Now she doubted Van Dero had anything to do with this. He would not kill his own people just to throw her off his trail, would he? She was no one. She knew nothing.
She’d convinced her father to let her stay in London because she’d wanted to find her mother. It was all she’d wanted. Now, she wished she’d simply gone with them.
Fresh tears burned her eyes as she heard a man began to gasp from outside, his very life seemed to come to an end only paces away.
This was her fault.
All her fault.
A cawing noise sounded in the silence that followed. The bird sounded sick.
A second later, it was bright in the kitchen.
Still on the floor, Vita fought to adjust her eyes to the onslaught of light.
From over her head, she made out a face, a profile she thought she recognized but was certain she was wrong.
The man turned and looked down at her.
She twisted around just as he crouched.
She pushed up on her hands.
Dunn touched her cheek, and his dark eyes drank her in.
Tense emotions swam across his face. Worry. Pain. Wonder.
She gasped a second later when she was dragged into him. His arms went around her and locked him against his body.
Vita’s heart raced. Her mind was scattered by confusion. What was he doing here? Had he come for her? Was he the one shooting?
She wanted to hug him back. She wanted to cling to him.
So, she did. Her arms went around his neck. Her fingers bit into his hair. She held him tight and didn’t want to let go. “I looked for you,” she whispered, running her hands through his dark locks. “I looked for you.”
He jerked her closer. “Vita. I’m so sorry.”
Why was he sorry?
She closed her eyes and inhaled his heady aroma. He felt exactly as she remembered. His arms were a refuge from the world.
There were a hundred questions she wanted to ask him, but she spoke none of them at the moment.
More footsteps came toward them, and Vita moved to pull herself away.
He let her go and then helped her to her feet as Lord Venmont entered from one side of the room and another man she didn’t know came from the other.
Venmont grinned at seeing Dunn and the dark-haired, blue-eyed handsome fellow who stood by the door. “Glad you both were in the area.”
“As am I,” the blue-eyed man said, approaching Venmont.
The men embraced for a long moment.
Then Venmont looked around the room with an arm still around the blue-eyed man. He looked at Vita’s lady’s maid. Then he looked at Vita… and the hand that Dunn still had on her elbow.
“Is everyone all right?” Venmont asked the women.
They nodded.
“Are the men gone?” came a voice from behind him. The owners of the home came in. Mr. Layton held a shotgun. Mrs. Layton held a young boy whose legs were wrapped around his mother’s waist and his arms around her neck. He buried half his face in her neck as he looked around at everyone.
As it had happened for the last fifteen years of her life, Vita felt a sharp pain in her chest at the sight of mother and child’s connection. It was all she’d ever wanted.
“The men are gone. Sorry about the damage to your home and the disturbance,” Venmont told the couple. “I’ll be paying for the damage and leaving you a little more for the trouble.” He told them a figure and then said, “Will that do?”
Though Vita had never built a home, much less knew the logistics it would take to complete such a task, she suspected the amount Venmont just promised could build them an entirely new home.
The couple gaped at one another.
Then Mr. Layton said, “That’s quite an amount, my lord.”
The red-haired lord lifted a brow. “The gift comes in exchange for your silence.”
“Of course,” Mr. Layton promised.
Then he went around and introduced everyone in the room.
Vita frowned when Dunn was introduced at the Earl of Bowland.
That couldn’t be right. It was Dunn.
Yet as she looked at Dunn…
He was watching her with an expression of guilt. “We need to talk.”
“In the morning,” Venmont said. “We will all talk in the morning, but the hour is late. The Laytons have offered us the use of their guests chambers.”
Dunn… or Bowland? Whoever he was, his hold tightened. “I’ll speak to her now.” His expression was cool.
“You’ll speak to me first,” the marquess challenged.
Bowland let her go and Vita stepped away. Venmont was right. She was desperately tired, but she would not find sleep if she didn’t speak to the earl this evening.
She waited for him in the room she and her maid had been given.
He knocked an hour later. She answered.
He looked her over. “You’re still in your dress.”
“Well, I knew you were coming. So…” She’d thought about changing into her night rail but then thought against it.
While the memories of their time together seemed to flow with ease while he was in her presence, she realized just how much a stranger he was to her.
She opened her door wider to let him in. Her maid slept on a cot on the other side of the bed, so Vita kept her voice low. “What should I call you?”
He didn’t take his eyes off her for a second. “Remy. It’s my given name.”
She was tempted to ask if he were certain of his name this time but kept from doing so. Everything about him seemed new. She didn’t know his humor anymore. She didn’t know how he’d take her words. Would he be insulted?
Why should it matter?
She closed the door. “And are you really the Earl of Bowland?”
He nodded. “But please, don’t address me that way. No one does.” He pressed his lips together firmly. “Oliver was just trying to make a point to Mr. and Mrs. Layton, so they’d feel more at ease with our presence.”
“Oliver?”
“Venmont,” he said.
She sighed and folded her hands in front of her. “You know him well?”
“I’m sorry, but… Can I just look at you for a moment? Without all the questions?”
She closed her mouth and stood still. His request for silence would have offended her if she didn’t have the memory of their night together as guidance.
They’d been able to communicate in the silence.
His gaze said everything. The scar that ran through his left eye made him look emphatically dangerous.
He was the perfect man.
And he was happy to see her.
Vita’s feelings didn’t seem to care what her mind was telling her, because she was glad to see him as well. She’d missed him.
She put her arms behind her back to keep from reaching out for him again.
She still had questions. “Were you behind the attack?”
“Not at all. I would never do anything to put you in danger.” He stepped toward her.
She pressed her back against the door, her hands crushed behind her. “How do you know Venmont?”
“From… around.”
He was hiding something.
She opened her mouth to ask what, but then his hands captured her face. He pressed his thumb against her lips.
She shook when heat pounded into her skin and made her heart jump.
His face was close. “You went looking for me?”
She nodded, which caused his fingers to rub against her mouth.
He groaned. “That was very bold of you.”
She stopped moving but couldn’t calm her breathing or the blood that continued to pool in her lower region.
“And reckless.”
She frowned. “What?”
He moved his thumb away but didn’t stop holding her. In fact, his body moved closer, trapping her. “Oliver told me what happened with Lord Dunst. Anything could have happened to you.” He glared. “Vita, if he�
�d touched you...”
She shivered in fear and excitement. “What would you have done?”
His eyes rounded. “You truly wish to know?”
She nodded.
He ran a hand down her throat. “Hurt him. Badly.”
“Why?” she asked. “You left me.”
His brows furrowed. “I didn’t want to.”
She didn’t know if she should believe him. “You didn’t tell me your real name.”
“I know.”
“You didn’t want me to find you.”
He touched his forehead to hers. “I… I’m sorry.”
“Do Belle and Jeremy know the truth? Do they know who you really are?”
He nodded.
So they’d lied to her as well.
She put her hands on his chest. “I’m tired. You should go.”
“I’m not done. I’m not done looking at you... touching you,” he whispered. His fingers moved to grip her hair. “I don’t think I ever will be.”
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
It was different than before. More possessive. More… everything.
She could hardly stand it. Literally, her knees felt weak.
She reminded herself that she was upset and that she had to stand up for herself.
Even when all she wanted to do was give in.
His mouth on hers sealed her fate.
She was his.
Hadn’t she always been?
His kiss was filled with such a tender sweetness that it caught her off guard. While everything about him was so hard, he kissed her softly, as if expecting she was a novice.
She was but a very hungry one. Her mouth opened under him, begging for more.
And he gave it.
“You undo me, woman.” His hands continued to guide her jaw as her mouth learned the art of kissing.
It was beautiful. The connection that pulsed between them seemed to come alive where they were connected.
She couldn’t get enough.
She didn’t want to stop.
A short snore made her gasp and push him away.
Her lady’s maid couldn’t see them from her position, just as Vita couldn’t see her, but she was still there.
“You should go,” she told him without meeting his eyes. She’d been angry about something. What was it?
She slid away from the door and he walked toward it.
He cupped her chin. “We’ll talk in the morning. Sleep well.” He gave her lower lip another featherlike touch from his fingers and then he was gone.
∫ ∫ ∫
2 1
* * *
“I’ve given it some thought,” Remy said. “I think she should come with me.”
“Is that so?” Oliver was stretched out on a couch in the receiving room. His hands were folded behind his back. His booted feet were on the cushion. His eyes were closed. He was perfectly relaxed. “And where would you take her? As my brother explains it, you can’t go home. You’re trying to keep your nephew from his friends, aren’t you?”
He’d returned for Noel last night and brought him to the house. It was why it had taken him so long to get to Vita.
And yet, he’d forgotten about his nephew’s situation. He had thought about taking Vita home. Honestly, all he’d been able to think about was being with her and how he didn’t wish to leave her side again.
When he’d found her on the kitchen floor last evening, the profound feeling of failure had come over him. She’d needed him and he’d not been there to protect her. She’d been frightened and Remy didn’t wish to know what could have happened had he not arrived when he had.
When he’d crouched down to touch her, it had only been to make certain she was whole. But then he’d hugged her, and she’d clung to him.
The warning bells had gone off in Remy’s mind. Holding her was playing with fire.
But her confession had silenced his doubts.
I looked for you.
They were simple words, but the sweetest he’d ever heard.
When Oliver had told her all it had taken to even find Lord Dunst, he’d known then that she belonged with him. She’d broken rules and risked great harm to herself to find him.
Common sense would tell him that they hardly knew each other, and it had only been one night.
But what a night.
Had she felt just lost as he had without her these last few weeks?
She’d looked for him, and he’d decided she’d never have to look for him again.
He wouldn’t be the first older gentleman to marry a woman half his age. It was good that she seemed to care for him, liked him, and had enjoyed his company.
Their marriage had a better shot than most.
“I can take her somewhere she’d be safe,” he said.
“We don’t even know who we’re keeping her from.”
That was another troubling fact. He and Oliver had spoken at length about what Vita had shared about her week leading up to the attempts to frighten her.
The coins made it seemed like someone had been warning her against Van Dero.
There were plenty of men who had the motivation. Most of them were cowards, which would lead them to attack the home of a girl instead of going to the man himself.
“Why Vita?” he asked Oliver, not for the first time.
Oliver sat up. “She’s Cass’ charge. Maybe, they see her as a vulnerability of the duke’s. Few would dare try to go after Milly and the baby again.”
There had been an attempt a year ago. Cassius had spoken about going after the firstborn sons of his enemies. He wouldn’t have killed the children, Remy knew, but if pushed, he’d have taken and held them until he got his revenge.
Remy looked at Oliver. “So, he asked the assassin to look out for her.”
Oliver shrugged. “If I’d managed to hold the house until dawn, I could have easily taken on all the attackers on my own at first light.”
Remy didn’t doubt it. “One got away,” he said. They’d spoken about it last evening. Upon their arrival, there had only been three members of the enemy around the property. The other rider must have left, either to hide or to get reinforcements. “What if they know where you’re going?”
“I would love a man to come and face me on my own property.” Oliver grinned. “But besides that, I won’t fight you on this. There seems to be something between you and Lady Vita. I won’t even ask if your intentions are honorable since almost everything about you is honorable.” Oliver soured at those last words. “I know what you’re capable of. If Van Dero approves, I’ll give you the woman, but you can’t ever tell her what you did for him.”
“You mean, I can’t tell her that I lied because I was trying to frighten her into keeping her nose out of Van Dero’s affairs? I have my own reasons for keeping that secret.” The last thing he wanted Vita to know was that he’d wanted her to fear him. It had been his sole purpose in attending the party… until he’d met her and she’d made him laugh.
He shook his head and crossed his arms. Anger burned his chest. “I need to speak to Belle. She was the one who told me to call myself Lord Dunn and even that I would be leaving on the Rosie. It was all part of my story. The similarities between Lord Dunst and my Lord Dunn were no accident.”
“Indeed not,” Oliver brooded. “She should have told you or Van Dero. She said she did it so that the story was stronger. It was easier to base you on someone who already had a scar, just in case Vita did ask questions. No one knew Vita would hunt you down though. She must truly care for you if she—”
The door to the receiving room opened and Leo escorted Vita inside. Their heads were bent together as though they’d been discussing something. Smiles were on both their faces.
He was glad Leo had come. He was very good at lowering the tension in a room… even when he planned to kill everyone in it.
“Look who I found wandering the halls,” Leo said.
Vita met his eyes. She looked well-rested. Her
color rose as their gazes locked. “I was looking for anyone who knew what was going on.”
She turned away a second later and Remy smiled.
Oliver stood and bowed to Vita. “My lady, we were just discussing where you would go after today. Lord Bowland wishes to see to your care until the matter of your attacker is taken care of. You may go with him if you please, or you can come with me.”
Remy took a step toward her.
“I’ll... c-continue my journey with you, if you don’t mind,” Vita said.
Her eyes were on Oliver.
Remy stopped and frowned. Surely, she was speaking to him.
Oliver looked at Remy and then at Vita. “You wish to come with me?”
Vita nodded and then she turned to Remy. Her lips trembled. “Thank you for... helping us last evening. I pray you have a safe journey home.” She pulled in a breath and then turned to Oliver again. “When do we leave?”
Remy was dumbfounded. Without a clue what to say, he stayed silent and tried to understand what was happening.
Oliver seemed to hesitate as well. “If that is what you want—”
“Lady Vita.” Remy stepped forward. “Can I speak to you alone?”
Vita stared at the floor. “I don’t think that would be for the best.”
She wouldn’t speak to him alone?
He narrowed his gaze and wondered if he’d only dreamed last night.
Their kiss, her soft tongue against his, the memory of her small body pressing against his for more.
He hadn’t dreamed it. It had happened. She’d enjoyed it.
She’d been with him the entire time.
Now, in the light of day, she’d changed her mind.
The sting of her rejection was an unfamiliar sensation.
He fisted his hands. “I’ll have a word with Lady Vita.”
Oliver didn’t say a word, he simply left with Leo following behind and closing the door.
Vita looked around in surprise and then turned to face him.
The worry in her gaze was another blow. She was scared of him again. The expression caused further pain. He’d never hurt her. Had she forgotten that already?
“Is this about my name? Is this about the fact that I lied to you?” He wanted to make this right. He had to.
She lowered her gaze. “I—”
“Look at me.”
A Knight to Dare: (The Valiant Love Regency Romance) (A Historical Romance Book) Page 10
