Penelope stood outlined against the last rays of the sunset. Her hair was illuminated in a coronet of gold that trailed down her slender throat. Her breasts rose and fell rapidly as she gasped for air after her flight, and the clinging cloth of her gown outlined full curves and slender waist. As she leaned back against the wall, the gown clung to rounded thighs, and the blood thundered in Graham’s brain.
Raising himself into the belfry, he reached for the nearest bell rope. Before Penelope could react, the bell began to peal in long, sonorous notes. Quite methodically Graham reached for the second rope, and a matching accompaniment rang out over the darkening grounds.
Laughing, Penelope grasped the third rope. Her tug did not have quite the success of Graham’s, but he generously reached over her head and pulled that one, too.
With all three bells pealing madly, the crowd on the commons began to run for the church. Penelope glanced down at the antlike brown figures scurrying across the lawns and back to Graham’s shadowed face. Without a word he grabbed her hand and led her back down the stairs.
They could hear the questioning cries of the crowd approaching as they ran through the nave, and as one, they dropped into the nearest pew. When the first torches burst into the church, they lit only the lord and his lady kneeling piously with looks of devout wonder on their faces as they faced the altar.
The vicar pushed his way through the crowd and glanced suspiciously up the stairway, then back to Lord and Lady Trevelyan rising from their prayers. Graham’s massive figure lifted his lovely wife to her feet, and in the hearing of those closest, he murmured, “Our prayers have been answered, my dear, you will see.”
Penelope choked back a laugh as the vicar’s mouth shut with a snap. Tears formed as she tried to smother her mirth. No one dared come out and speculate that the lord and his lady might have set the bells to ringing themselves. Even those who knew Graham in his younger days were hesitant at casting his new wife in the same mold. What purpose would there be in Lady Trevelyan soiling her dainty slippers in the filthy bell tower?
Penelope pondered that point not much later as she soaked in a tub of hot, bubbly water and contemplated her ruined shoes. Her maid had nearly cried in distress at their state, but Penelope could not bring herself to throw them out. She could not bear to part with a single memory of this day, so she had sent the maid away and lay cozily in the warm bath, reliving each and every scene all over again.
The part where Graham kissed her came in for more replay than any other. He had caught her completely by surprise. Never had he done more than hold her hand. She had assumed him entirely indifferent to her. But this day he had kissed her as Chadwell had, held her as if he did not mean to let go. Her heart beat faster as she considered the consequences of this new development.
Graham had not been in London for some weeks. Perhaps without his mistress he grew hungry for a woman, any woman. She did not have enough knowledge of men to know whether this was possible. Surely he must kiss his mistress in the same manner. It did not mean anything, not really. It was exciting to know he might consider her desirable but was that all she wanted from him?
It was certainly better than nothing. Remembering the way he had held her, the way his mouth had felt against hers, Penelope reached abruptly for the soap. It would not do to build up hopes.
Just as her fingers touched the soap, the door from Graham’s room swung open. The shock of her husband’s entrance caused temporary paralysis, but recovering quickly, she struggled to reach for her towel. Graham bent to retrieve it from the floor and hand it to her.
He wore only a long dressing robe that did nothing to conceal the broad expanse of his chest. He wore his hair brushed back from his forehead with only a few strands gleaming silver against his darker skin. The black patch had a sinister effect, perhaps because she read the gleam in his visible eye too easily. His scar tautened over his cheek at her silence, but he made no effort to leave.
“I apologize for intruding. I had thought you done by now. Do you need some assistance?”
Her blush deepened as Penelope tried to slide farther into the water and cover herself with the towel at the same time. “If you would not mind, my lord, you could be of most assistance if you would turn your back.”
Graham studied the tangles of hair dangling against her cheek and throat, then allowed his gaze to rove. The color rose from the valley between her breasts to spread upward. He had the urge to plunge his hands in the water and lift her out to see if she colored all over. Gallantly resisting this urge, he turned his back on her.
“I thought it time we had a little talk, Penelope.” He listened to the sound of water splashing and imagined her slim, straight-backed form emerging from the water. She would have her back toward him, of course, and he tried to picture the exact curve of the derriere she would not think tempting enough to cover.
“You are displeased? I thought you enjoyed today. I know I do not play the part of noble lady well, but you must admit that you behaved less than nobly at the last.”
He heard her stepping from the bath and guessing that she had donned her robe and now dried her feet, he swung around. The sight of a shapely calf propped on the tub’s edge while she toweled it dry held his admiration, until Penelope looked up to see why he did not answer. She straightened and nervously adjusted the sash of her robe.
“As I am behaving less than lordly now. You need not be so blunt with my faults, Penelope. I know them all. And no, I am not displeased with you. I cannot remember a day I have enjoyed more.”
Shooting him a relieved smile, Penelope wandered to the dressing table to remove the pins from her hair. “I am glad,” she said. “You need to laugh more. I like to hear you laugh.”
Graham smiled at the guilelessness of her reply. He knew she simply spoke her thoughts without attempt to flatter or charm. “I shall remember to laugh more often.”
Swallowing his fear, he opened his heart. “Penelope, answer me truly in this. Have you found anyone who catches your fancy? Has anyone yet claimed your heart? Do not be shy about answering. I know you and Guy have been much together. . .”
Penelope swung around to stare at him with a perplexed expression. “Guy is a good friend, nothing more. I have told you I am not of a romantical turn of mind. I enjoy being with people. I like some better than others, but I cannot say one has captured my heart.”
Graham studied her. “Not even Chadwell? Out of sight, out of mind?”
She had the grace to blush. “What he wants has little to do with the state of my heart. You do me no favors by leaving me in his company.”
Graham drew a rueful face. “You know you are under no obligation to be faithful to me. Under the circumstances I could not blame you for seeking a man like Chadwell.”
Penelope glared at him with a mixture of wistfulness and indignation. “I am sorry, Graham. When you first told me that, I did not understand, and I was too frightened to question. Now I must tell you that I can never be that kind of wife. I do not mean to disappoint you, but I grew up with provincial ways and cannot change now. When we said those vows before the altar, I meant them. I am willing to obey you in all else, but I cannot set aside those vows.”
The candlelight shadowed his harsh lineaments. For once, his expression was neither deliberately impassive nor openly mocking. She could only wait helplessly for his reaction. Had she been bold, she would have lifted her hand to stroke his face, but he had rejected that gesture once, and she had not the temerity to try it again.
“You may regret those words,” he warned. “You were made to have children. Even if your heart remains free, you will feel the longing for what you have missed.”
In these last few months she had learned enough of herself to suspect the truth of this, but she also knew the strength of her convictions. She shook her head. “I have Alexandra. She has the spirit of half a dozen children. That is more than I ever imagined happening to me.”
“Penelope. . .” The name escaped Graham
’s lips almost as a groan as he stroked her hair. Then he dropped his hand and returned to the hearth. Bracing one hand against the mantel, he tried again. “I have not dared approach you for fear you would be frightened of a visage like mine. I cannot believe my good fortune in winning you, and I have no wish to push my luck too far and so risk what we have now.”
Bewildered, but acting on instinct, Penelope touched his arm, making him raise his head to look at her. “I would not have married a man I feared, Graham. Why do you hurt yourself so by painting us both as we are not?”
Because he knew more than she, knew better than anyone that he did not deserve his great good fortune, but he could not explain that to those trusting violet eyes. He only dared to speak as he did now because he could see that she would be unhappy in the future, and more than anything else he wanted to bring her happiness. If it also came mixed with disappointment and disillusion, he could not spare her that. He could only hope the one outweighed the other.
He rubbed a gentle finger along her soft cheek and wrapped it in a strand of silken hair. “It is human nature to believe the worst, Penelope. So I believe you are not quite human, since you see only the best in everyone. Tell me, my precocious angel, what would you say if I asked you to be my wife in truth?”
She held his gaze and replied, “I would say yes.”
Chapter 23
Graham had been taught to be a gentleman, although these last few years belied the fact. Even now, in withholding the truth, he was being less than gentlemanly, but he had to consider his wife’s happiness. Sometimes the truth could only hurt.
“I would give you time to consider your answer, Penelope. You need not reply immediately for my sake. Sometimes a generous heart is not the kindest or the wisest.” Graham held himself aloof, the shadows of the fire widening the distance between them.
“Graham, you mistake me if you think me an angel,” she said in frustration. “I am a woman just as any other. I told you on our wedding night before I even knew aught of you that I expected to honor our vows. Now that you have given me this time to come to know and respect you, I can say it with even more confidence. You have given me months to consider, Graham. My answer will not change.”
He could read the truth in her eyes, and his heart gave an unexpected lurch. He wanted her in the way a man wants a woman, and he wanted her for the solace he knew she offered to his self-esteem. He had not expected more than that, but he feared he was about to lose as much as he gained. He did not hesitate to make the exchange.
Raising his hand to the back of her head, he bent to capture her lips with his.
Her hands slid to his shoulders and her lips trembled beneath his kiss.
“Ah, Penelope, there should be champagne to ease you past your wedding night.” Graham wrapped her closer into his embrace, spreading his kisses across her jaw to the vulnerable hollow beneath her ear.
Before she could reply, he lifted her from the floor and caught her by the knees. She cried out in surprise, but her husband’s grin as he observed the way her robe gaped took away any protest. Clinging with one hand to his shoulder, Penelope tried to cover herself with the other as he effortlessly carried her across the room to his own.
Only a brace of candles lit this dark chamber, and Penelope sighed with relief. She had expected to come to her husband respectably garbed from head to foot. The scandalous looseness of just a sash to conceal her nakedness made her vulnerable. She could not look Graham in the eye as she stood sandwiched between the bed and him.
Graham tipped her chin up, and bent to ply her lips into surrender.
This time, when his tongue flicked along her mouth, she parted her lips willingly. It did not matter that this was not the handsome Chadwell seducing her. The sensation was the same, magnificently terrifying and alarmingly exciting as Graham’s kiss deepened to take possession with an expertise that gave her no hope of resisting.
Bent in his embrace, she could do naught but rest her hands against his broad chest and give into the rush of sensation. When he brushed aside the opening of her robe to caress her nipple, she melted against him as if she had no strength of her own. His large hand cupped the fullness of her breast and played tantalizing games with the rising crest until she did not know if it was his moan or her own when he raised his head to look upon her.
Before she knew what he did, Graham untied her sash and parted her robe. Gasping, Penelope reached to pull the robe around her again.
Graham stayed her hand. “No. Before I extinguish the candles, let me see what my rashness has won.”
His gaze devoured her. But when he touched her breast with gentle reverence, she experienced a fiery joy. Graham lifted her to the bed, allowing her the security of her robe for a while longer. He caressed her breast again before he began pinching out the candles.
Clinging to her robe, Penelope crept between the turned down covers and listened to the sound of Graham undressing in the dark. She did not think it took this long to remove his robe and what little he wore beneath it. Perhaps he gave her time to grow used to the fact that she would soon learn the mysteries of married life. If so, he did her no good because she grew more nervous with each passing moment. The satin fabric rubbing across her nakedness served as an ever present reminder of the sensuality he had aroused in her, a sensuality she had never experienced and that she feared as one does the unknown.
She was not unfamiliar with the way the bed sagged when Graham climbed upon it, but she knew this time he would not stay to his own side. Confirming her fears, he raised up on one elbow and leaned over her. She could feel the heat of his flesh through her flimsy covering.
“I will try to treat you gently, Penelope. Forget whatever you have heard of wedding nights and let me touch you as I have just done.”
His voice sounded different, closer and more tender than the throaty, gruff remarks to which she had grown accustomed. She reached to touch his face, but he caught her hand. Kissing it, he returned it to the pillow where he held it captive.
“Lie still and let me teach you, my lovely Penny.” The caress in his voice was unmistakable, and the smooth touch of his mouth across hers silenced any protest.
Too frightened to relax, she could only allow him his way. His kisses plied at her mouth until she burned for more and parted her lips to give him entrance. The touch of his tongue caused her to arch, and his hand was there to catch her movement, sliding beneath her to hold her captive. This move brought her startlingly close to his male nakedness, and Penelope tried to cringe away, but Graham had her surrounded.
A moan died in her throat as he drank thirstily of her kisses. His palm forced her closer, sliding down her back until it cupped her buttocks. Through the satin of her robe she could feel the heat of his hand, and she blessed the way the fabric slid between them to protect her from the man holding her so intimately.
Within minutes she was no longer capable of such conscious thought. Graham’s hand slid beneath the satin to wreak havoc with the sensitive peak of her breast. Her breathing grew ragged as he explored her nakedness. When he lingered at the curve of her hip, she drew a deep breath, only to discover her mistake when Graham bent his head to suckle the peak he had so thoroughly aroused with his caresses. Lost, Penelope cried her surrender and arched against the heat of his mouth. That movement brought her more of the ecstasy his tongue had to offer, but it also dislodged her robe. She felt the hard thrust of his maleness between her thighs as he brought her into the curve of his body.
Satiated with one breast, Graham lay her back against her open robe to sample the other while his hand roamed. When he tried to touch her most intimate place, Penelope whimpered in protest, but his hand overrode her objection.
He did things to her that made her blush to admit even as he did them, but his kiss kept coming back to smother all protest, and her traitorous body reveled in the pleasure. When he finally parted her thighs and lifted his heavy weight over her, she was too lost to the drug of his kisses to understand
the import. Not until the piercing pain filled her to the very quick did Penelope know what she had done.
True to his word Graham was both quick and gentle, but the shock of invasion as his body entered hers drained away the pleasure. Graham pinned her shoulders with his hands and held her hips captive with his maleness.
Not until she felt his loss of control, heard his groan, did Penelope begin to feel the power of this joining. Too late, it was over, and her body ached even as Graham withdrew.
Graham brushed the robe from her shoulders, throwing it aside. He fell onto the mattress and pulled her on top. He caressed the swell of her breasts and down to the deep valley of her waist, reminding her of his intimate claim.
The hollow pit within her belly grew tighter as Penelope realized her life would no longer be her own. Only the knowledge that his seed lay planted deep within her kept her from pulling from his embrace.
“The next time will be better for you, my Penny,” Graham murmured. “I think I shall enjoy teaching you what you have been missing.”
“The next time?” She had just been contemplating with satisfaction the fact that he had done his duty as husband and would probably not need to do so again unless his seed did not bear fruit.
Graham chuckled and ran his hand into her hair, pulling her down against his shoulder again. “You would not plant only one seed in a hill of corn, would you? If it is children you want to grow, you must tend the ground carefully and plant at the right times. To put it crudely, my love, we have just broken the earth.”
Penelope buried her face against his shoulder and conquered an urge to sink her teeth into his flesh. Broken the earth, indeed! She had married a monster of decadence.
Chapter 24
Love Forever After Page 21
