He lifted her down gently onto the chaise so that he could slide into her once again, feeling the ripple of her orgasm still echoing through her body, feeling her body capture him, spinning out his own pleasure now and hers, too, with long, slow strokes until he felt her body quicken again. She reached up to kiss him, cupping his face in her hands. The spiral tightened, climbing higher and higher, and then he came and she arched up against him, crying her pleasure.
He took her up to her bed then and held her as she slept. Dev found he did not want to sleep. Watching Susanna was all he wanted to do. He remembered when they had wed and he had hurried her back to the inn, so anxious to make love to her in his youthful passion. He hoped he had had the finesse to do it well but he rather suspected he had not. For a brief moment he wondered if he had frightened her and if that was why she had never made love with another. He felt a clutch of guilt. He had thought himself so much a man at eighteen and yet he had had so much to learn.
Susanna moved a little, her hand coming to rest against his bare chest. Dev felt a huge swell of tenderness catch him utterly unawares, taking his heart and squeezing it tight. In that moment he felt acutely vulnerable. He did not like the feeling. Even so, he reached out and touched Susanna’s hair lightly, feeling it curl around his fingers as it had once before, as soft and confiding as Susanna had once been.
She opened her eyes and smiled at him and the tenderness hit him again like a blow. Dev bent and kissed her, wanting to drive out that weakness, waiting for the lust to take him and make everything straightforward again. But this time, though he made love to her with a violent desire, the emotion ran ahead of him, ambushing him at every turn, so that what he wanted to be a simple physical act became so much more. Each touch, each whispered word seemed to drive him closer into a sweet intimacy he could not escape. And at the last, when fierceness and gentleness combined in the most astonishing pleasure he had ever taken, he knew that somehow he had lost the fight.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
SUSANNA AWOKE TO FIND HERSELF asleep in Devlin’s arms. Her head was on his shoulder and one arm was draped low across her belly in casual possession. Her body felt blissfully pleasured and content and for a few short moments her mind, too, was full of the same sweetness as she remembered his whispered endearments to her through the night.
He did not stir as she drew away and reached for her wrap. She had been very self-indulgent, she thought, to take what Devlin had offered and not to send him away again. Knowing that there was no future with him, knowing that this time they really would seek the annulment, she had wanted some memories to hold against her heart. She knew she would lose Devlin again and thinking on it she felt the happiness drain out of her like water slipping through the fingers. She had let herself feel too much. She had fallen in love again. She had not wanted to do it; she had thought that she was so much more experienced now, older, wiser, too careful and cynical to fall. She had been wrong. The combination of wild spirit and strong principle that had drawn her to Devlin in the first place was still there and she had tumbled into love with him all over again, as heedless as she had been at seventeen.
There was a tap at the door; Margery, looking utterly unsurprised to see Devlin in Susanna’s bed.
“I am sorry to disturb you, my lady,” she whispered, “but there is an urgent visitor.” She nodded toward Dev. “She says she is Sir James’s sister. She seems to be in some distress.”
“Chessie?” Susanna said, startled.
“Miss Francesca Devlin,” Margery agreed.
“I’ll wake Sir James,” Susanna said, stretching out a hand. She wondered how on earth Chessie had known Dev would be with her.
Margery stopped her. “Pardon me, my lady, but it is you Miss Devlin wishes to see. She was most particular.”
Susanna frowned. She had no notion why Chessie would want to see her so urgently and in such distress, unless it was to beg her to give up Fitz. Her heart contracted with pity at the thought of Chessie caring for Fitz so much that she would forget pride and come and plead with her rival.
She eased herself from the bed. “Don’t wake Sir James,” she said. “I’ll dress in the blue room, Margery. Thank you.”
As Susanna came down the stairs she saw Chessie sitting on one of the mahogany chairs in the hall, her slender body upright and rigid with tension. When she heard Susanna’s step Chessie turned toward her and Susanna caught her breath to see her face; she looked haggard and despairing, her eyes red from crying, all her youth and vivacity and prettiness fled.
Susanna hurried toward her and caught both her hands in her own. Chessie was ice-cold.
“Miss Devlin,” she said. “Chessie—”
Chessie burst into fresh tears. Susanna put an arm about her and steered her into the drawing room. “Tea please, Margery,” she said, over her shoulder to the maid. “Strong. As quick as you can.”
She guided Chessie over to the sofa and sat down beside her. The girl moved stiffly as though every part of her hurt.
“What is this about?” Susanna asked, keeping a hold of her hands. “What can I do to help you?”
Chessie looked up. Her blue eyes, so like Devlin’s, were drowned in tears. “I don’t know where else to go or who to talk to,” she said. “I don’t know what to do. I’m pregnant with Fitz’s child and he …” Her voice caught on a sob. “I told him and he … he said there was nothing that he would do, that he did not care, that there are rumors circulating that I am not chaste, so how did he know the child was his anyway? I am ruined….” Her words disintegrated into an explosion of tears.
Susanna drew her close, holding Chessie’s shaking body until her storm of tears faded a little and she drew back, sniffing and reaching for her handkerchief. It was already sodden, shredded into little strips by Chessie’s restless fingers. Susanna pressed a clean one into her hand.
“Thank you,” Chessie said. She blew her nose hard then looked up frowning a little, as though she had only just recollected herself. “I’m not sure why I came to you,” she said slowly. “I am so sorry—”
Susanna placed a hand over her clasped ones to prevent her from rising to her feet. “You came to me because you couldn’t talk to anyone else,” she said, “and you thought I might understand. And I do. Now—” She waited whilst Margery brought the tea in then poured. “Take this and drink it down. Forget brandy—it is tea that is best when you are suffering from shock.”
Chessie obeyed, holding the cup in both hands as though greedily feeling its heat. “I couldn’t tell Lady Grant,” she said after a moment. “Or Devlin—” Her voice wavered. “They would be so disappointed in me. Dev has always cared for me and wanted what is best for me.”
“I know,” Susanna said, with feeling.
“He would have done anything for me,” Chessie said. “He did do everything for me—he begged and stole on the street so that I could go to school, he made Alex take responsibility for us, he sent me back his Navy pay. And Lord and Lady Grant …” Chessie gave a hiccup. “They have so little money, you know Alex—Lord Grant—ploughs everything back into his Scottish estate to try to make it work, and yet they were prepared to give me a home and a dowry when I wed—” Her face crumpled. “Well, that will not happen now.” She closed her eyes briefly. “So I could not tell them. I dare not. I have let them down so badly.”
“It’s not your fault,” Susanna said fiercely. The grief and pity closed her throat. “Fitz has behaved very badly.” She stopped as Chessie gave a little shake of the head.
“Yes, it was my fault,” she said simply. “It’s true that Fitz seduced me, but I could have refused him. He did not force himself on me. Far from it.” A tiny frown marred her forehead. “It started with a game of cards, two months ago, just before you came to London.” She smiled faintly. “Fitz taught me to play faro and it was such fun. Gambling is in my blood, I am afraid.” She held her teacup tighter, spreading her fingers against the warmth. “Then I started to lose and I owed Fitz a lot of mone
y, so he suggested …” She stopped. “It was not his fault,” she said again. “I liked what we did.”
Susanna pressed her lips tightly together to prevent herself from contradicting Chessie. If Fitz had extracted sexual favors in return for Chessie’s gambling debts then he was the lowest of the low and she did not think that the blame could be laid anywhere else.
“I thought he would come to love me.” Chessie’s voice was very quiet. She sounded defeated. “I loved him from the start and I wanted to please him.” She gave Susanna a painful smile. “Even now I still love him.” Her shoulders slumped. “I can see all his faults but I … I would still marry him if he would have me.”
Susanna looked at her stubborn little face, miserable but determined. It was not many women, she thought, who had the clarity to know all a man’s faults, who did not delude themselves at all about his virtues, and yet still had the courage—or the folly—to love him.
“Are you sure that you really want Fitz?” she said. “You deserve so much better, you know.”
Chessie gave a little hiccup of laughter that caught on another sob. “I did not expect to hear you say that, Lady Carew.”
Susanna hesitated. This was scarcely the time to tell Chessie the truth about her identity and her own plans for Fitz. The only important thing was to help Chessie now.
“I can’t help it,” Chessie was saying. “I love him. That was the reason I gave myself to him. I loved him and I thought he loved me, too. Besides—” She made a little gesture. “It’s too late now. No one else would want me, pregnant with another man’s child.”
“A good man who really loves you—” Susanna began. Then she stopped. She was not even sure if she believed the words herself. There were a number of good men in the world. Despite all she had been through she was not cynical enough to believe otherwise. But there were a number of cads like Fitz and an equal number of pompous fools who demanded virginity in their wives whilst sowing their own wild oats far and wide.
Chessie gave a little sniff. “I know you mean to be kind but we both know that I am ruined, pregnant and unwed.”
“You must tell your brother,” Susanna said. “He will help you—”
“No!” Chessie grabbed her hands convulsively. “Devlin—” Her voice cracked. “He will be so disappointed in me! I dare not tell him. He warned me not to become Fitz’s mistress, little knowing I already was.” She scrubbed viciously at her eyes. “He would hate me.”
Susanna could hear the sound of voices in the hall outside and felt a clutch of anxiety.
“Your brother is here,” she said quickly then she realized that Chessie had recognized Dev’s voice, too.
“Did you send for him?” Chessie gasped, accusation in her eyes.
“Devlin was already here,” Susanna said. “He has been here all night. I should have told you but I thought it was more important to find out what was wrong and try to help you.”
Chessie’s eyes opened very wide. “You and Devlin …” she said slowly. “But I asked him weeks ago to seduce you away from Fitz and he refused …” She stopped.
“Well,” Susanna said, “maybe he changed his mind.” She felt a little sick, her heart hurting. Chessie’s words had pained her but they had not surprised her. She had known that Dev was fiercely attracted to her but that he had no deeper feelings for her. It simply hurt to have it confirmed in so brutal a fashion.
“I’m sorry,” Chessie said suddenly. “That was unconscionably rude of me.”
“Pray do not worry,” Susanna said, pushing aside her misery, summoning a smile. “Your brother and I know exactly where we stand.”
“Where do we stand, Susanna?” Dev had overheard her words as he strolled into the room, smiling, debonair. He stopped dead when he saw his sister.
“Chessie?” he said.
Chessie burst into tears again as soon as she saw him. Dev cast Susanna one horrified glance and went down on one knee beside her chair. Chessie was talking, the words spilling out, all jumbled, but the meaning was clear enough—and utterly devastating. Susanna watched Dev’s face as he listened to his sister’s words. He was very pale and his expression was set in hard lines, his blue eyes blazing.
“Chessie,” he said again when his sister had finally fallen into exhausted silence. He gathered her into his arms. “Listen to me.” He put his arms about her unyielding little body and hugged her tightly. “I’m your brother and I will always love you.”
Susanna bit her lip at the raw emotion in his voice. She heard Chessie give a little broken sob.
“I’m going to go to Fitz,” Dev said. “He has to answer to me for this.”
Fear clutched at Susanna’s heart. “Devlin—” she said.
Dev gave her a fierce look. “Don’t try to stop me, Susanna,” he said. “You knew the truth had to come out anyway.”
“I didn’t mean that,” Susanna began, but Chessie had grabbed her brother’s forearms and was shaking him. “Dev, no!” She sounded scared. “You cannot challenge Fitz!”
Dev freed himself with a quietness that terrified Susanna because it was both so gentle and yet so determined. “Chessie,” he said, “I cannot simply let this pass—”
“But you must,” Chessie wailed. “If you kill Fitz he will never be able to marry me!”
Susanna’s eyes met Dev’s again over the top of Chessie’s head. She saw pity there and compassion that Chessie was still hoping against hope that Fitz would change his mind and wed her and that all would be well. They both knew it would not be … that it could not be. Fitz had already rejected Chessie. She had nothing to offer him. He had discarded her.
“Susanna,” Dev said, very politely, “would you please take care of Chessie for me? I will be back as soon as I can.”
“Yes,” Susanna said. “Yes, of course. But Devlin—” She stopped as he looked at her. There was such protective fury and love in his eyes that she flinched. This then was how Devlin responded when those he loved were hurt. She would never see such emotion in him for her but to see it for his sister humbled her and for a moment she felt empty and desolate.
The door slammed behind him. “He will kill him, won’t he,” Chessie said, in a small voice.
“Either that, or Fitz will kill Devlin,” Susanna agreed. She did not think there was any point in pretending otherwise.
“There is no way to stop him,” Chessie whispered, sinking back down onto the sofa, a small, crumpled, defeated ball of misery.
Susanna looked at her. She thought of Chessie facing scandal and ruin. She thought of the ignominy that would be heaped on her, the loss of her good name, her future, her peace, her privacy and her very life. She thought of a young girl, pregnant and alone, bringing up a child out of wedlock. Chessie’s case would not be like hers—she would not be abandoned, for her family would never forsake her—but it would still be a disaster and an utter devastation.
She knew what she had to do.
She went down on her knees before Chessie’s chair. “Are you sure,” she said urgently, “that you really want to wed Fitz? Think about it hard now—” But she stopped because a tiny flame of hope had already sprung into Chessie’s eyes.
“Will you persuade him?” she whispered. The flame flickered and died. “I do not think you can. I do not think anyone can.”
“I can,” Susanna said. She stood up. “And if you want me to, I will.”
SUSANNA HEARD THEIR VOICES as soon as she stepped inside the Duke and Duchess of Alton’s town house. The butler was looking frightened and unsure, and when he saw Susanna he looked even more fearful. She was not surprised. If the servants had overheard any of the conversation between Dev and Fitz they would deem this the worst possible moment for Fitz’s fiancée to arrive.
“The Duke and Duchess are still abed, madam,” the butler started to say.
“Well, thank goodness for that,” Susanna said. “Though I doubt they will be able to sleep through all this noise. Don’t trouble to announce me, Hopperton, I’ll
go straight in.”
She opened the door of the breakfast room an inch. She could see Fitz, the remains of his meal spread about him, a newspaper tossed to one side. He had his feet up on the table and he was looking both bored and disdainful.
“Well, of course you won’t do anything about it, Devlin, old man.” Fitz’s light patrician drawl was very pronounced. “You’re completely hamstrung, aren’t you? Impotent.” Susanna could hear the contempt behind his words. “You hang on my coattails and on the promise of Emma’s fortune and if we were both to drop you, you would be nothing. So go away, old fellow, and don’t trouble me further with talk of honor and duels and such nonsense. Your little strumpet of a sister will just have to fend for herself. She was very sweet—” Fitz pensively selected a peach from the fruit bowl and bit into it “—but nowhere near good enough to tempt me into marriage—”
It was at that moment that Dev lifted him from his chair and hit him, cleanly, scientifically, peach and all. It seemed to Susanna that the blow drove Fitz into the air and carried him across the room to slump against one of the carved marble pillars at the east end of the room.
“Get up,” Dev said through his teeth. His fists were clenched. “You’ll answer to me for the dishonor you’ve done to my sister. I demand satisfaction—”
“No!” Susanna ran forward and caught his arm. “This isn’t the way, Devlin.”
Dev turned. His gaze was so blank with fury and there was so much violence in his eyes that Susanna was not even sure he had heard her. She tightened her grip on him.
“This is not the way to help Chessie,” she said. “The scandal will come out and if one of you were to be killed—” She looked at Fitz who was wiping peach juice off his face and stumbling to his feet, leaning heavily on the back of one of the rosewood chairs. “Well, if Fitz were to be killed that would be no great loss,” she said, “but still it would not help Chessie.”
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