With a start, Emily felt the gooseflesh on her arms as a sudden draft of chilled air rushed into the room behind her. She shivered in her frilled dressing gown and wondered if a window had blown open. She started to rise from her chair.
In that same instant she sensed another presence in the room.
Emily leapt to her feet, her lips parting in a scream, as she grabbed the letter opener that was laying on the desk.
But the scream was never uttered. A large masculine hand clamped quite firmly over her mouth and Emily was pulled quickly back against a hard male body.
She went limp with relief as she realized who held her.
“I would feel a great deal more welcome if you would put down that letter opener,” Simon said, lowering his hand from her mouth. He extinguished the candle he held in his other hand.
“Simon. Bloody hell.” Emily tossed aside the letter opener and spun around to glare up at him through her spectacles. “You gave me a terrible fright. Where did you come from? How on earth did you sneak up on me like that? I have been watching the door for an age.”
Simon unfastened his greatcoat and stepped aside. He nodded casually toward a section of bookshelving that was slowly, silently sliding back into place against the wall. Emily saw the dark entrance that yawned in the stone behind the bookcase and her eyes widened in amazed delight.
“A secret passageway. Simon, this is wonderful.” She darted around him and scurried toward the rapidly disappearing passageway. All thoughts of the long-planned confession vanished in the face of the promise of high adventure.
“Contain your enthusiasm, Miss Faringdon.” Simon reached out and caught her arm, drawing her to a halt. “The bookcase will close on you. It is far too heavy for you to open by hand. One must use the hidden lever.”
“What hidden lever? Where is it? Oh, this is so thrilling. Just like something out of one of those bloodcurdling Minerva Press novels you spoke of earlier this evening. I can hardly believe it. To think I have lived here nearly all my life and never knew about this secret.”
“Calm yourself.” Obviously amused by her irrepressible excitement, Simon glanced around the room until he spotted the brandy decanter. He tossed the heavy greatcoat down over a chair. “There are two levers,” he explained as he crossed to the small table where the brandy stood.
“Two?”
“One in the passageway behind the wall and one hidden inside the bookcase itself.” He poured two glasses of brandy as he spoke. “The man who built St. Clair Hall believed in maintaining emergency escape routes.”
“But how did you know about the secret passageway?” Emily watched with regret as the bookcase sealed itself against the wall once more.
“Have you not reasoned that out yet? You astonish me. I know about the passageway because I used to live here.”
That captured her full attention. Emily swung around quickly and saw that he was leaning against the desk with languid ease, sipping his brandy. She realized he had changed out of his evening clothes. He was dressed very casually in breeches, boots, and a linen shirt. He was not even wearing a cravat. He looked like a man relaxing in the comfort of his own home.
His own home.
Wordlessly Simon offered her the second glass of brandy. Just as if he were the host and I the visitor, Emily thought suddenly.
“St. Clair Hall was your family’s country home?” Emily took the brandy glass in both hands, searching his face. “What an amazing coincidence.”
“Yet another one for you to note in your journal.” He swallowed a mouthful of brandy.
Emily chewed on her lower lip, uncertain of his mood. “You must have been a very young boy when you left.”
“Twelve.”
“Why did you not mention that the hall had once been your home?”
He shrugged. “It did not seem particularly important.” Emily took a sip of the brandy, frowning again. She had the distinct impression she was missing something here, but for the life of her she could not think what it was. Her romantic imagination took hold once more.
“It is obvious this strange coincidence is just One more haunting element in our doomed relationship, my lord,” Emily finally announced.
Simon gave her a sharp glance. “Doomed, did you say? I confess I am not as well schooled in the elements of romantic literature as yourself. Perhaps you will explain?”
Emily took another sip of brandy and began pacing the room. Her soft slippers made no sound on the carpet. “I must tell you, my lord, that there can be no happy ending for us. And it is all my fault.”
He watched her through narrowed, hooded eyes. “Why is that?”
Emily clutched the brandy glass so fiercely that her knuckles went white. She could not meet Simon’s eyes as she turned at the end of the room and started pacing back toward the desk. Best to say it quickly and get it over and done, she decided.
“My lord, I must confess I have misled you most shamefully. I have flirted outrageously with you. I have led you on in a shocking fashion and allowed you to believe that I would welcome an offer of marriage from you.”
There was a short, charged silence from the vicinity of the desk. Then Simon asked coldly, “Are you trying to tell me you would not welcome such an offer?”
“Oh, no, my lord. It is not that at all.” She threw him an anguished glance, spun around on her heel, and strode bravely back toward the opposite end of the room. “I assure you I would be deeply honored by such an offer. Deeply honored. But I cannot in good conscience allow you to make one.”
“How do you intend to stop me?”
“By telling you the truth about myself. A truth that I fully expected someone else to have told you long before now.” Emily frowned for an instant. “Indeed, I cannot imagine why someone has not mentioned the Unfortunate Incident to you before this but since the good people of Little Dippington have seen fit to keep their mouths shut, I must confess all.”
“The confession must be an interesting one, indeed, if it must be made in secret at this hour of the night.”
The sound of crystal clinking gently on crystal came from the brandy table. Emily risked a quick sidelong glance and saw that the earl had poured himself another brandy. It struck her that she could do with another one herself.
“My lord, I shall try to make this as brief as possible so that you may get on about your affairs.” Emily took a deep breath and steeled herself. “The horrid truth is that you cannot possibly ask for my hand in marriage for the simple reason that I am a ruined woman.”
“Ruined for what? You look in fine fettle to me. Healthy as a horse.”
Emily squeezed her eyes shut and came to a halt facing the bookshelves at the far end of the room. “You mistake my meaning, my lord,” she said quietly. “I am trying to tell you that I am socially ruined. To be blunt, there is a great scandal in my past.”
“A scandal?”
“A scandal involving a man. The scandal is of such proportions that I have been assured by my family that no decent man, especially a man with a duty to a noble title such as yours, could possibly wish to marry me.”
There, Emily thought bleakly. It is done. She waited for the storm that must surely come. The Earl of Blade would not appreciate the fact that she had allowed him to make a cake of himself for more than a sennight.
“Are we by any chance discussing that bit of nonsense that occurred when you were nineteen?” Simon asked blandly.
Emily was thrown into instant confusion. “You have heard about the Incident, my lord?”
“Rest assured, my dear, I always try to fortify myself with as much information as possible before I set out on a project. It is an old habit of mine. One I picked up during my years in the East.”
She turned to stare at him, not understanding how he could be taking this so lightly. “My lord, it was not a trifling matter. It was an elopement. Or rather, it was supposed to be an elopement. I fear I foolishly surrendered to an excess of romantic passion and paid the price.”<
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“This grows more interesting by the moment.”
“Bloody hell, Blade, this is not a joke. Do you not understand? I ran off with a man. My father caught up with us but it was …” she cleared her throat with a small cough, “it was too late.”
“Too late?” The earl cocked a brow, not looking in the least alarmed.
“We were obliged to spend the night on the road,” Emily mumbled. She averted her gaze from Simon’s gleaming eyes. “My father did not find me until the next morning.”
“I see. Tell me something, Emily. Why is it I have the distinct impression you do not entirely regret the Incident?”
Emily resumed her pacing. “I assure you, I do now. But I confess that at the time, it was the most exciting thing that had ever happened to me.” She sighed forlornly. “But my father soon explained that it was the only exciting thing that would ever happen to me because after that no decent man would have me. He brought me home and said I must devote my life to my studies of the stock exchange and investments.”
“Do you enjoy those studies?”
“Oh, yes, at times. There is a certain fascination to it all, you know.” She waved a hand vaguely. “But that is neither here nor there.” She drew a breath. “My lord, I appreciate that in light of this information you must, of course, abandon your intention of asking for my hand in marriage.”
“I rarely abandon any of my intentions, Emily. I have a reputation for following through to the finish. Just ask anyone in London.”
“Well, you can hardly mean to do so in this matter,” she shot back. “Men of your position do not marry women who have been ruined. Now, then, my lord, I have made my confession and if you have not taken a complete disgust to me, I would like to say something else.”
“I assure you, Emily, I am not about to leave now. I am fascinated to hear whatever else you have to say.”
“Very well, then, you may be wondering why I wore my dressing gown to this clandestine meeting.”
“I assumed it was because you are freezing and your wrapper is no doubt considerably warmer than that very charming gown you had on earlier this evening. This room was always cold.”
Emily groaned. She wondered for the first time if the Earl of Blade was just a trifle dense on some matters. She kept her eyes focused on the bookcase as she forced herself to continue. “I wore my dressing gown because I am about to offer you an illicit connection of a romantic nature.”
“I fear I do not understand, my dear. We already have a legitimate connection of a romantic nature.”
She whirled around, glowering in exasperation. “I thought you a man of the world, sir. Pray, pay attention. As there is no possibility of a marriage between us and as I have fallen quite hopelessly in love with you, I have come up with the notion of offering you a … a liaison.”
“A liaison?” He gazed at her quizzically.
“I am offering you an affair, you blockhead.” Emily sucked in a horrified breath as she realized what she had just said. She closed her eyes in mortification. Her face flamed. “My lord, forgive me. I did not mean to call you a blockhead. I fear my nerves are quite overset and I must own that I have something of a temper. Occasionally it gets the better of me.”
“You are obviously a woman of strong passions, just as Prendergast observed.”
“And you are obviously a man who appears to be amused at the oddest things.” She put down her brandy glass. Clearly she’d had more than enough to drink. She shoved her hands into the pockets of her dressing gown. “Well?” she demanded testily. “What about my offer?”
The earl straightened slowly and set aside his empty glass. He crossed the room to where she stood, his strong hands closing warmly around her shoulders. “Emily, my dear, please be assured that I am deeply honored by your charming offer.”
Her heart sank. “But?”
“But I think that, as you are a creature of excessive passion and possessed of a spirited romantic temperament, it would be best if you allowed me to guide you in this matter.”
“Why?” she asked baldly. “Do you think you can be cold-blooded about this sort of thing the way you try to be about everything else?”
“Those who know me will tell you I can and usually am quite cold-blooded about everything. Be warned, Emily.”
“Fustian. It is just an attitude you affect. It is no use trying to tell me you are cold-blooded because I know the truth. Do not forget I have learned a great deal about you from your letters, my lord. Our thoughts have met and mingled on a higher plane. We have looked deeply into each other’s souls.”
“Believe what you wish, my dear. Nevertheless, you will allow that, if nothing else, I am older than you and have seen far more of the world.”
“No doubt. I have been stuck in Little Dippington all of my life.”
“Then you will grant me the advantage of wider experience and allow me to make the decisions regarding the course of our future relationship.”
“I will?”
“Yes, Emily,” he said quite gently. “You will.” He bent his head and kissed the tip of her nose. “I am convinced it would be best if you wait until your wedding night before you surrender completely to another bout of excessive romantic passion.”
“Then I shall wait forever, my lord,” she snapped, “because I certainly do not intend to wed Elias Prendergast and he is about the only one who is likely to offer for me.”
“No, my dear, he is not. I am going to offer for you. Just as soon as your father returns to Little Dippington.”
Emily looked up at him in blank incomprehension. “You are going to offer for me? But, my lord, I just finished explaining that I am a ruined woman.”
“I think,” Simon said coolly, “that we will not discuss the Unfortunate Incident in your past again.”
“We will not?”
“You begin to understand.” He brushed his mouth lightly across hers and then drew back, smiling faintly.
She caught one of his big hands in her two small fists. “Simon, do you mean it? You intend to go through with making an offer for me regardless of the great scandal in my past?”
“Oh, yes, Emily. I fully intend to ask your father for your hand.”
She could hardly believe it. Joyous excitement threatened to swamp her. “And you do not wish to begin an illicit romantic liaison tonight instead?”
“It is, naturally, difficult to resist a woman of such warm passions as yourself, Emily, but I intend to wait until our wedding night to consummate our union.”
“Oh.”
Simon laughed softly at the rueful disappointment in her eyes. He brought one of her hands to his lips and kissed her wrist, his eyes never leaving hers. “Which is not to say, my sweet, that we cannot avail ourselves of a taste or two of forbidden fruit.”
She glowed up at him and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Does that mean you are going to kiss me?”
“Among other things.” He lowered his head, his dragon’s eyes the color of molten gold. His mouth was warm on the curve of her throat.
“Oh, Simon.”
“I like it when you say my name in just that manner. I like it very much. Almost as much as the way you shiver when I touch you.”
He gripped her firmly around her waist and lifted her up off the floor. She looked down at him with a sense of wonder, her hands braced on his shoulders as he carried her over to the mahogany desk.
Simon seated her on the edge of the desk and then very deliberately began to unfasten Emily’s chintz wrapper. His eyes held hers in thrall as he slowly parted the edges of the garment to reveal the embroidered, high-necked muslin nightdress underneath.
Emily felt herself going pink from head to toe. No doubt he could see the way her nipples were thrusting against the soft fabric. She reminded herself she was a ruined woman and he would be expecting some level of sophistication about this sort of thing from her.
She cleared her throat. “My lord, is this what you call kissing?” she said in wha
t she hoped was a suitably blasé fashion.
“No, this is what I call tasting forbidden fruit.” He smiled down into her eyes and bent his head to cover her mouth with his own. His hand went to her breast.
Emily stiffened with shock and then moaned softly. Her arms tightened around his neck. Simon’s thumb moved over her nipple, causing it to form a tight bud of desire. His mouth slid druggingly across hers. The heat of his body as he leaned close kept away the chill of the room.
Lost in the wonder and excitement of Simon’s kiss, Emily barely noticed when his hands went to her legs. He pushed the hem of the nightdress up to her thighs and then he gripped her knees very firmly. Slowly, gently, he forced her legs widely apart and then, in a shockingly intimate move, stepped boldly between them.
Emily’s eyes flew open. “My lord … Simon, I …”
“Hush, my sweeting.” He did not lift his mouth from hers as he spoke. His fingers slid along the insides of her thighs in seemingly random patterns. “You are very soft. Like warm silk.”
Instinctively she tried to close her legs and found his hard, muscled thighs in the way. She could feel the rough texture of his breeches against her bare skin, the sensation sending an alarmed thrill through her body.
“Close your eyes and do not think about what I am doing,” Simon ordered softly.
His hands moved closer to Emily’s most secret places. She closed her eyes, suddenly short of breath.
“Kiss me, Emily.” Simon’s voice was husky and coaxing.
Emily realized with a flare of guilty alarm that her entire attention had been fixed on the movement of his hands. She was obviously supposed to be paying more attention to returning his kiss.
Anxious not to disappoint him, she caught his face between her palms and urgently ground her mouth against his until their teeth clinked.