Meant To Be: Pendleton Manor Book 1

by Sara Bennett

  “I love you,” she breathed against his shoulder, drawing a line of kisses across his collarbone and up the strong muscles of his neck. His jaw was rough and prickly, but she rubbed her face over him, enjoying this new sensation.

  He turned and caught her lips with his, deepening the kiss, and that was when he pushed into her, steadily and with intent, and he didn’t stop until he was completely rooted inside her.

  She cried out, clinging to him, wrapping her legs around him. The muscles in his buttocks tightened, and he began to move, slowly at first, but she could hear the heavy sound of his breathing and feel the thud of his heart.

  “I’m not pulling out this time,” he told her, his voice a growl. “I want to make a child with you, Sophy.”

  “Yes,” she whimpered, his words had increased her desire for him tenfold.

  He groaned and began to thrust hard, making the ache inside her turn slightly to pain, and yet there was still so much pleasure. She wasn’t sure whether she could capture that same soaring sensation she had had with him before, but then his fingers reached between them and worked her swollen flesh and a moment later she was flying.

  He followed after her, plunging into her more feverishly now, and she felt the warm spill of his seed inside her.

  Their breathing took a while to slow. Her heart eventually stopped pounding, and, as she rested her cheek against his chest as he lay beside her, so did his. He ran his fingers through the long strands of her hair and she stroked the coarse ones of his chest.

  And then she heard herself say, “Have you had many women, Harry?” and almost groaned aloud. Would she never learn to guard her tongue?

  He stilled, and then lifted his head to look at her. His other hand was cupped around her hip, holding her firm to his side, and his fingers dug slightly into her flesh.

  She forced herself to tilt her head and look back at him. She bit her lip, chewing on it as he stared at her. He looked sated, and happy. Or at least he had. Now he looked irritated.

  “There are parts of my life that I regret with all my heart, such as how I wronged you, but I cannot regret everything.” She heard the Baillieu arrogance in his voice.

  “I’m not asking you to,” she said.

  His head dropped back onto the pillow and he stared at the canopy above them. “There have been other women,” he said at last. “But you and I are married now, and I will never stray from you. I swear it.” He swallowed. “I am not my father, Sophy, and will never be. Do you believe me?”

  He would have lifted his head again, but she sat up and looked down at him. She stroked his face with her fingers, tracing the line of his cheekbone and his nose, down to the shape of his lips.

  “Sophy?”

  “I know you will never betray me, Harry. I know it here,” and she rested her hand over her heart. “I love you more than life itself, and I promise I will be the wife you need. I will be a mother to your children, care for them and love them because they are ours. But more than that.” Her smile turned uncertain, and she chewed on her lip again. “When you and I are together, instead of being your wife I will be your lover … your mistress. I will please you and let you please me, in all the ways there are.”

  He gave a huff of laughter. “Sophy, I don’t expect you to—”

  “I want to. May I touch you?”

  A spark lit his eye and he smiled as if she had just handed him the world on a plate. “Then touch me, my love.”

  HARRY

  He’d forgotten how bold his Sophy could be when it came to his body. Or perhaps he had tried to make himself believe that her boldness was part of the reason that she had betrayed him and married another man. Women were meant to be innocent and sweet, or so he had been told, and he had put Sophy on a pedestal until that night when she leapt off it and straight into his arms.

  Her mouth trailed down his chest, stopping to test his resolve by kissing his nipples, dipping her tongue into his belly button. He hadn’t lied when he told her there had been other women, but this was so different that it seemed like his first time. She was worshipping his body just as he had hers, not for what she could take from him, but because he was Harry.

  Her hand closed around his cock, gentle, then with confidence. She licked at the head, finger tracing the girth and length as if she was memorising him. She rested her cheek against his belly and looked up. Her blue eyes glittered through her long lashes. He had never seen anything more erotic in his life.

  “You are so beautiful,” she said. “I have always thought so.”

  He should have been embarrassed but instead he felt uplifted by her praise. Sophy was good for him and always had been. He had just forgotten how much. When he was with her he could be who he’d always wanted to be and that wasn’t something that had ever happened with anyone else.

  She was stroking up and down, and now she clambered up on her knees and straddled him. “Is this acceptable to you?” she asked, head tilted to the side, her fair hair tumbling over her shoulder.

  “Very,” he said. Even he could hear the desire thick in his voice. “Put my cock inside you, Sophy. I want to feel you again.”

  She sank down, wriggling to fit him in, and when he was as deep as he could go, she looked down at the result. His hands closed on her hips, ready to help her ride him, but then he changed his mind. As amazing as it was watching her, he needed her closer. He wanted her wrapped in his arms.

  Harry sat up, making her squeak, and arranged her feet either side of his hips, keeping her joined to him. He began to kiss her with increasing passion, pausing to take quick breaths, and at the same time to share his feelings.

  “There’s only you,” he groaned. “No one but you. Not before or ever, Sophy. Only you.”

  Afterwards, has they lay together, he did not think of the future or Pendleton, he thought only of how happy he was.

  So when the servant came to tap on their door and tell them that his father had made his decision, Harry was unprepared.

  Epilogue

  SOPHY

  Five years later, Pendleton Manor

  Sophy giggled as her two-year-old son hurried toward his big sister, who was picking white daisies from the border and carefully placing the mangled results in a basket. He was soon distracted, dropping down to his well-padded bottom to inspect the blades of glass in the svelte green lawn.

  Sophy was grateful that her children were well and healthy, but she hadn’t forgotten those less fortunate. She had started a school in the village for the poor children of the parish. After her father was arrested the people here had turned their backs on her, but Sophy did not let that sway her. She had put those days behind her, and hoped they had too. Harry teased her by calling her ‘My Lady Bountiful’, but she knew how genuinely proud he was of her.

  Harry rested his hand on her nape, drawing her attention, and she looked up at him with a smile. He grinned as he watched their children’s antics.

  Sophy loved their days together, especially when Harry took time from running the estate and his many other duties to laze in the garden with her and their two children.

  Sir Arbuthnot had passed away earlier in the year, complaining to the very last about the hand that had been dealt him, but perhaps not quite as bitter as he would have them believe. Harry told her his father’s last words had been for his grandchildren, urging Harry to carry on the line and to look after Pendleton for the generations to come.

  It was five years ago today that Sir Arbuthnot had bowed to their wishes. Harry thought that the estate’s tenants and workers petitioning his father to allow Harry to take control had something to do with it, but Sophy did not think that was the whole answer. Sir Arbuthnot might be a bully and a tyrant, but he loved his eldest son. Harry was the sort of man his father could never be, and somewhere deep in his heart, Sir Arbuthnot knew it.

  Sophy may not have been the wife Sir Arbuthnot chose for his son, but he had grown to accept her. There had been times before his death when he had spoken to her in
a way that even made her believe he was fond of her, and appreciated her compassion for his situation. And although Sophy could never forget what he had done she was able to set it aside. She knew when she discovered that he had left a bequest for her school in his will, that they had both moved on.

  “Adam will be here tomorrow,” Harry said, leaning in to kiss her ear, his tongue sliding around the shell.

  Sophy shivered at his wicked play. The children would tire later, and she would hand them off to the nursery maid, and then spend an agreeable few hours with her husband in the privacy of their bedchamber. She could never get enough of him, and Harry was insatiable for her.

  “He sounded happy in his letter,” Sophy said.

  Harry stared thoughtfully toward the children. “I think he found happiness despite himself,” he said.

  Sophy was very fond of Adam. She was also fond of James Abbott, and he had written to her recently from his estate in the north. James had found happiness too. Perhaps just not in the way he had expected.

  “This was always my dream,” she said, leaning back into his arms. He slid them around her waist, cuddling her, and kissed the warm nook between her shoulder and her neck.

  “Mine too.”

  She turned her head, seeking his lips, losing herself in him. “Patience, my love,” he murmured, with a smile. “We will have our time soon enough.”

  His eyes delved into hers, seeking something and finding it, because his smile broadened. “I love you,” he whispered.

  She cupped his hand over his cheek. “I love you too,” she said, “always and forever.”

  And all around them Pendleton Manor went about its business, as it had done for six hundred years.

  About the Author

  Sara Bennett is an Australian who lives in an old gold rush town in Victoria. She has written Historical Romance for Avon/ HarperCollins and is also independently published.

  Meant To Be is the first book in her new Regency Romance series Pendleton Manor.

  Website www.sara-bennett.com

  Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SARA-BENNETT-112854572767/

  If you enjoyed this book please leave an honest review.

  Acknowledgments

  AUTHOR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

  * * *

  Thank you to Kim Killion for the gorgeous cover, Noah Chin for more edits than either of us wanted, and Christine Gardner for stepping in for copy edits.

  Also by Sara Bennett

  Look for these titles by Sara Bennett

  Now Available:

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  My Lady Imposter (Previously published as Deborah Miles)

  Lizzie My Love (Previously published as Deborah Miles)

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  Medieval Series

  The Lily and the Sword (Medieval Series 1)

  The Rose and the Shield (Medieval Series 2)

  Once He Loves (Medieval Series 3)

  Kissing the Bride (Medieval Series 4)

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  Stand Alone

  Beloved Highlander

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  Greentree Sister Series

  Lessons in Seduction (Greentree Sisters 1)

  The Rules of Passion (Greentree Sisters 2)

  Mistress of Scandal (Greentree Sisters 3)

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  Aphrodite’s Club Series

  A Seduction in Scarlet (Aphrodite’s Club 1)

  Her Secret Lover (Aphrodite’s Club 2)

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  Husband Hunters Club Series

  Led Astray by a Rake (Husband Hunters Club 1)

  A Most Sinful Proposal (Husband Hunters Club 2)

  To Pleasure a Duke (Husband Hunters Club 3)

  Sin with a Scoundrel (Husband Hunters Club 4)

  Wicked Earl Seeks Proper Heiress (Husband Hunters Club 5)

  Miss Debenham’s Secret (Husband Hunters Club novella)

  * * *

  Mockingbird Square series (Novellas)

  Mockingbird Square is a garden square in exclusive Mayfair, owned for centuries by the Earls of Monkstead. The present earl amuses himself by interfering in the love lives of his neighbours, and attempting to bring about their happy endings.

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  Unforgettable (Book #1)

  Enraptured (Book #2)

  Surrender (Book #3)

  Reckless (Book #4)

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  Coming Soon:

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  Against All Reason (Pendleton Manor Book 2)

  (Adam’s story)