His eyes came to rest on hers.
Her heart missed a beat. There was such an openness about them that without understanding why, she was afraid.
‘Is it?’ he asked in a husky voice.
She swallowed. She must speak. But her lips were dry.
‘Of course,’ she managed to say at last.
There was something in the way he was looking at her that made her aware he found her answer significant.
Flustered, she sought refuge in the commonplace. ‘Won’t you come in?’
His gaze held hers for a moment more. Then he said, ‘Thank you.’
She opened the gate and began to walk towards the house, leaving him to fall into step. She had hoped that she would feel better when they were going back to the house, but instead she felt worse. He moved with the predatory grace of a jungle cat and she could feel the power of him as he strode along beside her.
She would feel safer when she was inside, she told herself. She could bid him be seated, and then she could sit as far away from him as possible - on the other side of the room.
‘You have come to take Cooper away, I suppose,’ she said, as she led him into the sitting room.
He did not reply.
She should speak again, ask him to sit down, but it was impossible. She could do nothing but stand there, daring neither to move nor speak. Because if she did, she was afraid she would do or say something she would regret.
And then he took her gently by the shoulders and turned her to face him. ‘It isn’t Cooper I’ve come to talk to you about.’
Her eyes fell to the floor. She could not meet his gaze, because she was afraid that if he saw her eyes there would be no room for anything but complete honesty between them. And complete honesty was something she dreaded.
He reached out one strong finger and lifted her chin. He said, ‘I came to talk about you.’
She felt her legs grow weak. She tried to speak but no words came out. She tried again. ‘Me?’ she asked.
‘Yes.’ His voice was low. ‘You.’
He took his finger away from her chin and brushed it across the line of her cheek. ‘And me.’ His finger trailed across her lips. ‘And us.’
It felt so wonderful that she longed to take his hand and kiss it. But she must not do it. Not until she understood him. Because once she gave herself to him there would be no turning back. She would surrender herself completely.
‘Us?’ she asked. Her voice was no more than a whisper.
‘Yes, Eleanor,’ he said softly. ‘Us.’
‘I don’t know what you mean.’
‘I think you do.’ An unfathomable spark lit his eyes and he said in a different tone of voice, ‘I see you have not yet married Thomas.’
‘Ah.’ She felt a guilty flush spring to her cheek.
‘Tell me, Eleanor, why did you say you were going to marry him?’
‘Oh, that was . . . ’ She tried to sound airy and dismissive, but instead, her voice caught in her throat.
‘That was?’ he asked.
‘That was a . . . misunderstanding,’ she prevaricated.
‘No. It was a lie. What I want to know,’ he said caressingly, ‘is why?’
She could not bring herself to meet his gaze, but when he lifted her chin she had no choice. She had to look into his eyes. She had to be honest. All her defences were stripped away. She summoned her courage and said, ‘Because I couldn’t bear it - the thought of marrying you.’
There was silence, and the air was tense.
‘You couldn’t bear the thought of marrying me?’ His eyes searched her own.
She swallowed. ‘No.’
‘Why not?’
His voice was throaty, and her knees went weak.
‘Because . . . ’ she said.
‘Yes?’
He was standing so close now that she had to tilt her head back to look up at him. His powerful body was pressed distractingly against hers.
‘Because it would not have been right.’
‘And why is that?’
‘Because of your reason for asking me.’
He lifted his hand and pushed back a curl of hair. ‘You don’t know what my reasons were,’ he said.
It was difficult to think with him standing so close to her, let alone to speak. But she must do it. ‘You are wrong. I do. You wanted to protect me from the scandal.’
‘The scandal?’
‘Yes.’ She persevered, though her heart was hammering in her chest and her senses were swimming with the nearness of him. ‘You heard the rumours. They spread rapidly after Drayforth said we had run off together.’
‘And you think that’s why I asked you to marry me?’
‘I do.’
‘And you think that was the wrong reason for asking you to marry me?’ he enquired as his hand cupped the back of her head and his strong fingers tangled themselves in her hair.
His touch made her shiver from head to foot. Nevertheless she looked him in the eye, ‘Yes.’
‘Then tell me,’ he said, ‘What is the right reason?’
He was looking at her with an almost unbearable intensity.
‘The right reason . . . ’
He waited, all brooding male, whilst she gathered herself.
‘The right reason,’ she went on resolutely, stepping back so that he could not touch her, though her body cried out for him to do so. ‘Though I dare say you will think it ridiculous - the right reason is for love.’
‘And why should I find that ridiculous?’
‘Because you don’t love me.’
‘Oh, yes, I do. I asked you to marry me for one reason and one reason only. Because I do love you.’
Her eyes lit with an overwhelming joy.
He pulled her into his arms. ‘I have loved you since the moment I met you. Everything that happened before that had been meaningless; a shadow play. But this is real.’
His lips met her own and she was lost. His kiss pulled her deeper, dragging her under to a world of new and wonderful sensations that she found herself longing to explore.
At last he let her go.
‘I, too, think there is only one reason for marriage,’ he said. ‘I have told you that I love you. The question now remains, do you love me?’
‘Oh, yes, Lucien,’ she sighed, as she returned his passionate kiss. ‘I do.’
When at last they parted, he sat down by the fireplace and pulled her on to the sofa next to him.
Eleanor gave a sigh of contentment and rested her head on his shoulder.
‘If only I had known that you loved me, I would have accepted your hand straight away,’ she said. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’
‘How could I, when you laughed at the very idea of love?’
‘That was not well done of me. But when you asked me if I was in love with Thomas, I couldn’t bring myself to lie to you by saying that I was. So I had to pretend love was unimportant, that it did not even exist.’
‘Then tell me something, if you were not in love with Thomas, why were you embracing him in Sidney Gardens?’
‘Are you jealous?’ she teased him.
‘Now that I know you are in love with me,’ he said, giving her a hug . . . which led to a kiss . . . and then another kiss . . . ‘I am not jealous of anyone.’
‘Thomas has an artistic temperament,’ she said, nestling into his arms. ‘He has been writing poetry since he was a little boy. He wanted to thank me for retrieving the compromising letters Arabella had written to him, and when he did so he did it in his usual effusive way, throwing his arms around me and holding me tight. I responded in kind. It was like hugging a brother.’
‘A brother?’ Lucien enquired, one eyebrow raised.
‘Yes.’
‘Ah, good. Then I can meet him again without being tempted to knock him down!’
‘You weren’t!’ exclaimed Eleanor in mock horror.
‘I was.’
‘Poor Thomas!’
Lucien laughed. ‘Po
or Thomas is quite safe from me. In fact, I owe him a debt of gratitude.’
‘You do?’
He nodded. ‘It was because of Thomas I came to see you. I met him outside my club. I could not avoid speaking to him, and at last I gave into the overwhelming temptation to ask how you were.’
‘And he was astonished?’
‘Yes.’
‘And denied that we were betrothed?’
‘Yes.’ His voice was softer this time.
Eleanor’s own voice softened in response.
‘And so you came to see me.’
‘To see you, and to make you mine.’
His voice was by now so soft she could barely hear it, but the whisper of his breath on her skin set her senses on fire.
‘Name the day for the wedding,’ he said.
‘We will have to wait for Arabella and Charles to return from their wedding tour.’ She smiled mischievously. ‘Arabella made me promise I would not get married until she got back!’
‘She knew about us?’
‘She guessed.’
‘Very well, then we will wait for her to return. But not a moment longer.’
Eleanor agreed, then gave herself up to his kiss.
For more Kindle books by Amanda Grange please
visit her Kindle page on Amazon UK
Amazon US
Amazon DE
Amazon FR
Amazon IT
Or click the links to individual titles below
(Links to Amazon US on following page)
Jane Austen retellings (also available in hardback and paperback)
Darcy's Diary
(Pride and Prejudice)
Mr Knightley's Diary
(Emma)
Captain Wentworth's Diary
(Persuasion)
Edmund Bertram's Diary
(Mansfield Park)
Colonel Brandon's Diary
(Sense and Sensibility)
Henry Tilney’s Diary (ebook forthcoming)
(Northanger Abbey)
Regency romances
A Most Unusual Governess
The Earl Next Door
The Six Month Marriage
One Snowy Night
The Silverton Scandal
One Night At The Abbey
Castle of Secrets
Edwardian romances
That Would Be A Fairy Tale
Titanic Affair
(Set on board the ill-fated liner, Titanic)
All books originally published in hardback by Robert Hale Ltd
Except Titanic Affair, originally published in hardback by Severn House
Please visit Amanda Grange’s website at http://www.amandagrange.com
for more information
For more Kindle books by Amanda Grange in the US,
Please visit her Kindle page on Amazon US
Or click the links to individual titles below
Jane Austen retellings (also available in hardback and paperback)
Mr Darcy’s Diary
(Pride and Prejudice)
Mr Knightley’s Diary
(Emma)
Edmund Bertram’s Diary
(Mansfield Park)
Colonel Brandon’s Diary
(Sense and Sensibility)
Captain Wentworth’s Diary
(Persuasion)
Henry Tilney’s Diary (forthcoming)
(Northanger Abbey)
Regency Romances
A Most Unusual Governess
The Earl Next Door
The Six Month Marriage
One Snowy Night
The Silverton Scandal
One Night At The Abbey
Castle of Secrets
Edwardian Romances (Downton Abbey era)
That Would Be A Fairy Tale
Titanic Affair
(Set on board the ill-fated liner, Titanic)
Please visit Amanda Grange’s website at http://www.amandagrange.com
for more information
Amanda Grange, The Silverton Scandal
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