for the elaborate and beautiful Euler telescope that had been delivered to their front door by special messenger that morning.

  Sarah's first inclination had been to send the gift back, but thankfully, Rayne had intervened and allowed Miri to keep the lovely telescope. He had given her a raised eyebrow in question, but when she had smiled at him, he must have seen something in her eyes that gave away her secret, for he hadn't said another word about the matter. Instead, he had escorted his still-protesting wife from the drawing room, leaving Miri to admire the gift in peace.

  The telescope must have cost a fortune and Miri had no idea how Will had come by the funds to purchase it. She suspected that he had likely used some of the money she had given him early on in their agreement to buy it, and that diminished her love of the gift somewhat. In a way, it made the gesture seem cheap, as if she was so desperate that she was paying for her own presents. That wasn't really the way of things, but a niggling voice in the back of her mind, the same one she had heard last night when she had accepted Will's proposal, grew just a bit louder.

  Miri had wished that she and Will could have talked a little last night after their coupling in the garden. However, hushed voiced had made them hurry to right themselves and then even more voices had chased them back inside so that they would not be discovered missing. While she had accepted Will's proposal, there was still so much unsaid - including what they were do to about the money she had already given him in exchange for bedding her. They were long past that point now, but the unspoken issue still sat between them. At least it did as far as Miri was concerned.

  She never had a chance to ask Will about any of that however, for as soon as she had returned to the Fontaine's ballroom, Sarah was there, still fuming and ready to whisk Miri back home and away from Will despite Rayne's intervention. Miri had no idea where the lovely young woman she had once known had gone, but this fussing, overly-critical Sarah was a far cry from the sweet, conflicted, and utterly in love woman she had once had the pleasure of calling her sister in law.

  This morning, Miri now desperately wished they had spoken at least a little about the issue. However, it seemed that each time they were together, their mutual attraction took over and they ended up kissing - or likely more, especially if there was a flat surface to be had.

  Tonight they were both supposed to be attending yet another ball, this one hosted by Lord and Lady Hallstone, and Miri hoped that she and Will could at least get some of their issues sorted out before then. She should have been happy, elated beyond belief even, and yet she could not shake this feeling of dread that seemed to cling to her.

  Miri had even thought she might sneak away to visit Will, her need to speak with him was so urgent - and she would have done just that - but that was before a missive from Madame LaVallier had arrived. According to the modiste, there was an issue with Anna that needed to be resolved and it was so important that it could not wait. Attending to any Letter business was not precisely in Miri's plans for the day, but truthfully, it was better than stewing over Will and where he had found the money to pay for the telescope. It probably shouldn't matter where he had procured the funds, but strangely enough, it did.

  Now, as the Raynecourt family coach rolled along the crowded London streets, Miri settled back against the squabs and did her best to calm her mind. There was a logical explanation. There had to be. This was Will. She trusted him, and that was that.

  Will paced Madame LaVallier's salon like a caged animal. When he had come up with the idea to officially propose to Miri in private, this had seemed like a good idea. However as he was waiting for the private room to be readied for him, he was beginning to rethink his plans. He hadn't counted on the room not being ready for him, though he supposed that he should have since he had sent the message requesting this favor in the middle of the night - a time when the modiste was likely abed. He should have also realized that procuring many of his requested items would take time, more time than he had anticipated.

  Then again, since the concept of having money to spend rather frivolously was new to him, he didn't think the mess was entirely his fault. He had no idea how long it took to procure something when he had the funds to obtain what he wished immediately.

  Funds that he could not wait to tell Miri about, for he knew she would be thrilled for him and his good fortune.

  The sale of the De Clercq had gone far better than he had anticipated. In fact, though he had only sold four pieces so far including the two objects that were supposed to be a tree and an elephant respectively, he had garnered well over two-hundred thousand pounds. It seemed that he had greatly underestimated the appeal of the Belgian's sculptures and what people were willing to pay for them.

  Next week, the Duke of Cavendish was sending someone by to appraise the lion man statues, which were apparently something of a myth in the art world, as no one was certain they actually existed. If the man authenticated them, and Will had no reason to think they wouldn't
be, that tidy sum would help set him up very well so that he could give Miri the sort of life she truly deserved - without ever touching her own fortune. When one added in the watercolors and some of the other various pieces of art scattered about his home that he had once considered nothing more than useless junk, he would be very well positioned for the future indeed.

  So when Will had gone to retrieve the Davenport family's betrothal ring from the bank that morning, he had felt very well indeed. Perhaps even more than well. He had been...happy.

  That was until he had arrived at Madame LaVallier's shop and stepped into a swirling mass of chaos. Well, perhaps it was organized chaos, he allowed, as a shop girl breezed by him with a bolt of fabric. And really, he was asking quite a lot. However, given how strenuously Lady Raynecourt objected to him courting Miri, Will felt the safer course of action was to simply propose in private and then seek out her brother later this evening at the Hallstone ball. Slightly improper, true, but then, Will had no wish to cause a scene and he had no doubt that Lady Raynecourt would raise at least one objection to his suit. Or ten if she was having a particularly bad day.

  Will's sense of unease only grew when he saw Lady Colchester sweep into the modiste's salon, her gown cut scandalously low and her searching eyes making her appear more predator than prey. The day after the Raynecourt ball, he had sent her a note refusing her offer. He had not seen nor heard from her again, and he had rather hoped that would be the end of their association. From the wicked gleam in her eyes this morning, he had the feeling that was not to be the case.