The comment broke through her nervousness and elicited a small gurgle of laughter from her. Victoria put her arms around his neck and smiled up at him. “Is that right, my lord? I would never have guessed. I shall rely upon you to keep me informed of the small details of this experiment.”
“Very well, here is one small detail that most certainly must not be overlooked.” He bent his head and sipped one nipple carefully between his strong, white teeth.
“Lucas” Victoria gasped and closed her eyes at the thrill that shot through her. Instinctively she arched herself so that he could take her more completely into his mouth.
Lucas obliged her, and when she was dazed with the sensations pouring through her, Victoria felt his leg slide effortlessly between her thighs. This time she offered no resistance at all, opening herself completely to his touch.
“So soft. So sweet and soft and welcoming.” Lucas’s voice was husky with his passion. His long, elegant fingers moved over her, exploring, searching, setting her on fire, just as he had promised.
As she adjusted to the exquisite delights unfolding in and around her, Victoria slowly grew more bold. When she stroked his shoulders and then traced the line of his spine down to his hips, Lucas encouraged her with dark, heated words.
“You feel so good, Vicky. Your touch is like none I have ever known.”
He brushed himself lightly against her thigh, letting her feel the fullness of his manhood but not forcing her to accept him yet.
Without stopping to think, Victoria reached down to glide her fingertips across the broad tip of his engorged shaft. She gasped a little and drew back when she encountered a bead of moisture.
“Please,” Lucas rasped against her breast. “Do it again.” He thrust himself back into her palm, asking silently for another caress.
This time Victoria stroked him tentatively with quivering fingers and was delighted with his deep groan of response. She discovered she loved knowing she had such an effect on him.
Slowly he moved on top of her, settling himself between her legs. She felt his hands under her knees, raising them until she was completely open to him. Then he lowered his mouth and kissed her.
“Lift yourself,” he urged.
She drew a deep breath and did so cautiously. He was ready and waiting for her. She retreated instantly as she felt him start to enter her. He was very large and solid, she realized. There was no give to him at all. She lifted her lashes and looked up into his stark face.
“I am not at all certain this is going to work,” Victoria said tightly.
“It will work. Do not be in such a rush, darling. We have hours yet.” He kissed her throat and nibbled tenderly at her ear. “Although I am quite certain I won’t be able to wait hours to show you that we will fit together very well indeed. If I did hold off that long, I would be headed for Bedlam in the morning, a ruined man.”
She started to laugh nervously at the image, but just as the giggle emerged he slid his palm down over her belly and carefully sought the blossoming petals between her legs with one long finger. Victoria’s small giggle turned into a breathless gasp.
Then he was doing the things he had done to her that night in the carriage, the things that would soon make her shiver and cry out against his shoulder. The fabulous spiral of excitement twisted and condensed within her and turned her into a wild, writhing creature of light and energy.
As the storm within her threatened to break, Victoria clutched tightly at Lucas, digging her nails into his shoulders and lifting her hips impulsively against his hand. Her pleas began as small, frantic, cajoling cries of delight and finally were transformed into fierce little feminine demands for release.
“Do you want me now, sweetheart?” Lucas parted her with his fingers and let her feel the broad head of his shaft once more.
This time she did not retreat. “Yes. Oh, dear God, yes, my love.”
He groaned, his whole body taut with the effort he was exerting to retain his self-control. Slowly he started to sink into her.
Victoria flinched, unprepared for the full force of his intrusion. Much of the dazzling excitement she had been feeling vanished as the pressure built. But she refused to stop now. She had come this far and it was clear that Lucas was at the end of his tether. She could not deny him the same release he had once given so generously to her. She tightened her grip on his arm and braced herself.
“Take it easy, darling, this is not supposed to be an act of martyrdom,” Lucas whispered.
“I’m sorry. Please, Lucas, go ahead. I will be all right.”
“I want you to be more than all right.” His mouth fastened on hers and he withdrew himself from her. He reached down to insert his hand once more between their bodies.
He teased her with his fingers, sliding first one and then another just inside her, stretching her gently, drawing forth the sweet, hot honey. Soon she was once more swept back into the grip of sensual excitement.
This time he waited until she went coiled and taut beneath him, waited until her head tipped back over his arm, waited until she cried out, waited until she began to convulse gently and clutched at him so passionately she left small marks in his skin.
Then and only then did Lucas thrust fully into her in one long, relentless stroke that filled her completely.
He was drinking the last of her soft cries of mingled release and erotic surprise when his own shuddering climax broke over him.
9
Victoria came slowly awake as she realized that the unending pounding she was hearing was the sound of someone knocking forcefully on her door. But that made no sense. Nan would not dream of knocking so impolitely and no one else in the household except her aunt would feel free to barge in on her so early in the morning like this.
But this was not a normal morning. This was the morning after …
Victoria’s eyes flew open as the full realization of what was happening and where she was struck her. Relief rushed through her as she realized it was still dark outside. She and Lucas were safe. They had time to get back to the ball before dawn. Then she realized she was alone in the bed.
She sat up suddenly, clutching the sheet to her throat, and saw that Lucas was hastily pulling on his breeches near the foot of the bed. He swore softly, grabbed his shirt, and stalked barefoot to the door.
“Lucas, no, wait, I have a dreadful feeling you should not open that door.”
But it was too late. Lucas had already yanked open the door and was starting to growl ferociously at whoever stood on the other side.
“What the hell is the meaning of this interruption? My wife and I are trying to sleep.” There was a shattering pause and then Lucas continued with awful gravity, “I beg your pardon, Lady Nettleship. I certainly did not mean to yell at you. Forgive me. To be perfectly honest, you are the last person I expected to see tonight.”
“Yes,” Cleo Nettleship said in frozen accents, “I can understand that.”
Victoria closed her eyes and lowered her forehead down onto her updrawn knees as the enormity of the disaster struck her.
“If you will give me a few minutes to dress, I will join you downstairs. Under the circumstances you will probably desire a few explanations.”
“You are quite correct, sir. But you will answer my first question before I go downstairs. Is my niece all right?”
“Victoria is quite all right, madam. I give you my word.”
“Do not be long. It is not yet dawn, but there is very little time to spare. There are decisions that have to be made and acted upon at once, as I am sure you are well aware.”
“I understand. I will join you in a few minutes. We will talk while Victoria gets dressed.”
Lucas closed the door quietly and turned slowly toward the bed. His face was an unreadable mask in the dim glow of the smoldering fire. “I am sorry, Vicky. As you can see, we have something of a problem.”
“Dear heaven, what are we going to do?” She could not seem to get her thoughts in order. It was as
if she were swimming in a sea of chaos.
“We will do what must be done, of course.” He sat down on the chair and swiftly pulled on his boots. Then he finished dressing with the quick, efficient movements of a military man.
Victoria looked blankly at Lucas. “I do not understand. Why is my aunt here? How could she possibly know about us and this inn? I did not know myself where you would be taking me until we got here. Lucas, none of this makes any sense.”
He walked over to the bed and stood looking down at her, his expression grim. “I have no idea what your aunt is doing here or how she found out about us tonight. I assure you, I fully intend to discover the answers. But it makes no real difference now, Vicky. Surely you can see that? We both knew from the outset that there were certain risks involved in this sort of entanglement. We have been caught and there is no way to go back to the beginning. We must deal with the situation as it stands.”
She hugged her knees and looked up at him, her eyes wide with uncertainty and a dawning fear. “You sound so very military about all this. And you look like a soldier getting ready for battle. You frighten me, Lucas.”
His eyes softened for a moment as he leaned over and caught her face between his rough hands. “This is not how I would have chosen to have had things turn out between us. But now that the dice have fallen this way, all I can do is ask you to put your trust in me. I will take care of you, Victoria. I swear it on my honor.”
Before she could think of a reply to that, he was gone, out the door and down the stairs to meet her aunt. Victoria sat perfectly still for a few minutes and then, very slowly, she pushed back the covers and got out of bed.
As she stood up she was chagrined to discover she was sore in places she had never been sore before in her life. She would have given a great deal to have been allowed to relax in a hot bath. But that was impossible.
She felt the unfamiliar weight of the pendant around her throat and reached up to touch the amber figures as if they were a talisman.
Memories of the night sleeted through her mind like silver rain as she made her way to where her clothes waited on a chair. She struggled into her petticoats and gown without nearly as much dexterity as Lucas had demonstrated pulling on his own clothing. She had never before tried to get into a ball gown without the assistance of a maid. It was not easy.
Later, enveloped in her cloak, Victoria drew a deep, steadying breath and went out the door and down the stairs. A concerned-looking innkeeper, who appeared to have been recently rousted from his sleep, showed her to a private parlor.
Victoria stepped through the door, instantly aware of the quiet tension in the room. Lucas stood near the hearth, one arm resting on the mantel, his booted foot propped on a log. Lady Nettleship was seated in a chair at the table. They both looked toward the door as Victoria came into the room.
“Perhaps I have been shown to the wrong parlor,” she said wryly. “I seem to have walked in on a funeral.”
“I pray you will not consider it such when all is said and done,” Aunt Cleo remarked. “Sit down, Victoria.”
It had been a long time since her aunt had used that tone. Victoria sat. Her gaze flew to Lucas but she could read nothing in his eyes. There was about him that air of implacable determination which she saw rarely but which never failed to make her feel uneasy.
“Now, then,” Cleo said as if calling to order a meeting of her Society for the Investigation of Natural History and Horticulture, “Lucas and I have already discussed what must be done. He is quite prepared to do the proper thing, and you, I trust, are also willing to pay the price of your indiscretion. A marriage by special license can be arranged first thing in the morning. I will attend as a witness so that everyone will know it has my sanction.”
Marriage. Victoria’s hands clenched together in her lap. All the while she had been struggling into her clothing upstairs she had refused to think about what might happen next. Frantically she tried to calm herself and think rationally.
“There is no need for any of us to overreact,” she said cautiously. “I am sorry you had to discover us, Aunt Cleo, but surely if you are the only one who knows about what happened tonight, it can all be hushed up?”
“I did not raise you to be a fool, Vicky. The very fact that I did discover you and Lucas here together means that someone else knows. How do you think I found out?”
Victoria closed her eyes briefly. “Yes, of course. How stupid of me. Forgive me, Aunt Cleo, but how did you find out?”
“A messenger was sent to my friends’ house in the country, where I had just finished dinner,” Cleo said coldly. “The note was unsigned and merely stated that I would be interested to know that my niece was here at this inn with a man whom I knew to be a friend. I came at once, naturally.”
“Naturally.” Victoria looked across the room at Lucas. Marriage, she repeated silently; marriage to the man she loved. It was not what she would have chosen at the outset, but it did not seem so bad now that she considered it.
Indeed there were certain definite advantages. They would no longer have to conceal their relationship from Society. They could go about freely together in each other’s company. They could sleep together every night. No, marriage did not sound so very terrible anymore. “It would take some time to procure a special license,” she said.
Lucas met her gaze. “I have one in my pocket. I have been carrying it around for several days.”
Her eyes widened in astonishment. “You have? But why on earth would you have one with you?”
“For just such an emergency as this, of course. Why do you think? The risk of discovery has been with us from the moment we met and there were other risks as well. In the event the inevitable happened, I wanted to be prepared to limit the damage as much as possible.” He smiled fleetingly. “I learned long ago that it is always wise to have a position to which one can fall back and regroup.”
“The military mind at work.” Victoria shook her head in unwilling admiration for his strategic planning. “Everyone seems to have considered the potential for disaster except me.”
Cleo gave her an oddly pitying glance. “I must confess, Victoria, I am astonished to see that you have precipitated yourself into this sort of situation. It is true you have often flirted with the outrageous in many ways, but you have always been quite cautious in your dealings with men. How on earth could you have let yourself—” She broke off abruptly, glancing at Lucas. “Never mind. I think I know the answer to that. In any event there is no point looking back. We must go forward.”
“We cannot move in any direction,” Lucas pointed out quietly, “until Victoria has made her decision. She is not a child. She cannot be forced into marriage. I have already offered for her and I would be honored if she will give me her hand in marriage, but I will not coerce her into it.”
“Well, Victoria?” Cleo regarded her solemnly. “Lucas is obviously willing to do what must be done. What about you?”
Victoria looked at Lucas, love and longing and guilt and uncertainty twisting themselves into a tight knot in the pit of her stomach. This was all her fault and she knew it. Lucas was in this situation only because he had tried to please her in spite of his better judgment.
It was not only her own honor and her aunt’s position in Society she had jeopardized, but Lucas’s honor and position as well.
“I am entirely to blame for all that has happened,” Victoria said, looking down at her clenched hands. “If Lord Stonevale will do me the great honor of accepting my hand in marriage, then I will give it to him.”
There was a taut silence following her words. When Victoria looked up again, she was aware that her aunt had relaxed somewhat, but she only had eyes for Lucas, who was watching her with unwavering intensity.
Without a word he left the hearth and came toward her. He pulled her gently to her feet. “You honor me. Thank you, Vicky. I give you my word I will try to make you happy.”
She smiled slowly, a great deal of tension dissolving insid
e her at the touch of his hands. She loved him and he obviously cared deeply for her. “I have always considered marriage a fate worse than death, but I believe that with you I shall view it in an entirely different light, my lord.”
Lucas grinned, his eyes lighting with satisfaction. He dropped a quick, possessive, little kiss on the tip of her nose and turned to face Cleo. “Very well, madam, the worst is over. The lady is resigned to her fate. Now we must move swiftly and carefully.”
Cleo arched her brows. “Somehow I have already gained the impression that you will see to it we all do precisely that, Stonevale. I leave everything to you.”
Several hours later Victoria conceded with amusement that her aunt’s prediction had been absolutely correct. Matters had moved with blinding speed since she and Lucas had been married early that morning. Her aunt’s household was in a frenzy as Victoria’s bags were packed in preparation for the hurried departure for Stonevale. Lucas had decreed and Aunt Cleo had quickly agreed that leaving for the country was the best move at this point for all concerned.
“We shall tell everyone that because of your advanced years, neither of you wished for a formal wedding,” Cleo had explained to Victoria as she outlined Lucas’s plans. Lucas himself was nowhere around. Directly after the short ceremony he had excused himself to go home to his own town house to prepare for the departure.
Victoria had wrinkled her nose at the phrase “advanced years” but she could not quarrel with the reasoning. It was a slim excuse for such a hasty marriage, but it was all they had. There would be plenty of talk as it was.
“We shall also put it about that Lucas has received word that there are matters requiring his immediate attention at Stonevale. The two of you will leave town this afternoon and spend your honeymoon on his estates while he sees to his lands. With any luck, you will both be out of town by the time anyone thinks to start asking questions. When you return in a few weeks, it will all be a fait accompli, long past the interesting-gossip stage,” Cleo explained.