Eventually, he got the message. He would have to do something or she’d never leave him alone, and in his heart, that was the last thing he wanted. Walking into a drawing room and not seeing her made his heart plummet. He wanted her, and as the week went by and he she danced and laughed and rode, his feelings became irrevocable.
Perhaps he could persuade her to wait until a better time, until his nemesis had returned to Italy and left him alone. Her family would keep her safe. Not as safe as he could. He wouldn’t leave her side.
The night he agreed to attend the theater at Drury Lane, he’d done it at the last minute so he considered himself safe. He’d watch the play and think, take his time to consider what he truly wanted. Seeing Claudia at every turn confused him and made him no longer sure of what he wanted and why he wanted it. He planned to keep her safe, not drag her into it, but the more he saw her the worse it got to recall that.
Their betrothal had been discussed and discarded by society, when they weren’t seen in public as a couple.
He sat in the box watching the play, hearing his friends exclaim at its quality. Dominic had no idea if he was watching Congreve or Shakespeare. He tried to concentrate but his senses worsened until all he could see was a flash of red-gold hair and a pink gown.
Then there she was in that damned pink gown. Sitting in the box plumb opposite to him, fluttering her fan and chatting with her brothers. Her mother was there. Now he had no chance of knowing what the play was or why it was so good.
He got to his feet at the interval and excused himself. “A damnable headache,” he said. “My military service—a knock on the head. Sometimes it comes back. The evening has been most enjoyable up to now.” Muttering about old war wounds often excused him and it did now. As long as he remembered he was supposed to have a headache, he should be fine. If he could remember anything at all.
Was this an accident? Society at this level was small, but surely not that small. He had seen her everywhere he’d been this last week, apart from White’s and the coffee houses. Even there he’d met some of her relatives. Surely she didn’t have that many?
Deep in thought, he strode down the wide corridor leading to the exit when a movement caught his eye. There she was.
This passage was relatively free of patrons. If the play had been a bad one, they’d all be here, conversing and flirting. But apart from half a dozen people he didn’t know, they were by themselves. She smiled and offered him her hand.
He had no choice but to bow over it. “Lady Claudia. If I’d known you were coming—”
“You’d have gone somewhere else?”
Her arch words didn’t hide the hurt in her voice, or perhaps he’d become too sensitive to her recently. Dammit, even now he wanted to hold her, to make her his. The urge was nearly irresistible, she’d teased and taunted him so much this last week.
“Would you like a private word, sir?”
Yes, he damned well would. “Without a chaperone, Lady Claudia?”
“My mother is waiting.”
He couldn’t bear this any longer.
He accompanied her to the responding corridor on the other side of the theater, and then to one of the small rooms set aside for private refreshment or rest. This one was furnished with a deep, soft sofa and a chair, together with a table laid with various comestibles and a decanter of red wine. He barely gave them a glance because they were blessedly alone.
“We used this room earlier,” she said, speaking fast and waving her gloved hand vaguely. “I thought we could—”
She got no further because he brought his mouth down on hers and feasted. When he touched her lips with his tongue, she opened her mouth and he was home. She tasted like…Claudia and responded sweeter than any woman he’d ever known. How they managed to reach the sofa he didn’t know. But she was sitting on it, and then lying as he urged her down on to the soft cushions.
Wrapping her arms around him, she dragged him close, but moved so she could slide her hands under the heavy folds of his coat. His waistcoat still lay between them, and so did her garments, but they could do nothing about that here and now. Enough that he had her in his arms, except, like a greedy child, he wanted more.
He finished the kiss and started on her throat, groaning at the softness of her skin. Surely no woman was this soft to the touch. Only one, only one. “You’re so lovely, Claudia. What have you done to me?”
“Foolish man. The same thing you’ve done to me. Have you wanted to talk over something with me this last week?”
He lifted up on one elbow, smiling down at her. “Many times. From the foolishness of Lady Harrison losing her gloves to a small dog to the gossip about us.” He smoothed an errant curl away from her cheek, just for the pleasure of feeling all that silkiness against her flesh.
She giggled. “They are talking about us, aren’t they?”
“Unfortunately yes. We need to do something about it.”
“What do you suggest?”
He kissed her again. “Not this.” He gazed down at her, her breasts pushed up above the décolletage of her pink gown, her hair becoming disarrayed against the green sofa cushions. She looked adorable. He touched her breasts, groaned, and bent to taste all that bounty. “I want you in my bed, naked. I want you there for a long time.”
“Why?” Her expression didn’t fool him for a minute.
“You know exactly why. I want to make love to you until neither of us can move. What do you do to me, Claudia?”
“I don’t know, but you do the same thing to me.” She slid her hand up his back to his neck and urged him down, initiating another kiss, tilting her head to seal their mouths more securely.
This time she tasted him. He loved the give and take between them. Once he’d taught her to kiss in this intimate way, she’d taken to it with enthusiasm, so much that she drove him to the brink of coming. Just with her kisses.
He lost himself in her kiss, but drew away, breathless. He nudged the gauzy folds of her fichu aside, giving him access to the upper slopes of her breasts. He licked between them, that inviting cleavage that beckoned him to do wicked things, and pressed kisses along the line between her rigid bodice and that delicious bounty beneath. “I can’t stay away any more.”
With an effort, he tore himself away from temptation and rested on his elbows, gazing down at her. “We can’t meet like this,” he said.
Her fingers caressed the back of his neck, playing havoc with his carefully tied neckcloth. Not that he cared. “Why not?”
“Because someone will catch us.”
His words shocked him into a realization of where they were. He shot a glance at the door. The key was still in it.
“I turned the lock,” she purred.
“Someone will miss you.”
“No, they won’t. Not until it’s time to go home. We have hours.”
He’d left after the first act of the first play. She was right. Hours. They could—not here not now. His wayward arousal pressed against his clothing. She must be able to feel it. Her skirts were light silk, and he must be crushing them. People would guess what they were up to, but he couldn’t move off her. He couldn’t stop himself wanting her. “Claudia, this is impossible.”
“Yes it is.”
He reared back, startled when she agreed with him. “I’m in danger. You know that. I can’t drag you into it.” He touched her hair, slid a finger along the silky mass.
“Nobody’s been near you for a week.” She stared at him, unusually solemn, the laughter gone from her eyes. “I worried. I wanted to be by your side to face it. Nobody approached you, nobody attacked you.”
He didn’t ask who “Nobody” was or how she knew. He knew the answers to both. Nobody was the Jacobites, particularly the Young Pretender and his people. She knew, because when she hadn’t been watching him, her brothers had. That did not make him feel any better, except that she’d cared enough to find out. “Nobody did.”
“That’s why you stayed away, wasn’t it?” She
was too perspicacious for her own good. “I was shot, and then you were abducted. You wanted to ensure I wasn’t attacked again, did you not?”
“Yes.” What was the point of prevaricating? She had the truth of it. “I’d die if you were hurt. I hoped to conclude this business somehow, and then, if you were still free, come back for you.”
“You are a legitimate child of the Young Pretender’s father. That makes him illegitimate. It stands to reason that he’d want to eliminate you. It also stands to reason that situation isn’t going to change very much. You are who you are. Julius is engaged in tracking Maria’s children down. That’s his real work, or has been since we discovered the secret. I cannot tell you who. Please don’t ask.”
He wouldn’t dream of it. He didn’t want her to break the confidence of other people. “I would like to meet them.”
“I think we should tell Julius that.” She paused. “One lives in the country. It’s highly unlikely that you know her.” Guiltily, she swallowed. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t even have said that.”
A sister. He had a sister. Maybe more, but the prospect of meeting her made his head spin. Perhaps some good could come of this after all. “Does she know?”
Claudia nodded.
“Does she have any intention of claiming her birthright?”
Claudia shook her head. “She’s violently against it. She’ll be relieved now a son has turned up.” She stroked his neck gently. “You. Will you claim it?”
He laughed. “I should give a direct no, should I not? I don’t think it’s that easy.”
“That’s what the Young Pretender is afraid of. You can make him illegitimate and claim the throne for yourself when the Old Pretender dies.”
He shook his head. “You make it sound as if the throne is mine for the taking. You know it would be a hard fight.”
For the first time her gaze faltered. She shifted under him, her silks rustling. “Yes, I do.”
He pressed home his advantage. She had to understand what this poisoned chalice meant. As she pointed out, he might never be free of this inheritance. “Would you stand by my side if I announced what and who I am?”
She swallowed.
“Would you come to Rome with me and introduce yourself to my father as my wife and princess? Since his two sons have turned out such disappointments, I have no doubt the man would renounce them. He probably knows where the original certificates are. He could prove our existence, claim us, and revive the Cause. What do you think, Claudia? Would you help me with that?”
Slowly, she lifted her gaze and met his eyes. “No,” she said. “I might— I couldn’t help you start a war that could cause death and betrayal. My family has experience of that, don’t forget. Some of our members were Parliamentarians and others Royalists in the Civil War. That was only a hundred years ago, only just out of living memory. We won’t forget the death and misery that caused. I can’t aid anyone to revive that.”
“What if it was a bloodless revolution?” he persisted, and this was the possibility that had kept him awake for most of the last se’enight. That and thoughts of this woman in his bed. “What if the government wished to reinstate the Stuarts? Acknowledge them as royal? Maybe some of my brothers and sisters are in abject poverty. They might be in extremis. What if they want this? Do I have the right to reject them?”
“You must,” she said. “If it would lead to bloodshed, you must.”
Her sentiments were so close to his, it only proved how much he needed her. “Claudia, I don’t know what to do. For the first time in my life, I don’t know.”
“Come and see Julius with me,” she said. “But only after we announce our engagement.”
Seeing her man so conflicted broke Claudia’s heart. Warmed by his body for the first time in a week, her private places heated and softened. She ached for his touch, but nevertheless wanted to give him anything he needed. If only he could get rid of that lost expression.
This wasn’t her strong, capable soldier. That man had an answer for any peril and could talk or fight his way out of any difficult situation. This man was lost in the myriad possibilities of what he was and who he was. Having one’s childhood and youth negated in this way must be unbearable. She’d never know, but she had enough imagination to put herself in his place. Enough to want to share it with him. She’d played her game this last week knowing that whenever she could see him, something inside her eased. Although she wanted more, at least she had that, the sight of him and the knowledge that he was safe.
Proposing to him might be unusual, but she suspected she’d never get him to the point if she did not take the initiative. He wouldn’t let her close. “We need to do this together,” she said, smoothing her hands over either side of his face, holding him steady. “I can’t stay away from you any longer. Either we are together, or we are finished.”
He wet his lips. “Together,” he said, his voice hoarse. “I’m a selfish bastard, but that’s what I want. I need you, Claudia. Be my…viscountess.”
Happiness flooded through her, and she forced herself to slow down and savor the moment. That was what she’d always done, and she wouldn’t stop now. Enjoying what was happening now, instead of worrying about the past or the future was a gift, and she appreciated it and reveled in it.
“Yes.” Before he could change his mind or take back his words she said it. “I will. I do!”
Dragging him down, she sealed their bargain in a kiss. He couldn’t change his mind now. She’d set her brothers on him if he tried to.
When they separated, they were both breathless and laughing with happiness and shock.
“When?”
“I have the license,” he said. “Whenever you like. Tomorrow, if you want to.”
“My father would murder me.” She couldn’t stop smiling. “It’s almost worth doing it for that.” She kissed him again, smacking her lips against his, making him laugh. Before Dominic, she’d never imagined laughter came with passion.
“You must visit my father tomorrow and encourage him to bring the wedding forward.” Because if he did not, he’d find another reason to try to keep her out of danger. Danger was everywhere. Didn’t he know that yet? “Listen, Dominic.” She still held his jaw, and she tightened her hold. “A family like mine faces danger of one kind or another every day. I don’t take this threat lightly, but you are dividing your efforts. With me under your roof, working with you, don’t you believe you will be more effective?”
At least she’d made him laugh. “You could persuade a monk to marry you.” He held her close. “I’ve long been able to deny myself anything, but I am helpless with you. You are right, in many ways. You have an allure I don’t understand. Every time you are near, I know it, and when I see you, I can’t look away.” He shook his head. “I don’t understand it. Do you?”
She did, but she was too wise to tell him now. She might frighten him away. She shook her head, too. “Lust, perhaps?”
“More than that.”
She didn’t ask him how he knew. He bent and fastened his lips to hers once more, taking her in a frantic, almost desperate kiss. “Yes. I have to have you soon. Under my roof. In my bed.”
When he decided on a course of action, he really committed to it, Claudia thought happily as he spent the next five minutes kissing and caressing her. Her campaign had worked better than she’d imagined. Putting herself in his way, merely being there, had done the job. She’d have to buy her sister something expensive that she really wanted. Because without Livia putting her in the way of it, Claudia would never have achieved her ambition this quickly and with so clear a conscience. If he’d ignored her or merely been polite, he wouldn’t have been ready. Either that or he didn’t care enough to take the next step. Not that she cared. She was too desperate to care.
Only now could she admit that. If he’d rejected her, or worse, never approached her and left her in limbo, she might have gone to the country and meandered around the place, making a nuisance of herself. Worrying a
bout him.
Totally happy at this moment, she kissed him and kissed him. Until finally he told her they had to go and proceeded to help her tidy herself up. Just as well one of them had a practical turn, or she’d have been there in the morning.
Chapter 15
As it was, the morning saw Dominic, hat in hand, at her door, asking formally for her hand. Of course Claudia knew, but the principal player in the scene had to stay out of the way until the menfolk called for her. The way they arranged her life infuriated her, but her mood was too sunny for her to allow it to bother her for long. She’d be at the contract signing, and she’d most certainly insist on reading the documents, even if they made no sense to her.
After the formal meeting with her father, Claudia waited with her mother in the drawing room. When he entered, her mother greeted him kindly, poured him a dish of tea, and left them alone.
Immediately he crossed the distance between them and swept her into his arms. He kissed her before he allowed her to say anything. When he lifted his lips from hers, she was nearly past words. “That was just in case you said no.” He released her and took a step back.
Then dropped down on one knee. “Lady Claudia, I am not worthy to ask you this. Will you do me the greatest honor of becoming my wife?”
Oh, she liked that. She clapped her hands. “Oh, yes, please, I would like that very much.” Even now, she avoided the word “Love.” With him so conflicted, she didn’t want to give him more to worry about. What if she was wrong, and it was lust or liking or something else? She loved her family, true, but that was different, something that was right. Her feeling for him had come out of the blue, and she was still uncertain.
He stood and took one of her hands, her left, and slid a ring on to it. A single emerald with diamonds either side.
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