Improperly Wed

by Anna DePalo

  “You look…” Colin’s voice trailed away, as if he’d been robbed of words. “Ethereal.”

  She felt the words like a caress. “Thank you.”

  “I have something for you.”

  She watched as he reached for a velvet case on a nearby table and then approached her.

  He opened the case for her inspection, and her breath caught.

  “Yet again, it appears we’re on the same wavelength,” he commented, his tone deep.

  The velvet case contained a dazzling diamond choker. The styling marked it as vintage, probably from the Victorian or Edwardian era.

  “It came into the family by way of my great-great-grandmother.” There was a smile in Colin’s voice. “She wasn’t a Granville by birth.”

  Belinda glanced up at him. “It’s lovely.” She swallowed. “I’ll need a moment to put it on.”

  “No need,” he said, the words falling easily from his lips. “I’ll help you.”

  She searched his gaze, and what she saw there sent her heart into deep beats.

  Colin set the box down and removed the diamond sparkler. It gleamed with white fire in the light.

  She held herself still as he leaned close.

  The cool diamonds slid against her skin, and a moment later, Colin’s warm fingers touched her as he worked to fasten the jewelry at her neck.

  Belinda felt her nipples tighten in reaction, and warmth pooled within her.

  When his job was done, Colin paused, his lips hovering inches away from hers.

  Her breath hitched in response.

  They remained that way for only a fraction of a minute, but it seemed like forever.

  “I’m looking forward to this evening,” Colin said huskily.

  Yes. No, no. What was wrong with her?

  He had her so confused and sexually aware that she couldn’t think straight.

  Colin straightened and gave her a lopsided smile. “I believe I’ll let you deal with the matching earrings yourself.”

  The spell was broken. Belinda took a step back.

  In the next moment, Colin reached for another velvet box, she turned toward a nearby oval mirror and the housekeeper simultaneously walked in to announce that rain was threatening and umbrellas were advisable.

  Soon after, Belinda and Colin departed for the party. The short drive was uneventful, and since this wasn’t her first social engagement with him, she soon found herself relaxing and enjoying the party when they arrived.

  Two of Colin’s married cousins were present—parents of children that she’d entertained in the art room. After some awkward chitchat with her, they and their spouses appeared to lower their defenses—if only because she’d so effectively entertained the junior members of the family.

  A little while later, she was turning away from a conversation with a British viscount and his wife when she spotted a familiar figure and froze.

  Tod.

  She was aghast.

  She had no idea that he would be here tonight. She glanced over at Colin and realized that he had noted Tod’s presence, too.

  Belinda stifled the impulse to bolt. She supposed it was inevitable that she and Colin would run into Tod at some point. London was not that big of a town. Still, did it have to be right now?

  Tod approached her. “Lady Wentworth—or is it more proper to address you as Lady Granville?”

  Within a moment, Colin had walked over to them and gave Tod a sharp nod of acknowledgment. “In either case, she is the Marchioness of Easterbridge.”

  Belinda looked at Colin. Must he refer to the elephant in the room so bluntly? All three of them knew she remained Colin’s wife. Tod had asked a fair question given that she’d retained her maiden name and a number of people knew it.

  Still, annoyed as she was with Colin, she couldn’t help comparing the two men as they stood side by side. Tod seemed somehow diminished in Colin’s presence. He was not quite as broad, but there was also a subtle distinction in bearing. Colin exuded power.

  Of course, the physical differences were only part of the story. Tod had given in to familial pressure by heading to the altar with her. In contrast, Colin had eloped with her in Las Vegas, driven by passion and acting in careless defiance of what his family might have thought.

  Tod turned toward her. “Would you like to dance?”

  “Her next dance is taken.” Colin spoke before she could.

  Belinda felt her annoyance kick up a notch. Before she could say something, however, Colin and Tod faced off.

  Tod raised his eyebrows. “The dance after that, then.”

  “It is taken, as well.”

  “Belinda can speak for herself.”

  “There’s no need when I’ve already answered you.”

  Belinda looked from Colin’s set expression—he looked practically menacing—to Tod’s clenched jaw. They seemed as if they were moments away from coming to blows. What’s more, they were attracting curious looks from nearby guests.

  “First you lock her into marriage,” Tod muttered, “and now you’re shuttering her away from the world?”

  “In fact, Dillingham, you will notice if you look around you that Belinda is attending a social event.” Colin’s tone was icy.

  “So it’s me that you object to?”

  “And as for marriage,” Colin went on flatly, ignoring the question, “Belinda and I eloped because we couldn’t keep our hands off each other.” Belinda gasped.

  Colin’s words were a thinly disguised insult. The implication, of course, was that she and Tod had been able to keep their hands off each other.

  It didn’t help that there was truth behind Colin’s words.

  Belinda could see a muscle flex in Tod’s jaw, and Colin’s hand had clenched at his side.

  She quickly stepped between the two men.

  “This is outrageous,” she announced. “Stop this minute, both of you.”

  Because she’d had enough, she turned on her heel and stalked off.

  As Belinda made her way through the crowd, trying not to draw attention to her hot face, she fumed about the imbecility of men.

  To think that she’d befriended some of the extended Granville clan this evening. She’d even started believing that Colin might be more than an overbearing, conniving Granville.

  Of course, Belinda thought, the only thing that people would remember now was Tod and Colin’s tense standoff. The exchange had stopped short of being a full-blown scene, but she’d seen the looks on the faces of some nearby guests.

  She’d agreed to remain married to Colin, but he didn’t have a license to embarrass her—them—on his path to vanquish the Wentworths.

  Belinda managed to avoid Colin—and Tod—for the rest of the party by making conversation with one fellow guest after another. As was customary at these formal functions, she and Colin, as husband and wife, were not seated next to each other at dinner. And neither, thank the fates, was she seated near Tod.

  When it was time to depart, she and Colin had reunited for only the most desultory conversation. They rode home in silence in their chauffeured car.

  And when they arrived back at Halstead Hall, she sprinted lightly up the stairs to her suite while Colin stopped to speak with the butler.

  Finally closeted in her rooms, Belinda felt her nerves ease for the first time in hours. She sat down at her vanity and removed her jewelry.

  She stared at her face in the mirror. The woman who looked back at her was composed, belying the roil of emotions inside her. Her makeup was still in place, her hazel eyes luminous but wide—as if she was still trying to process tonight’s drama.

  At any moment, she expected to hear Colin’s tread in the hallway as he made his way to his own suite, but she heard nothing.

  Belinda pressed her lips together. The longer that Colin remained downstairs, the more her anger grew.

  How dare he?

  After debating for several minutes what to do, she rose and turned and made her way out of her suite and downstai
rs.

  When she reached the lower level, she could hear movement from the library, but otherwise the house was quiet.

  She walked into the library, and Colin looked up.

  He had a decanter in one hand and a glass in the other. His tuxedo tie hung loose around his neck. Despite looking uncharacteristically careworn, however, he was still devastatingly attractive.

  “Drink?” he offered.

  She shook her head.

  “As you wish,” he said, returning to the task of pouring himself one.

  His abruptness was startling. It was unlike Colin to be anything but effortlessly well-mannered, even when he was vanquishing an opponent.

  “You were an absolute boar to Tod.”

  “Was I?” Colin returned. “I suppose you mean the animal and not that I bored him to death, however appealing the thought might be.”

  Belinda pressed her lips together.

  Colin turned back toward her and took a sip of his drink. “Were you also afraid I’d gore him?”

  “Only with your rancid wit.”

  “Ouch.” Colin shook his head. “And what about the way you wound me, my dear wife?” Belinda blinked.

  “I’m a servant who awaits your next word and hangs on your every glance.”

  “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”

  Colin quirked a brow. “Is it?”

  He set down his glass and come toward her.

  Belinda forced herself to stand her ground. “Our agreement does not give you license to be rude to Tod.”

  “Doesn’t it?” Colin asked. “And what about the fact that you almost wed him while you were still married to me?”

  “I didn’t know that we were still married.”

  “But now you do.”

  He was talking circles around her, and she tried to formulate a response that would expose his illogic. Just because she knew now what she didn’t know then, she wasn’t at fault, was she?

  Colin appeared to anticipate her argument as he came to a stop before her. “It happened without your knowing, but now we must all be cognizant of the fact that it did happen, and also that you remain married to me.”

  Colin was jealous. And it rendered him surprisingly vulnerable.

  The realization flashed through Belinda’s mind unbidden and unwanted. To stay mad at Colin, she didn’t need a surprising insight into his perspective.

  He touched her upper arm and a shot of sensation went through her. She knew Colin had noticed the reaction in her, too.

  “It’s always there between us, isn’t it?” he murmured.

  It was hard to argue with the truth.

  He gave a self-derisive chuckle. “Definitely inconvenient at times.”

  “Like right now.”

  He shook his head. “I need to kiss you.”

  Colin claimed her lips before she could react.

  Her moan remained stuck in her throat. Instead, she found herself wrapping herself around him even as his arms bound her to him.

  They kissed frantically, kindred souls finding each other and trying to meld. Sexual union was only part of it.

  Colin divested her of her gown and she kicked off her shoes.

  “I wanted to wring Dillingham’s pretty little neck when he wanted to dance with my nearly naked wife.”

  “I know.” And she did—now. Oh, she still had the lingering remnants of anger, but she was more understanding.

  They frantically worked at removing Colin’s tie and then he shrugged out of his jacket and shirt.

  She moved her fingertips over the smooth planes of his chest and then down to the hair above his groin.

  He undid his belt and shed his trousers and shoes.

  They were both nearly without clothes now.

  He was fully aroused, his erection pushing against his briefs.

  She caressed him through the fabric, letting her hand wander and explore.

  “Yes, touch me,” he said harshly.

  She slid the briefs off of him and then kneeled and slowly caressed him with her lips.

  “Belinda, sweet—”

  She savored her effect on him until Colin pulled her up and tugged off her panties. They lowered to the sofa.

  Belinda felt Colin’s delicious weight press her back against the pillows. She wrapped her legs around him.

  She thought dimly that Colin’s library was fast becoming their favorite place. They really couldn’t be bothered with a trek to bed most of the time.

  Colin kissed along her jaw and down the side of her neck. His hand stroked up and down her thigh and then cupped her breast.

  Their breathing deepened and mingled as Belinda’s world shrank to the two of them and their need for each other.

  Colin stopped only to reach for protection and then gathered her to him.

  “You know,” he teased, his voice rough with passion, “before you, I never considered the library to be a sexy place.”

  She batted her lashes. “Do you want me to play the role of the sexy librarian?”

  He gave a bark of laughter. “Why not? You’ve already been my Las Vegas seductress.”

  “Your lucky charm and arm candy at the gaming tables?”

  “Come here.”

  Colin claimed her in a blaze of passion that matched her own. And Belinda’s last thought was that if she couldn’t resist him now, she could never resist him.

  She shut off her mind before she could follow that thought to its logical conclusion…

  Eleven

  As Colin rode his polo horse across the field, holding his mallet at the ready, Belinda fanned herself with her event program.

  April was the beginning of polo season, and the weather was mild.

  But the sight of Colin exerting himself, his legs encased in form-fitting riding breeches as he rode to and fro to help his team best their opponents, was having an odd effect on Belinda’s body temperature.

  They were on polo grounds near Halstead Hall for an event to raise money for a local children’s hospital. Even though the sporting event was for a good cause, the players on the field played ferociously.

  Competitiveness was part of Colin’s nature, Belinda realized. Moreover, he was born and bred to win.

  A week had passed since Belinda’s path had unexpectedly crossed with Tod’s and had set her and Colin into an emotionally and sexually charged confrontation.

  The power balance between them had been altered. Colin’s reaction that night a week ago had been so stark—almost pained—that it had pierced her heart. He was under her spell as much as she was under his. They were two bodies circling around each other in an intimate dance.

  Since then, she was cognizant of the fact that he was a Granville, that they had a postnup and that he held Wentworth property in the palm of his hand. But she was also aware of her power—and of the fact that the relationship really came down to the two of them.

  They had, in the past week, been unable to keep their hands off each other. She had lost track of where and when they had been intimate. Certainly they had been at night in his bedroom, which she had essentially moved into, but also in the library, in the sitting room and—she flushed at the recollection—even in the stables after they had gone horseback riding.

  Colin was filling her mind as well as possessing her body. She was losing sight of the reason she was staying married to him—to get the Wentworth property back.

  Her cell phone buzzed, and Belinda retrieved it from her handbag to realize that she had missed a call from Uncle Hugh because she had had her ringer turned off. She quickly listened to the phone message and its summons to Downlands.

  She frowned. Uncle Hugh didn’t sound in ill health, but he hadn’t given a precise reason for his call, either. She wondered what was going on.

  She sighed, pushing aside an uneasy feeling. There was no way around it. She would have to go see him and find out what the issue was. Fortunately, it was a short trip from Halstead Hall to Downlands.

  She
looked up and saw Colin walking off the polo field toward her. The skin at the open collar of his shirt glistened with perspiration, and there were damp patches on his clothes. She knew he would smell all male, and her body began to hum in response.

  He stopped, leaned down and brushed his lips across hers.

  When he straightened, he smiled. “We won.”

  “Did you? I didn’t notice.”

  His smile widened. “We’ll have to work on your appreciation for the sport of kings.”

  “Why?” she asked innocently, looking at him through her lashes. “Would you rather I didn’t focus on you instead?”

  “Well, in that case, I can hardly argue.”

  He bent down and kissed her again.

  Belinda’s mind swam as she was quickly surrounded by his scent, his touch and his taste. He was quickly becoming addictive.

  “We’re in public,” she managed when he drew back.

  “To the victor go the spoils, as they say.” He looked wicked. “Can I interest you in a trip to the stables?”

  She tried and failed to look prim. “We’ve already been there.”

  “Go with what works.”

  She felt herself flush. “I really can’t at the moment. I received a rather cryptic message from Uncle Hugh, and I need to check on him at Downlands and make sure nothing is seriously amiss.”

  “I’ll wait for you at Halstead Hall, then.”

  There was promise in his words.

  When Belinda arrived at Downlands, she found Uncle Hugh pacing in the library.

  She’d had so many happy moments in this house while growing up. Downlands was smaller and less impressive than Halstead Hall, but it boasted light and airy rooms, courtesy of an Elizabethan frame that had been added, and lovely gardens. It was hard to believe the place had been sold.

  “What is the matter?” Belinda asked.

  Uncle Hugh turned toward her, looking agitated.

  When her uncle didn’t immediately answer, she truly began to worry. “Unless it’s life or death, I’m sure—”

  “Your husband bought and sold the Elmer Street property.”

  “What?” Belinda tried and failed to wrap her mind around what her uncle had just said. “Bought and sold? When and how?”