Hal had pledged considerable financial backing to make the venture happen and tapped his network of influential contacts to persuade the British government to approve Will for the task and to give the endeavour their support. The challenge of persuading the French government to permit the work was exhilarating and Will would need to leave almost immediately.
He wanted Elodie to go with him—as his wife. They’d grown so much closer over the last month. Several times, the tender light in her eyes as she gazed at him had sent his hopes winging to dizzying heights, sure that he’d won her at last and she was about to confess her love.
But thus far, that hadn’t happened. And now, if he was to put into motion the scheme he’d been devising ever since they left Paris, he would have to tell her of his plans and propose again, even if he wasn’t sure of her love.
He wanted her to marry him because she’d realised she loved him and could not imagine spending the rest of her life without him, not because doing so would allow her to be reunited with her son. Even if she did come to love him later, he would never be able to trust that she loved him for himself, not out of gratitude for his ingenuity in bringing her son back into her life.
But he knew, if he must, he would marry her on those terms. Loving her as he did, he couldn’t withhold from her the one thing she wanted most in the world because he hadn’t had the good fortune to secure her love in return.
Dropping the letter, he rose to take her arm. She danced around him as she took it, mischief sparkling in her eyes.
His heart turned over to see it, as it always did when she looked happy. He knew a reserve of sadness would always remain with her, but it delighted him to see her look so carefree. It was deeply satisfying to know he’d played a vital part in banishing the shadows from her eyes.
From the naughty glances she was giving him, she was probably plotting to seduce him again. Maybe this time, he’d let her. Heaven knows, resisting her was about to drive him mad.
There wasn’t enough cold water in the lake beyond their meadow to cool his ardour for his bewitching Elodie, and he’d been swimming at least twice daily. He’d lasted nearly a month without her managing to break his resolve, far longer than he’d thought he could.
‘I’m glad to see you have an appetite, sprite. For so long, you have only toyed with your food.’
‘Oh, I have quite an appetite today.’ Turning suddenly to push him against the bookshelves, she said, ‘Shall I show you how much?’
Anticipation roared through his veins. If tempting her to agree to marriage by withholding passion hadn’t worked by now, knowing the proposal he was about to make would contain a temptation she wouldn’t be able to resist, why not give up the futile fight and let her have her way with him?
He kissed her hungrily, opening willingly when she slipped her busy tongue inside his mouth. He groaned, pulling her against his hardness.
With a little mewing sound, she reached down to stroke him, and this time he didn’t catch her wrists to prevent her. What crack-brained notion had made him deny himself this? he wondered, revelling in her touch.
He returned the favour, caressing her breasts through the fine muslin of her gown and light summer stays, until her breath came in gasps as short as his own.
Picking her up, Will kicked the door closed. It had been too long; desperate for the taste of her, he couldn’t possibly wait the few minutes it would take him to carry her up to his bedchamber. The desk would have to do.
In a few quick strides, he reached it and set her on the solid mahogany surface, kissing her ravenously as he slid her skirts up and peeled her stockings down, smoothing the soft skin as he bared it. After working the muslin up to her waist, he parted her legs and knelt before her.
His thumbs teasing the curls at her hot, wet centre, he kissed the tender skin of her inner thighs, tracking up the velvet softness until his tongue met his fingers and he applied the rasp of it to the swollen bud within.
Gasping, she writhed under him, until a very few minutes later reaching her peak. His fingers still caressing her, he took her cries of ecstasy on his lips, then carried her, limp and pliant, to the sofa and cradled her on his lap.
‘Oh, my sweet Will, how I’ve missed you!’
‘And I you, ma douce.’
‘My love, I’ve been such a fool and you’ve been so patient with me! I am of a slowness quite remarkable, but finally, finally, I understand. Can you forgive me for being so stupid, clinging to my grief like a child with a broken toy, too stubborn to let it go? But I shall be stupid no longer.’
His heart leapt. Could she mean what he hoped she did? Trying to restrain the hope and excitement bubbling up within him, he said, ‘What are you trying to tell me, chérie?’
‘That no one has ever cared for or loved me like you. Why I have been so fortunate to have received this gift of wonder, I do not know, but my heart rejoices and I love you with everything in me. I want to belong to you for always, be your companion on your adventures and in your bed. I want to be your wife, and though I still believe it is most nonsensical of you to throw yourself away on so undeserving a woman, I shall accept quickly now, before you recover and change your mind. So, will you marry me, prince of my heart? Parce que je t’aime, Will. Avec tout mon coeur.’
He’d dreamed of hearing her say those words for so long, he could scarcely believe she really had. ‘Truly, mon ange? You love me with all your heart?’
‘Well, with my body, too, as soon as you’ll let me. And from this position …’ she wiggled on his lap, rubbing her soft bottom against his hardness ‘… I am thinking you are ready for me to do so immediately.’
He knew he was probably grinning like the imbecile she’d once called him, but he didn’t care. ‘Not just yet, in spite of my need. Perhaps tonight, though, if you’ll excuse me so I can collect the special licence I brought back from London with me and go to the village to find the rector. If he’s available, he can come back and marry us at once. That is, unless you’d like a new gown, or want to plan a ceremony with Max and Caro—’
She stopped his words with a fingertip. ‘They can give us a party later. By all means, find the vicar and bring him back at once. I want to be your wife by tonight.’
‘I’ll kidnap him, if necessary. We’ve much to discuss tomorrow, but tonight I want to be in your arms.’
Chapter Twenty-Two
The next morning, Will awoke in his bedchamber at Salmford House tired, well loved and with a euphoric sense of well-being that glowed all the brighter when he opened his eyes to see his wife’s silky head pillowed on his shoulder.
His wife. He grinned, loving the sound of the words. Fortunately, since he would rather not have had charges brought against him for kidnapping on the eve of his departure for an official mission to France, the vicar had thought his request to wed them immediately romantic rather than foolhardy. Gathering his prayer book, he’d hastened to accompany Will back to Salmford House, where the staff, along with the blushing French maid, witnessed the marriage and the signing of the parish register.
He wanted to wake up like this, with Elodie in his arms, for the rest of his days, Will thought, bending to give her a kiss.
Her eyes fluttering open, she smiled sleepily at him. ‘Can it be daylight already?’
‘It’s halfway through the morning, slug-a-bed.’
‘Well, when one has spent hours attending with much concentration to long-delayed and important work, one becomes exhausted.’
He chuckled. ‘I think I fell in love with you the moment “Uncle Fritz” limped on his cane into that inn, the night we left Vienna.’
She traced a finger from his shoulders to his chest. ‘I lusted after you from the moment you launched yourself from the balcony into my room. But I never appreciated in full measure how wonderful you are until after … after Paris. I thought my life over, that I would never experience joy again. Until with patience, care and tenderness, you taught me I was wrong. You say your cousin Max saved
your life; you have given mine back.’
It was a good opening and he took it. ‘I’d like to do more. Are you ready to go travelling?’
She shifted up on the pillows to face him, looking so delectably mussed and seductive that only the gravity of what he must discuss with her kept him from pulling her back into his arms and making love to her all over again.
‘You have a trip arranged?’ she asked while he curbed his amorous appetites. ‘To investigate one of those investments you’ve been telling me about?’
‘Yes. This one will be to Paris.’
The excitement faded from her eyes. ‘No, Will, please. Anywhere but Paris. I don’t think I could bear it.’
‘Nor do I, Elodie. It isn’t right that your son was snatched from under your nose and you were prevented from reclaiming him. No, hear me out,’ he said, forestalling the protest he could see she was about to make. ‘Remember, you are no longer Elodie Lefevre, a woman with no home and no family. Elodie Ransleigh is wife to a man of considerable wealth, whose relations, I have it on respected authority, are rich, prominent and wield a good deal of power.’
Though she still looked troubled, he could tell she was cautiously weighing his words. ‘What do you intend to do?’
‘I’ve been given an official mission, sanctioned by the British Foreign Office and arranged and financed by my friend Hal Waterman, to approach the French government about the possibilities of constructing a railroad. So not only will you return to Paris as the wife of a wealthy, well-connected man, but one who will be entertained at the highest levels of government.’
‘And that will benefit me … how?’
‘While in Paris discharging the mission, we will call on the Comtesse de la Rocherie and propose a bargain. It is true, as you said before, that Philippe doesn’t remember you and considers the comtesse to be his maman. So we won’t demand that she give him up—yet. For the moment, we will insist only that you are allowed to become reacquainted with him. I expect this business regarding the railroad will take some time; if it should terminate more quickly than expected, I have other interests that can keep me in France.’
She pushed herself to sit upright against the pillows, joy and hope, anguish and doubt warring in her face. ‘Are you sure, mon amant? You really think it is possible?’
‘I do. Once Philippe knows you better and is comfortable in your company, he can come stay with us. When you think he’s old enough to understand, you can tell him that you, not the comtesse, are in fact his mother. And then he will be yours once more.’
‘Oh, that would be heaven! But what if the comtesse refuses? To be so close and be denied again.’
‘She won’t refuse. Elodie, I’ve been planning this for a long time. I didn’t want to say anything until every piece was in place. It will work, I absolutely guarantee it. Have I ever lied to you?’
‘No. Oh, Will, if you can truly reunite me with my son, I will be grateful to you for ever!’
He smiled at her tenderly. ‘You can show me how much, right now. And then we’ll get packing for Paris.’
After a flurry of shopping in London to equip Elodie for her role as Madame Ransleigh, wife to the economic envoy blessed by the Court of St James to engage in discussions with the Interior Ministry of His Majesty, King Louis XVIII, Will and Elodie sailed for France. Though Elodie remained calm—as she had been in every crisis they’d faced together, whether fleeing Vienna in the middle of the night disguised as a valet or while being held, a knife to her throat, by a British foreign agent—Will knew that beneath the surface, she was torn between anticipation and anxiety.
Knowing every hour of delay before they visited the Hôtel de la Rocherie would be an agony of suspense for her, Will made only the essential calls to present his credentials to the British Ambassador and King Louis’s chief advisors before returning to fetch Elodie from the luxurious hotel in which he’d installed her.
He found her pacing the room, from the gilded mantel to the door to the large windows with their view of the Place de la Republique, like a wild bird frantic to escape a jewelled cage.
As soon as she saw him, she rushed to her dressing table, jammed the stylish bonnet on her head and began dragging on her gloves. So nervous was she, she had difficulty pulling the tight kidskin over her trembling fingers.
He walked over to assist her.
‘Quite an improvement over our accommodations the last time we were in Paris,’ Will said, nodding towards the view of the Tuilerie Gardens in the distance as he coaxed the soft leather on to her hands. ‘Though if it would make you less fretful, I could try obtaining some chickens.’
She tried to smile, but her lips were trembling, too. ‘Will, I’m so frightened.’
He took her in his arms, wishing he could make this anxious process easier for her. ‘You needn’t be, my love! Don’t you believe I know how important this is to you? I would never have suggested we attempt it if I were not absolutely convinced we shall succeed.’ Even if Will the Rogue has to make a return engagement to guarantee it, he added silently to himself.
The concierge knocked to inform them their carriage was ready, and he ushered Elodie outside for the short drive to the Marais.
When they arrived at the Hôtel de la Rocherie, Will sent in his card, telling the lackey who greeted them that though he was a person previously unknown to the comtesse, he was in Paris on important government business and must discuss with her a matter of utmost urgency. After showing them into a drawing room elegantly appointed with striped wallpaper and Louis XVI furniture, the man withdrew.
Too nervous to sit, Elodie walked about, trailing her hand over the back of the sofa, down the edges of the satin window hangings. ‘Oh, Will,’ she whispered, ‘This is where madame received us when St Arnaud and I called on her with Philippe. The last place I saw my son, before they stole him from me.’
‘It’s fitting, then,’ Will said bracingly, ‘that, in this same room, he will be restored to you.’
A few minutes later, an elaborately gowned woman Will assumed to be the comtesse entered the room. As he bowed over her hand, she said, ‘Monsieur Ransleigh? I cannot imagine what business you might have with—’
‘And Madame Ransleigh, too,’ Will interrupted, nodding towards Elodie, who stood frozen by the mantel.
As the comtesse’s gaze followed the direction of his nod, the polite smile faded and her face went pale. ‘Elodie Lefevre?’ she gasped, stumbling towards the Louis XVI fauteuil and grasping the arm so tightly, Will thought she might have fallen without its support. ‘My brother told me you were dead!’
‘Sorry to disappoint,’ Elodie replied with some asperity, ‘but as you can see, I am still quite alive, moi. St Arnaud claimed I’d died, did he? How was I supposed to have met my demise?’
‘He—he said you’d been injured during the … the attempt on the Duke’s life. He did everything he could for you, but you died in his arms later that night. And then he fled.’
‘He got the last part right,’ Will said drily. ‘Shall we sit, madame? This must have been quite a shock. You will need time to recover, before we place our proposal before you.’
‘Yes, let me order refreshment. I, for one, could use a glass of wine.’
Even while giving orders to the lackey who responded to her summons, the comtesse kept staring at Elodie, as if unable to believe she had truly survived Vienna. After they’d been served, she drank deeply of her wine, then looked back to Elodie again and asked, ‘Are you going to try to take my son?’
‘Philippe is not your son,’ Will reminded her.
‘Perhaps not always, but he is now! For nearly two years he has known no other mother. You have only to ask him, he will tell you I am his maman.’
‘I know,’ Elodie said. ‘I do appreciate the tender care you have taken of him.’
‘You know?’ the comtesse repeated with a puzzled frown. Then her eyes widened and she gasped, ‘Was it you who accosted him in the park, two months ago? The serva
nts said someone with an oddly intent manner had approached him. That they came back again to this house the very next day. I was so alarmed, I considered informing the gendarmes, but Prince Talleyrand advised against it.’ Her questioning tone turned accusatory. ‘You frightened him! How could you, if you care for him?’
‘I’d hoped that if he studied me long enough, he would remember me. Can you imagine how it felt to see him again and realise he did not even recognise me?’ she burst out. ‘When I had thought of nothing but his welfare, every day, since he was taken from me?’
‘Taken from you? My brother said you’d agreed to go to Vienna without him.’
‘That report was as accurate as the one about my death!’ Elodie retorted. ‘I regret to disillusion you about your brother, but the only reason I left this hôtel without my son was because St Arnaud drugged my tea and abducted me. Once he had me in Vienna, he used the threat of harming Philippe to force me to participate in his plot. Did you truly not know?’
The comtesse dropped her eyes, not meeting Elodie’s gaze. ‘I am … aware of my brother’s strong convictions, and the sometimes ruthless means he uses to carry them out. I knew there was something … suspect about your leaving Philippe so abruptly. But the child enchanted me from the first moment. When St Arnaud told me that he was setting out for Vienna immediately and that you had returned home to finish your preparations without seeing Philippe again, so you wouldn’t have to distress him by telling him goodbye, I was too thrilled at being able to keep him to want to question the arrangement.’
‘Was he … distressed when I did not come back for him?’ Elodie asked.
The comtesse nodded. ‘Of course. But I had a nursery full of toys to distract him and he loved listening to me read stories. When he would ask for you, I would tell him you were doing an important task, but you would be back soon. He cried at nights, mostly, so I slept in the nursery with him for the first month. And gradually he stopped asking.’
A sheen of tears glazed Elodie’s eyes. ‘Thank you for being so kind to him.’
The Rake to Redeem Her Page 20