Improperly Enticed By The Rascal Earl (Steamy Historical Regency Romance)

by Olivia Bennet

  Upon feeling her fall apart beneath him, Edwin threw his head back and roared to the ceiling as he pumped his essence into her over and over again.

  Sometime later, they lay wrapped in each other’s arms, basking in the afterglow of their coupling. Tabitha had never felt so content in all her life as she rested against her husband’s solid chest and listened to the beat of his heart.

  “Are you well, wife?” he asked in a sleepy voice, stroking her hair soothingly.

  She grinned and nodded. “Yes, I am quite well. Are you well, husband?”

  He released a contended sigh. “I have just finished making love to my beloved wife, who, even now, I am baffled has accepted me as her own. I am more than well, darling. I am blissful.”

  Tabitha giggled and snuggled deeper into his side. Blissful was just the right word to describe what she was feeling. After everything they had endured together, the misunderstandings and judgements, the deceptions and dangers, they deserved to feel a moment of bliss.

  The amazing thing, Tabitha knew, was that this would not be just a single moment. Their lives would be full of bliss. So long as they were together, they could face whatever obstacle came their way.

  She had found the man she had not even known she should be dreaming of, and Tabitha knew she would fight whatever foe she had to in order to keep him.

  * * *

  Four months later, Tabitha and Edwin attended another wedding for another couple whose lives would be full of bliss.

  Lord Habtage and Unity stood together at the altar, love burning in their eyes as they stared at each other. Tabitha could not help but grin at the absolute adoration she saw in Lord Habtage’s expression. She had known they liked each other, but when they had announced their engagement the day after her own wedding, she had been caught off guard.

  Yet now, watching them and seeing how in love they were, she realized she should never have been surprised. Like Edwin and herself, Unity and Lord Habtage had been drawn to each other from the first moment they had laid eyes on each other. Unlike Edwin and herself, they had not need to overcome their initial disdain for each other in order to find their happiness.

  Looking past the groom, she met eyes with her husband, who stood at his friend’s side. Edwin smiled and winked at her, and when she saw the flash of heat cross his gaze, she knew she would receive no rest this evening. He was insatiable for her, and she for him.

  “I now pronounce you husband and wife,” the priest suddenly declared, pulling Tabitha from her heated thoughts. She clapped along with the rest of the church as Unity and Lord Habtage shared their first kiss as husband and wife. When they turned to process back down the aisle, Tabitha stepped toward her waiting husband took his arm.

  “You look lovely,” he growled, pulling her tight into his side as they followed the newlyweds. “You are positively glowing, my darling.”

  She laughed and lightly hit his chest. “You are a fool.”

  “A fool in love.” He lowered his head so his mouth was at her ear. “A fool in love who cannot wait to steal his wife away a strip her bare.”

  Tabitha gasped. “We are in a church!”

  He leaned back to gaze down at her with a smirk. “Do not try to lie and say you were not thinking the same thing.”

  She felt her cheeks heat and she dropped her gaze from his.

  “You are so very naughty.”

  He chuckled. “Yes, I am, but I have nine months to clean up my act, do I not? That should be plenty of time.”

  She peeked up at him and smiled as she rested a hand on her belly. She had not yet begun to show, but their child was in there, resting and waiting for the day he or she would enter the world.

  “Indeed, my love. That should be more than enough time.”

  The End?

  Extended Epilogue

  Eager to know more on how Tabitha and Edwin's relationship evolved? Then enjoy this free complimentary short story featuring the beloved couple.

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  But before you go, turn the page for an extra sweet treat from me…

  Preview: Lured into Sin by the Wicked Earl

  Chapter 1

  The woods were silent, except for the sounds of the night birds. Susannah Humphries slowed down. She was far enough away from her father’s house. She was breathing heavily after running along the wooded path. Through the branches, she could see the night sky. It was vast, with luminous stars.

  The fall air was cool. Susannah’s breath rose from her lips in a small cloud. She pulled her coat tighter to her body. Her run had warmed her.

  She was just outside of the small town of Lidcote, in the northern county of Yorkshire. She kept moving briskly, jumping every time she heard a twig snap. She had just run away from home, and she was headed to the inn in town, where she was to catch the coach to London.

  A week had passed since she had received a letter from her friend Lucy. It had been two years since Lucy had left Lidcote to pursue a career in service. She had been on the lookout for a job for Susannah.

  She had never believed that she would ever be there, running away from home to start a new life in London. Her father had an extreme dislike of Lucy, and had forbidden Susannah from corresponding with her. He had proclaimed Lucy immoral. However, Susannah and Lucy had been friends since they were very small. They had arranged it with an elderly neighbor so that Lucy sent Susannah letters there.

  Lucy’s letter informed Susannah that there was a job as a house maid available for her, in the Earl of Malmore’s home in London. After Susannah had written her back, Lucy had sent another letter, which had included money and promised her a booking on the coach.

  She finally neared the inn. She peered out of the bushes. No one stirred. There was a thin bit of smoke, rising from one of the inn’s chimneys. She sank down into the bushes, then settled in to wait for the coach’s arrival. Her pulse was loud in her ears. She had never done anything like this before. She was sick with worry for her mother, who would be terrified. But she had to do it.

  Last week, Susannah and her father had fought bitterly after she had turned down the proposal of Mr. Brandon, a newly minted vicar. While Mr. Brandon was a kind man, Susannah could not imagine a life with him. Her father had been livid when Susannah had told him that she would rather die than marry.

  Susannah dreamed of a life that was wholly her own. She couldn’t live to serve a man only. If she were to work, then it would be to support herself and herself alone. Her father would never condone or understand it. Matthew Humphries wanted his only daughter to marry a man just like him—a man who expected her to live quietly, keeping his house, and having his children.

  Susannah had dreams. She had desires and a thirst to live a real life. She felt as though she were being slowly strangled to death. She knew that she needed to get out of Yorkshire—before it was too late.

  In the darkness few things moved about. Susannah was the only person in view. She wasn’t afraid as she listened to the sound of the wind moving through the trees. The small town where Susannah had grown up was one of the safest places in all of England. But it was also one of the most boring. Nothing ever happened there. Susannah yearned for the excitement of the city. Moving to London was her dream, and now, she was accomplishing it.

  The sky lightened as the sun rose. The birds called out to each other as they woke up. Susannah’s limbs felt stiff from sitting in the chill fall air.

  As she watched, the innkeeper came out. He walked around to the stables. Finally, the coach pulled up. She watched as the passengers got out and went into the inn to eat breakfast. She pulled out a loaf of bread, which she had brought, and took a few bites. She ate an apple, as well. She planned to make the Earl’s coin last as long as possible.

  She remained hidden, expecting her father to come running down the road to drag her bac
k home at any moment. She didn’t know what she would do then. He would likely lock her up in her room until the day that he married her off.

  Her father would never allow her to remain at home unmarried. If not Mr. Brandon, then it would be someone else. Her father was often meeting young, unmarried men who had just graduated seminary and were on their way into the world looking for wives to occupy their new holdings, cooking and cleaning for them in perpetuity. That was not the life for her.

  But nothing happened. The horses were exchanged for fresh ones. The passengers exited the inn, then climbed back inside the coach. Finally, Susannah walked up showing the coachman her ticket.

  “Any luggage?” he asked, looking around as though unused to seeing a young woman who was travelling unaccompanied or without a trunk.

  “Just my bag,” she replied, patting it confidently.

  “Up you go, Miss,” he said, offering her a hand. She took it and climbed inside.

  She sat on the plush seat. There were two men on the seat across from her. She had never seen either of them before. They paid her no attention. One was reading a newspaper in the pre-dawn light. The other was staring out the window.

  She was so relieved that no one from Lidcote was getting on. There were no witnesses to her escape. For all that anyone would know she had gone North, toward Scotland, as she had told her parents in the letter that she had left for them. They would be looking in the wrong direction.

  Susannah stared out the window toward the path which led home. She was still expecting her father to come barreling down the road atop his stout gray mare. The coachman climbed up onto his seat, then urged the horses forward. The coach pulled away and Susannah breathed a sigh of relief.

  I’ve done it—I’m free.

  As it turned out, travelling was much more difficult than Susannah had thought. The coach was, at times, crowded with as many as six people and Susannah had ended up in between two strangers their elbows poking into her ribs. It was warm and the only thing she had to look at was the three people crammed into the seat across from her.

  She wished that she had brought a book. Then at least she would have something to occupy her mind and a place to direct her eyes. However, she had not wanted to steal any of her Father’s books. They were all religious doctrines and often wanted to make her scream from boredom.

  She finally managed to slip over to one of the places by a window. She leaned her elbow against the side, cupping her chin in the palm of her hand. Outside, the English countryside stretched out in all directions. The grass was a brilliant green, while the trees were just beginning to turn bright yellows and reds.

  Everywhere she looked, there were fenced-in pastures, with cows, sheep, and horses. They grazed lazily. From time to time, the coach passed tiny farms, with more animals and some people milling about.

  Susannah sighed. She supposed that it was lovely but she had been surrounded by pastoral settings for her whole life. She was ready for the city; there was nothing for her in the countryside. She was sick of staring at animals grazing.

  Meanwhile, in the midst of all her excitement and boredom, she was terrified. She knew how her mother would be worried upon waking up and finding Susannah gone. She loved her mother; Mrs. Mary Humphries was a sweet woman, who doted upon her only child. They had spent the past nineteen years, together. She felt absolutely horrid for what she had done to her mother.

  At the same time, she knew that she had to do it.

  “It’s quite the view, isn’t it, Miss?”

  Susannah turned to look across the carriage, where there was an elderly woman, knitting. She smiled at Susannah kindly.

  “I suppose so,” Susannah said.

  “Where are you headed?” the woman asked.

  “London,” she replied, proudly. “I have a job waiting for me.”

  “Ah,” she said. “That must be very exciting.”

  “It is,” Susannah replied. “I’m to be a house maid.”

  The man beside her scoffed. Susannah eyed him. “Service isn’t what it’s cracked up to be,” he said. “You spend all your days, bowing and scraping to a fine gentleman and then one day, you’ll be too old to work.”

  “Oh, hush!” the woman said. “Service is respectable work.” She looked at Susannah. “Don’t you listen to him, Miss.”

  Susannah smiled at her, then looked out the window. She had never spent so much time with perfect strangers before. Not to mention, every few hours, those strangers got out of the coach, and Susannah would never see them again.

  When the elderly woman got off, she smiled back at Susannah. “Good luck, Miss!” she called out. “I’ll say a prayer for you.”

  “Thank you, Madam,” Susannah replied, waving to her. She watched as she disappeared into the crowd of people that were milling about in the town square.

  Susannah was exhausted by the time that London finally came into view. From the window of the coach she could see buildings as far as the eye could see. Through her exhaustion, her heart rose up. She was there. It felt unreal, like a dream.

  As the coach plunged deep into the heart of the city streets her excitement merely grew, blocking out her exhaustion. For the first time in her life, Susannah felt alive—her life was finally beginning.

  She watched the buildings of the city as the coach passed them by. They were made of brick and stone. There were shops of all kinds. There was a seething mass of humanity. People, crowds of them, were everywhere. Susannah tried to see everything, all at once. They passed by a bakery with its window filled with pastries of all kinds. There was a bookstore with many leather-bound tomes in the window. She spotted a mother, her child’s hand clasped in hers. Both of them were dressed in simple clothing, which was clearly well-worn. They walked slowly. Susannah noticed that they looked tired, hungry.

  A window opened and an elderly man peered out yelling at someone in the street. There was a well-dressed gentleman riding a very fine-looking black horse. There was a group of young ladies climbing out of a fancy black carriage as they went into a tea house. Their brightly colored silk dresses reminded Susannah of a bouquet of flowers. She watched as they all stepped gingerly around a puddle, holding their skirts so that they weren’t ruined.

  The farthest Susannah had gone was the small town of Lidcote, where her father was the vicar. London was a whole new world, one which was alive with sights, sounds, and smells. Not all of them were pleasant but in her excitement, she could overlook them.

  The coach pulled up at its stop and Susannah and the others all piled out. She stood there, with her bag on her shoulder, and looked around. There were people everywhere. In the streets, horses pulling carriages raced by. She was out in front of an inn and pub. She could smell food cooking and her stomach rumbled. She realized that she had no idea how to get to the Earl’s house.

  She began to walk, her bag slung over her shoulder. She clutched it, suddenly nervous that someone might attempt to snatch it away from her. She kept walking, hoping that she might catch sight of Harrington Court Road, where the Earl’s home was located. But she kept walking and she didn’t see any sign of it.

  Her heart was pounding, her stomach twisting nauseously. Her hands began to shake. Everywhere she looked, there were people and carriages and buildings. Everything was unfamiliar. She was lost in London.

  Chapter 2

  Adam Windham, the Earl of Malmore, had been focusing hard. He thought that he was close to a breakthrough. His lab was filled with the sound of the mixture boiling, frothing and bubbling. At the moment, it had a sweet smell, one that was rather pleasant. Slowly, he added another chemical to it. If he was right, then he could use the mixture to help augment the taste and texture of pipe tobacco, thus improving business for himself.

  Suddenly, the scent coming from the mixture turned absolutely rancid. Adam covered his nose and mouth with his hand taking it off the flame and then running for the window. He threw it open breathing in the cool, fresh air.

  He stood there,
feeling the weight of his defeat. It had been nearly two years since he had come up with anything that worked. He sat down at his worktable in a dark torpor. It had been a long string of failure after failure. No matter what he did, it always ended up not working.

  What if I never come up with another successful invention again?

  He couldn’t imagine it. To fall into obscurity while others, like his old nemesis from his college years, Percival Sullyard, rose to success. Mr. Sullyard was a sallow-faced individual with gleaming rat-like eyes. He and Adam had clashed from the moment that they’d met, in their very first class. Mr. Sullyard had been a charity case, his way paid by a kind elderly lady who had seen his aptitude for science.

  Adam’s first few smaller inventions had given him the edge in the tobacco business. While Mr. Sullyard was thriving in the tobacco business, he had made it very clear that he would pay a great deal to have access to Adam’s schematics for his inventions, something Adam would never give him.

  There was a knock on the door. Adam got up with a sigh. There was only one person who ever bothered him there without a prior invitation. He opened the door.

  “Gerard,” he said, when the door opened to reveal his best friend, Gerard Perry, the Earl of Wrentbour. “I see you’ve gotten past my butler.”