Hadley hadn’t told his son, his eldest son, that he would never be able to inherit his father’s title, nor that he would never be the master at Hardstone. The explanation of why he would only ever be Viscount Stewart could wait until Sealey was older. All that mattered was that his son understood that Hadley was his real father and that he loved him with all his heart.
Evangeline shaded her eyes and looked up at the sun. “Goodness, it’s getting late. We should return to the house before they send out a search party to find us.”
He walked back to the house hand in hand with his son and Evangeline. A lump formed in his throat; never before had he felt so complete. This was his family. Finally he had what he’d wanted the last five years: Evangeline and his child. It was like a dream come true. He would not let the fact that Sealey would never be known as a Fullerton ruin this moment.
What did frighten him was the idea of losing them.
If he was to stop the circle of vengeance and find Arend before it was too late, he was going to have to trust Victoria.
A shiver ran down his spine as he contemplated how dangerous his plan would be. He would need Evangeline’s help in convincing the others that this was the only way forward. Victoria had them up against a wall, trapped; any which way they moved, disaster could come calling.
Christian stood at the top of the stairs waiting to greet them, a warm smile upon his face. He didn’t say anything to them, but he patted Hadley on the back and ruffled Sealey’s curls.
The little boy spied Henry and raced off after him.
“You are going to have your hands full with that one,” Christian remarked dryly to Evangeline. “He’s very much like his father. Would you mind if I steal Hadley away? I’d like to talk to him before we meet with the others later tonight.”
Blast. He would’ve preferred a quiet moment with Evangeline. They had a lot to settle between them. The special license was burning a hole in his pocket. He wanted to make her his legal wife as soon as possible because he knew the immediate future held danger. More than anyone, he realized that happiness could be snatched from them both in an instant.
“It’s all right, you go with Christian. I want to speak to Wendy. I’d like her to know the truth in case Sealey starts to ask her any questions.”
He drew Evangeline’s hand to his lips and placed a kiss on her palm. “I’ll come and find you shortly. There is an important question I really want to ask you.”
Her face flushed a pretty pink color. “I shall be waiting with anticipation.”
He stood and watched her walk up the stairs, still not believing his luck at having her back in his life. Christian elbowed him in his side.
“Come on. The sooner we have this conversation, the sooner you can get back to your proposal.”
“I’m hoping we can marry in your chapel as soon as possible. I even have the special license.”
“Of course. It will be nice to celebrate such a joyous occasion, instead of all the doom and gloom that is hanging over us.”
Hadley didn’t tell his friend that he would really love to wait until Arend could be with them before he married, but he could not wait. Finding Arend would be dangerous. His plan was to leave with Victoria, and if anything should happen to him, he wanted Evangeline to carry his name.
He threw Christian a sideways glance as they made their way to his study. “There is one thing you could do for me. I feel the need to dabble in romance.”
“Excellent. Serena would love it if I helped a fellow Libertine Scholar win his bride.”
—
Evangeline felt giddy with excitement for the rest of the afternoon. She barely heard, and didn’t participate, as the women sat discussing Victoria. She knew she should take an interest, and that she should care how they were going to find Arend, but Hadley’s words rang in her head over and over. She was sure he was going to propose.
She couldn’t wait to say yes—to finally put the past five years behind her and be able to spend the rest of her life with the man she loved and with Sealey. A part of her kept thinking something was going to go wrong.
She’d just popped up to say goodnight to Sealey. She’d never seen her son so happy. Apparently Hadley had taken dinner with his son. She didn’t know what stories Hadley had filled his son’s head with, but it was pretty clear Sealey already worshiped him.
She opened the door to her bedchamber, still shaking her head, remembering Sealey’s last comment about how his father could beat Henry’s father in a fight. What she saw in the room drew her up short.
A fire was blazing in the grate, with several fur throws placed strategically on the floor in front of it. Many candles were lighted and placed round the room, the soft lighting giving the room an ethereal glow. To one side a table for two had been placed, and it was covered with platters. A large carafe of wine stood at the center of the table, next to the biggest bunch of flowers she had seen in a long time.
What really made her breath catch in her throat was the sight of Hadley leaning against the fireplace.
Chapter 17
“I thought we’d have a private dinner in your room, if that is all right with you.”
She closed the door softly behind her. “I think that would be lovely. I feel like it’s been a million years since we were together at Lathero.”
The seriousness of the occasion made her feel nervous, like a young unmarried virgin. She hungrily drank in his features. She’d always thought of him as a physically perfect specimen. She knew there was not an ounce of fat on his elegant frame. Every one of his muscles was exquisitely defined.
His hair had grown longer over the past few weeks. He’d not had time for a cut, and his lovely curls were forming. Five years ago, when they had been courting, she had begged him to let his hair grow longer. She knew he hated his curls. He considered his curls to be unmanly. She blamed his father for Hadley’s obsession with looking masculine. He’d seen the way his father treated Augustus.
As he stood before her, his eyes were filled with naked emotion. She read his love for her, joy in meeting his son, and fear that it could all be taken away as it had been five years ago.
Her eyes ran over his clean-cut jaw, and she noted he’d shaved this evening, for her. There was no denying that he was a very handsome man. Her blood heated just looking at him. The prominence of his cheekbones and the long dark eyelashes framing his deep blue eyes could have made him look feminine if it were not for the hardness of his jaw.
He mistook her hesitation. “Don’t be nervous, love.” He opened his arms, and she ran to him. He hugged her close, and she felt safe and cherished in his arms.
“I can’t believe I’m standing here with you. You’ve met your son, and we are going to get a chance to be together.”
Hadley’s voice went hard. “It’s not over yet, but it soon will be, and I’m determined that we will win this time.”
“You mean, when we get Arend back.”
“Yes.”
They stood embracing in front of the fire, content to be in each other’s arms. Finally he said, “We have to move—my derriere is about to combust from the heat.”
Laughing, she stepped out of his embrace only to turn and see Hadley take a deep breath and sink to his knees on the furs.
Her stomach was a mass of butterflies.
“There is something important I would like to ask you, sweetheart.”
Evangeline’s heart beat swiftly. “I believe that you’ve asked me this question once before, so you’ll know my answer.”
His eyes sparkled with humor. “You don’t know what I’m going to ask you.”
It was difficult to remain calm, to stop herself from joining him on the floor, wrestling him beneath her, and smothering him with love.
“Lady Evangeline.” He took her hands in his large ones, still on his knees. “Will you do me the very great honor of becoming my wife? I’ve arranged for a wedding in Lord Markham’s chapel tomorrow morning, in front of all our friends an
d with our son by our side.” He let go of one hand to pat his pocket. “I have the special license, and Christian is arranging for the vicar who married them to perform the ceremony.”
She could not stop the tears of joy from rolling down her cheeks. She never thought this day would come, but she’d hoped. She’d clung to that hope through the worst years of her marriage. Her hope and her son were the reasons she had come through her ordeal.
As she stood there too choked with joy to reply, Hadley’s smile faltered.
“If you require more time,” he said, “I can wait. It’s just…Haven’t we waited long enough?”
She nodded and finally got the words out. “Of course I’ll marry you. Yes. Yes. Yes!” She flung herself at his crouched figure, toppling him, and they landed on the furs in a tangle of arms and legs.
“I wanted to do this properly this time,” he growled as he untangled himself and sat up, holding a folded cloth in his hand. “The last time I asked you to marry me we had to hide our relationship. We were to elope, so I could not give you a ring in case your mother saw it. This time I want to shout to the world that you are finally mine and that I’ll let no one take you from me.” Hadley opened his hand and flipped back the cloth. Sitting in the middle of the cloth was the most gorgeous diamond and ruby ring. She rose to her knees and shuffled closer to look at the glittering jewels. Tentatively she touched it. It was the most beautiful ring she’d ever seen—the diamond clear, the ruby blood red. It was perfect.
“I bought this ring five years ago for you. I was going to give it to you once we’d reached Gretna Green. I’ve kept it with me ever since. Somewhere deep down I was always hoping that one day you’d wear it.”
She held out a shaking hand and he slid it on her finger. It fit perfectly. She raised her eyes in question.
“Remember when I used to loop daisies round your finger when we sat under our tree? I marked the size and had it made.”
She cupped his cheek and whispered, “I love you,” her heart in every word.
—
“This time I’ll not let anyone take our happiness from us. I swear on my son’s life.”
Hadley bent his head and kissed her lips. It was meant to be a light kiss, as they still had much to talk about. He needed to tell her about his plan to save Arend, and how she would have to help them convince the others to let Victoria go free. However, his sangfroid abandoned him.
He knew she would not be happy with the idea. So he did what any red-blooded male would do with his fiancée in his arms: he deepened the kiss and began to undress her.
He felt like an inexperienced schoolboy, his palms sweaty, as he pulled off the bodice he’d unbuttoned. He lifted Evangeline to her feet, spun her round, and unlaced her corset.
“I remember undressing you like this when we met under our tree. I used to ply a kiss to a part of your body for each piece of clothing that fell away.”
“Why do you think I wore so many clothes?”
He chuckled. Hadley kissed her neck as the corset came off, then her shoulder as she unfastened her chemise.
Her skin smelled of honeysuckle. He drew in a deep breath, letting her scent fill his lungs. “I could lie in bed all day, with only your scent wrapped round me.”
“I’m sure that could be arranged, although Sealey would likely be upset. I will have to learn to share you.”
He let his lips smile against her skin. He kissed her glossy hair, running the silken strands through his fingers, before he helped her push her gown over her rounded hips. He loved how her backside curved into his hip.
Evangeline trembled in his arms; evidently she was just as nervous as he. Her skin was flushed where he kissed it, and her bare breasts rose as he slid his hand round her waist.
He swung her up into his arms, and on a light squeal she directed, “I prefer the fur to my bed.”
He didn’t need convincing. He was hard and ready and could think of nothing else but being inside her. He gently lowered her to the pile of fur throws before the fire, and without taking his eyes from her luscious body, he began to remove his clothing. She lay there watching, her eyes blazing with desire. By the time he was naked, all he wanted to do was ravish her. He drew on his inner strength to get his body under control.
He wanted to make love to her, to prolong her pleasure, to show her how completely he loved her.
“I could stand looking at you like this all day.”
She crooked her finger. “How disappointing. I like the way you look at me, but I love it more when you’re lying next to me, on top of me, in me.”
With those words she held up a hand and drew him down to her. He landed heavily. Her breasts were crushed against his bare chest, and his restraint fled as he held her hips and slowly pushed inside her.
“I belong here, with you,” he sighed, needing to hold still lest he spend too quickly. He wanted to plunge deeply, over and over, until he exhausted them both and washed away the bad memories of the past.
All the women he’d taken to his bed, trying to rid himself of Evangeline’s taste and scent, were forgotten. He wanted to love only her, fall asleep with her and wake up with her, spend the day with her, go to bed with her, make more children with her, for the rest of his life.
Evangeline’s sheath closed round him like a tight fist. Their enemy was forgotten. To have her back for good, in his arms, in his life, was a joy worth celebrating.
“It’s always been you, only you,” she whispered, kissing his lips, the bridge of his nose.
“We have five long years of separation to make up for. Once we have Arend back, you’ll be lucky if I let you out of bed for a year.”
Her lips curved into the wickedest smile he’d ever seen as she wiggled her hips. “I think I love you even more for that promise.”
He began to move slowly, drawing out and sliding once more into her tight heat. He was going to die of restraint. Firelight touched her body, her nipples dark against cream-colored skin. Her auburn hair matched the flames, trailing over her shoulders like a flicker of fiery red.
Her face softened, her eyes darkening with her arousal. Her moist lips parted on a sigh of pleasure. The sight excited him, and he could not hold back. He began to move more forcefully between her thighs.
Her legs rose to wrap round his waist as she opened fully to him. She met him thrust for thrust. This coupling was driving away all the fear, all the anger, and all the grief. Nothing mattered but that they had found each other again.
Evangeline’s head lolled back, her eyes closed, as she lost herself in the pleasure. He knew she was forgetting the past and thinking of nothing but how he felt inside her.
Her breathing grew ragged; she was drawing close to her climax. That sent his need spiraling even more. He lost his self-control and began to move forcefully, her breasts bouncing free with each thrust.
Her nails dug into his back, the pain only adding to the pleasure, and soon his cry of joy mingled with hers as they peaked together.
Nothing had ever been as perfect as this.
“You feel so good. I’ve not felt like this…ever. It’s so…”
“Perfect?” His body shuddered with release, and the word came out on a groan.
They fell silent. The crackle of the fire was the only sound other than their ragged breathing.
A few minutes later she said in a quiet voice, “I hope she rots in hell for what she took from us.”
Evangeline’s sorrow-filled words tore at his soul. No matter what he did, he could never give her back those five years. He could not ease her pain, and that killed him.
“I thought I’d never see you again,” Evangeline whispered, her tears scalding his cheek. “I hoped. Oh, how I hoped, but Dougal was only a tad older than you, and…I can’t tell you how often I dreamed of ways to kill him. Kill my mother.”
“Shh.” He kissed her hair. It made him ill, thinking about her life with Lord Stuart. He couldn’t go on thinking what if. What if he’d searched for her? W
hat if he hadn’t let her leave his side once they’d planned their elopement? What if they had simply left that day?
Rage trickled through him again, and he had to uncurl his fist. He needed to let the anger, bitterness, and fury go so that he could use Victoria to find Arend.
“We are together now.” She was safe and sound, and soon she’d be his wife. He was not leaving her side until after the wedding tomorrow. He’d take no chances this time. “And I’m not letting you out of my sight until we walk into that chapel tomorrow.”
“And I’m not letting you out of my sight until we walk into that chapel tomorrow. You and Sealey are what matter most to me.”
He stroked her hair as they lay on the fur, the warmth of the fire making him drowsy. Then he heard her stomach rumble.
“Sorry. I was so nervous about seeing you today that I barely ate anything.”
He immediately rose and gathered the robes he’d instructed her maid to place on the end of the bed. He helped her don her robe, then slipped into his before escorting her to the table covered in cheeses, meats, and sweetmeats. He poured them wine and raised his glass.
“Here’s to our happiness. Long may it continue.”
“To us and our family. Given that we have Victoria locked up downstairs, the future is looking brighter already.”
His hand faltered just as the goblet meet his lips. He lowered his glass. “Ah, we need to discuss the situation regarding Victoria.”
He hated how the smile on her face dimmed and her eyes narrowed.
“Why did you go to see her as soon as you arrived? It must have been important if she drew your attention before your son, or me, for that matter.”
“I want to rescue Arend.”
“If he is alive,” she countered.
“She has no use for him dead.” He paused. “But I concede he might not be alive.” A shiver ran over him. “She tells me that she has not hurt him, but I am not stupid enough to trust anything she says.”
A Taste of Seduction Page 23
