Finally, the pair of them stood beside their horses, shaded from the sun by the branches of the trees. Diana swallowed, wondering if either of them would have the strength to speak. She imagined herself having something clever to say, yet she couldn’t drum it up. Perhaps she’d never been as clever as she’d imagined herself to be.
Perhaps this would divide them forever.
He looked even more handsome on the ground: tall and sure, his spine straight, his shoulders broad and his black beard thick. The way he half-grinned at her made her weak in the knees. Would she tumble before him, acknowledge his power over her? At this point, she didn’t care what happened to her. She wanted only for that glint in his eyes to remain. She wanted for his happiness to be a stronghold over his life. If that meant being with Grace—then it had to be so.
Finally, both of their lips broke open, as though they’d both planned something to say.
But before either could speak, they rushed toward one another—running in a manner that evoked the horror and beauty of life itself. Suddenly, they were upon one another: Diana’s hands across his chest, Ernest’s face roaring toward hers. His supple lips pressed against her own mouth without pause. She felt breathless, wild with adrenaline, her heart in her throat.
If this wasn’t heaven, she didn’t know what was.
The kiss was passion, it was endless. Diana’s lips parted, allowing Ernest’s tongue to snake over hers. She felt she’d never spent a single hour apart from him, and she couldn’t imagine another world without him in it.
Ernest yanked her toward the closest tree, pressing her hard against the trunk. His thick chest rubbed against her breasts. They began to tug out of her dress, cresting over, the porcelain skin surely glowing in the sunlight. Diana liked to envision herself in this way, in Ernest’s eyes.
Perhaps she could be everything he wanted.
Between little kisses, Diana found herself whispering in his ear. “Please, Ernest…”
Ernest drew back a bit, his eyes soft. “What is it, darling?”
“Please, don’t. Don’t do this.”
Ernest chuckled softly.
“No. Don’t laugh.” Diana drew her hand across his chest and pressed at him. Yet with all her heart, she yearned for nothing more than to keep him close. She bit down on her lip hard before proceeding.
“I love you,” she murmured. “I’ve never loved anyone this way. I can’t avoid it. I could do nothing today but come to you and beg you. Beg you, darling Ernest, to leave her. Choose me. Choose love and marriage and all the children I’ll carry for you. It’s you and I, forever. I know that, now. Perhaps I’ve always known it, since you appeared in my dreams throughout my sickness. You were the only man I could ever know in this manner. I know it will stay with me for the rest of my life.”
There was a long, impossibly wretched pause. Throughout, Ernest and Diana’s eyes knew nothing but one another’s. Diana felt her heart might burst out from her chest.
“You’re telling me to choose marriage with you?” Ernest asked. Slowly, a little smile crept up on his cheeks.
Diana nodded, feeling wrinkles form between her brows. “Please, Ernest. Please. I want nothing more than this. For the rest of my—”
But Ernest pressed his finger across her lips. He clucked his tongue. “Darling. Aren’t I meant to be the one to ask you to marry me? As far as I understand proposals, it’s the man’s duty. Isn’t it?”
Diana felt her smile might rip her face into two parts. Suddenly, Ernest dropped onto one knee—his face open, in wonder, toward hers. She felt she was in the midst of a daydream. Surely this wasn’t happening.
Surely all her dreams weren’t coming true.
“Diana Harrington,” Ernest said. His words were articulate and clear. “I, Ernest Bannerman, the earl of this land, wish to ask for your hand in marriage.”
Diana hadn’t the proper words to speak. She felt wildly inarticulate, a woman without rhyme or reason. Perhaps she was just as dumb as she’d envisioned. Her shoulders fell forward.
“Ernest, I—”
“I’m not done,” Ernest continued. “What you have to understand is this. I’ve been entirely stubborn. I’ve looked to things that shouldn't matter, when what matters has stared me in the face for far too long. I wish to live my life freely and openly, without pause, according to my heart and my heart alone. And I want you to do that, as well. Perhaps that means you’ll marry me. Or, in the midst of this speech, perhaps you’ve realized that there’s something else on your heart and mind. Someone else you’d like to run to, even now…”
The joke forced Diana’s eyes to roll. She couldn’t imagine a more idiotic conclusion. She sighed and draped her hands over Ernest’s shoulders, trying to tug him up toward her. When he did stand once more, he towered over her, making her belly ache with unending desire.
I will have this man’s babies one day, she marvelled.
“I’d prepared fully for you to break my heart today,” Diana whispered. She drew her hand across the back of his neck, toying with his hair. It was down-soft, like feathers from a duck.
“Will you do it?” Ernest whispered. “Will you make me the happiest man alive?”
Slowly, Diana nodded her head. “I can’t imagine a better world for me to live in. A world in which I’m allowed to awaken next to you in the morning and fall asleep next to you at night. A world in which I’m allowed to bear your children, and nurse you through sickness, and appreciate you in health. This is the world I’ve prayed for.”
Again, Ernest bent his head and lowered his mouth to hers. His hands raced around her back, drawing themselves over the space above her behind and tightening her against him. Her breasts spilled now, fully, from the cloth that held them. She blinked up at him, feeling outrageously beautiful in his eyes. Then, she kissed him again, harder, with more ferocity.
“I’ll marry you. I’ll marry you every day, in any way, for the rest of my life,” Diana whispered.
Ernest chuckled. He dropped his lips from hers and beamed down at her. “This is the first day of everything else, isn’t it?”
“No,” Diana insisted. “In fact, the truth is, the first day was the day you saved me from the fire. When I awoke next to you, I knew I was safe. I knew you would care for me forever. It was unquestioned purity.”
At this, Ernest shoved her harder against the tree. Her nipples pointed up at him, eager and perky, the nubs like little berries. Slowly, he bent his head, so that his lips poured over her left nipple. He allowed his tongue to trace it in a circle. The intensity of it made Diana moan. Her eyes closed as her hands traced over his black curls.
Ernest didn’t break her dress, this time. He didn’t need to. He inched her out of the top, then drew his hands to her back, unbuttoning her. Gingerly, timidly, Diana stepped from the gown, standing in only her underthings. The wind swept through her wild hair.
“Always naked with you in the wild,” she murmured. Her hand drew over his cheek, rubbing at the thickness of his beard. Then, her hand trickled toward his jacket, scrubbing it off his shoulder. If she didn’t have his skin out in the open, in full view of the sky and the trees and the grass, she felt she might go insane.
It was funny, what the body wanted. One had to follow its lead.
Their motions were quick, now. Diana thrust Ernest’s jacket across the grass. She tugged at his waistband, unbuttoning his pants and kicking them toward the ground. His bulge shoved out against her belly as he kissed her again, this time hungrily, almost like an animal, wanting to devour her.
Fully naked, they stretched out in the clearing between the trees. Diana had a flashing thought that if anyone passed by on horseback or in carriage, they had only to peer through a few trees and catch them in the midst of it: Ernest’s body heaving over hers, his cock filling her. Her fingers traced down his back, the nails digging in. His muscles pulsed as he made love to her, his lips kissing hers passionately. Their souls trickled up into the sky above them, allowing their bod
ies to do the work—showing this proof of their unquestioned loyalty.
When it was over, they blinked at one another and stretched out on the grass, holding hands. Diana felt she was awakening from a foggy, blissful dream. She gave him a shy smile, then drew her finger across his sweaty forehead.
“Our hair is covered with twigs,” she whispered.
“We look as though we’ve spent many years in the woods,” agreed Ernest.
“Wild creatures. Cavemen,” Diana affirmed.
There was silence for a moment. Diana wasn’t sure what should happen next. The only thing she knew for sure was that she didn’t want to let him go. She wanted to linger in this moment forever.
“There’s only one thing we need to do now,” Ernest murmured.
“What’s that?”
Slowly, Ernest cranked to his knees and flashed his palm out, willing her to take it. She did so, following his lead as he stood—a naked, muscular creature in the woods, his black hair covering his face and his fierce eyes not letting hers go.
“We have to go tell the only other person this really matters to,” Ernest said. “The only other person in the world who wanted this just as much as we did. The only other person willing to fight.”
Diana’s voice was almost breathless. “Rose.”
They dressed quickly and returned to horseback. Diana felt Ernest’s eyes assessing her as they rode side-by-side. She felt sure he was impressed with her riding abilities—many men had been before. She was confident and sure of herself on horseback, her chin high and the animal calm and serene beneath her.
“You’re a woman of many surprises,” Ernest remarked.
When they arrived back to the Bannerman estate, Diana was overcome with the feeling that she was finally returning home. Her heart had switched over—drawing complete allegiance for Ernest’s mansion, and allowing the one in which she’d grown to fade into the past. It would linger on in her memory, yet her heart knew to push forward.
Ernest led them toward the stables. Once there, Diana hopped off and slipped her hand back into Ernest’s. “Where will we find her?”
“I never know quite what she’s up to,” Ernest returned.
“I suppose that’s the nature of our Rose.”
Ultimately, Diana and Ernest found Rose in the garden. She rocked in a swing, her hands clenching the hanging iron and her feet sweeping back and forth. To Diana’s surprise, Rose’s eyes were shut tightly, as though she was in the midst of her own daydream.
The shuffle of their feet through the grass brought Rose’s eyes open. Immediately, her jaw dropped. Diana and Ernest stopped walking ten feet in front of her, their wild, twiggy hair on full display, along with the mud patches on their clothes.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Diana said.
“You look like you’ve gotten carried away,” Rose returned. Slowly, her mouth crept into a grin. “Again.”
Diana dropped Ernest’s hand for a moment, striding toward her new sister. Rose’s eyes glowed, assuredly, with this knowledge. For years, Diana had thought she’d never be able to find the sort of love she’d had for Margery again. While she could never replace it—this new, fresh love filled a hole within her.
She felt endlessly grateful.
“You did it. You finally did it,” Rose said. Tears dripped from her eyes. She wiped at them, but it was no use. “I worried every day this wouldn’t happen. I worried that I’d be forced to live out the rest of my life without you.”
“I worried the same thing,” Diana breathed.
Rose burst up from the swing, drawing her arms around Diana. She fell into short-lived sobs, her body quaking. Diana’s eyes flashed back toward Ernest. He looked a bit flummoxed, as though he hadn’t a real understanding of female emotions. Diana had a strange, flashing image of a very-near future, when Ernest would be surrounded by her, a wife, his sister, and perhaps a young daughter. What flurry of emotions that would be. He would have to learn quickly.
Although, of course, Diana knew that Ernest was a rather different sort of man. Gruff and animalistic and wildly intelligent, yes. But also emotional enough to return continually to memories of his father at his deathbed. Emotional enough to know that whatever existed between them, it was too beautiful to pass up.
Chapter 23
It was funny how quickly things moved after that.
Of course, Ernest was rather in the dark about how to proceed. He informed Diana about Grace’s engagement to the duke (something they both laughed about in a rather delicious way), and went with her to inform her father and aunt about the engagement the very day it happened. Prior to going, of course, Diana ensured that they’d both picked the twigs out of their hair. “We have to look at least moderately decent, if we’re going to see my father and tell him about our plans for the rest of our lives…” she said, teasing him.
As was her custom, Rose stole the show upon their arrival to the Bragg estate, informing Aunt Renata and Diana’s father of the engagement even before Diana and Ernest could arrive to the parlour. Aunt Renata nearly tumbled over in trying to reach Diana for a hug. Lord Harrington stood very slowly, on shaking knees, gripping his cane.
Diana held his eyes for a moment. Silence overtook the room. What he’d told her before she’d left to find Ernest still rang through her ears.
“So. You’ve found him. The one,” Lord Harrington said. Slowly, he smiled at both of them, his face warm, his eyes eager and glittering.
Diana sprung toward him. She hugged him gingerly, careful not to knock him over. Ernest and Rose joined moments later, with Ernest shaking his future father-in-law’s hand. Diana watched as they made eye contact. They seemed to be having some sort of conversation she couldn’t fully understand.
Of course, after this, there was discussion of what to do next. Each of them sat in the parlour, bubbling with adrenaline, yet all-out unsure about next steps.
“There must be an announcement,” Aunt Renata ventured, in her false, formal tone.
“Of course,” Ernest confirmed. “I dare say we should send it sooner rather than later, to ensure that no one feels lied to. It’s my first months as earl, and I don’t wish to muddy the waters.”
He gripped Diana’s hand, adding, “Not that it matters really, in the grand scheme of things. I know the people will love you.”
Diana’s heart fluttered. She was to become a countess—nothing she’d ever dreamed of before. She swallowed slowly.
“And the wedding?” Rose asked. “It should be rather soon, don’t you think?”
“You’re speaking so selfishly, Rose! You wish to steal our Diana so quickly,” Aunt Renata admonished, giving her a warm smile.
“I want nothing more than to have Diana back in my house,” Rose affirmed.
It was then decided that it was silly for Aunt Renata and Lord Harrington to remain on at the Bragg estate alone. It was a big, drafty, bulky house.
“It just worked so much better, having us all together,” Lord Harrington agreed.
“This way, we can all help planning the wedding!” Aunt Renata gushed. Her cheeks grew broad and her eyes swam with tears.
The maids and butlers were instructed to begin packing Aunt Renata, Lord Harrington, and Diana’s things, along with their own. Diana blinked around the enormous mansion as she strode through it for the last time, arm in arm with Ernest. She’d never felt a single warm emotion for the place since they’d moved in. Now, she felt only bubbling excitement, knowing she’d never have to darken its door again.
A Seductive Lady Rescued From Flames (Historical Regency Romance) Page 26