She caressed his chin and realized she’d not touched him for days. While he’d been the one to hold her, she’d not reciprocated.
He closed his eyes and she rounded his cheek, forehead, and swept her finger down his nose.
Which features from her husband would their children inherit?
None if they didn’t consummate their marriage. It was another thing Nicholas hadn’t demanded from her.
She couldn’t say she was in the most romantic mood, but as she stared at him, she was overcome with emotions. “I love you.”
He opened his eyes. “I know. You didn’t need to say it.” When her finger trailed close to his mouth, he turned his head and kissed her. With their gazes still locked, he asked, “Would you like to hear me say it?”
She smiled. “It isn’t necessary, but it is nice to hear.”
“I love you.” The words poured over her as though springing from a deep well within him.
She leaned up and he brought his head down to kiss her.
What started out gentle grew to something that Elisa could not control. She was twisting in his lap and then Nicholas picked her up.
As he carried her into the room, he said, “I want to touch you everywhere and then I want to be inside you. May I?”
Elisa shivered. “Yes.”
∫ ∫ ∫
4 8
* * *
“You’ll have one footman and one maid with you at all times.”
Elisa leaned back against her husband as he wrapped his arms around her.
He kissed her ear and whispered, “They are to stay with you at all times.” His hands stroked up and down her belly.
She wanted them lower. She wanted to take her clothes off, return to bed, and do everything they’d done that morning all over again.
“Are you listening?” her husband asked.
“Yes.”
He kissed her throat. His hands gripped her hips as he bit down gently on her skin.
Elisa whimpered.
He groaned and cursed. “I want you again, but there is no time. Promise me you’ll be good.” His demand was said with frustration.
She smiled. “I will.”
He cupped her jaw and turned her head around so he could claim her mouth. He spoiled her with his tongue and hand, but it was all far too fleeting for her liking.
“Let’s stay,” she whispered.
He moaned and pressed his hard body against her. “I wish I could.”
“You’re a lord. You do what you want.”
She felt his body stiffen further.
“You’ll be the death of me,” he told her. “I’m very glad you’re as insatiable as me, wife.”
She was glad as well. Seconds after Nicholas had introduced her to the dance of lovemaking, it had become her favorite thing to do. She loved it more than food, more than going outdoors. It felt like an eternal bliss whenever he touched her.
He kissed her cheek. “You’re to go to your father’s house and then return home. If you should wish to change your plans, you shall have word sent to me. All right?” One of his hands gripped her throat now. His thumb caressed her pulse.
The other hand teased her lower abdomen.
She frowned at him. “Nicholas, are you using your sensual charms to get me to do as you say?”
His grin was amusingly boyish. “Would I do a thing like that?”
He likely would.
“I shall tell you if my plans change,” she promised. It would be her first day leaving the house since Nicholas brought her home two days ago. To give her something to do during her mourning period, Avery was allowing her to direct the staff on what to do with their father’s personal belongings.
His will had been read the day after the funeral. Lord Alguire had received the land promised him. Even though it had been written in the good faith that he would wed Elisa, there had been no specific stipulation. Their father’s solicitor had stated the reason to be a combination of Elisa’s imprisonment at Bedlam and Lord Alguire’s frequent visits to her father while she’d been away.
Elisa hadn’t known Alguire had grown close to her father at all.
Avery hadn’t complained about losing the land and everyone had been glad when Alguire left the room. Elisa turned in Nick’s arms.
He smiled, but she could see the nervousness in his gaze. “Perhaps, I should see you to your father’s house.” He didn’t want her out of his sight. He still didn’t trust her.
“It’s not in the direction of the docks.” He’d told her that was where his meeting would take place.
“You’re right.” He pulled his brows together. “Maybe one more footman—”
She moved away.
He grabbed her arm and yanked her back before him. “I know you’re still planning to do whatever it is you and Belle were doing. I spoke with Sparrow and he, too, is troubled by what is going on.”
“I know what I’m doing.” In reality, she didn’t, but Belle did.
“Elisa, the mark of a wise person is knowing when to ask for help.”
“I’m not doing this alone.”
“No, it is only me you’re not letting in.”
She lifted her chin. “Then you know how it feels.”
He blew out a breath and grabbed her arms. “Your father just died. I don’t wish to upset you. We’ll discuss this later.”
Always later. “Very well. Have a good day.” She tried to move, but his hands held her in place.
“Don’t look so upset. I love you. It is why I worry.”
When he kissed her, she didn’t fight it.
When he slipped his tongue past her lips, she moaned and did nothing to resist him.
A knock came to their door.
Nicholas went to answer it. Elisa smiled when she noticed how begrudging he was about being interrupted. “The carriage is outside for you.” Nicholas would get a hackney since they only had one carriage. Elisa would be getting her own later. Nick had told her to design it as she pleased.
She was tempted to have it look like a madwoman painted it with patterns and colors that clashed.
Every day, she was tempted to resume her little act from the castle. Nicholas would never believe her right in the mind. Therefore, why work to impress him?
As she passed him, she dipped her voice and whispered, “Good day, Nickie.”
His reaction was to narrow his eyes.
And with a wink, she was gone.
The door to the coach had barely closed before her mind was filled with the sorrow from her father’s passing. She had plans to have lunch with Avery later in the day. He promised to be home when she arrived.
He was there, and he greeted her with a warm embrace.
Elisa was glad that she managed to hold it together, but it was hard. She worried about Avery. Now he was alone while she had Nicholas to make her laugh and fulfill her life.
When they pulled away she asked, “How are you?”
He shrugged. “Well enough, I suppose. You will good. Marriage suits you.” He smiled. “Love suits you. Even in black, you shine, sister mine.”
Elisa lowered her gaze to hide her smile. She wore black, out of respect for her father. “Thank you.”
“Let me know if you need anything while you are here.” Then he grimaced. “Also, Lord Alguire has requested a few of Father’s personal things as well. He swore he’d take nothing of value, but he has asked to look over the room. I knew they had been spending time together, but I never suspected our father’s death would matter this much to him.”
Elisa’s stomach turned over. “Is he here now?”
“No, I told him you’d go through his things first. He’ll come after lunch. I shall remain with him during his entire visit.”
Elisa didn’t want to be near him. At their father’s will reading, Nicholas had been there to protect her. She’d felt safe. She told herself she was safe with Avery and nodded.
In her father’s room, she closed the door and sat on the bed.<
br />
She remembered all the times she’d come there while growing up. She’d watched her father place jewelry on her mother’s neck. She remembered the quiet loving glances they’d give one another. Only here did Elisa ever witness it. Outside these doors, they were Lord and Lady Reddington but behind them…
She stood and called in the footman. Her brother declared the only thing he would keep was the bed.
It was a large, grand, and monstrous piece of dark art. She’d been told that the pieces that held it together with its intricate carvings had been taken from a mighty warship. Red curtains hung from its three sides. Gold cords held them open.
Behind the mountain of pillows from the Orient were the markings of a man and a woman. Their close position made it clear just what the bed had been intended for.
Her cheeks heated and she looked away with a smile. Thoughts of Nick and all the ways he made love to her body were sure to help her get through the day. Before, she’d felt slightly guilty about her happiness, especially when she thought of her brother, but she suspected the arrangement had made her father happy.
She was so glad that Nick had thought to reassure him, even during her father’s weakest state.
Cleaning out of the wardrobes and dressers took very little time. Her father’s stone and fine jewelry collection hadn’t been that great.
He’d been a simple man with simple pleasures.
She recalled the day she decided to hide from her governess underneath the bed. When a maid had come to look for her, her father had said she wasn’t there. Then they’d shared sweets together before he told her it was time to come out of hiding.
Lord Reddington had always liked sweets. They’d been his only vice in life.
Elisa looked at the bowl of sweet comfits on the bedside and picked one up. She held it to her nose and reminisced on the old smell.
Then she frowned. The candy smelled different than she recalled, yet the scent was still familiar to her. Where had she smelled that scent before?
Perhaps, the comfits were old. She put it down and told a footman to throw them away.
She was done an hour later and just in time for lunch with her brother.
Avery used the time to speak about his plans for the future. He would need to marry soon. Elisa could sense that being alone in the house was affecting him.
“But you’re happy, aren’t you?” he asked her.
“Yes,” she reassured him.
“You know I care for you,” he told her.
“I know, but I must confess that I hope you learn the joys of spontaneity.”
He turned toward her. “What do you mean?”
“Meaning, that if you always try and control everything, you leave very little room for surprises.”
He hummed to himself and lifted his glass of lemonade to his lips. “Not all surprises are good. I find good planning to be better.”
He’d not always been that way. “Brother.”
Avery had been looking away, likely caught in a memory, but his eyes turned back to Elisa and he lifted a brow, waiting for her question.
∫ ∫ ∫
4 9
* * *
It dawned on Elisa that the man she was staring at was no longer just an heir. He was now the Duke of Reddington and held one of the most powerful seats in England. But underneath the glory was still her brother.
“Why don’t you like Nicholas? Truly, I must know. You’re my brother. He is my husband. I want you to get along.”
Avery put down his glass with a sigh. He looked up at the ceiling and then back at Elisa. “I don’t hate Nicholas. Not anymore. If he makes you happy—”
“What did he do?” She was certain he’d done something, something he could not recall, just like when he’d killed Lord Bush’s son. Nicholas had a blurry past.
Avery frowned.
Elisa asked, “Did he kill someone you love?”
Avery’s eyes widened. His jaw hardened. “What do you know of such things? Nicholas should be keeping you well away from his other business.”
“He is, but I know about his past. He has shared some regrets.”
Avery closed his eyes. “We all have things we regret.” After a moment, he said, “Nicholas and I fought.”
“What?”
“It was a fight in a barn.” Avery sighed. “Terrible things happened. It was my fault.” His gaze was very direct. “I should have planned better.”
“Avery?” Elisa asked, her heartbeat and breathing labored.
He covered her hand with his. “We’d been racing.”
“Racing?”
He cleared his throat. “Ben and I were racing. Carriage racing. I’d always been good at it, driving.”
She remembered that. “You stole Father’s carriage one night.” It was her fondest memory of Avery. He could have left her at home, but instead, he showed her the city illuminated by lamp posts. “Ben was there?”
“Ben was always there. We raced for the thrill of it. While away at school, I got better,” Avery went on. “I would race for money, not because I needed it, but because it was fun.” He smiled and then shook his head. “I also had something to prove.”
“What?”
He looked away again and pinched his brows. “That I was more than my title. That I was good at something, something of my own making.” He shook his head and squeezed her hand. “When the professors looked at me, they saw Father, but my friends and the local gentry looked at me.”
“Local gentry? Any of them a woman?” She smiled. “Was there a certain woman in particular that caught your fancy?”
Her brother chuckled. “Some stories are not for the ears of women.”
Elisa rolled her eyes but laughed. She was simply glad her brother was speaking to her, glad he was sharing the truth with her. “What happened?”
Avery shook his head again. “It was a race. A long one against the only other man who dared to compete with me.” He groaned. “I never should have accepted the challenge. The man wasn’t even been a student, but he was smart. Clever. He talked us into it before he would think otherwise. I knew we’d be pushing the horses too hard. There was no light on the road. I feared I’d not wake in time for class in the morning.”
This was a side of her brother she hadn’t known existed. “Were you truly that good of a driver?”
“The best. But that night, everything went wrong. One of the horses gave out and it just so happened we were by that barn.” The disgust in his tone was clear.
Elisa knew what went on in the barn. “What happened next?”
“It was Ben’s idea to fight Nicholas. If we won the money from the fight, we could get another horse and make it back in time for class. We didn’t care about the race anymore, but Father’s horse would be hard to replace. We entered the barn and saw him. Back then, Nicholas was called something else. The Child, I think.”
Nicholas Childs. She saw the connection.
Avery shook his head. “He was not a child at all. I volunteered to fight him first, since I was bigger. He nearly killed me, but I knew I’d weakened him as well.”
“Then what happened?”
Avery’s eyes filled with tears. “I encouraged Ben to go next. Seeing as I’d already weakened The Child, I thought the fight would be quick. Simple.” Avery frowned. “It was. Ben never had a chance. Nicholas was so greatly injured that he didn’t bother to give Ben a fair fight. He just…”
Elisa’s eyes widened. She stole her hand from her brother so she could cover her mouth. “Avery.” Her voice shook.
Avery looked pained. “It was my fault. One minute Ben was alive and the next… No one even told us the fights were to the death.”
“But you said Ben was killed by highwaymen?” Elisa was weeping now.
Avery nodded. “It was the best story I could come up with at the time. I couldn’t tell anyone the truth. The man who ran the fights warned what would happen if I spoke to the authorities. Ben was already dead. I didn’t want
to die as well. I dumped the dead horse and put Ben in the carriage.” Avery’s face reflected pain. He took one breath after another and then finally managed to meet Elisa’s eyes. “I only tell you this, because I know you’d never tell the authorities what took place.”
How could she? Nicholas was her husband. Ben had been a lord. It was one thing for the fighters to have been lower-class, but entirely different for two lords to get into an altercation and one of them die.
“It was my fault,” Avery said.
Elisa wiped at her falling tears. “No, Ben decided to fight.”
“I encouraged it. I wasn’t prepared to lose. I should have thought before I acted.”
“You said the entire fight was Ben’s idea.”
Avery ran a hand through his hair. “It doesn’t matter. I should have said no. We could have earned the money for a new horse through races. It would have taken time, but…”
“I’m so sorry, Avery.” She understood her brother so much better now. She understood his need for things to be predictable and his need to see Elisa safe. He’d watched a friend die. Few things were more traumatic than that. “I’ll have to tell Nick.”
“I’ll tell him myself,” Avery said. “We’re family now, as you said. It isn’t good for this thing to remain between us.”
A footman arrived to tell them of Lord Alguire’s arrival.
They met him in the drawing-room. Avery stayed close to her.
Alguire looked at their faces and his expression became somber. “I extend my deepest condolences to you both.” He likely thought their tears to be about their father. Neither would correct his assumption.
Elisa said, “I’ve set a portion of his goods to the side for you to look over. I didn’t know how much my father’s death affected you. You have my condolences as well.” Staring at Alguire, Elisa felt none of the fear she thought she would. She was married to Nicholas now. She was Lady Childs.
Alguire could not touch her.
They all went up to her father’s room and Alguire looked through the clothes and the few personal items Elisa had thought to leave out for his arrival.
A Knight of Vengeance: (The Valiant Love Regency Romance) (A Historical Romance Book) Page 24
