The Honorable Choice (Victorian Love Book 2)

by M. A. Nichols

  The Honorable Choice

  Victoria Love Series

  M.A. Nichols

  Copyright © 2020 M.A. Nichols

  All rights reserved

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

  Books by M.A. Nichols

  Regency Love Series

  Flame and Ember

  A True Gentleman

  The Shameless Flirt

  Honor and Redemption

  Victorian Love Series

  A Stolen Kiss

  The Honorable Choice

  Hearts Entwined

  The Villainy Consultant Series

  Geoffrey P. Ward’s Guide to Villainy

  Geoffrey P. Ward’s Guide to Questing

  Magic Slippers: A Novella

  The Shadow Army Trilogy

  Smoke and Shadow

  Blood Magic

  A Dark Destiny

  Prologue

  Derbyshire

  Summer 1853

  Not much notice is given to a heartbeat. It is an ever-present, overlooked thing that simply performs its duty without fanfare from the recipient for its life-saving efforts. A necessary but silent part of life that neither demands nor requires any attention unless something sparks that fickle organ to erratic behaviors.

  At present, Ruby Jeffries was quite aware of the rapid pace hers had set.

  Poetry expounded at length on the strength of such a feeling—the manner in which one’s heart beats against one’s chest—but Ruby had never experienced such delicious agony before. Nor had she ever thought to experience the bliss of seeing a gentleman standing below her bedchamber window.

  With several pebbles still in hand, Mr. Lucas Ashbrook grinned up at her and beckoned her to join him. Mr. Ashbrook’s eyes were a pale blue-gray with an otherworldly brightness to them; they held hers, and a smile tickled at the edge of his lips. Though his expression hardly altered, his crystalline gaze warmed, bringing a flush to her cheeks and causing her already rapid heartbeat to quicken.

  Ruby scolded herself, forcing the blush to recede. Though she had little experience with gentlemen, she knew enough to know that reacting strongly may chase the fellow away. Showing less than she felt was the only safe course, but it was impossible to turn her gaze away from him and feign an indifference she did not feel. Especially when his entrancing eyes tracked her every movement with a possessive gleam.

  It took no more than his whispered plea for her to abandon all reason and rush from the window. Not that Ruby needed much prodding. Sense told her to stay put, but that timid voice could not override her pounding heart, which begged her feet to move faster.

  Down the stairs and through the hall, she hurried along. Mama looked up from her writing desk as her daughter passed the parlor door, and Ruby paused.

  “I thought I would walk in the gardens. It is such a lovely day.” Ruby’s eyes darted to the window at her mother’s back. Her throat tightened as Mr. Ashbrook peeked in, but her mother gave a silent nod and returned to writing her letter.

  Turning on her heels, Ruby took a deep breath, allowing the air to fill her lungs and calm her rapid pulse. She was no silly young thing to get swept up in Mr. Ashbrook’s sudden and entirely all-too-romantic appearance. If nothing else, her thirty years of life had taught her dignity and self-control. But the sight of the front door made her steps quicken.

  Habit told her to retrieve her gloves and bonnet, but a flash of Mr. Ashbrook from a side window drove such thoughts from her mind, and Ruby slipped through the door. The gentleman moved towards a secluded part of the garden, beckoning for her to follow.

  Ruby cast a glance around her and, tucking her hands in front of her, she walked with clipped steps in that direction. She passed through an arch in the hedges, and arms darted out to grab her. She gave a quick gasp before Mr. Ashbrook pulled her flush to him, a satisfied grin tugging at his lips.

  “Miss Jeffries, how good to see you again,” he murmured.

  “Mr. Ashbrook…” Ruby hoped for something articulate to emerge after that, but the feel of his hands drove away coherent thoughts. She managed a breathy, “I had not thought to renew our acquaintance so soon. What has dragged you from London?”

  Ruby’s parents rarely approved of novels, as they viewed such lighthearted fare as a corrupting influence on a young lady’s mind. However, Ruby had snuck the odd story, and Mr. Ashbrook’s gaze reminded her strongly of a passage in which a young lady had fallen prey to a villain who was more devil than man. At the time, Ruby had not understood why the heroine had been so tempted to fall into the fellow’s embrace, but staring into the real-life embodiment was another thing altogether.

  His eyes glowed with a hunger that Ruby hardly understood, though a shiver of it took hold of her. Her lips trembled as though they craved his touch, begging her to lean into him.

  “What has dragged me from London?” he asked, mimicking her question with a hint of humor. Mr. Ashbrook’s hand came up and brushed against her cheek and her breath quickened until Ruby felt faint.

  “I found myself unable to focus on anything other than a gorgeous creature with golden-brown eyes and hair the color of a strong cup of coffee. Positively delicious,” he murmured in a decidedly wicked tone.

  Ruby’s mouth opened to reply, though words fled her. She simply gaped in an ungainly manner and fought to regain her composure. Gorgeous. It was not as though she were unfamiliar with the word’s meaning, but never had it been applied to her. If a gentleman were seeking to be kind, he called her regal or striking—both of which held a wealth of meanings that did not necessarily indicate beauty. But there was no other way to interpret such a bald description.

  Mr. Lucas Ashbrook thought her plain features gorgeous.

  “My heart broke when you and your parents left Town before the end of the Season, and I could not wait for you to return next year. I had to see you. Be near you.” He paused, and his voice dropped to a seductive whisper. “Feel you.”

  Mr. Ashbrook’s hold tightened, and to say he kissed her would be akin to calling a tiger a cat. Ruby stiffened, her eyes remaining wide-open as she struggled to know what to do. They’d shared a few timid bits of affection in London, but this was no buss. It was a possession. The fervor frightened and called to her, begging Ruby to match his intensity with her own, and though nerves fought her, she relaxed into his hold, embracing the passion that seized them both. Ruby clung to him, partly to hold him close and partly to keep herself upright, for her limbs struggled to keep her upright.

  Ruby had heard the rumors about Mr. Ashbrook. The ladies who gave away such favors with little thought or meaning had whispered of his skill, but no amount of words could describe the ecstasy she felt in his embrace. But then, those ladies never wanted for admiration. Ruby Jeffries had never caught the eye of any gentleman, and it was as though Mr. Ashbrook had given a starving woman a feast.

  It had been difficult enough to believe that the gentleman had been serious in his flirtations when they’d met in Town. Yet here he was. Abandoning his life in London to follow her back to the country. Kissing her with the desperation of a drowning man grasping for a rope.

  “Miss Jeffries…Ruby…” He spoke her name with reverence, murmuring it again as his lips traveled to the hollow of her throat and his hand shifted to her waist.

  “Mr. Ashbrook!”
Ruby straightened, jerking away from his touch as it strayed to places it should not go.

  Taking a step away, he turned from her, raking a hand through his hair. “I apologize,” he said between heaving breaths. He shook his head and looked at her with a gaze full of regret. “I should not take such liberties, but you drive me mad, and I cannot control myself.”

  Ruby blinked at him, unsure if she’d heard him correctly.

  “You consume my every thought,” he said, drawing close again. “It’s as though you’ve taken possession of my very soul.”

  Ruby had dreamt of such adoration, and she could hardly believe that after so many years of waiting, it had appeared in her life in such a momentous manner. This was no half-hearted love but a burning fervor that lit his eyes as he gazed upon her, his longing mirroring her own.

  “My dearest Ruby…” The words were like a gentle caress as he leaned in to press a delicate kiss to her lips, though she sensed a tremble of desire take hold of him.

  Desire.

  Ruby could hardly believe she inspired such an emotion. Even in her grandest imaginations, she was hard-pressed to believe herself capable of stoking such feelings. The little she knew of love came from poetry, which featured ladies who were the embodiment of grace and beauty. Yet she stood in the arms of a handsome gentleman as he assailed her with fevered kisses and hushed words of adoration.

  Her own heart answered his ardor, and Ruby lost herself once more to his eager touch. Sensations, new and alluring, assailed her, sweeping over her like waves until she was lost once more to the world.

  But a warning shock shot through her as his hands wandered once more.

  “Mr. Ashbrook…” she protested, trying to clear her head with a bit of reason, though it was so difficult to remember why she must keep the gentleman in check when wrapped in the fog of desire.

  “Hush, my love. There is no need to be coy. We both desire this,” he murmured as he feathered kisses down her throat.

  Ruby did desire this. She’d never imagined that kisses could feel so magnificent, and the feel of his gentle lips nibbling at her skin made it difficult to remember anything beyond the joy of this moment. But his roving hands brought Ruby right back to the present.

  “No, Mr. Ashbrook, please,” she said, moving to put some distance between them, but he would not release her.

  “Ruby, there is no need to fight this passion between us,” he said.

  Oh, how she wanted to believe that. Seeing that flicker of love burning in his eyes, Ruby wanted nothing more than to lose herself in it. But she could not ignore the prickle of her conscience, begging her to see reason. There were more important things than to surrender her good sense to impulse—no matter how strong the urge.

  “It’s not right, Mr. Ashbrook.”

  “Lucas,” he corrected.

  Ruby dipped her face away from him. Despite the intimacy they’d shared, it still felt wrong to call him such, but the gentleman would not relent.

  “Lucas,” she amended, liking the feel of his name on her lips.

  “And who is to say it is ‘not right,’ my dearest Ruby?”

  Her heart melted at the sound of the endearment. In many ways, it meant more than his use of her given name. While the second implied a relationship they did not yet share, the first gave her his heart. A lifetime of watching her parents had taught her marriage and love were not synonymous, and knowing she held his heart as he held hers meant more than he would ever understand.

  Lucas leaned in again, and Ruby closed her eyes to accept his fevered kisses but stopped when that small, rational part of her mind reminded her about her objections and his question.

  “Is it not enough that God’s law states it as such?” she asked.

  “He is too busy with other, more pressing concerns to mind what a young couple does,” he replied with a saucy grin.

  “You must not be so flippant about such things, Lucas.”

  A hard glint flashed in his eyes, his jaw clenching. “And you must not be so prudish. It is not as though every child born in this world was conceived after the wedding vows were spoken.”

  Ruby straightened, her eyes widening. “You needn’t be so crude, and I do not care if everyone is behaving in such a manner. I know what I feel in my heart, and I cannot betray my conscience.”

  The tightness in his muscles loosened, disappearing as though it had never been. “And I would never ask it of you, Ruby Jeffries.” Lucas gave her a warm smile, his fingers brushing the corner of her lips. “You are too good for me.”

  Leaning into his touch, Ruby sighed. “Do not say such a thing. You are my world, Lucas. A few scant weeks ago, I was living my quiet, unassuming life, unaware that such a love could exist.”

  The pad of his thumb caressed her cheek, and Lucas watched her silently for several long moments. Oh, how she adored staring into those beautiful eyes of his.

  “Then, I suppose the only option is to marry.” He spoke the words in such an off-handed manner that Ruby thought she’d imagined them. But when his brows rose as though awaiting a response, Ruby broke into a smile.

  “Is that an acceptance?” he asked.

  Ignoring the fact that Lucas had not formally asked any question, Ruby’s head bobbed in several quick nods before she launched herself into his arms once more.

  “Yes,” she murmured between kisses.

  Married. Ruby could not bring herself to believe she was going to marry. And to Lucas Ashbrook. That the Jeffries spinster would marry at all would be a shock to many, but that the intended groom was not a desperate widower or aging bachelor would be inconceivable. Plain Ruby Jeffries had caught the eye of the sought-after Lucas Ashbrook.

  She would spend her life in the arms of the man she loved. They would build a family. A home. The years stretched before her, playing out a million little scenes that filled her future with a brightness and joy she’d never expected to find.

  “Lucas, we need to stop,” she murmured, softening her chastisement with a tender kiss that held more heart than heat. As loath as she was to calm his growing ardor, it was necessary.

  “We are engaged, Ruby. There is no need to hold back any longer.” His lips wandered to her neck, and Ruby found it difficult to remember what she’d been saying.

  But Ruby pressed against his chest, forcing him to straighten. “Engaged is not married.”

  Lucas sighed, his head dropping to rest on her shoulder. When he met her gaze again, his smile was tight and the light in his eyes had dimmed. “We have waited long enough. Weeks of being forced to keep my distance and stealing quick moments with you has driven me quite mad. And then you left London, and I thought I would die without you. We will marry, but please do not cause me any more pain by denying me this.”

  “But now that it is settled, it will not be long, my darling,” she said with a smile as her fingers played with his lapels.

  Lucas’s brows drew together. “Don’t you love me, my dear Ruby?”

  “Of course.”

  “Then you don’t trust me to keep my word and marry you afterward?”

  Ruby stilled, and a shiver of fear ran down her spine. “I do trust you, but that is not the point. I cannot do this. Please, do not ask me to.”

  “Yet you are asking me to wait? I simply wish to show you the depth of my love. We are already pledged, so what does it matter if we speak the same vows in front of witnesses?”

  She could not find fault in his logic, and part of her wished to succumb to it. If not for that nagging prickle buried in her heart, she might’ve. But Ruby knew that no amount of words would dispel it. Tears blurred her vision, and her words came out broken as she pleaded with him.

  “I cannot. Please understand, Lucas. I love you. I do. But we are not married, and I cannot go against my conscience and what I know to be right.”

  Sucking in a deep breath, Lucas let it out in a low huff, the muscles in his cheeks twitching as he stared at her. “I suppose we shall simply have to marry at onc
e.”

  Wrapping her arms around him, Ruby gave a shuddering breath. “We can speak with Papa, procure a license, and marry in a day or two if you like. Thank you, Lucas.”

  But he stiffened and leaned away from her. “Speak with your father? We are both far beyond the age of needing permission to do as we please. Besides, he would never accept my suit.”

  “Don’t be silly. He will adore you,” she said, though the words were close enough to a lie that her heart twisted as she spoke them.

  Lucas replied with a challenging raise of his eyebrow. “You think he would welcome a son-in-law with no home and only a modest allowance?”

  “You are heir to a prosperous mill.”

  “And my father is exceptionally healthy and likely to live a long life before I ever see a penny.” Those stark words settled uneasily in Ruby’s heart, but before she had time to react, Lucas continued. “The only option is to elope.”

  The word sent another shiver of fear down her spine, yet Ruby could not deny that the idea sounded so terribly romantic. Where had her good sense gone? Eloping was something that silly young girls agreed to when approached by gentlemen unfit to even dance with them. Ruby had always thought herself too sensible to entertain such ludicrous thoughts, but it was hard to deny how appealing it was.

  “We do not need consent, so I can procure us a license,” he added. “Say you are visiting some distant family member, and we will steal away and marry in secret.”

  “You wish me to lie?”

  “A small one. Hardly a lie at all,” he said, his fingers feathering soft touches along her arms. “Simply tell your parents that a cousin wishes for you to visit, and they will infer other meanings. Your parents needn’t know that your cousin’s home is not your intended destination.”

  “But Papa will be so angry…”

  “And if we speak to him beforehand and he rejects my suit—as I am certain he will—we will be lost to each other.” Lucas leaned closer. The spices in his cologne filled her nose, bringing with it a sense of peace. With a delicate touch, he brushed his hand along her jaw. “He would separate us, and I could not bear the thought of it. My heart would shrivel and die in my chest. I could never survive without you. Can you face a life without me?”