by Eva Devon
To Allegra’s horror, Nicholas smiled. As though he was pleased.
Arrogant, silly man.
“Dukes,” Nicholas said, his eyes full of some emotion that she couldn’t quite name. “All dukes. We over imbibed in our personal club.”
To her horror, she felt a wave of relief. Really, she had no claim on Nicholas and she wasn’t naive enough to believe that husbands were faithful to their wives. Even lovers often weren’t faithful to each other. Or at least so she’d gathered when listening to a few conversations between her mother and her friends. Even so, this forbidden knowledge hadn’t stopped the deeply unpleasant feeling that had passed over her when she’d suddenly contemplated Nicholas in the perfumed arms of another woman.
Aston raised his champagne flute. “Now, that’s not entirely true, old man, is it?”
“Aston,” Nicholas growled.
“What?” Aston asked innocently. “Is Lady Imogen not a woman?”
Allegra glanced back and forth between the two men wondering if she’d descended into some sort of conversation she couldn’t really understand because Aston seemed unusually jolly considering the trouble he was making for his friend. Nicholas looked like he was about to pop Aston in the jaw.
“Lady Imogen?” she queried, forcing herself to have an air of lightness.
“Well, yes,” Nicholas began. “She’s an old friend and I ran into her at a ball last night, but she’s spoken for. And she and I never ever—”
“The lady doth protest too much,” cut in Aston.
“Stop that!” Nicholas roared.
Aston ignored Nicholas and, instead, asked out of the seeming air, “Do you think the Scot did it?”
Allegra began to feel like an observer at a polo match, her eyes going back and forth as the opponents cracked the ball about the field.
“Scot?” she echoed.
“Oh, yes,” Aston supplied merrily. “You see, Roth ain’t joking. Deuced woman has gone and fallen for a right prickly Scottish duke. Nice enough chap, but he will wax on and on about duty and all that.” Aston suddenly beamed. “I say, Roth. Do you think he did it?”
“Did what?” Roth asked.
Aston sighed with exaggerated impatience. “Kidnapped his lady love?”
Allegra’s head began to ache.
“Kidnap?” asked Nicholas, his whole demeanor suddenly changing to one of concern.
Aston snorted. “You encouraged the fellow. You and all the other dukes. Didn’t you.”
“I don’t remember.”
“Oh. That’s right.” Aston’s lips twitched. “I’d forgotten you’d tried to drink away your sorrows at being denied by the beautiful Lady Allegra.”
“He did?” she asked, her voice high with shock to her own ears.
“Oh yes, dear duchess,” Aston declared. “Pints of gin were consumed. And they sent that poor Scottish fellow out into the night to kidnap his lady love since she was having nothing to do with him. If I know Imogen, and I do, the Duke of Blackburn will be singing a new tune this morning in a much higher and painful key. Still, I do believe you’ll be asked to a wedding very soon, Roth.”
Well, at least it was clear that Nicholas and this Imogen person had not been dallying whilst she’d been locked up. But kidnapping? These men had all thought it a good idea to kidnap Lady Imogen? What was wrong with gentlemen? Did they all see women as a side of beef hanging at the butcher’s ready to be plucked up?
Were all men monsters?
No. That couldn’t be. She knew Nicholas was a good man. It might then be safer to say that all men were fools. Did they not consider that Lady Imogen might not like being handled like a parcel? Or did they assume that she would be merely swept up in her lover’s grand and bizarre gesture.
Nicholas was studying her face as he said, “Aston, I think it was time you were going.”
“But there’s another bottle of champagne and I have no appointments—”
“Aston.”
“Oh, fine.” Aston winked at her. “I see how it is. You only wish me about when you need me.”
She couldn’t quite get a handle on the strange man. He was grand, tall, verbose, and vain as any peacock and yet, she had a feeling he had honor that would outdo most of the men of her acquaintance. And she liked him. For all his troublemaking ways.
She gave him a small curtsy. “Thank you for making my wedding possible.”
He threw back his head and laughed. “You’ve no idea, my dear. If it weren’t for me, your husband would still be moaning on the floor at his club.”
“Aston. . .”
“Honesty, old man,” Aston teased. “Honesty. It’s the best possible policy.”
And with that, he grabbed his hat from the table, placed it on his head at a jaunty angle, and whisked out of the room.
Allegra stared after him. “He is extremely odd.”
“He is, indeed.”
A smile tilted her lips. “I suppose that’s why I like him.”
“Our set is a bit odd but only North-northwest.”
She laughed at the play on Hamlet’s words. “Is that how you’d put it? A doctor actually said I was mad.”
Nicholas’ face softened and he put down his glass of champagne. “You aren’t mad, my darling. You never have been and you never will be. You are glorious in your uniqueness.”
“Uniqueness?” she queried. “You’re one of the few who seems to think that a positive thing.”
“You know so few people, duchess. So very few who might appreciate you. Now, that will all change.”
She tried to smile but she was afraid. Afraid that all her noble plans were going to disappear before her eyes like smoke that wafts up from the fire. “I want to believe you.”
He drew her hand into his, his strong fingers swallowing up her small ones. “You don’t have to believe my words. Give it time and you shall see. Tomorrow we shall begin.”
That gave her a start. “Whatever will the ton say?”
“Do you care?”
A laugh bubbled from her lips. “No. But I’d prefer people not to assume you married me to. . .”
“Because I ruined you?”
She nodded.
“I would wait to announce our marriage if I could, but I don’t see how.”
She racked her brain. “What if we told people we’d married when I was in Italy?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Well,” she began hoping she could make her idea stick, “you were traveling and I was supposedly abroad.”
“If we met and married, where are the witnesses?” he said quietly.
“Oh, bother.”
“I think we will just have to come out strong and ignore the gossips.”
Ignoring the gossips sounded next to impossible. But he was right in the end. There was no way to paint this in any other light.
“I don’t suppose I could just hide on your estate, could I?”
Nicholas smiled slowly. “You don’t have to hide anymore, Allegra. You’re the Duchess of Roth. People ought to hide from your wrath, if they arouse it.”
The Duchess of Roth. That’s who she was. Not some young girl on the marriage mart.
She’d never been in any sort of position of power before and she did understand that as a duchess she could quite possibly be one of the most powerful ladies in London.
Nicholas slipped the glass of champagne from her fingers and trailed his palm up her arm. “Now, we could present you to all the most proper people, do all those things. We could be terribly boring. . .”
She resisted a shiver at the delicious sensation his touch evoked. “Or?”
“I can introduce you to my friend, Lady Imogen. I can introduce you to my friends and their rather revolutionary wives.”
She hesitated. “Would Lady Imogen have so much to teach me?”
“I think she could be a sympathetic soul. For years, she was forced to dance to society’s tune and finally, when her husband died, she did as she wished. She beca
me independent. Isn’t that the sort of woman you admire?”
“Yes, but promise me, Nicholas, that she was just your friend or tell me now if there was more.”
Nicholas paused, his face pensive in the firelight. “I cannot deny that I have been intimate with many married women in London. I have enjoyed them and they me. But not Imogen. From the moment we met, we were never going to be lovers. I met her and wanted her to become herself. I helped her to that end.”
“As you wish to help me?”
“If you like.”
“You’re a veritable fairy godmother to young women.”
“I do sense an icy tone.”
“No, Nicholas.” How did she explain her feelings? Well, she had to try.
She squared her chin and said, “I just feel so confused by the events that have transpired. I want your help. I want to meet your friends. I want to live boldly and not like some meek sheep of a wife. Of course, I do. But this is all so different than the picture I had painted for myself of what my life would be. Forgive me if it takes time for me to adjust.”
“I will give you all the time you need.” He pulled her close to him. “I know this isn’t what you had wanted, Allegra. But I can’t help but admit I’m delighted that you’re mine.”
She knew he meant well. And it was just a turn of phrase, but her darling Nicholas was as rooted into the views of men and women as anyone else she knew. She was his. She was his now legally. It was her deepest wish that she could find a way not to let that bother her. She had to if she was going to find any sort of contentment in her life.
“Right now, you aren’t in your ideal situation,” he admitted. “I understand that, but perhaps you could enjoy what is good about it.”
“And that is?” she teased. She couldn’t help herself. Already, she knew she was lucky. Compared to so many ladies, she should be grateful. After all, she liked and admired her husband. How many ladies of the ton could say such a thing?
“I do think you’re fond of my kisses.”
She laughed and somehow, at the same time, she felt her rigid frame begin to soften. Just hours ago, she’d been on the verge of virtual imprisonment. Hours before that, she’d been lamenting that she’d never see Nicholas again or know his touch. Now, she could feel his touch whenever she wished.
She tilted her head back and gave him a cheeky smile. “Fond is not the word, Your Grace.”
“No?”
She shook her head and pursed her lips playfully.
“How would you describe it then?”
“Undone. One might say I am undone by your kisses.”
“Then let’s have a little undoing.”
“Here?” she asked.
“If I had my way, we’d undo you in every room.”
A deep laugh bubbled from her lips. “Every room?”
He nodded and waggled his brows. “Every room.”
“Shall we start with this one then?” she asked, her voice suddenly richer as her gaze seemed to bloom with passion.
He rubbed his thumb along her lower lip and she bit it. If there was one thing she knew, she and Nicholas would always have this. Their bodies adored each other and goodness, was she grateful. For she could not imagine living her life without the fire between them.
“They do say now is always the best time,” he replied roughly at last.
She smiled slowly, loving to drive him as mad with desire as he did to her. “Then why are we still waiting?”
“Why, indeed, Duchess? Why, indeed?”
Chapter 17
Nicholas couldn’t quite fight the feeling that if he made the wrong step his marriage would be over before it began. Allegra was in a precarious place for a young woman. He knew the idealistic type all too well. He’d seen them in artists and revolutionaries all over Europe, the Americas and the East.
All too easily, they became jaded when the reality of the world didn’t match up with the shining dreams they had created. He never wanted that for her. How he longed for her to dream on. Allegra’s luster was one that was rather miraculous.
It had drawn him to her in a way that no other woman had managed. It was the reason he’d proposed to her so quickly in the country. Not just for honor, but for need. He needed her. He needed her freshness, her unique view of the world if he was to survive.
And so, he’d use whatever weapons he had in his arsenal to keep her from feeling the crush of society and all the things she hated. He’d protect her as he’d never protected anyone and he’d slay any old harridan who dared give her the side eye.
But above all this, her passion was the key to her happiness. Her passions for living, for joy, for ideas, and for the wild heat that happened between them.
Tonight at least, he could start with the latter. He dared not let her slip away to bed alone or he was certain that the gulf that had separated them at Rothton would widen and he’d never quite be able to reach her again.
If he could just pleasure her body and unite with her that way, the rest would follow. He was sure of it.
And on such surety, Nicholas pulled her against his chest and lowered his head to hers. He took her mouth in a hot kiss, determined to eradicate any indecision that might still be holding her in its sway.
He caressed her mouth with the slightest kisses and then the gentle stroke of his tongue.
She dropped her head back and her hands gripped his shoulders.
God, he could kiss her for hours. The mingling of their mouths and breath and spirit drove him wild. As did the fact that she was now his wife.
The air was slightly chilled as it always was in such large houses, so he guided her toward the fire and the great rug that was laid before it.
She looked up into his eyes, her cheeks aflame with hunger and her lips slightly parted. “I want you now,” she whispered.
He couldn’t speak. A man who was used to words flowing like wine form his lips, Nicholas really couldn’t understand the effect she had on him.
“Make love to me, Nicholas.”
They were the words he longed to hear at this moment and without answering, he swept her into his arms then gently laid her back against the lush fabric before the fire.
She gasped as his hands slid down to her ankles and he brushed her gown up her thighs.
A soft laugh rumbled past his lips.
“Yes?” she challenged breathlessly.
“I’ve never made love to you while you had a frock on.”
She lightly hit his shoulder.
“I quite like it.” He leaned down and lightly bit the flesh just above her garter. “So many things to impede my way and yet. . . If I just. . .”
He kissed further up her legs, pushing up her chemise until the apex of her thighs was exposed to him.
“Ah. So beautiful.”
“Nicholas,” she protested.
“It is beautiful. You are beautiful. And I already know you happen to be delicious.”
With that he allowed himself to lose himself in teasing her most sensitive spot. God, he loved it. Loved how wet and slick and sweet and salty it was to his tongue. And he loved even more the way she moved against him, half wild with need.
Despite how he wanted to lose himself completely, he knew he couldn’t. With Allegra, he always had to be in control because he had to make sure he drove her absolutely wild for him. . . That she always hungered for him and no other.
He worshipped her folds, teasing and stroking until a wild cry came from her. A surge of triumph only increased his desire as she writhed against him.
“I want you now,” he said as he pressed kisses to her thighs.
“Please,” she breathed, arching upward.
No timid flower, Allegra grabbed his shoulders, pulling him toward her.
Without hesitation, he undid his breeches, braced his arms on either side of her face, carefully, positioned himself and thrust deep into her wet, hot body.
God, it felt perfect. Like coming home. Like bliss. Like the world had co
me to an end and nothing could be more sublime.
He rocked against her, thrusting deep, and taking her mouth at once.
Her hands roved over his back, grabbing at his shirt. Ever more impassioned cries slipped from her mouth into his. He savored every one as they moved together.
Her nails dug into his back and he felt his world spin wildly away, bursting into a cloud of white hot perfection.
In that moment, he had no idea where he ended and she began, he felt so as one with her.
And as he began to come back to himself, clinging as one lost in a storm, he knew. . .
He, Nicholas Edward Andrew Forth, Duke of Roth, was in danger of falling in love with his own wife.
*
Much to Allegra’s relief, Nicholas didn’t seem determined to launch her at society without some sort of defensive planning. It was impossible to believe that rumors weren’t spreading, but instead of going out the morning after her wedding, Nicholas had asked if she might be willing to remain indoors.
At first, she had quailed. She refused to be a coward. But he had asked her kindly and made it clear he had a reason. For all her boldness, a little extra time preparing to meet the vultures didn’t seem like such a terrible thing.
It also meant she’d spent a remarkable amount of time with her husband, just as they had done before. And she adored it.
Somehow, when it was just the two of them, it seemed as if nothing in the world could intrude upon their accord.
It had been impossible for her to enjoy herself though until Nicholas had received word that Rose was perfectly safe with her mother in the country. Nicholas had sent her compensation and the offer to return to a position whenever she should require it.
The large monetary gift had induced Rose to retire to the country apparently and enjoy life with her mother. To Allegra’s delight, she’d already received two letters describing Rose’s new freedoms as an independent woman.
Free now of such worries, she reveled in her time with Nicholas.
They ate sumptuously, feeding each other the best morsels as they basked on cushions and blankets in almost every room of the house at various times of the day. They made love so many times she’d lost count. They read poetry and political treatises aloud. And they talked until neither had voices and could do nothing but communicate through the rapture that was their bodies.
