“I see. We would not have suited each other at all. I cannot imagine taking her to a gaming hell. Nor can I envision her using a walking stick on a brothel butler.”
“On the other hand, she probably wouldn’t have given you any trouble. I am certain she would have made a most dutiful wife. Speaking of duty …”
He sighed. “Yes?”
“Lady Atherton did warn me that I must be prepared to do mine and provide you with an heir.”
“I wouldn’t mind throttling Lady Atherton.”
“She was only trying to help. After all, you did ask her to assist you in finding an heiress.”
“You need not remind me.”
“Lucas?” Victoria asked shyly.
“Hmmm?”
“Lady Atherton pointed out that if I thought doing my duty was going to be difficult for me, I should only consider how very hard it was going to be on you to have to pretend some degree of affection in the marital bed.”
“God damn it to hell and back.” Lucas came to a halt and swung her around to face him. He glared down at her incredulously. “You cannot tell me you believed her? After that night we spent together at the inn?”
She faced him staunchly, her eyes glittering within the shadow of the cloak. “I have learned from both my mother and my aunt that men do not seem to have any great degree of difficulty pretending that sort of physical affection when it suits them.”
“Men are not the only ones who can manage the trick,” Lucas muttered, and then added ruthlessly, “Some would say I have good cause to question the depths of your feelings that night,”
Anger flashed in her gaze. “How dare you question my feelings that night? I was painfully honest with you about the depth of my emotions, as I recall.”
He shrugged. “If your feelings ran as deep as you imply, I doubt you could have buried them so quickly afterward.”
“I buried them quickly because I felt ill-used. Damn you, I had no choice but to suppress my foolish affection. I feel nothing but humiliation whenever I recall my actions that cursed night.”
“I must say you have done an excellent job of suppressing your feelings. One would never guess you ever held me in anything but complete dislike.”
“Yes, well, that is certainly—” She broke off as he stumbled and winced. “What’s wrong now?” she demanded impatiently.
“I told you, my leg is troubling me somewhat this evening.”
“There are times, Lucas, when you display very little common sense.” She took his arm to steady him. “I suppose we ought to return to the house before you take a bad fall.”
“I don’t believe I can make it that far. The cottage is closer. If I could just rest inside it for a while, I am certain I will be all right.”
“Very well,” she muttered irritably. “Here, you had better let me assist you.”
“Thank you, Vicky. You are very kind.” Leaning rather heavily on her, Lucas allowed himself to be assisted into the dark confines of the small gamekeeper’s cottage.
12
Strategy.
Lucas settled himself on the floor of the cottage, his arm propped on one up-drawn knee, his sore leg stretched out straight. He watched cheerfully as Victoria busied herself building a fire. She had refused to allow him to carry the wood, insisting he rest, instead.
“This is a pleasant little place, is it not?” she asked, glancing about as the fire she had just built blazed into existence and revealed the interior of the cottage. “It looks like someone has lived here fairly recently. The chimney is clear and the floor is not nearly as dusty as one would expect.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if some evicted tenant took up residence here until we arrived. My uncle was extremely prone to evictions.”
“A nasty man.”
“Bear in mind that I descend from a slightly different branch of the family,” he pointed out.
Instead of smiling, she took that very seriously. “We are certainly not responsible for the actions of other members of our family. Here, let me rub your leg for you.”
Lucas did not protest. His mind was on fire with images of what had happened the first time she had rubbed his throbbing leg. “Thank you. I would appreciate it.”
She folded her cloak on the floor and knelt on it. Keeping her eyes focused on his leg, she went to work, massaging gently. Lucas groaned at the first touch of her hands.
“Am I hurting you?”
“No. That feels wonderful.” He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall. “You can have no idea.”
“It must have been terrible.”
Lucas opened his eyes and studied his wife. “What must have been terrible?”
“That day when you were wounded.”
“I will admit it was not the highlight of my life. A little higher, please. Yes. Right there. Thank you.” Her hand was mere inches from his groin. He wondered how she could be unaware of the rapidly growing bulge in his snug breeches. “That fire feels good.”
“Lucas?” There was a short, poignant pause.
Lucas saw the intent look on Victoria’s face. “Yes?”
“Did you love her very much?”
He closed his eyes again as he struggled to follow her train of thought. “Who?”
“Lady Atherton, of course.”
“Oh, her. Well, I must have thought I did at the time, else why would I have bothered to ask her to marry me?”
“Why, indeed?” Victoria muttered.
“But looking back on it, I find it hard to believe I was that much of an idiot.”
“She still loves you.”
“She loves the idea of suffering from a star-crossed love and the feeling of being a gallant martyr to duty far more than she’ll ever love any man. I do not envy Lord Atherton one bit.” Atherton’s bed must be a very cold one, Lucas thought.
“Forgive me, my lord,” Victoria said wryly, “but that is a remarkably perceptive comment for a man.”
He opened one eye. “You think women are the only ones who can make remarkably perceptive comments?”
“Well, no, but …”
He closed his eye. “Some of us males are capable of learning from our mistakes and of gaining a measure of perception in the process.”
“Is that right?”
Lucas inhaled sharply. “Ah, Vicky, could you possibly go a bit easier on that portion of my leg? Perhaps if you moved your hands a bit higher?”
“Like this?” She slid her fingers up his thigh a few more inches.
Lucas did not trust himself to speak. Her touch was now so intimate he was afraid he would lose his self-control entirely in another moment or two.
“Lucas, are you all right?” Victoria began to sound genuinely worried.
“After that night we spent together at the inn, you should know what your touch does to me, my sweet.”
Her hands stilled instantly on his thigh. “Do you want me to stop?” she asked hesitantly.
“Never. Not in a million years. A man could die happy under such torture.”
“Lucas, are you by any chance trying to get me to … to seduce you?”
He opened his eyes and looked straight at her. “I would sell my soul to get you to seduce me.”
She blinked at his bluntness. Then her eyes filled with longing. “I do not think the price would be quite so high, my lord.”
He touched her face and then let his fingers slide along the chain of the pendant. “Thank God for your honesty in matters of intellectual inquiry.”
“Oh, Lucas.” With a small cry she threw herself against his chest and nestled there, her arms wrapping around his waist. “I have thought about that night so often. I was so happy with you for those few hours.”
“Only your pride is keeping you from being happy in that way again.” He stroked her arm, enjoying the weight of her against his chest. “Is your pride worth all this disharmony between us? We are bound together for life now, Vicky. Do you intend to put us both through hell every
night?”
She kept her head tucked against his shoulder so that she did not have to look at him. “When you put it like that, it does not make much sense, does it? Aunt Cleo said that I had made my bed and now must lie in it. She said it was up to me to make that bed as comfortable as possible.”
“Much as I appreciate your aunt’s sentiments, I’d just as soon not have a martyr in my bed. I narrowly escaped that fate once before, as you will recall,” Lucas said.
Her shoulders shook with soft, nervous laughter. “Yes, I do recall. Very well, Lucas, I shall view my decision to carry out my responsibilities as your wife as a matter of logic and common sense, not a matter of duty. There is, as you say, no point in putting us both through hell.”
“Give me the logical bluestocking rather than the pious martyr any day.” Lucas tipped up her chin and kissed her. “At least when the bluestocking talks herself into succumbing to passion, she doesn’t have to pretend she cannot enjoy it.” His mouth moved slowly on hers.
Victoria seemed to hesitate briefly, as if silently running through her logic one more time to be certain this was the right solution to the problem she had set herself. Then, with a tiny gasp, she responded with the sweet, hot fervor that Lucas always found so enthralling.
Her hands tightened around his back and she parted her lips for him. Lucas let his tongue plunge into her mouth in anticipation of the way he would soon be surging into her body. She pressed herself against him. He could feel her breasts beneath the bodice of her dress and his entire body throbbed with impatience.
“Sweetheart, I have waited so long for our wedding night.” He tore his mouth from hers and reached for the amber cloak on which she had been kneeling. He tossed it out deftly with one hand so that it formed a blanket for her to lie on.
“It will get dirty.” Her protest was automatic, but without any real heat.
“You have others.” He fumbled with her gown, a part of him appalled by his haste and the unaccustomed clumsiness that accompanied it. So much for strategy. Another part of him was running wild and free now that the torment of waiting was nearly over.
That first time he had prepared himself to hold back until he was certain she was as eager as he was. He had been so intent on not hurting her or alarming her, so intent on pleasing her. But this time he could think only of possessing her once more. He had to reassure himself that she was his again.
This time he could not contain himself.
Victoria looked startled by his urgency, but she went willingly over onto her back as he eased her down onto the cloak. He gave up fighting with her clothes and contented himself with pushing her skirts up to her waist. Then he looked up quickly to see if she was offended by the lack of gallantry. When he saw her luminous smile and the reflected heat of the fire in her eyes, he went to work on his own clothing.
“Damn.”
“What is it?” she asked softly.
“Nothing. Merely my own clumsiness.” He finally managed to get the breeches open. He decided he could not take the time to remove them or his boots. His need was raging through him.
And then he was falling on her in a white-hot fever. He put his hands on her thighs and she opened them for him, offering herself. He moved between her legs, feeling the moist heat of her as he pushed against her softness. He took one of her nipples into his mouth and bit down with exquisite care as he surged into her tight, hot channel.
She cried out and clung to him. He could feel the initial resistance of her body as he pushed steadily deeper. He reminded himself that this was all still very new to her.
“Lift yourself, sweetheart. Open yourself for me.” He slid one hand down under her to cup her lush buttocks and urged her upward so that he could sink himself even deeper into her clinging warmth.
“Lucas.”
“Am I hurting you?” His voice was husky, even to his own ears.
“No, not precisely. But the feeling is indescribable. Oh, Lucas.”
“I know, I know, darling, I know.” He sank himself slowly to the hilt. He felt her thighs shiver as they closed around him and the knowledge that she had willingly made herself so vulnerable to him nearly undid him. “Wrap your legs around my waist. That’s it. Yes.”
With a soft exclamation, she gave herself to him just as she had that first night. She was clinging to him, whispering his name, pleading with him for the release he promised.
Glittering shards of sensation flickered through his senses. Lucas was aware of the heat of the fire, the alluring scent of Victoria’s aroused body, the silky strength of her soft thighs as they tightened around him.
He opened his eyes and saw that hers were tightly closed. She was breathing quickly, her throat arched back over his arm. She was in the grip of her passion and the sight was devastating to his senses. He was utterly fascinated. He moved slowly, deliberately, within her, letting her pull him back every time he had retreated to the entrance of her tight little channel.
“Lucas.”
“Yes.” He eased back into her again, glorying in her hot, clinging warmth. He was sweating now, his whole body surging toward release. Then he felt the sudden tension in Victoria and knew she was close to her own climax.
He moved his hand on her buttocks, letting one finger glide intimately along the dark cleft to the point where their bodies were joined.
Victoria’s eyes flew open and her lips parted on a soft, startled, purely feminine shriek.
“Lucas? Dear heaven, Lucas.”
And then she was convulsing gently around him, drawing him even more deeply into her. Lucas heard his own triumphant shout fill the small room as his release swept over him.
Several minutes passed before he felt like stirring. When he did, it was only to roll onto his side and gather Victoria close against him. The fire was still blazing merrily, casting cheerful, dancing shadows on the walls. Lucas felt his wife’s leg slide lazily along his as she allowed herself to be cuddled.
“You must admit there are some benefits to marriage, madam. At least this time we do not have to concern ourselves with being discovered and threatened with social ruin.” Lucas yawned mightily, aware of a singular contentment. “But do you think that perhaps next time we might try it in the comfort of your bed or mine? That mattress at the inn was lumpy and this floor is damned hard.”
“We are having an adventure. Don’t you think it might be a bit ordinary to use one of our own beds, sir?”
“This is what I get for marrying a woman with a taste for excitement. She only wants to make love in unusual locations and under novel circumstances.” Lucas ruffled her short curls affectionately. “Fear not, madam, your husband will do his best to keep you amused and entertained in your own bed.”
“It sounds like a great deal of work on your part,” she said.
“Believe me, it will be infinitely easier to dream up interesting things to do with you in the comfort of your bedchamber than it is to chase after you at midnight, wondering what mischief you’re up to.”
She did not respond to that. Instead she wriggled a bit, quite delightfully, in fact. She made no move to free herself from his arms but her silence continued for some time. Lucas began to worry.
“Lucas?”
“Yes, my sweet?”
“Do you swear to me that you did not arrange for my aunt to discover us that first time at the inn?”
Anger snapped to life within him, driving out much of the contentment he had been enjoying. He pushed himself up on one elbow and scowled down at her. “Damn it, Vicky, I set out to seduce you, not humiliate you. How can you think I would deliberately do such a thing?”
“You said, yourself, you were determined to marry an heiress.”
“I was determined to marry you” he corrected roughly, “not just any heiress. Furthermore, to be perfectly blunt about it, my dear, I had no need to resort to extreme measures such as arranging for your aunt to discover us in compromising circumstances.”
Her brows came together in a s
wift frown. “What do you mean by that?”
“Only that I was doing a creditable job of seducing you into marriage just fine on my own. I did not require anyone else’s assistance. At the rate we were going, it would have been only a matter of time before you talked yourself into marrying me.”
“Why, you arrogant beast.” She tried to push herself away from him and sit up.
Lucas grinned and threw one leg over her bare thighs. He rolled back on top of her, pinning her wrists to the floor on either side of her head. “’Tis true and you know it, sweetheart. Admit it. Admit you could not possibly have conducted the sort of torrid love affair you wished for unless we got married. It would have proved impossible.”
She glared up at him, struggling futilely. “It would have been possible. It merely required planning.”
“I assure you, when it comes to planning and strategy, I am very, very good and even I could not have kept you content or safe for long. Hell, I could not even manage it that one time we tried to seclude ourselves at the inn. And it would have been impossible for you to steal away from a soirée to run off to an inn in a strange coach every time you wanted to make love. Sooner or later someone would have been bound to notice.”
“I would have been most discreet,” Victoria insisted.
“Is that right? And what would we have done when the Season was over and there were very few large parties from which you could disappear without being noticed?”
She bit her lip in annoyance. “I would have thought of something.”
“No, love. We were headed for trouble right from the start.”
“And you knew it.”
“Of course I knew it. As you are far from being an idiot, you would soon have come to your senses and realized it also. At that point I am convinced you would have started to think seriously about marrying me.” He smiled deliberately. “To be perfectly truthful, given your appetite for intellectual inquiry, I do not believe I would have had to wait too long.”
She went still and looked up at him through her lashes. “You were so sure of me you took to carrying a special license in your pocket.”