A Season For Romance (The Seldon Park Christmas Novella Book 5)

by Bethany Sefchick

  “And you were here.” She had heard the story of Beau’s near-abandonment in breathless detail from Cecily just that morning.

  “I was an embarrassment to them.” Beau spoke casually, but Dinah could tell an old hurt still lingered. “I was cursed, remember? And as much as I loved my parents, they believed in the curse completely. They would have preferred I cease to exist at all on some occasions.”

  “That is terrible!” Dinah could not imagine wishing for one moment that this magnificent man would cease to exist. The world would be the poorer for it.

  “It was the way of things while I was growing up,” he replied evenly, as if he was unaffected by the discussion. Dinah knew otherwise, but she allowed the topic to drop.

  Silently, Beau led her out of doors, the wind nearly snatching her breath. Though the snow was not falling nearly so heavily as it had been the night Dinah had come crashing into his life, some still fell. Tiny, sparkling flakes danced in the air and swirled around them as they walked. Some flakes even became stuck in the hair covering Beau’s forehead where the most obvious sign of his mismatched skin could be seen. Though in this light, one could barely tell there was a difference at all, even with his still partially tanned skin.

  Dinah somehow resisted the urge to brush the snow away. It was not her right or her place to touch him. He might not even want her to, either. Besides, this was an act. Nothing more. She doubted that Beau wanted her to go about being free with his body. Well, at least not until he took her to bed, anyway. After that? Well, she wasn’t really certain.

  For a long time, neither of them said anything, simply strolling along Grayfield’s numerous pathways in companionable silence. When Beau finally did speak, it was to point out different places around the estate, including where the formal gardens and labyrinth were located. He also described in great detail the particulars regarding a bubbling fountain that he had installed in the center of the labyrinth several years ago. It was sculpted to resemble a Greek fountain he had seen in a book depicting ancient Athens in all of its splendor.

  Beau even described a rather clever system he had devised for moving the water from one fountain to a second, matching fountain in the very front of the garden for all to enjoy. The construction of the piping for them had been a challenge, Beau confided, for even though the ancient Greeks had mastered such feats, their knowledge on the subject had been lost along the way. That pumping system was the same one he had modified to move the heated water through Grayfield itself so that every nook and cranny was at least moderately warm, even in the coldest of winters.

  Dinah listened in fascination to every word Beau spoke. She even forgot that it was still snowing, the flakes beginning to fall harder with each moment that passed. Pressed up against him as she was, she felt nothing but toasty warm. Well, her toes were a little cold since the late marchioness’ boots were not exactly a tight fit and frigid air had seeped into the toes.

  Dinah didn’t mind. She was having too good of a time listening to Beau’s tales about growing up here at Grayfield and about all of the things he had invented over the years to make his life better and help pass the time. For Dinah, Beau was the center of her world just then, and she thought only of him and what he wished to tell her.

  She could also tell that, on occasion, he longed to go to London one day, but he was also fearful about how he would be received, even though he was a peer of the Realm. That aside, he was still considered cursed and the stories that had been told about him over the years did nothing to help his cause.

  For her part, Dinah responded with a thousand questions – or so it seemed to her. Not that Beau seemed to mind, thankfully. Everything this man did fascinated her. She hoped and prayed that he did not think that she was like the others and playing with his feelings, for she wasn’t.

  The man owned seven Euler telescopes, for heaven’s sake! How could one not be curious about that?

  Finally, Dinah began to shiver against him, the cold finally making its way beneath the thick layers of her riding habit.

  “You are cold,” Beau worried, rubbing Dinah’s arms to help warm her. “We should go in. I’m sorry I didn’t notice. I was too busy spouting off about my inventions, I fear.”

  “Never cease speaking of your inventions to me,” she protested. “Never. You are the most brilliant man I have ever known, and I will not have you hide that talent when I am around. I wish to hear about every invention you have ever made, even the ones that failed. You are truly a fascinating man, Beau McCandless. More than I suspect you know.”

  “Again, you lie my lovely Dinah,” Beau chided gently, but even she could tell he didn’t really mean those words.

  Dinah turned to him and placed her hand on his arm, surprising herself a little. She noted that the snow had picked up again and now, the icy flakes clung to his eyelashes, accentuating the different colors of his eyes. Once more, she could not bring herself to find them monstrous as others might have. Instead, she found them lovely.

  “I honestly didn’t mind, Beau. Really. I am not lying, nor will I ever lie to you.” Biting her lip, Dinah prayed that he understood she was being sincere. “I cannot recall when I have enjoyed a conversation so much as I have this one.” She gave a small laugh. “Especially as we did not speak once about my looks or how pretty my bonnet is.”

  “You are not wearing a bonnet,” he teased back, the tension in him easing as she had hoped it might. Then he paused before reaching out to push back a lock of hair from around her ear. “Though you are wearing her earbobs.”

  Dinah instinctively reached for her ears in a mild panic. She hadn’t worn earbobs in years, not since her father had gone to prison. She had tried to refuse this pair as well, fearing that she would lose the precious gems in the snow. Cecily had insisted, saying they set off the red velvet habit beautifully.

  “I will take them out as soon as we return to the house, if you wish.” She looked up at Beau, stricken and more than a little afraid that she had upset him. She didn’t want him to rescind his offer to deflower her. More than anything, she was afraid of what would become of her if he didn’t. “I didn’t know. I’m sorry. Cecily gave them to me this morning and insisted I wear them.”

  To her confusion, Beau smiled. He was even more handsome when he smiled, she quickly decided. “No. Please do not remove them. They look lovely on you.” To Dinah’s surprise, Beau took her gloved hand in his and pulled her closer. “My father showered my mother in jewels when they were trying for another child, preferably another son that could be made heir over me. She could not bring herself to wear them for some reason, no matter how many baubles he purchased for her. I cannot even begin to guess why.”

  “I’m sorry.” Not thinking, Dinah reached up and cupped Beau’s cheek. “You deserved better from them.” She reached up further and caressed the spot on his forehead where it looked as if the two different halves of him were sewn together. “You deserve better from everyone, Beau. But especially from your parents. They should have loved and adored you, no matter what. But that is their loss for you are truly a fine man.”

  Beau stroked a finger down Dinah’s earlobe and then over the earbob itself until his gloved hand came to rest on her lips. “The clothes you wear, Dinah? My mother ordered them from the finest modiste in London, thinking that she would wear them when she returned here. She believed that if she settled into life here at Grayfield, she might be able to conceive again. She never did. She and my father both remained in London until they contracted the fever that was ravaging much of England a few years back. They returned here only to die, but never to live. And certainly never to live with me.”

  “So these earbobs mean nothing to you?” Which wasn’t quite the question that Dinah wanted to ask, but she was too innocent to know how to ask the question she truly meant.

  “Oh, no,” Beau corrected as he rubbed his gloved thumb over her cold lips, warming them just as he did every place he touched her. “In fact, they rather mean a great deal to
me all of the sudden. Because you, Dinah, are wearing them. For some reason that I cannot understand or even fathom, you do not run from me in fear as others would. And that? That makes you both far more attractive to me, not to mention far more dangerous, than I had ever imagined.”

  Standing on tiptoe, Dinah took a chance and scraped her teeth over Beau’s chin – the same spot where she had first kissed him last night. “I told you. I have seen monsters and all other manner of beasts. I was one myself not so long ago. So just as I recognize foolishness like gypsy curses when I hear them? So too do I recognize beasts when I see them. And you, Beau, are no beast. In fact, you are the most handsome man I have ever beheld. I see no beast before me. Just a man.”

  Then she kissed him. With the snow falling around them and the wind beginning to whip her hair into a golden cloud about her head, Dinah kissed Beau with all of the passion she knew how to share. This was sudden, perhaps maybe too quick and she did recognize that she didn’t truly know this man at all. But she wanted him and when she was in his presence? Dinah believed that Beau could see the good in her, just as she could see the good in him. Her body, more specifically her heart, had recognized from the first what her head was only now just realizing.

  Dinah would never meet another man like Beau McCandless in her entire life, no matter how long she lived. She also didn’t truly deserve to meet him now. But she had met him, and she would bask in his warmth for as long as he allowed her to do so. Soon enough, the time would come when she would have to leave Grayfield. After all, Beau had promised to deflower her. Not marry her. Nor should she expect him to offer either.

  This arrangement between them was to last only until Ryfell came for her, something Beau was certain he would do eventually. At which point, Dinah would be revealed as a fallen woman, thus making her unattractive to a man like the duke. After that? Dinah would leave the safety of Grayfield, though she had no clue where she might go. That, however, was the future. For the moment, she needed to embrace the present.

  In the meantime, she had the full attention of this kind, wonderful man. And this time, she would not be so idiotic as to throw away everything he offered her. For what Beau was offering her truly was a gift – a gift from his heart whether he knew it or not. Dinah was simply thankful she was now intelligent enough to see that.

  “You don’t mean those pretty words, Dinah,” Beau whispered when he finally pulled away from her kiss. “I know you don’t. But I want to hear them anyway. Just as I want you. Now. Tonight. I thought I could wait, do this properly, but I can’t.

  Being bold once more, Dinah kissed him again. This time, without hesitation. “Then I am yours, Beau McCandless. However and whenever you want me. All you have to do is take me to your bed.”

  Chapter Six

  Dinner was an interminably long affair. He wasn’t even certain what he was eating or if he even enjoyed the meal, a first for him.

  Beau wished for nothing more than to skip the entire bothersome business. However, that would make the servants gossip even more than they already were after his morning stroll – not to mention kiss – with Dinah and he didn’t want that. He didn’t want Dinah to be the subject of their conversations, even though it seemed as if nearly the entire population of Grayfield had witnessed them kissing by the dormant gardens.

  Still, that didn’t give his staff the right to gossip about Dinah.

  Finally, however, dinner was over, and when Dinah mentioned that she wished to turn in early, stating that she was still a bit chilled from both their walk earlier and her dip in the river the night before, no one said a word. Not even the usually loquacious Cecily. Nor did Beau’s staff bat an eye when he announced that he was turning in for the night not a quarter hour later.

  Those he employed were no fools, and they likely knew what Beau was about and where he would be going when the candles were finally dimmed for the evening. Oddly enough, they didn’t seem to care, either.

  However Beau could not worry about his staff or their suspicions at present. Instead, he needed to worry about how he would be received when he went to Dinah’s bed. He prayed that she had not merely been swept away by the romance of the snowfall earlier when she had agreed to allow him to bed her tonight. He also prayed that she had not changed her mind.

  As it turned out, he was worrying needlessly. For the moment Beau had stripped bare and put on only his banyan for modesty, he heard the door that connected his chambers to that of the marchioness’ creak open.

  “Funny thing about this door,” Dinah said softly as she stepped through it wearing nothing more than a robe of her own and something else beneath that. “I tried this very door that first day and it was locked. I also tried it again earlier today, wondering how we might sneak into each other’s chambers without being seen, and it was still locked. Now? Strangely enough, it is not.”

  “Nathaniel,” Beau guessed without hesitation. “The staff would not be so bold.” At least he didn’t think they would.

  To his shock, Dinah grinned. “Remind me to thank him in the morning, then. His efforts have been most helpful. I have been in my chambers for a quarter hour trying to figure out how I would sneak in here to see you. I am not even certain why I decided to try the door again, though I am pleased that I did.”

  “So am I, but I actually rather thought I would come to you,” Beau offered as he stepped forward to take Dinah’s small hands in his much larger ones. This was the first time he had touched her without his gloves for protection and the sensation of skin against skin nearly brought him to his knees. He had not imagined a lady’s skin could feel so soft and lovely. Not even the last courtesan he had bedded had felt so perfect.

  Dinah shrugged. “I knew you would come to me eventually. However, I couldn’t wait that long. I want you, Beau. I have from the first.” She locked her fingers around his and squeezed as tightly as she could. “I know you likely won’t believe me, nor do I expect you to, but that night you pulled me from the river? Something in me recognized something in you. I have never felt so safe or loved. Or cherished. I hadn’t even seen you and I knew. I knew that I wanted you.”

  “I want to believe you, Dinah,” Beau offered quietly. “You have no idea how much.” He pulled her a little closer. “The night of the accident? I was out with my men looking for poachers. I never thought I would find a golden angel fallen to Earth and in need of rescue. Or that I would take one look at her and know that I had to have her, gypsy curse or not.”

  “I told you, Beau. I don’t believe in curses.” Dinah took a step closer, her eyes widening as she obviously began to feel the heat that radiated from his body. Beau was glad he had left the candles burning, for he wanted to see every lovely expression as it crossed her face – even if that meant she could see him just as clearly.

  “I do. I believe in them very much.” Beau smiled this time when she frowned at him. “How else can you explain the spell you have me under, Dinah? I am being honest when I tell you that you have utterly bewitched me. This is not me. I am a man of science. I am rational and calm. I do not believe in things like desire at first sight. And yet? You make me do just that.”

  Finally, Dinah smiled back at him, her eyes dancing with light. “I am, in some ways, much the same. Despite the way I carried on like a wanton last night, I am no lightskirt. Yet I want you with a force that I cannot explain. Nor do I even wish to try any longer. I just know that when you touch me, Beau, I am warm. For the first time in years, I do not shiver with cold.” She licked her lips. “And I want you to make me feel even hotter.”

  Beau reached out and tugged hard at the belt on Dinah’s wrapper. When the garment fell open, he sucked in a sharp breath of amazement. The nightrail beneath was completely sheer, leaving little to the imagination. Especially his already overactive one. Though the fabric covered her to her toes with strategically placed bits of lace and trim, it was clear that the gown was meant to entice. And inflame. For it was doing just that to him.

  “Then let me
warm you, Dinah,” Beau offered as he pushed the robe from her shoulders to reveal the creaminess of her skin. “Tonight and for every night that you remain beneath my roof and under my protection.” He kissed first one bare shoulder and then the other. “Let me pleasure you. Better yet, let me fuck you.”

  “I would be absolutely delighted.” In the candlelight, Dinah’s eyes glittered and he was not surprised when she reached out and undid the belt on his banyan in return. “In fact, it would be my great pleasure. And yours, I imagine.”

  After that, the scant clothes that they both still wore fell away quickly. Beau wasn’t certain who removed what first or if it even mattered, but in short order, they were both naked, his already rigid and swollen cock pressing into Dinah’s gently rounded stomach. She didn’t seem afraid of his erection – or of him – but rather curious. He should have expected that.

  Reaching out, Beau cupped her breast, testing the weight of the silken globe in his hands. Dinah sighed with what he hoped was pleasured and her eyes fluttered closed. “That is lovely.” Beau bushed the pad of his thumb over her nipple. “That is even better.”

  “It has been a long time for me,” he confessed quietly as he moved closer until those luscious breasts of hers were pressed hard against his bare chest. “I am no virgin, Dinah, but my experience is limited. As you might have guessed.”

  She reached up to stroke a lock of hair from his eyes “Well, I know next to nothing about this art of fucking, as you call it, so you shall be my teacher. I hope you do not mind.”

  Beau bent his head to capture Dinah’s lips with his in a passion filled kiss. “Where you are concerned, sweeting, I do not mind a thing.”

  For a moment, Beau was concerned that he might have gone too far by uttering the endearment but instead, Dinah melted against him. Winding her arms around his neck, she pressed closer, one bare leg sliding up his hard-muscled thigh. He could feel her wetness there, knew she wanted him. There was nothing left to do but take her up into his arms and carry her to his bed. He needed her. Oh Lord, how he needed her.