by Lucy Monroe
She and Hannah had not been allowed to set foot outside in four days. Thankfully, the servants recommended by the vicar’s wife had arrived the next day and Calantha had been kept busy supervising their work in the house. Added to the burden of watching over Hannah and nursing Lise and the footman, she should have barely noticed Jared’s absence. Her current inability to sleep was evidence to the contrary.
She wanted her husband home.
Calantha stopped pacing in front of the connecting door and quietly opened it. She slipped through the doorway and went to the bed. Hannah and Lise lay still, their deep breathing indicating that both maid and child had found the oblivion of sleep. She said a silent prayer of thanks for both their safety and soundlessly returned to Jared’s bedchamber.
Hannah had overcome her experience and complained more about her Papa being gone than the bad men who had tried to kidnap her a second time. She had woken with a nightmare the first night and climbed into bed with Calantha. The next night Lise had insisted she was well enough to sleep with Hannah. Calantha would have welcomed the comfort of her daughter’s presence in the night as she lay awake worrying about Jared, but she forbore saying so. She would not allow herself to be so weak. A four-year-old child might need a nurse, but her mother did not.
She should find her own bed, but her mind was too occupied to sleep. Why hadn’t she told Jared she loved him? What if the duchess hurt him? How long would he be gone? The questions whirled through her mind like the bits of colored glass in a kaleidoscope.
Someone knocked on the door. The Runner must have heard her moving around and decided to check on her. She went to the door and unlocked it before pulling it open.
Jared stood on the other side. As their gazes met, his face, haggard with tiredness, softened with an emotion that made it difficult for her to breath. Her hand fell away from the door and she threw herself into her husband’s waiting arms.
"Jared." She hugged him with all her might, wanting to cling to him and prevent him leaving her to worry for his safety ever again. Her eyes burned with unshed tears of relief and happiness as her face creased in a tremulous smile. "I am overjoyed at your return, my love."
The look in his eyes scorched her as his arms closed around her with strength and his ever-present gentleness. "Mon ange."
His mouth came down on hers in a ravenous kiss that spoke of his own ache at their separation as he pushed her back into the room and shut the bedchamber door behind them.
She pulled her head back, breaking the kiss before her reason deserted her. "Did you find the duchess? What has happened? Have you spoken to Henry?"
Jared caught her beneath the knees and swung her high against his chest. "Later," he murmured against her lips, "I need you now."
He carried her to the bed, never letting his hungry lips leave hers and passion kindled to a raging inferno within seconds inside of her. She tore at his clothes, making sounds of need that brought a deep, satisfied rumble in his chest.
He broke the kiss only to strip her of her nightrail and finish tearing off his own clothes before joining her on the bed, where he resumed the consuming kiss. All of her questions, all of the fear she had suffered while waiting for his return fell away at the desire he kindled in her with his mouth and strong sure hands on her flesh.
He touched her everywhere, as if memorizing the feel of her after a long absence. It had only been four days and three nights, but she understood the emotions she sensed in him because she felt them too. The raging need. The unquenchable desire. The fascination with his flesh. The essential oneness.
She caressed him, urging him closer, needing the experience of their shared flesh to assure her of his well being. She opened her legs, making a place for his hardened flesh between them.
Tearing her mouth from his, she demanded, "Now, Jared. I cannot wait."
Tilting her femininity toward him, she grabbed his buttocks and tugged his manhood closer. His breathing was labored and his face wore the feral expression she had learned to associate with his passion.
"Yes, mon ange, I’ll give you what you want, darling."
And he did. Oh, Heavens, he did. With one great thrust, he embedded his flesh in hers and she shuddered with sheer ecstasy of their union. He stilled above her, his body taut with sexual intent. In the soft candle glow of the room, his expression was shadowed from her gaze and yet she could feel the intensity of his look as his eyes bore into her.
"Cali. Mon ange. My wife."
Her body craved his movement, but her soul reveled in the moment of communion between their hearts as his body linked to hers in utter stillness.
"Jared. My love. My husband." She whispered the words, unwilling to upset the atmosphere of spiritual oneness that surrounded them in the oversized bed with loud declarations.
He began to move, but it bore no resemblance the frenzied rush that had marked their coming together. He leaned on his arms above her, his body blocking her view of the room. Her entire perception narrowed to the man making love to her with slow, tender, care. She laid her hands against the muscled wall of his chest and absorbed the heat of his body through the sensitive skin of her fingertips.
He moaned. "I love your touch. I dream of your small hands running over my skin."
She circled his nipples with both forefingers. "Like this?"
Moaning again, he thrust deeply into her, but did not increase the pace. "Yes, just like that."
She allowed her hands to roam over the hair roughened surface of his chest until she reached the area near his shoulder that had been wounded by the wolf. She reverently traced each line of raised flesh. "You are honorable in every way, husband. Thank you for marrying me."
He pressed a gentle kiss to her temple and continued his deep, unhurried, thrusting. "Angel, there are no words for the gratitude and privilege I feel at being your husband."
Then words ceased as Jared finally increased the pace of his movements, bringing her closer and closer to that moment of sheer bliss that she had learned to crave at his hand.
She gripped his shoulders and words exploded out of her as her body rocked in convulsions under him. "I love you, Jared. I love you. I love you. I love you..."
The litany of his wife’s words of love ended on a loud moan of utter feminine surrender, bringing Jared to his own release. He thrust himself into her one last time and felt the warm explosion of his seed shoot into her body as his entire body went stiff above hers. The climax felt like it went on and on and on. She moved in tiny little wiggles under him and drew out everything his body had to give until he collapsed on top of her, his sweaty flesh pressed heavily into hers. He turned his face so his mouth pressed against her cheek.
They lay that way in silence for several long minutes until he felt her shift under him and realized she probably was having a hard time getting enough air. He rolled off her, but pulled her against him, retaining their closeness. She squirmed until her upper torso was resting on top of his chest, her chin propped on her arms.
"Tell me what happened."
He didn’t want to talk about that bitch, the duchess, but he knew his stubborn wife would not rest until she had wrested the details from him. He hoped he had the answers she wanted. He didn’t have them all himself because the duchess’s final actions had prevented him from asking the questions.
"I didn’t find her where her cohort said she was going to be, so I went to London."
"Did you talk to Henry and tell him her plans?"
Jared nodded, remembering the conversation. Henry was a bastard and had tried to hurt Jared’s wife, but the duke deserved to be warned that his wife was a would-be murderess and had plans to end his life once she’d given birth to a male child. He had expected the duke’s arrogance to prevent him from believing Jared’s claims, but that is not what happened.
"He believed me. Every word. He must have sensed the madness that lurked beneath his wife’s proper façade."
Cali traced a pattern on his chest with one fingert
ip. "Was the duchess there?"
"No."
"Did you find her?"
"Yes."
Cali’s gaze caught with his. Incredible. One word and she knew something was wrong. He could see the knowledge in her angel blue eyes. "Tell me."
"She was killed. By the time I caught up with her, both her hired coachman and the other bastard had disappeared. I could not tell if she was shot, or went completely mad and shot herself. The duke has put about the story that she was attacked by highwaymen on her way to visit friends."
Cali’s eyes widened with apparent distress. "She’s dead?"
"Yes."
"I can’t believe it."
"Believe it. Dam— I mean to say, confound it, Cali. Don’t tell me you grieve for the murderous witch."
Cali shook her head. "No. I’m relieved. It’s over. Hannah is safe. You are safe."
Suddenly his wife was lying on top of him and hugging him with a fierce grip. He could feel her tears against his neck.
Wrapping his arms around her, he said, "We are all safe. Now, tell me again that you love me."
He needed to hear the words, needed to know she meant them and they had not been merely talk born of her passion.
She lifted her head and wiped at her wet cheeks with the back of one hand. "I do love you."
He couldn’t respond because of an unfamiliar tightness in his throat.
She touched his scars again, as she had so many times and reminded him that in her eyes they made him a man of valor, not a beast. "When I was eighteen and realized what sort of person I had married, I gave up my dreams. You’ve given them back to me, Jared. I thought I would never be a mother and you gave me a daughter. You’ve taught my body pleasure and my heart how to trust. How could I not love you more than my own life?"
He took a deep breath, trying to find the composure to speak and the words, which at one time had seemed weakening came out in a strong, bold rush. "I love you, mon ange. I love with every particle of my being." He kissed her. "You are my wife. Now and forever. I will always love you."
She buried her face against his neck. "Say it again. Please, say it again."
"I love you."
She kissed the underside of his jaw. "I love you. Today and always. I’ve loved you for the longest time and it hurt so much to think your heart had been given to a woman now dead."
"I have never felt about another woman the way I feel about you."
She pressed her face into the curve of his shoulder and he felt the wetness of tears against his neck. "I’m so glad. I thought you would never love me."
Her words stunned him. How could a man not love an angel? He couldn’t believe she had doubted his feelings. Putting a hand on each side of her head, he lifted her face until their eyes met.
"Cali, you are the loveliest woman I have ever seen. Your blue eyes remind me of the summer sky; your hair is like a cascade of honey colored silk; your body is perfect in shape and form, but your heart is by far your most beautiful attribute. Your touch drives me wild. Your scent is the fragrance of Heaven to me and I have known you belonged to me since the first time I kissed you in the garden at Ashton Manor. How could you have doubted it?"
She blinked her luminous eyes. "I thought after my first marriage that I was unworthy of love. When you doubted my innocence I believed you could not love me and think those things about me. I decided that Deveril must have been right."
Pain lanced through Jared at the knowledge that his actions had hurt her so deeply. "Deveril was a bloody bas— He was an idiot and a monster. You are so lovable that neither our daughter, nor myself had a chance against your sweetness. I loved you then, but I let my head rule my heart." He hoped she could understand. "I wasn’t used to the feelings you brought out in me. They scared me at first. I felt vulnerable and that made me angry and distrustful of my own instincts."
Her face softened with love that would last a lifetime. "My feelings for you are so strong and so overwhelming they frighten me. It is comforting to know I am not the only vulnerable party in this marriage."
"Your love is safe with me," he vowed.
"I know. I trust you, Jared."
Incredible. After everything that had happened, she did not hold his initial doubts against him. She trusted him and he knew that for his wife that was a gift of incomparable treasure. He would never again allow the evidence of his eyes and ears to supersede his instincts about his wife’s honor and compassion. "Thank you. I trust you too, mon ange."
She pulled her head from his grasp and sat up. Then, she wiggled down his body until her warm, wet, heat pressed against his semi-erect sex. "I believe you, but I don’t want to talk about that right now."
He arched toward her, causing her body to slide along his shaft in a tormenting caress. "What do you want to talk about?"
She rolled her hips in small arcs, making his manhood swell. "Nothing. I want to do."
"You’re an insatiable wench."
Her eyes lit with humor and her smile about blinded him. "I do believe I am. Will you mind very much being married to such a demanding wife?"
Mind? "Not bloody likely."
She leaned down until the tips of her breasts brushed against his chest and swayed from side to side and making her hardened nipples rub against him. "I’m glad."
"I’m happy you want me too. Your love has rescued me from life as Lord Beast."
She pressed a heated kiss to his chest. "I believe we are even. Your love has rescued me from life as the Angel."
"You are an angel, my angel." He could barely get the words out as her silken flesh against his brought a resurgence of the desire that rode him whenever they were together.
She raised her head and scooted up his body just enough to kiss his lips. "But your angel doesn’t have to be perfect."
"I would much rather have your passion than marble perfection," he vowed.
And then she gave him the passion he craved. They shared their love, their bodies expressing the depth of their feelings that was too great for words. Afterward, he cuddled his wife’s body close into his own and thought a lifetime with the love of an angel was like having his own slice of Heaven on earth.
EPILOGUE
Raven Hall, Summer - 1828
Jared carried Calantha into the drawing room and set her carefully on the fainting couch beneath the window at the far end of the room. "I’m not sure this is a good idea, mon ange."
She smiled up at him, making no attempt to hide her amusement at his over-protective attitude. "I will be quite all right. Anna Elizabeth is a week old now and I do not wish to stay abed."
He snorted. "Like you stayed abed at all. I caught you pruning roses in the conservatory the day after our daughter was born, wearing nothing but a nightrail."
"That is hardly my fault. You’d given instructions to Jenny not to allow me to dress."
"I thought that would keep you from getting out of bed against the doctor’s wishes like you did with Marcus." Jared’s frown did not obliterate the warm love shining in his beautiful dark eyes.
"I should have thought you would have learned by now that your wife is every bit as stubborn as you," Irisa remarked, from her seat nearby.
In her second confinement, she glowed with joy and humor. Ashton stood behind his heavily pregnant wife, his hand resting possessively on her shoulder. Their three-year-old son played pick-up sticks with David, Deanna and Hannah on the carpet in front of the empty fireplace, while Marcus played with blocks near his Aunt Irisa’s feet. Thea and Drake shared a small sofa a few feet away.
The entire family had come to see Calantha and Jared’s new daughter. Everyone except Lord and Lady Langley. Calantha had never met them as their stay on the continent had turned into a permanent exile.
"Do not call me stubborn. I am not the one who insisted on traveling to visit relatives only weeks away from delivering my third child," Jared said, sounding aggrieved.
"You, brother-dear, are incapable of giving birth." Thea smiled a
s she spoke.
Calantha adjusted Anna’s blanket. "That didn’t stop him from insisting on being in the room for Anna’s delivery."
"At least he didn’t faint during this one," Drake said.
Dull red stained Jared’s cheekbones. "I didn’t faint when Marcus was born. I had a moment of dizziness."
The moment of dizziness had lasted several minutes, if Calantha remembered correctly. She had screamed with pain as her son’s head crowned and her husband had crashed to the floor like a load of coal dropped from the scuttle. The doctor, who had been scandalized at the prospect of a husband being in the bedchamber during a birthing, had refused to administer aid in waking Jared.
She cuddled her new daughter.
Awed by the tiny features relaxed in sleep, Calantha felt her eyes fill with tears. "She is perfect."
Jared reached out and gently brushed the baby’s forehead with his large finger. "Yes, she is."
"Papa, can we take Anna swimmin’ wif us?" their two-year-old son, Marcus, asked.
"No, silly, she’s too little." Hannah spoke with the authority of the eldest child, wearing her seven years like they were sixty.
Her sometimes too-serious mien enhanced the fine-boned beauty of Calantha’s eldest daughter, but it was her status as an heiress that would give her papa heart palpitations when she was old enough to be introduced to society. She had indeed inherited half of Deveril’s fortune.
Henry, in a move that had shocked both Calantha and Jared, had insisted on it after the debacle with his wife. Calantha had wondered at the time if it had been an attempt on his part to keep them quiet about his mad wife’s actions. It hadn’t been necessary. Neither she, nor Jared, wanted any reminder of that time, including gossip.
Marcus abandoned his blocks and skipped over to Calantha’s side. He bounced on the balls of his feet. "Lise said we could go this afternoon."