“I am sorry, my dears, but you must all be off to bed. I shall return next week and we will continue with the mouse’s adventures.”
“Will you bring Mr. Hillary again?” one of the older boys asked.
“Please, please, please,” the other children called.
Amelia glanced at him in question.
“Nothing could keep me from returning next week.” He lifted his imaginary sword. “Not vicious dragons, nor wild beasts of the forest, nor—”
“That is quite enough for tonight, sir.” Despite her reprimand, Amelia grinned at him over her shoulder.
The nurses ushered the children from the drawing room to prepare them for bed. Their noisy chatter faded as they moved farther away. He and Amelia were alone and would see themselves out.
He offered her a hand up. She stood and wrapped her arms around his waist, laying her cheek against his chest.
“You shall be the finest of husbands, Mr. Hillary.” Her warm breath penetrated his waistcoat.
“I shall try to be,” he promised then placed a kiss atop her silky hair. He would cherish her, love her with reverence, and protect her as a doting husband should. Nothing would stop him.
Not dragons.
Nor wild beasts.
No creature great or small.
***
When Amelia and Jake arrived at Verona House, she led him toward the veranda, winding through the town house, and outside through the French doors.
The cloying scent of honeysuckle hung on the air, reminiscent of the happier times of her childhood playing in the gardens at the finishing school with Bibi. They had plucked the small trumpets from the vine, pinched off the ends and then, as carefully as a glass maker, pulled the delicate stamen to release the translucent drop of nectar. Nothing had seemed sweeter than those halcyon days of innocence, until now.
Jake was the most endearing gentleman. If only Bibi could see what Amelia witnessed tonight with the children, she would understand Amelia’s devotion. Bibi would also realize he was unlike Lord Kennell. Jake was protective, not overbearing. Amelia recognized the difference.
A footman followed Jake and Amelia to the garden to light the torches, lending an incandescent ambiance. “Will there be anything else, milady?”
“Make certain we’re not disturbed,” Jake answered.
“Yes, sir.” The servant bowed before gliding back inside and pulling the glass doors closed.
Amelia stepped into Jake’s embrace, resting her chin against his chest. She looked up at him and smiled. “Don’t keep me waiting any longer.”
Jake snuggled her close and kissed the tip of her nose. “You’re an impatient young woman.”
“I grow more impatient with each moment you stall. Now, tell me your news, as I’m becoming cross with you.” She tipped her head to the side and smiled. She was anything but cross with him.
“First, I have a surprise for you.” Lifting her by the waist, he sat her on the wide stone railing enclosing the veranda before digging inside his coat pocket. “You must close your eyes.”
She shook her head slowly as if put out with him, but lifted her face up in expectation and did as he requested. He touched his lips to hers just as she had hoped.
“I thought we agreed to no more gifts,” she said.
“I agreed to nothing of the sort.” Grasping her hand, he removed her glove then glided a ring onto her finger.
Her breath hitched.
“Open your eyes.”
Amelia’s eyes flew open, and she held her hand in front of her face. The round, aqua gem glittered in the torchlight when she wiggled her fingers. “Oh, Jake. It’s beautiful. Is this a blue diamond?”
He nodded, looking pleased with himself. “It was brought to my attention recently that I should give you a token of my love, a ring to remind you how much I cherish you.”
His ever-expressive eyes, softly glowing with love, would be the only reminder she ever needed. She had never had anyone regard her so.
“I shall never remove it, my love.” She looped her arms around his neck and drew him closer. “Now allow me to present you with a token of my affection.”
She intended to place a chaste kiss on his lips but his hand slipped to her nape and held her in place while he possessed her mouth. She melted against him; her lips parted on a sigh, their tongues brushing against one another.
Just as her ability to think on anything besides him was on the brink of extinction, he broke the kiss and rested his forehead against hers. “I love you, Mia.”
Mia, Latin for mine. A trill of pleasure swept over her every time he called her by the pet name.
“And I love you.” She placed her palm against his chest and imitated a severe look as she recalled the true reason she brought him to the veranda. “Now, do stop distracting me with beautiful gifts and lovely kisses. What is this pleasant development you mentioned in the carriage?”
He reached into his pocket to procure a folded document. “A pledge for the foundling hospital renovation project. Lord Ellis has agreed to donate the last two thousand pounds needed to secure the board’s approval.”
She issued a tiny squeal as she snatched the parchment from his hand.
“You truly have no patience at all,” he said with a laugh.
“How am I to have patience when you delight me so?” She opened the paper to find the Earl of Ellis’s bold signature. The earl remained a bachelor with no female relations Amelia could approach to speak with him about the project. “You amaze me, Jake. How did you enlist Lord Ellis’s assistance?”
He shrugged. “I presented the facts, and he agreed to contribute to the cause. Although he may have been swayed somewhat when I mentioned Lady Gabrielle Forest was enchanted with the idea of a new wing for the foundling hospital. I believe he has a tendre for the duke’s daughter.”
“But Lady Gabrielle has no involvement with the Mayfair Ladies Charitable Society.”
“Truly?” Jake drew back, a wicked twinkle in his hazel eyes. “I could have sworn you mentioned her name once or twice.”
“You, my dear husband-to-be, are as crafty as your younger sister.”
“Where do you think I learned such trickery?” Jake accepted the parchment she held out and slid it back into his pocket.
Amelia reached up to trail a finger along his chiseled jaw, his freshly shaved skin smooth to the touch. Light reflected off her ring, reminding her how fortunate she was to be loved by him. Jake’s appearance had always had the ability to take her breath away, but the beauty he allowed her to see inside him tonight made her feel like laughing and crying and behaving in all sorts of mad ways.
“Thank you, for everything.”
A slow smile spread across his lips. “I’m incapable of denying you anything. Promise you won’t use my weakness against me.”
“I promise.”
Inching her skirts over her knees, his fingers grazed the sensitive spot above her stockings. She sucked in a sharp breath and shot her hand out to still his.
Amusement flickered in his dark eyes. “Are you ticklish, sweetheart?”
She refused to answer when he obviously knew the answer.
“My apologies.” He nuzzled her neck as his other hand skimmed her waist. His fingers brushed the underside of her breast, and Amelia closed her eyes on a sigh.
“What about here?” he asked then lightly tickled her ribs.
“Jake!” She squealed and nearly toppled from the wall, but her fall was stopped by contact with his solid chest. His arms went around her and held her securely, his heat pleasant and welcome. She swatted him. “You are a horrible tease.”
He laughed and snuggled her closer. “No more teasing. I know what you want, and as we’ve already established, I’m powerless to deny you anything.”
“Splendid.” Amelia looked up at him and offered her most mischievous grin while her hands wandered to the fastenings of his trousers. “Because you owe me a tumble in the gardens.”
Stealing
her hand inside the front fall of his pants, she caressed his firm length with the backs of her fingers before curling them around him. He leaned into her touch and closed his eyes on an outpouring of breath. “Never let it be said I dishonor my debts. Don’t I owe you a good shag on the Persian rug in the drawing room, too?”
“I believe you paid that debt yesterday.” Grasping the waistband of his trousers, she shoved them low on his hips and freed him. “But you have yet to take me in the library.”
“An oversight I will remedy soon.”
When he grazed his mouth over hers, she wrapped her arms around his neck. Her tongue flicked across his bottom lip, but she pulled back with a smile when he would have deepened their kiss.
“You wicked minx.” With a playful growl, he buried his fingers in her hair and held her in place while he claimed her mouth. She abandoned toying with him and surrendered to his kiss.
***
Jake released her as Amelia eagerly returned his kisses and inched her skirts above her knee before sliding his hands beneath her to cradle her bottom, cushioning her seat upon the hard wall surface. Amelia’s skirts rode higher on her thighs as she wriggled to the edge and guided him to stand between her legs. A hiss of hot breath escaped him as his shaft bumped against her feverish skin. She had foregone drawers again this evening, as all ladies had before the invention of the blasted undergarments.
“I love an old-fashioned lady.”
She chuckled. “I’m not old-fashioned, simply practical.”
Stealing into the neckline of her gown, he lifted each mound from the confines of her corset. He fingered the tip of her breast until it stood erect before bending to sweep his tongue over the bud. She quivered when his lips closed around her.
“Oh, Jake, yes.”
Soon, she was writhing on the wall as he nibbled her sensitive flesh. Her warm breath mixed with the sultry air and feathered over his face. Her head fell back on a pleasurable moan when his hand skated along her inner thigh and sought out her curls. He lavished her other breast with the same detailed attention while his fingers stroked the moist heat between her legs.
She was close to begging him for more, but he delved a single finger just inside her, tempting her. A low groan sounded at the back of her throat.
“Jake, please.”
He stood between her legs, touching the crown of his shaft to her, but held back from sliding inside. Kissing her, he invaded her mouth, their tongues wrestling in frenzied movement. His heart beat heavily, a hard drumming vibrating throughout his body.
“Tell me what you want, Mia.”
“I want you,” she whispered. “Now, inside me.”
Fire washed over him and he buried himself to the hilt in one movement. Amelia was warmth, pleasure, and joy surrounding him. He slowly eased back before pulling her flush against him. It never seemed close enough when they made love, and yet, never had he felt so intertwined with another.
She held his gaze as he filled her over and over again, her eyes dark mirrors reflecting the torchlight. When he sought out her sensitive spot to bring her to completion, she sighed as her head lolled back. His lips found hers and they paused, tenderly, reverently kissing one another.
“Tell me you love me,” he murmured as he began stroking her once more. Her breath hitched and grew ragged. It seemed a lifetime he had waited for Amelia to love him in return. He never tired of hearing her speak the words.
“I… love… you.” She gripped his shoulders as passion consumed her, her cries of pleasure muffled against his waistcoat. Her sweet scent carried on the spring breeze, wrapping around him and heightening his arousal.
His fingers tightened on her hips as he drove into her with great urgency, chasing after his own ecstasy. Her hands stole into his waistcoat and caressed his chest over his fine lawn shirt, quickening the flow of his blood and breath. A burst of light rendered him blind to everything, oblivious to sound. His only awareness was of Amelia’s loving touch, the one constant that brought him slowly back to life.
She leaned her cheek against his heaving chest when he enfolded her in his embrace. Her mussed hair tickled his chin.
“I love you, too, Amelia. More than life itself.”
She hugged him tighter then lifted her face up to receive another kiss. He gladly complied before fastening his trousers then attempting to set her back to rights and finding there was no way to return her to her corset.
He removed his jacket and draped it around her shoulders. “You look thoroughly ravished.”
She sighed, an easy smile on her plump lips. “I’ve been thoroughly ravished.”
Jake pulled the jacket tight around her, kissed her forehead, then lifted her from the wall. Finding a seat on a nearby bench, he settled her on his lap. “I know I must go soon, but I don’t want to leave you.”
She worked her arms into the jacket sleeves, which were at least two inches too long for her, and pushed them up to her elbows. Capturing his face in both hands, she feathered her thumb across his cheek, her lips turning down slightly. “I wish you could stay, too. Maybe once the board has approved the project…”
“I understand, sweetheart. Soon.” He placed his hand over hers, intertwining his fingers with hers.
“Jake, do you go home when you leave me at night?”
He drew back to see her better. “Where else would I go?”
“I’m not naive to the habits of gentlemen, but I don’t have it in me to tolerate unfaithfulness. Once we are married, I wish you to be home with me every night.”
He couldn’t help but to feel pleasure over her admission, but he also heard an undercurrent of worry. “Amelia, I asked you to pledge your fidelity, and I gave my word that I too will remain faithful.”
A shadow passed over her face. “Gentlemen don’t always keep their word.”
He nodded. “No, I suppose we can be deplorable scoundrels at times. But not every gentleman marries his one true love either.”
“I don’t wish to repeat the mistake I made in marrying Audley. I was unhappy in the extreme.”
Reflecting on Amelia’s past relationship with Audley stirred the darkness slumbering inside him. The blackguard hadn’t deserved her. “Make a list of every distasteful habit your former husband possessed,” he said, pushing his anger for Audley aside in favor of basking in Amelia’s presence, “and I’ll do the opposite.”
A hint of a smile crossed her lips. “It would be a long list, sir.”
Jake wrapped her in his embrace, feeling helpless to remedy the past, but wishing more than anything that he could take on the burden of her memories. “It’s hard to stomach knowing he mistreated you.”
“Then let’s not speak of him again. He’s no longer an impediment to our happiness.”
As she snuggled against him, he welcomed her warmth and softness. Amelia would never be hurt again, not by his hand or anyone else’s. He wouldn’t allow it.
Seventeen
Jasper whistled a lively tune—albeit an original arrangement and off-key to all but the tone deaf—as he entered Norwick Place. He had been loath to leave Bianca’s bed this morning, especially after a rousing send-off, but he did have responsibilities.
His butler stepped forward for his beaver hat, gloves, and walking stick. “Greetings, my lord.”
“And greetings to you. What a fine morning it is.” Jasper resumed his whistling and headed for the stairs.
“Is that Tub coming in at this hour?” Fiona’s shrill voice came from the drawing room. “Present yourself at once.”
“Damnation,” he mumbled, tempted to dash up to his chambers, but it was best to confront her anger over his abandonment last night and be done with the matter. “Coming, Fi.”
He headed for the drawing room.
“Sir?” His butler advanced, pointing a slim finger toward Jasper’s middle.
“What is it?”
The servant swept his finger in the air from Jasper’s neck to waist. He looked down.
“Egads!” Jasper’s waistcoat was fastened wrong, lending him a lopsided appearance. He fumbled with the buttons until his butler stepped forward to assume the task. Once he was set to rights, he squared his shoulders and approached the drawing room.
Fiona was perched on the settee edge with a pinched look about her mouth. Her expression made her appear older than her years.
“Why are you awake this early, Fi? You need your rest.”
Her frown deepened. “How am I to sleep knowing you are cavorting with whores?”
Jasper flinched and rubbed his temple. Perhaps his sister didn’t realize he had left the opera with Bianca after all, though he was surprised to hear Fiona speak of whores and brothels. “Forgive my lack of sensitivity to your status as a lady, but since you introduced an inappropriate topic… When did you start losing sleep over my gentlemanly pursuits?”
She pushed herself up from the settee. Hellfire and brimstone couldn’t be hotter than the fire shooting from her eyes. “How could you leave the opera with that trollop? Have you no shame?”
Good Lord. It was too early for his sister’s nonsense. Jasper sauntered to the sideboard to pour himself a drink. If he must endure one of her tantrums, he deserved alcohol to dull his hearing.
“Lady Kennell is not a trollop or a whore. I would thank you to remember she is a lady of higher rank than you and address her as such.” He sloshed a healthy portion of brandy into a glass and downed half the contents in one swallow.
“She is disgusting. I loathe her very existence, but to think of her and you…” Fiona wrinkled her nose and spat on his carpet.
“I say! You are behaving like a rag-mannered hoyden.” He pointed a finger at her. “What type of lady spits? And on a Persian rug? Do that again and I will demand your husband replace it.”
She puckered her lips and for one moment, he thought she would defy him.
“Have you eaten?” He moved toward the call bell. “You can be a bear when you’re hungry.”
“I am not hungry,” she screamed and stomped her foot. “I’m furious with you.”
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