A Knight of Vengeance: (The Valiant Love Regency Romance) (A Historical Romance Book)

by Deborah Wilson

  And always it was his belief of madness that came between them.

  She pushed at his shoulders and finally, he relented.

  Or rather, his mouth had. His eyes said otherwise and then his words proved as much. “I’ll not want a lengthy engagement. We can barely keep our hands off one another.”

  That was true.

  “But we still don’t know each other,” she said, thinking of an idea. “And I’d want my father present.”

  He frowned. “That might not be possible. Wedding you is the quickest way to ensure Lord Alguire stops coming after you.”

  Her heart fell. “Is that why you wish to wed me? This is about Lord Alguire.”

  “Not at all.” He cupped her cheek. “This is about you and me. I want you in my life.”

  She blinked back tears. His words were so moving, but she was certain he’d break her heart and more determined than ever to not let it happen.

  He claimed he didn’t care about her madness. Perhaps…

  Perhaps she could prove him wrong.

  Perhaps, she should.

  ∫ ∫ ∫

  2 4

  * * *

  Elisa calmed in his arms and then slowly she smiled. “All right. You’ve convinced me.”

  Nick felt his whole face light up. “So, you consent to become my wife?”

  “Nothing would please me more.” She leaned up and kissed his nose.

  He chuckled.

  She laughed.

  And then she laughed and laughed. The sound grew, her face twisted with what resembled complete insanity.

  She broke away from him and began to spin around the room. Laughing and humming a tune he didn’t recognize.

  He stood there and watched Elisa transform into a person he didn’t know.

  It was frightening. Nick’s heart raced. “Elisa.”

  She stood and turned to him. “Yes, Nickie?” She batted her eyes, eyes that were large and wild.

  “Come here,” he said calmly. He felt the need to touch her, to make certain she was the same woman he’d spoken to a moment ago.

  She came immediately. She didn’t stop until they were but an inch apart. Then she watched him quietly.

  Nick touched her face. He trailed his hand up to her forehead to see if she had a fever. Her body’s temperature seemed normal. He ran his hands through her hair, something he’d been wanting to do for a while now.

  She closed her eyes, and her face relaxed.

  “Are you all right?” he asked.

  Her eyes popped open. “I’m fine, Nickie.” She smiled. “Are you all right?” Something in her tone seemed to dare his answer to be anything but yes.

  But why?

  “You’re acting strange, Elisa.”

  “Am I?” Her smile fell. “Are you disappointed in me? Would you like to take your proposal back?”

  Would he?

  He stared into her eyes and shook his head. “No.” His other hand went to her hair. It was so soft. He threaded his fingers through the curls. “No, you are mine.” Something strong pulled him to her.

  She narrowed her eyes, but the expression was so quick he wasn’t at all certain he’d seen it. “Yes.” She wrapped her arms around him. “You are right. I am yours. All yours. Forever. Till death.” She jerked him close. Her sudden strength— and possession of him—surprise him. “Right, Nickie?”

  “Nick will do,” he reminded her.

  She closed her eyes again. “I like Nickie. No one else calls you that.”

  “That is because it is ridiculous.”

  She gasped and pressed her hand to her chest. “Are you claiming my feelings for you are ridiculous?”

  “No, I mean…”

  She buried her face in her hands and her shoulders shook. Was she weeping? She turned away. “I need to see to my students and then I shall go rest. I’m very tired.”

  Yes. Perhaps the engagement was making her erratic. Rest would be good.

  “Stop.”

  She stopped immediately. Yet even with her back to him, Nick was reminded of his ability to protect her. So long as Elisa allowed him to care for her, they could survive. More than survive. They could be happy.

  He wanted to be happy. With her.

  He walked to the door and grabbed her shoulders. He needed to say one last thing before she left.

  She stiffened, so he didn’t turn her around to face him. She would clearly need time to adjust to their new relationship.

  He rubbed her shoulders and felt the tension leave. Her body swayed slightly and then she leaned back to rest on his chest.

  His arms went around her. His hands settled on her belly, the one that would grow large with all the children they would have. “I can take care of you.”

  She was quiet. Then she sighed. “All right.”

  “We’ll just… have to figure it all out,” he urged. “Together.”

  ∫ ∫ ∫

  2 5

  * * *

  Ten minutes into her plan and she was already failing.

  Nick knew just what to say when he wished. He also possessed the most wonderful hands she’d ever felt. It was as though his fingers knew just where to touch, which places to add pressure in order to make her see heaven.

  He possessed keys through the back door of her very soul.

  She would have to work harder to prove she was not the woman for him, but she’d have to find a way to do it and not undermine her presence with the rest of the household. She didn’t want Wade and the other men to think she’d lost her mind. Only Nick.

  That was the hard part.

  “If you ever want to talk,” Nick said. “Know you can come to me about anything.”

  Unable to stand his tenderness any longer, she turned and smiled. “Thank you. I will keep that in mind.”

  He released her slowly and she quickly left, running down the stairway and toward her room.

  But then she remembered the students and started for the music room.

  The men were there working, talking amongst themselves and helping one another. Elisa smiled and imagined the day they would no longer need her. She hoped they had fond memories of her to take wherever life led them.

  She had no idea where her own life was heading.

  “Got lost on your way to the music room?” Astger’s voice carried down the hall,

  She closed the door to the music room and turned to the general. “Lord Nicholas wished to give me a book.”

  He looked her up and down. “Where is it?”

  She sighed. “I must have left it in the room.” She walked toward him, his direction being the only way to leave the hall.

  “Which room?” he asked. “I can go and fetch it for you.”

  She smiled. “Thank you. It’s the room in the tower upstairs.”

  “He invited you to his cabinet?” He lifted a dark brow.

  He’d been looking rather broody all day, Elisa thought. She didn’t like that.

  She started to twist her face. Her mouth curled up on one side. She squinted the opposite eye and pursed her lips.

  Astger’s scowl deepened. “What are you doing?”

  “Trying to make you smile. Is it working?” She squinted harder. Her cheeks ached.

  The general pressed his lips together. She knew he was fighting a smile. “Don’t think your tactics will distract me. I know something is going on. Don’t forget, I’ve strategized in wars before and with people far more clever than you and Nicholas. Anything you let slip didn’t get past me, I’m simply choosing to ignore it.”

  Elisa gasped. “That’s it!” She smiled and grabbed Astger’s arms. “Yes, exactly.”

  Now he looked troubled. “What are you going on about?”

  “Follow me. We need to speak somewhere alone.”

  “Why?” he asked, even as he kept pace with her.

  “I’ll tell you the moment we’re in the drawing-room.” They arrived quickly and Elisa motioned for Astger to take a seat on the blue couch that matched
the rest of the room.

  He did, reluctantly. “What’s going on?”

  “I need your help. I need your brilliance.” She paced as she thought.

  “Help with what?”

  “Nicholas.”

  Astger crossed his legs. Then he dropped the position and placed his hands on his knees. “My lady, I am not someone one wishes to take relationship advice from. In fact, it is one area I would direct you to a lady for.”

  “But I have no lady.” She stopped walking. “Also, you are perfect for this. I don’t want to be with Nicholas.”

  “You don’t?” He seemed surprised. “I thought… I assumed. You seemed to be getting on rather well.”

  She crossed her arms and sighed. “Well, I’ve changed my mind. I don’t wish to be his wife.”

  “His wife?” Astger shook his head and leaned back. “My lady, might you start from the beginning?”

  The beginning? Where was the beginning?

  ∫ ∫ ∫

  2 6

  * * *

  Elisa stared at Astger and tried to find the words to explain… everything. “I love him.”

  Astger blinked. “You do?”

  She chuckled. “I know. We hardly know each other, he and I.” She moved to share the couch with him. “But something happened when our eyes met that very first time.”

  Astger lifted a brow. “Perhaps I should find you a woman to speak to.”

  She grabbed his hand. “I don’t want to speak to a woman. I want to speak to you. You are my friend, aren’t you?”

  Astger’s dark eyes turned sullen again, but then he closed them and sighed. “Yes, we are friends. Go on.”

  She clapped and then settled her hands in her lap. “Nicholas asked me to marry him.”

  The general’s expression closed and became unreadable. “Did he?”

  She nodded. “I tried to tell him it was a terrible idea, but he won’t listen to me. Therefore, I’ve begun to think of a way to change his mind.”

  “My lady.” Astger leaned forward. “If you don’t wish to marry Nicholas, then I can make certain you don’t.”

  Elisa wasn’t sure what that would involve, but she sensed violence on the horizon of those words. “No, I will do this on my own. I just need help with strategy. You’ve won wars. Help me win this.”

  “I don’t understand. I thought you said you loved him.”

  “I do, but we’d never work.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Because I’m mad.”

  He grunted. “You’re not mad.”

  Elisa stared at him, surprised by the confidence in his tone and the fact that he mocked the idea. He truly believed she wasn’t mad.

  “I am mad,” she said.

  “You’re not. I’ve spent enough time with you to know you’re not. I’ve watched men go mad out in the trenches. I know madness. This is not it.”

  “I yelled at you in the carriage ride on the way here.”

  “You were trying to get your way and using what you could to do it. That was strategy, my lady, not madness. It was a good strategy as well, much like the act of being clumsy with the men while they learn to read.”

  He tilted his head back to study her. “You’re helping them relax, allowing them to see that no man or woman is perfect or without fault. Now, make no mistake, you are not the usual woman. I would think you mad if you were. Your experiences have made you different. Stronger. You’re a fighter. I like that, but more so I like that you’ve not let your experiences harden your heart. You’re a kind woman and the world will appreciate that about you.”

  Elisa wrapped her arms around Astger’s neck and pulled him close. Her heart pounded in her chest as she clung to him. Tears burned in her eyes. “Thank you.”

  He patted her back and cleared his throat. “You’re welcome, my lady.”

  Knowing he was growing uncomfortable, she leaned away. Already, the general was helping her to feel better. “I wonder what that special woman for you will be like.”

  “If she is not half the woman that you are then she is not for me.”

  She smiled.

  He returned it. “All right, tell me your idea to rid yourself of Nicholas, though I must warn you I don’t see it happening.”

  “I’m going to pretend to be mad.”

  Astger turned his dark eyes to the window. “Hm.” He looked at her again. “I underestimated that mind of yours. That actually might work given his past.”

  “His past?”

  The general lifted his hands. “I’ll not tell another man’s story.”

  “Fine.” She didn’t want to know any more about Nicholas anyway. She didn’t need more reason to love him. “How do I appear to lose my mind without the entire house thinking me deranged?”

  Astger stood and started a slow walk around the room. “Give me a moment.”

  She gave him that moment. She wanted him to use the full power of his mind.

  The moment didn’t last long.

  He turned to her. “You’ll have to hit him where it will hurt most.”

  “I don’t want to hit him.”

  He chuckled. “I don’t mean physically, my dear.”

  “Then what do you mean?”

  Astger laughed and smiled. “My lady, let me start by saying how very glad I am that you came to me with this problem.”

  She narrowed her gaze. “Why do I sense you’ll be getting some dark pleasure from this idea?”

  “Oh, that’s because I will.”

  ∫ ∫ ∫

  2 7

  * * *

  “Nicholas!”

  He was shocked from his sleep by the loud voice in his ear. He struggled to orient his mind. In the shadows of the fireplace, he found it difficult to focus his eyes, but he recognized the voice even if it made no sense for Elisa to be in his room.

  “Elisa?” He sat up.

  “Nicholas.” She sat down at his side. “I have a question.”

  “What is it?” What time was it?

  He looked toward the curtains. It was still dark outside.

  “It’s about our wedding,” she said. “Where will it take place?”

  He slowly turned his head to look at her. “What?”

  “Where? Where will the wedding take place?” she asked. There were deep grooves between her brows. Her hair was flat in some places, lifted in others. She seemed to have just rolled out of bed. She wore a pretty pink silk robe. The material was thin enough that he thought if he stared hard enough…

  “Nickie. The wedding.”

  He looked into Elisa’s brown eyes. “At the church in the village.”

  “Not here?” she asked.

  “No, I don’t have a special license. Instead, I’m bribing the man of the cloth, but we won’t be able to marry until a week from now. Also, we’ll attend church in a few days. He’ll read the banns and what have you, pretend that he’d done it for three weeks.”

  She looked surprised. “You bribed a man of the cloth? But isn’t that wrong?”

  She was very cute, but he was far too tired for the conversation she was trying to have. He rolled away from her. “It will not be the first time.”

  “When was the first time?”

  “A long time ago.”

  “How long ago?”

  “Elisa, I’m tired.”

  “All right.” He felt her stand. “I’ll leave to sleep, Nickie. Goodnight.”

  “Goodnight.” His mind was already slipping into blackness.

  “Sleep well.”

  “I will.”

  “I’ll see you in the morning.”

  “Hm.”

  “Nicholas!”

  He shot up and looked around.

  Elisa was in the bed next to him. She sat with her legs hidden under her night rail and robe. Some time had passed since her last interruption but not much. “I’ve another question.”

  Once again, he was disoriented. “Elisa, can it not wait until morning—”

  “Wi
ll you be faithful to me?”

  He straightened and forced his eyes to focus on her. She didn’t look as troubled as she had the last time she’d been in his room. “Elisa, most of the time I barely think straight because you are on my mind. I can hardly work.” Or sleep. “There is no time for another woman.”

  “So you’ll be faithful to me.”

  “Of course.”

  “That makes me so happy, Nickie.” She kissed him.

  He liked that.

  She added her tongue and he liked that more.

  She crawled onto his lap and Nick groaned and wrapped his arms around her.

  His mind was waking as were other parts of him.

  “You make me so happy.” She hiked up her own skirts to get closer, and Nick took pleasure in running his hands down her legs. They were so soft. She was soft.

  Then she was gone. She crawled off his lap. “Goodnight, Nickie. Sleep well.”

  The sound of the door closing made his heart jumped.

  Nicholas fought to think.

  What had just happened?

  Was it a dream?

  No, it couldn’t have been. He was so tired.

  He threw his head back on the sheets and closed his eyes.

  It was harder to find sleep after that, but he did eventually.

  “Nickie,” Elisa whispered. “Are you awake?”

  His mind roared with anger, but he held it back. Elisa was clearly having trouble sleeping. This was his fault, he told himself. Her mind was struggling to handle everything that was happening.

  He would not shout.

  But he would get her quiet.

  He reached out blindly and grabbed her.

  “Nickie!”

  He pulled her down onto the bed, sat up, covered her in his blanket, and then laid back down with his arm around her. “No more talking.” He aligned his body with hers.

  “Nick.” Her voice was different. Worried.

  He didn’t care. “Quiet.”

  “But, we’re not supposed to—”

  “Quiet.”

  She fell silent.

  Then she started squirming.

  He thought she would settle, but when she didn’t, he threw a leg over her. “Sleep, Elisa.”

  She sighed. It sounded rather annoyed, but Nick ignored it.